When education fails to keep pace with technology, the result is inequality. Without the skills to stay useful as innovations ar

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问题    When education fails to keep pace with technology, the result is inequality. Without the skills to stay useful as innovations arrive, workers suffer—and if enough of them fall behind, society starts to fail apart. That fundamental insight seized reformers in the Industrial Revolution, promoting state-funded universal schooling. Later, automation in factories and offices called forth a surge in college graduates. The combination of education and innovation, spread over decades, led to a remarkable flowering of prosperity.
   Today robotics and artificial intelligence call for another education revolution. This time, however, working lives are so lengthy and so fast-changing that simply cramming more schooling in at the start is not enough. People must also be able to acquire new skills throughout their careers.
   Unfortunately, as our special report in this issue sets out, the lifelong learning that exists today mainly benefits high achievers and is therefore more likely to aggravate inequality than diminish it. If 21st-century economies are not to create a massive underclass, policymakers urgently need to work out how to help all their citizens learn while they earn. So far, their ambition has fallen pitifully short.
   The classic model of education—a burst at the start and top-ups through company training—is breaking down. One reason is the need for new, and constantly updated, skills. Manufacturing increasingly calls for brain work rather than physical work. The share of the American workforce employed in routine office jobs declined from 25. 5% to 21% between 1996 and 2015. The single, stable career has gone the way of the Rolodex.
   Pushing people into ever-higher levels of formal education at the start of their lives is not the way to cope. Just 16% of Americans think that a four-year college degree prepares students very well for a good job. Although a vocational education promises that vital first hire, those with specialized training tend to withdraw from the labour force earlier than those with general education—perhaps because they are less adaptable.
   At the same time on-the-job training is shrinking. In America and Britain it has fallen by roughly half in the past two decades. Self-employment is spreading, leaving more people to take responsibility for their own skills. Taking time out later in life to pursue a formal qualification is an option, but it costs money and most colleges are geared towards youngsters.
We can infer from Paragraph 1 that______.

选项 A、society will collapse without innovation
B、education is the only way to social prosperity
C、inequality may originate from poor education
D、most workers in factories are college graduates

答案C

解析 推理题。[A]society will collapse without innovation“如果没有创新,社会将会分崩离析”。该项对应首段第二句:if enough of them fall behind,society starts to fall apart“如果落后的工人太多,社会就开始分崩离析”显然,该项属于偷换概念。[B]education is the only way to social prosperity“教育是促进社会繁荣的唯一方式”。该项对应首段尾句:The combination of education and innovation,spread over decades,led to a remarkable flowering of prosperity.首先,该项的the only way过于绝对;其次,该项与原文不符,原文强调“教育和创新促进了繁荣”,而该项仅仅强调“教育”,故可以排除。[C]inequality may originate from poor education“落后的教育可能产生不平等”。该项来自首段首句:When education fails to keep pace with technology,the result is inequality.“当教育落后于科技,就会造成不平等。”选项与原文意思基本一致,为最佳答案。[D]most workers in factories are college graduates “工厂大多数工人都是大学毕业生”。该项对应首段倒数第二句Later,automation in factories and offices called forth a surge in college graduates.文章提到“工厂和办公室自动化导致大学生人数猛增”,但并没有说“大多数工人都是大学生”,故该项错误。综上,本题选择[C]。
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