2015年成人学位英语考试阅读理解试题讲解(4)
Passage 1
Adam Smith was the first person to see the importance of the division of the labor. He gave us an example of the process by which pins were made in England.
"One man draws out the wire, another strengthens it, a third cuts it, a fourth points it, and a fifth gives it a head. Just to make the head requires two or three different operations. The work of making pins is divided into about eighteen different operations, which in some factories are all performed by different people, though in others the same man will sometimes perform two or three of them. "
Ten men, Smith said, in this way, turned out twelve pounds of pins a day or about 4,800pins a worker. But if all of them had worked separately and independently without division of labor, they certainly could not have made twenty pins in a day and not even one.
There can be no doubt that division of labor is an efficient way of organizing work. Fewer people can make more pins. Adam smith saw this, (80)but he also took it for granted that divi-sion of labor is itself responsible for economic growth and development and it accounts for the difference between expanding economies and those that stand still. But division of labor adds nothing new, it only enables people to produce more of what they already have.
1. According to the passage, Adam Smith was the first person to__________.
A. take advantage of the physical labor
B. introduce the division of labor into England
C. understand the effects of the division of labor
D. explain the bad causes of the division of labor
2. Adam Smith saw that the division of labor__________.
A. enabled each worker to design pins more quickly
B. increased the possible output per worker
C. increased the number of people employed in factories
D. improved the quality of pins produced
3. Adam Smith mentioned the number 4,800 in order to__________.
A. show the advantage of the old labor system
B. stress how powerful the individual worker was
C. show the advantages of the division of labor
D. stress the importance of increased production
4. According to the writer, Adam Smith' s mistake was in believing that the division of labor__________.
A. was an efficient way of organizing work
B. was an important development in methods of production
C. finally led to economic development
D. increased the production of existing goods
5. According to the writer, which of the following is NOT true?
A. Division of labor can enable fewer people to make more pins.
B. Division of labor helps people to produce more of what they already have.
C. Division of labor is by no means responsible for economic growth.
D. Division of labor is an efficient way of organizing work.
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