首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Periodically in history, there come periods of great transition in which work changes its meaning. There was a time, perhaps 10,
Periodically in history, there come periods of great transition in which work changes its meaning. There was a time, perhaps 10,
admin
2014-01-27
76
问题
Periodically in history, there come periods of great transition in which work changes its meaning. There was a time, perhaps 10, 000 years ago, when human beings stopped feeding themselves by hunting game and gathering plants, and increasingly turned to agriculture. In a way, that represented the invention of "work".
Then, in the latter decades of the 18th century, as the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain, there was another transition in which the symbols of work were no longer the hoe and the plow; they were replaced by the mill and the assembly line.
【R1】______
With the Industrial Revolution, machinery—powered first by steam, then by electricity and internal combustion engines—took over the hard physical tasks and relieved the strain on human and animal muscles.
【R2】______
And yet, such jobs have been characteristic of the human condition in the first three-quarters of the 20th century. They’ ve made too little demand on the human mind and spirit to keep them fresh and alive, made too much demand for any machine to serve the purpose until now.
The electronic computer, invented in the 1940’s and improved at breakneck speed, was a machine that, for the first time, seemed capable of doing work that had until then been the preserve of the human mind. With the coming of the microchip in the 1970’ s, computers became compact enough, versatile enough and(most important of all)cheap enough to serve as the brains of affordable machines that could take their place on the assembly line and in the office.
【R3】______
First, what will happen to the human beings who have been working at these disappearing jobs? Second, where will we get the human beings that will do the new jobs that will appear—jobs that are demanding, interesting and mind-exercising, but that requires a high-tech level of thought and education?
【R4】______
The first problem, that of technological unemployment, will be temporary, for it will arise out of the fact that there is now a generation of employees who have not been educated to fit the computer age. However, (in advanced nations, at least)they will be the last generation to be so lacking, so that with them this problem will disappear or, at least, diminish to the point of non-crisis proportions.
The second problem—that of developing a large enough number of high-tech minds to run a high-tech world— will be no problem at all, once we adjust our thinking.
【R5】______
Right now, creativity seems to be confined to a very few, and it is easy to suppose that that is the way it must be. However, with the proper availability of computerized education, humanity will surprise the elite few once again.
A. There remained, however, the "easier" labor—the labor that required the human eyes, ears, judgment and mind but no sweating. It nevertheless had its miseries, for it tended to be dull, repetitious, and boring. And there is always the sour sense of endlessly doing something unpleasant under compulsion.
B. For one thing, much of human effort that is today put into "running the world" will be unnecessary. With computers, robots and automation, a great deal of the daily grind will appear to be running itself. This is nothing startling. It is a trend that has been rapidly on its way ever since World War II.
C. And now we stand at the brink of a change that will be the greatest of all, for work in its old sense will disappear altogether. To most people, work has always been an effortful exercising of mind or body—compelled by the bitter necessity of earning the necessities of life—plus an occasional period of leisure in which to rest or have fun.
D. Clearly there will be a painful period of transition, one that is starting already, and one that will be in full swing as the 21st century begins.
E. In the first place, the computer age will introduce a total revolution in our notions of education, and is beginning to do so now. The coming of the computer will make learning fun, and a successfully stimulated mind will learn quickly. It will undoubtedly turn out that the "average" child is much more intelligent and creative than we generally suppose. There was a time, after all, when the ability to read and write was confined to a very small group of "scholars" and almost all of them would have scouted the notion that just about anyone could learn the intricacies of literacy. Yet with mass education general literacy came to be a fact.
F. This means that the dull, the boring, the repetitious, the mind-stultifying work will begin to disappear from the job market—is already beginning to disappear. This, of course, will introduce two vital sets of problem—is already introducing them.
【R5】
选项
答案
E
解析
文章的最后一段中指出“a very few”、“the elite few”,而选项中的“a very small group of‘scholars’”也正是指出了这种情况,故应选E。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/TCXd777K
本试题收录于:
公共英语五级笔试题库公共英语(PETS)分类
0
公共英语五级笔试
公共英语(PETS)
相关试题推荐
Psychologiststakecontrastiveviewsofhowexternalrewards,from(31)praisetocoldcash,affectmotivationandcreativity.B
WhatdidCosgrovedobeforehebecameateacherteachinghistory?What’sthemeaningoftheword"bane"inthe6thlineofthe
WhatdidCosgrovedobeforehebecameateacherteachinghistory?Onthewaytoschool,Cosgrove
______islocatedintheheartofGreenwichVillage?______providescourseslikeAmericancultureandresearchpaperswriting?
______islocatedintheheartofGreenwichVillage?______hasspecialprogramsdesignedforindividuals?
Asregardstoroadsafety,theauthorthinksthat______.Afteryouhavebeencyclingforafewmonthstheauthorsuggeststhat
TherecentsocialandeconomicchangesintheU.S.havegreatimpactonalltheAmericanhousingsystem.
TherecentsocialandeconomicchangesintheU.S.havegreatimpactonalltheAmericanhousingsystem.
Whichisthemostaccuratewordtodescribethechangesincontemporarysocieties?
Whilethereisnoblueprintfortransformingalargelygovernment-controlledeconomyintoafreeone,theexperienceoftheUnit
随机试题
资产评估结论是为资产业务提供专业化估价意见,这个意见本身()
女,24岁,上腹部疼痛并向下腹部放射4天,伴恶心、呕吐,卧位不愿翻身,立位不愿直腰。检查:急性面容,腹稍胀,两下腹部均有压痛及轻度反跳痛,以右侧为著,右下腹可扪及5cm×3cm包块,边界不清,固定;白细胞计数12×109/L。经螺旋CT扫描确定该患者诊
某热电公司的新建项目工程,占地面积6.5万平方米,建筑面积3.7万平方米,采用中温中压锅炉,单机容量30万千瓦,主要设备包括:循环流化床锅炉、抽凝式汽轮发电机组、钠离子交换器、湿式脱硫除尘器等。主要能源来自于燃煤,同时使用大量的水进行冷却。配套工程有除灰渣
某载重汽车原值为29万元,预计行使里程为30万公里,预计残值率为5%,某月实际行使里程为1000公里,则按工作量法,本月应计提的折旧额为( )元。
拖拉架梁方法按照牵引方式可分为()。
我国三大妈祖庙分别在()。
既通过集体的管理去影响个人,又通过对个人的直接管理影响集体。这样的班级管理模式称为()
长城绵延万里,有众多关卡,下列不属于长城关卡并且与其所处地区对应错误的是:
2012年7月27日,第三十届夏季奥林匹克运动会在英国伦敦开幕。其吉祥物标志迅速进行了商标注册,作为有偿使用的吉祥物标志()。
咬人草小记①在新疆,有一次到山里访问哈萨克牧人,很偶然地认识了一种奇怪的植物。②如果不是新疆友人介绍,我决不会注意它们的。那是在爬坡的路上,前面的人突然大声叫起来:③“小心!咬人草!”④咬人草?草会咬人,我有点不相信。这是生
最新回复
(
0
)