专四阅读+详解.docx

1、专四阅读+详解专四阅读+详解星期4 ThursdayBusiness is the salf of life.事业是人生的第一需要。学习内容题 材词 数建议时间错误统计做题备忘Text A女性职场4306分钟 /5Text B经济管理3925分钟 /5Text C自然奥秘4506.5分钟 /5Text D社会问题5467.5分钟 /5今日练习Text ADespite all the progress toward womens equality, women who work full time are still earning only 75 cents on average to ev

2、ery dollar earned by men.Driving home that point, the National Committee on Pay Equity has chosen April 16 this year, to remind Americans that all women would need to work at least an extra two days in a workweek to earn almost as much as all men do in one normal workweek.Why does such a wage gap st

3、ill persist?Economists differ in their explanations. And yet this income disparity is seen as a key indicator of how women are treated in both the workplace and at home.Fortunately, the womens movement and civil rights enforcement have ended most gender discrimination in setting wages. Now advocates

4、 are focused on ensuring that working women have female advisers and role models, while they try to remove subtle discrimination in promotions the “glass ceiling” (指职业女性在职务提升时遇到的无形阻力)that accounts for so few women being in top management.Many economists, however, say many women have lower-paying job

5、s because of choices made in their home life, such as taking time out to raise children. Or women take part-time, low-wage jobs for the flexibility. When they do reenter the workforce full time, theyre often behind their working peers in pay and promotions.But as more women feel empowered to make ca

6、reer choices, their pay rises.Another explanation is that women dont really make the choice to drop off the career ladder or to stay at a lower job rung. They may, for example, accept the expectations of others to take traditional jobs for women, such as nursing, which have low market wages. They mu

7、st often take jobs that dont account for the unpredictability of families. Working moms may find their income cant pay for day care, or day care doesnt suit their child. If they are married, they may realize their husbands are not inclined to child rearing (or house chores), so they either quit work

8、 or go part time.So as their life choices seem to become a life burden, womens income slips behind mens.No matter what the explanation, much progress has been made in reducing the pay gap. While government still has a major role, employers can do more. Many have found a market advantage in supportin

9、g working mothers or putting women in management. And in the home, men and women are getting smarter in defining their marital relationships, often before tying the knot.Just as women now outnumber men in college, perhaps someday their average pay will surpass mens and that may make up for lost wage

10、s.1. April 16 has been chosen A to show the organizations attitude towards equal pay.B to define the day as pay day for women who are not equally paid.C to make it clear that women working full time are earning less than men.D to remind women to work longer hours to earn as much as men.2. How can wo

11、men raise their salary?A By going out for work instead of staying at home.B By asking their employer to raise their salary.C By sending their child to the kindergarten.D By having the ability to choose their jobs.3. Which of the following is NOT a traditional job for women?A Nurse. B Teacher.C Econo

12、mist. D Typist.4. Which of the following statement is NOT true? A Wage gap servers as a key indicator of how women are treated.B Many women have lower-paying jobs because of house chores.C Some working mothers earn less than their childrens day care.D Many employers have already done enough to suppo

13、rt working mothers.5. Who are expected to contribute more to narrowing the pay gap?A Women themselves.B Employers.C The government. D Men.Text BIf sustainable competitive advantage depends upon work force skills, American firms have a problem. Human-resource management is not traditionally seen as c

14、entral to the competitive survival of the firm in the United States. Skill acquisition is considered an individual responsibility. Labor is simply another factor of production to be hired rented at the lowest possible cost much as one buys raw materials or equipment.The lack of importance attached t

15、o human-resource management can be seen in the corporate hierarchy. In an American firm the chief financial officer (CFO) is almost always second in command. The post of head of human-resource management is usually a specialized job, off at the edge of the corporate hierarchy. The executive who hold

16、s it is never consulted on major strategic decisions and has no chance to move up to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). By way of contrast, in Japan the head of human-resource management is central usually the second most important executive, after the CEO, in the firms hierarchy.While American firms of

17、ten talk about the vast amounts they spend in training their work forces, in fact, they invest less in the skills of their employees than do either Japanese or German firms. The money they do invest is also more highly concentrated on professional and managerial employees. And the limited investment

18、s that are made in training workers are also much more narrowly focused on the specific skills necessary for the next job rather than on the basic background skills that make it possible to absorb new technologies.As a result, problems emerge when new breakthrough technologies arrive. If American wo

19、rkers, for example, take much longer to learn how to operate new flexible manufacturing stations than in Germany (as they do), the effective cost of those stations is lower in Germany than it is in the United States. More time is required before equipment is up and running at capacity, and the need

20、for extensive retraining generates costs and creates bottlenecks that limit the speed with which new equipment can be employed. The result is a slower pace of technological change. And in the end the skills of the bottom half of the population affect the wages of the top half. If the bottom half can

21、t effectively start the processes that have to be operated, the management and professional jobs that go with these processes will disappear.6. In an American firm, the executive of human-resource managementA has a position directly under the chief financial executive.B is one of the most important

22、executives of the firm.C has no say in making important decisions of the firm.D is unimportant when new technologies have been introduced.7. The money most American firms put in work force training mainly goes onA technological and managerial staff.B workers who will run new equipment.C workers who

23、lack basic background skills.D top executives.8. Technological change in American firms is slower becauseA new equipment in America is more expensive.B they dont pay enough attention to the job training of their workers.C they are less responsive to technological changes.D their professional staff a

24、re less paid and so less creative.9. Which of the following applies to the management of human resources in American companies?A They hire people at the lowest cost regardless of their skills.B They see the gaining of skills as their employees own business.C They attach more importance to workers th

25、an equipment.D They only hire skilled workers because of keen competition.10. According to the passage, the decisive factor in maintaining a firms competitive advantage isA the introduction of new technologies.B the improvement of workers basic skills.C the rational composition of professional and m

26、anagerial employees.D the attachment of importance to the bottom half of the employees.Text CDespite the fact that comets are probably the most numerous astronomical bodies in the solar system aside from small meteor(流星) fragments and the asteroids (小行星), they are largely a mystery. Scientists dont

27、know exactly what comets are or where they come from. Educated guesses are the best we have in hand.Considering the role of comets in lore, legend, and the memory of man, it is remarkable that we still know so little, relatively, about them. The most famous comet of all, Halleys Comet (named for the

28、 man who predicted its return), was first sighted by the Chinese in 240 B.C., and it has returned to terrify the people of the world on a regular basis ever since then (last scheduled return: 1986). The ancients considered it an object of ill omen. By mysterious coincidence, the arrival of Halleys C

29、omet coincided with such events as the battle of Hastings in 1066, the Jewish revolt of 66 A.D., and the last battle of Attila the Hun against the Romans. Nor is it the only comet to fill man with awe, but merely the most famous in a rich aristocracy of blood-freezers. Comets are even more fascinati

30、ng to amateur astronomers than to professionals, because this is one area where amateurs can (and do) make major discoveries. Comet Ikeya Seki, one of the brightest comets to appear in last century was discovered in 1965 by a pair of Japanese amateurs, Ikeya and Seki. The person who discovers a new

31、comet gets his (or her) name put on it. And amateurs have a head start in the race to discover new comets; the shorter focal lengths on their smaller telescopes give them a positive advantage over the huge telescope such as Mount Wilson which is built to scan for galaxies, not comparatively of short

32、 distances.Most scientists tend to agree with the astronomer Fred T. Whipple that a comet is really a large mushy snowball of frozen ices and gases (ammonia, methane, possibly carbon dioxide) with a few bits of solid particles stuck inside. But no one is sure how comets are created in the first place.Scientists believe that comets dont exhibit their characte