一、考研閱讀理解

昨天留的家庭作業(yè):

Millions of school-leavers are about to start a new life at university. Some are inspired by a pure love of learning. But most also believe that spending three or four years at university—and accumulating huge debts in the process—will boost their chances of landing a well-paid and secure job.

Their elders have always told them that education is the best way to equip themselves to thrive in a globalised world. Blue-collar workers will see their jobs offshored and automated, the familiar argument goes. But the graduate elite will have the world at its feet. There is some evidence to support this view. Educational qualifications are tightly correlated with earnings.

But is the past a reliable guide to the future? Or are we at the beginning of a new phase in the relationship between jobs and education? There are good reasons for thinking that old patterns are about to change—and that the current recession-driven downturn in the demand for Western graduates will turn into something structural. The gale of creative destruction that has shaken so many blue-collar workers over the past few decades is beginning to shake the cognitive elite as well.

The supply of university graduates is increasing rapidly. At the same time, the demand for educated labor is being reconfigured by technology, in much the same way that the demand for agricultural labor was reconfigured in the 19th century and that for factory labor in the 20th. Computers can not only perform repetitive mental tasks much faster than human beings. They can also empower amateurs to do what professionals once did: why hire a flesh-and-blood accountant to complete your tax return when a software will do the job at a fraction of the cost? And the variety of jobs that computers can do is multiplying as programmers teach them to deal with tone and linguistic ambiguity.

Several economists have begun to argue that post-industrial societies will be characterized not by a relentless rise in demand for the educated but by a great "hollowing out", as mid-level jobs are destroyed by smart machines and high-level job growth slows. David Autor, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) points out that the main effect of automation in the computer era is not that it destroys blue-collar jobs but that it destroys any job that can be reduced to a routine. A plumber or lorry-driver's job cannot be outsourced to India. A computer programmer's can.

Thomas Malone of MIT argues that automation may be part of a bigger change: the application of the division of labor to brain-work. This change will undoubtedly improve the productivity of brain-workers. It will also allow consumers to avoid the professional companies that have extracted high rents for their services. But the reconfiguration of brain-work will also make life far less cosy and predictable for the next generation of graduates.

1. It can be inferred from Paragraphs 1 and 2 that______.

[A] it's believed that college education ensures a bright future

[B] universities should not make students in debts

[C] uneducated people will lead an unhappy life

[D] educational background decides everybody's salary

2. The demand for well-educated labor______.

[A] is about to go through an essential change

[B] will influence the demand for blue-collar workers

[C] is affected by agricultural and industrial development

[D] has increased rapidly due to the extensive use of computers

 3. The phrase "hollowing out" (Line 2, Para. 5) most probably means______.

[A] emptiness

[B] decline

[C] migration

[D] shortage

4. David Autor thinks that automation in the computer era______.

[A] has no influence on blue-collar workers

[B] can relieve people from complicated work

[C] causes unemployment problems for the educated

[D] reduces all the work to a routine

5. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

[A] A False Expectation of College Education

[B] Changes in the Demand for Workers

[C] Replacement of Brainworkers by Computers

[D] Worries about the Educated Labor

試題透析

1. 從第一段和第二段中可推知______。

[A] 人們認為大學教育是前途光明的保證

[B] 大學不應讓學生負債

[C] 未受過良好教育的人會生活得不幸福

[D] 教育背景決定每個人的工資水平

[試題類型]  推理引申題。

[解題思路] 

根據(jù)題干關鍵詞 Paragraphs 1 and 2 可定位至文章第一、二段。第一段第三句指出，大多數(shù)人上大學是因為他們認為大學學習會增加未來得到高薪且穩(wěn)定工作的機會（boost their chances of landing a well-paid and secure job）。第二段也指出，長輩們常說，接受教育是武裝自己并使自己能在全球化的社會里生存的最佳途徑（education is the best way to equip themselves to thrive in a globalised world）。第三句指出，大學畢業(yè)的精英們會覺得世界就在他們的腳下（have the world at its feet）。由此可推知，很多人認為大學教育可以使人們擁有更美好的前程，在未來過上更加富裕、穩(wěn)定的生活，故選項[A]正確。

[干擾排除] 

第一段第三句指出，盡管大學學習會使學生們債務累累（accumulating huge debts），但大多數(shù)人仍相信上大學能增加他們未來得到高薪且穩(wěn)定工作的機會。此處作者并沒有強調(diào)學生們的債務，故排除選項[B]。第二段第一句指出，長輩們常說，接受教育是武裝自己、使自己能夠在全球化的社會得以生存的最佳途徑。緊接著在第二、三句對比了藍領工人（Blue-collar workers）和大學畢業(yè)生工作的情況來證明第一句中觀點，但此處只能推知受過良好教育的人會有更好的工作，并不能推知受過良好教育的人會幸福，沒有受過良好教育的人不會幸福，故選項[C]可以排除。第二段最后一句指出，學歷與收入緊密相連（Educational qualifications are tightly correlated with earnings），即學歷會影響收入的多少，但不能說教育背景決定薪資水平，故排除選項[D]。

2. 對受過良好教育勞動力的需求______。

[A] 即將發(fā)生實質(zhì)性的改變

[B] 將會影響對藍領工人的需求

[C] 受到農(nóng)業(yè)和工業(yè)發(fā)展的影響

[D] 由于電腦的廣泛使用而迅速增加

[試題類型]  具體信息題。

[解題思路] 根據(jù)題干關鍵詞 the demand for educated labor 可定位至文章第三、四段。第三段前兩句提出“過去的情況是否適用于未來”以及“工作和教育的關系是否進入了新階段”這兩個問題。第三句做出回答，即舊模式即將發(fā)生改變（old patterns are about to change），西方低迷的經(jīng)濟導致對畢業(yè)生的需求銳減，這將會演變成一種普遍趨勢（turn into something structural），選項[A]與文意相符，故為答案。

[干擾排除] 第三段前三句指出經(jīng)濟狀況影響對受過良好教育勞動力的需求，緊接著最后一句指出，在 過去幾十年，創(chuàng)新颶風已經(jīng)對眾多藍領工人的地位造成了破壞性的動搖（The gale of creative destruction that has shaken so many blue-collar workers），現(xiàn)在它也開始動搖腦力勞動精英們的地位了（shake the cognitive elite as well）。即強調(diào)像過去藍領工人受到影響一樣，腦力勞動者也開始受到影響了，并不是說明對受過良好教育勞動力的需求影響了對藍領工人的需求，選項[B]與原文不符，可以排除。第四段第二句指出，與19世紀時對農(nóng)業(yè)勞動力和20世紀時對工廠勞動力需求的變化一樣，對受教育勞動力的需求正因為技術(shù)發(fā)展而被重新配置，可見，影響受教育勞動力需求的是科技，而不是農(nóng)業(yè)和工業(yè)的發(fā)展，選項[C]可以排除。第四段強調(diào)了科技發(fā)展改變了對受過良好教育勞動力的需求，為說明這一點，作者以計算機為例，指出計算機不僅工作速度快，還可以做以前只有專業(yè)人士才能完成的工作，而且計算機可以做的工作種類也在不斷增加，故計算機的發(fā)展和廣泛應用減少了對受過良好教育勞動力的需求，而不是增加，選項[D]錯誤。

3. 短語“hollowing out”（第五段，第二行）的意思最可能是______。

[A] 空白

[B] 下降

[C] 移民

[D] 缺乏

[試題類型]  語義理解題。

[解題思路] 根據(jù)題干關鍵詞“hollowing out” （Line 2，Para. 5）定位至第五段第一句。該句意為“一些經(jīng)濟學家認為，后工業(yè)社會的特征將不再是對受過良好教育的人需求的不斷增加，而是 great “hollowing out”，從該句中“but”一詞可推測，“hollowing out”應表達與“relentless rise”相反的含義，即“下降”之意。另外，該句后半部分還提到中等水平的工作已經(jīng)被智能機器取代，而高水平的工作也增長緩慢（mid-level jobs are destroyed by smart machines and high-level job growth slows）。由此可見，自動化的實現(xiàn)使得一些原本只有受教育者才能完成的工作被機器所取代，故這種情況會導致對這些人需求的不斷減少，由此可確定hollowing out 表達“減少；下降”之意，選項 [B]與原文相符，故為正確答案。

[干擾排除] 

選項 [A] 過于絕對，文中只是說需求減少，并沒有說完全沒有需求，故排除。文中并沒有涉及受教育者的工作在本國被機器所取代而移民到國外的內(nèi)容，故排除選項[C]。選項[D]代入文中意為“受教育者的數(shù)量

還不能滿足 社會需求”，與文意不符，故可以排除。 

4. 戴維·奧特爾認為計算機時代的自動化______。

[A] 對藍領工人沒有影響

[B] 可以將人們從復雜的工作中解脫出來

[C] 導致受過良好教育的人失業(yè)

[D] 將所有工作都簡化為例行程序

[試題類型]  觀點態(tài)度題。

[解題思路]

根據(jù)題干關鍵詞 David Autor 可定位至第五段。該段第二句指出，戴維·奧特爾認為計算機時代自動化的主要影響不是破壞了藍領的工作（the main effect of automation in the computer era is not that it destroys blue-collar jobs），而是破壞了所有能簡化為例行程序的工作（but that it destroys any job that can be reduced to a routine），言下之意，后工業(yè)社會計算機的發(fā)展以及自動化水平的提高簡化并取代了很多以前需要人工完成的工作，這不僅僅影響到了藍領工人的工作，也使一些受過良好教育的人沒有工作可做，故選項[C]與原文相符，為正確答案。[干擾排除] 該段第二句指出，計算機時代自動化的主要影響（main effect）不是破壞了藍領工作，而是破壞了所有能簡化為例行程序的工作，即自動化既影響藍領的工作，又影響了一些原本由受過良好教育的人完成的工作，選項[A]否認了自動化對藍領工作的影響，故應排除。戴維·奧特爾主要是說明計算機時代自動化對人力工作的影響，并沒有強調(diào)對人們的解脫，選項 [B] 是對文意的曲解，故可以排除。文中的表述是“自動化破壞了所有可以簡化為例行程序的工作”，而不是“自動化把所有工作都簡化為例行程序”，故選項 [D]錯誤。

5. 以下哪一項最適合做本文的標題？

[A] 對大學教育的錯誤期待

[B] 對工人需求的變化

[C] 計算機取代腦力勞動者

[D] 對受過良好教育的勞動者的擔憂

[試題類型]  主旨要義題。

[解題思路] 

本題考查文章主旨大意，故需要總結(jié)各段落大意。文章第一、二段首先指出人們通常認為大學可以使人擁有高薪、穩(wěn)定的工作，但第三段指出這種模式已經(jīng)發(fā)生了改變，社會對大學畢業(yè)生的需求降低。第四段指出其原因，即大學畢業(yè)生的數(shù)量快速增長，以及計算機的發(fā)展取代了一些以前只有靠專業(yè)人士才能完成的工作。第五、六段則進一步指出自動化的實現(xiàn)導致了受過良好教育的勞動者的工作受到威脅，大學畢業(yè)生工作和生活的前景堪憂。可見，本文主要圍繞著科技與自動化發(fā)展對受過良好教育的勞動者的影響這一主題展開，四個選項中只有選項[D]能涵蓋這一內(nèi)容，故為答案。

[干擾排除] 

文章前兩段介紹“上大學是擁有好工作的保障”這一傳統(tǒng)觀點，是為了引出本文主題——科技發(fā)展對受過良好教育的勞動者的影響，選項 [A]只是文章的引子，不能概括文章主旨，故可以排除。文中主要提到了社會對受過良好教育者需求的變化，并沒有討論對所有工人需求的變化，故選項[B] 可排除。文中提及計算機取代了部分人工工作，但并不能將其概括為“計算機取代腦力勞動者”，這一表述夸大了事實，故選項 [C]可以排除。

詞匯突破

accumulate /?'kju? mj?le?t/ v. 聚集；積累：Her goal was to accumulate a huge fortune.  她的目標是積累起一大筆財富。

boost /bu? st/ v. 增加；促進：Advertising boosts sales. 廣告能促進銷售。

thrive /θra?v/ v.茁壯成長；蓬勃發(fā)展：A business cannot thrive without investment.企業(yè)缺少了投資就不會興旺。

offshore /??f'??? (r)/ adj.離岸的：offshore breezes離岸微風（文中offshored為形容詞作賓語補足語，使用的是offshore的比喻義，可理解為“離世界越來越遠”，即越來越不需要，逐漸被淘汰）

*automate /'?? t?me?t/ v. 使自動化

phase /fe?z/ n. 階段；時期：a critical phase of

an illness 疾病的危險期 

*gale /ge?l/ n.大風；狂風

cognitive /'k?gn?t?v/ adj. 認知的；有關認識的：a child's cognitive development  兒童認識能力的發(fā)展

empower /?m'pa??(r)/ v. 授權(quán)；使能夠：The new laws empower the police  to stop anybody in the street.  新法令授予警方可在街上截停任何人的權(quán)力。

flesh-and-blood  血肉般的；活生生的：He seemed more like a creature from a dream than a flesh-and-blood father. 他更像是夢想中的人，而不是一個活生生的父親。fraction /'fr?k?n/ n. 微量；少許：He hesitated for a fraction of second. 他猶豫了片刻。

multiply /'m?lt?pla?/ v. （使）增加；（使）大量增加：Our problems have multiplied since last year. 自去年以來我們的問題就增多了。

ambiguity/??mb?'gju??ti/n.含糊；歧義：Ambiguity arises when students' spoken English is very limited.學生英語會話水平有限就容易產(chǎn)生歧義。

*relentless /r?'lentl?s/ adj.  不停的；不間斷的

*hollow out 挖出；挖成 *outsource /'a?ts?? s/ v. 外購（商品、服務）；外包

cosy /'k??zi/ adj.舒適的；安逸的：The flickering lamp gave the room a cosy lived-in air.

搖曳的燈光給房間一種溫暖而有人氣的感覺。

全文翻譯

數(shù)百萬高中畢業(yè)生即將開始他們嶄新的大學生活。一些人（選擇大學生活）只是出于對學習單純的喜愛，但是大多數(shù)人認為在大學里待上三年或四年——盡管在該過程中會累積大量的債務——會增加他們得到高薪且穩(wěn)定工作的機會。

長輩們一直告訴他們，接受教育是武裝自己并使自己能在全球化的社會里生存的最佳途徑。經(jīng)常有這樣的說法：藍領工人會發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的工作逐漸被淘汰，而且越來越自動化。而大學畢業(yè)的精英們則會覺得世界就在他們腳下。這種說法有據(jù)可循。學歷與收入緊密相連。

但是過去的情況真的適用于未來嗎？還是在工作與教育的關系方面，我們已經(jīng)步入了一個新階段？我們有理由認為，舊模式即將改變——并且在西方，由經(jīng)濟不景氣導致的對畢業(yè)生需求的銳減將會演變成一種普遍趨勢。在過去的幾十年里，創(chuàng)新颶風已經(jīng)對眾多藍領工人的地位造成了破壞性的動搖，現(xiàn)在它又開始動搖腦力勞動精英們的地位了。

大學畢業(yè)生的數(shù)量正在迅速增長。同時，對受過教育的勞動力的需求正因為技術(shù)發(fā)展而發(fā)生改變，正如19世紀時對農(nóng)業(yè)勞動力以及20世紀時對工廠勞動力需求的變化一樣。電腦不僅在重復性腦力工作上比人類快得多，而且它還能使非專業(yè)人士從事原本只有專業(yè)人士才能做的工作：既然用一款軟件就能以極低的成本填好報稅表，為什么還要雇用一個有血肉之軀的會計來完成這項工作呢？而且程序員可以使電腦學會解決語調(diào)和語言歧義的問題，它能做的工作成倍增長。

一些經(jīng)濟學家已經(jīng)開始認為，后工業(yè)社會的特征將不再是對受教育者需求的不斷上升，而是需求嚴重的“空洞化”，因為中等水平的工作已經(jīng)被智能機器取代，而且高水平工作的增長減慢。麻省理工學院的戴維·奧特爾指出，計算機時代自動化的主要影響不是其破壞了藍領的工作，而是破壞了所有能簡化為例行程序的工作。管道工或卡車駕駛員的工作不能外包給印度人，但是計算機程序員的工作卻可以。

麻省理工學院的托馬斯·馬隆認為，自動化可能只是更大變化的一方面：勞動力分工在腦力工作領域中的應用。毫無疑問，這樣的變化將會提高腦力勞動者的工作效率。它還會讓消費者遠離那些收取高額服務費的專業(yè)公司。但是腦力勞動的重新配置也會使下一代畢業(yè)生的生活更艱辛、更不可預料。

  二、今日家庭作業(yè): 

The latest bad news is that reading and writing scores on the SAT have once again declined. The language competence of high schoolers fell steeply in the 1970s and has never recovered. This is very worrisome, because the best single measure of the overall quality of our primary and secondary schools is the average verbal score of 17-year-olds. This score correlates with the ability to learn new things readily, to communicate with others and to hold down a job. It also predicts future income.

The most credible analyses have shown that the chief causes are vast curricular changes, especially in the critical early grades. In the decades before the Great Verbal Decline, a content-rich elementary school experience evolved into a content-light, skills-based, test-centered approach. Cognitive psychologists agree that early childhood language learning (ages 2 to 10) is critical to later verbal competence, not just because of the remarkable linguistic plasticity of young minds, but also because of the so-called Matthew Effect.

The name comes from a passage in the Scriptures: "For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath." Those who are language-poor in early childhood get relatively poorer, and fall further behind, while the verbally rich get richer.

The origin of this cruel truth lies in the nature of word learning. The more words you already know, the faster you acquire new words. This sounds like an invitation to vocabulary study for tots, but that's been tried and it's not effective. Most of the word meanings we know are acquired indirectly, by intuitively guessing new meanings as we understand the overall gist of what we are hearing or reading. The Matthew Effect in language can be restated this way: "To those who understand the gist shall be given new word meanings, but to those who do not there shall ensue boredom and frustration."

Clearly the key is to make sure that from kindergarten on, every student, from the start, understands the gist of what is heard or read. If preschoolers and kindergartners are offered substantial and coherent lessons concerning the human and natural worlds, then the results show up five years or so later in significantly improved verbal scores. By staying on a subject long enough to make all young children familiar with it, the gist becomes understood by all and word learning speeds up. This is especially important for low-income children, who come to school with smaller vocabularies and rely on school to impart the knowledge base affluent children take for granted.

Current reform strategies focus on testing, improving teacher quality, and other changes. Attention to these structural issues has led to improvements in the best public schools. But it is not enough.

1.The drop in verbal scores on the SAT is worrisome because______.

[A] students' reading and writing ability affects their future development

[B] it shows the schools' inability to meet the national requirements

[C] it reveals young people's negative attitude towards verbal study

[D] it will lead to a short supply of talents in the labor market

2.Which of the following is the reason for the falling verbal competence?

[A] Children's lack of language learning ability.

[B] Fewer courses on reading and writing in school.

[C] The shift of curricular focus from content to skills.

[D] Heavy pressure caused by numerous tests.

3.According to Paragraphs 3 and 4, the Mathew Effect in language______.

[A]only applies to adults' language learning process

[B]encourages people to learn from babies in word study

[C] introduces a new approach to language study

[D]emphasizes that words should be learned in context

4.The implication of Mathew Effect in language is that______.

[A]children should be trained to understand the content

[B]teachers should make everything understandable for students

[C] teachers should focus on one topic in language teaching

[D]children's family background determines their verbal ability

5. Which of the following is the best title for the text?

[A]Mathew Effect in Language Learning

[B]How to Stop the Drop in Verbal Scores

[C] Try to Understand the Gist

[D]Don't Overlook Your Verbal Scores