1、考研英语阅读真题考研英语第1篇毙考题 12013考研英语阅读真题：考研英语（二）第1篇In an essay, entitled “Making It in America,” the author Adam Davidson relates a joke from cotton country about just how much a modern textile mill has been automated: The average mill has only two employees today, “a man and a dog. The man is there to feed
2、 the dog, and the dog is there to keep the man away from the machines.” Davidsons article is one of a number of pieces that have recently appeared making the point that the reason we have such stubbornly high unemployment and declining middle-class incomes today is largely because of the big drop in
3、 demand because of the Great Recession, but it is also because of the advances in both globalization and the information technology revolution, which are more rapidly than ever replacing labor with machines or foreign workers. In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could ear
4、n an average lifestyle. But, today, average is officially over. Being average just wont earn you what it used to. It cant when so many more employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius. Therefo
5、re, everyone needs to find their extra their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment. Yes, new technology has been eating jobs forever, and always will. But theres been an acceleration. As Davidson notes, “In the 10 years ending in 2009, US factor
6、ies shed workers so fast that they erased almost all the gains of the previous 70 years; roughly one out of every three manufacturing jobs-about 6 million in total-disappeared.” There will always be change new jobs, new products, new services. But the one thing we know for sure is that with each adv
7、ance in globalization and the I.T. revolution, the best jobs will require workers to have more and better education to make themselves above average. In a world where average is officially over, there are many things we need to do to support employment, but nothing would be more important than passi
8、ng some kind of G.I. Bill for the 21st century that ensures that every American has access to post-high school education. 亚当戴维森在美国制造一文中 提到南部种棉地区的一个笑话，内容涉及现代纺织厂自动化的程度： 如今的普通工厂只有两个雇员，“一个人外加一条狗。 人是负责喂狗的，狗是让人不要靠近机器的。” 最近有大量文章都在讨论这些，戴维森的文章只是其中一篇而已。 我们的失业率为何居高不下、中产阶级收入为何下降， 其实大部分是由于大衰退造成的需求大幅下降。 这其中也有全球化和
9、信息科技革命巨大进步的推动： 机器或者外国工人取代劳力的速度空前。 过去，只要有个一般的手艺，做份普通的工作，工人生活就过得还凑合。 但如今，拥有一般水平不行了。不出众就没法像过去一样活着了。 因为现在越来 越多的雇主有大把的机会接触到不错的外国廉价劳动力、 便宜的机器人、廉价的软件、低廉的自动化设备和要价低的人才。 因此，人人都需要有另外的价值： 异于常人的独特价值能够让他们在各自的雇佣市场上脱颖而出。 是的，新技术一直就在吞噬我们的工作，将来还会继续吞噬。 而且吞噬的速度在加快。 如戴维森所言，“2009年之前的十年内，美国工厂裁撤工人速度之快， 基本上等于过去70年新增的工人数量; 大概
10、每三个工作岗位就有一个岗位消失了，总共约有600万之多。” 变化总是会存在的，新工作、新产品和新服务都会出现。 但我们确信无疑的是，全球化和科学技术每前进一步， 最好的工作都会要求工人接收过更多的更优质的教育，这样他们才会超于常人。 在一个平庸者已经无法生存的时代，我们需要做的促进就业的事情有很多， 但没有哪个比通过像退伍军人权利法案之类的法案来得重要。 只有这样，才能保证21世纪的每个美国都能接受高中之后的教育。 重点单词 decliningdiklainiadj. 下降的，衰落的 动词decline的现在分词 accelerationk.selreinn. 加速，促进，加速度 contribution.kntribju:nn. 贡献，捐款(赠) textiletekstailn. 纺织品 stubbornlyadv. 倔强地;顽固地 unemploymentnimplimntn. 失业，失业人数 uniqueju:ni:kadj. 独一无二的，独特的，稀罕的 geniusdi:njsn. 天才，天赋 revolution.revlu:nn. 革命，旋转，转数 entitledintaitldadj. 有资格的，已被命名的 动词entitle的过去 2020-2-8
