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  3. In an essay, entitled "Making It in America," in the latest issue of The Atlantic, the author Adam Davidson relates a joke from

In an essay, entitled "Making It in America," in the latest issue of The Atlantic, the author Adam Davidson relates a joke from

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问题     In an essay, entitled "Making It in America," in the latest issue of The Atlantic, 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 the dog, and the dog is there to keep the man away from the machines. "
    Davidson’s 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 sagging middle-class incomes today is largely because of the big drop in demand because of the Great Recession, but it is also because of the quantum advances in both globalization and the information technology revolution, which are more rapidly than ever replacing labor with machines or foreign workers.
    Yes, new technology has been eating jobs forever, and always will. As they say, if horses could have voted, there never would have been cars. But there’s been an acceleration. As Davidson notes, " In the 10 years ending in 2009, factories shed workers so fast that roughly one out of every three manufacturing jobs—about 6 million in total—disappeared. "
    Besides, what the new technology won’t do in an above average way a Chinese worker will. Consider this paragraph from an article in The Times about why Apple does so much of its manufacturing in China: "Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly-line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the Chinese plant near midnight. A foreman immediately roused 8.000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day. ’ The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,’ the executive said. ’ There’s no American plant that can match that.’"
    There will always be change—new jobs, new products, new services. But the one thing we know for sure is that with each advance in globalization and the I. T. revolution, the best jobs will require workers to have more and better education to make themselves above average. Here are the latest unemployment rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for Americans over 25 years old: those with less than a high school degree, 13. 8 percent; those with a high school degree and no college, 8. 7 percent; those with some college or associate degree, 7. 7 percent; and those with bachelor’s degree or higher, 4.1 percent.
    In a world where average is officially over, there are many things we need to do to buttress employment, but nothing would be more important than passing some kind of G. I. Bill for the 21st century that ensures that every American has access to post-high school education.
What does the author mean by saying"if horses could have voted, there never would have been cars" ?
选项 A、History is determined by a series of accidental events.
B、The upgrade of technology is accelerating in modern society.
C、There is always strong resistance to new advancement in technology.
D、It is inevitable that the outdated productive force be replaced by advanced force.
答案D
解析 题干中的这句话出现在文章的第三段，第三段第一句话就点明了这一段的主旨，“newtechnology has been eating jobs forever，and always will”，“新技术是吞噬工作的宿敌，从前如此，今后亦然”。“如果当初马能够投票，就不可能出现汽车了”表面上看是在说技术进步的历史偶然性，但仔细阅读不难发现这是一句反讽之语，因为马投票是永远不可能出现的事情，也就是说汽车出现代替马这种劳动力是必然会发生，且无法阻挡的事情。因此正确答案应该选[D]，而不能选[A]。[B]选项错误，虽然第三段中提到了“…there’s been an acceleration”，“新技术取代旧劳动力的进程在现代社会加快了步伐”，但是这并不是题干中的这句话要说明的问题。[C]选项以偏概全，对于技术的进步总会有强烈的抵制，但是这种抵制也无法阻挡技术进步的步伐，这才是整句话的完整内涵。
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