单选题
单选题
Text 4
IBM’s year-old, $ 2.5 billion computer-chip plant in East Fishkill, N. Y. , is a manufacturing marvel. Three-hundred robotic tools, six miles of networking cable and more computing power than NASA uses to launch the space shuttle all work together to produce tens of millions of chips a year-- each with circuitry 800 times thinner than a human hair. Not that you’ll find much human hair around the plant. Other chip plants need about 400 employees at all times to operate the Complex machinery. But today at East Fishkill, 100 engineers per shift oversee a totally automated production line. Last winter, when a fierce snowstorm sent everyone home early, the machines hummed along overnight without any problem. "The productivity increases for IBM are amazing," says Perry Hartswick, the senior program manager at the plant.
Productivity improvements like those at IBM can be a boon in a healthy economy, helping to make American business more competitive abroad and keeping a lid on inflation as employees work harder to meet strong demand for their products. But today’s soaring productivity is having a harmful side effect: it’s holding back job growth. Last Thursday the Commerce Department reported that GDP grew at an annual rate of 2. 4 percent. But unemployment was hovering at an uncomfortably high 6.2 percent in July, and 44. 000 additional jobs were axed from payrolls, marking the sixth month in a row the economy has lost jobs.
One fault is that seemingly profligate spending ’on high tech during the ’90s boom. More than three years after the bust, it’s continuing to generate a productivity payoff inside companies. Even industries like entertainment and higher education, once thought to be largely immune to productivity improvements, have been revolutionized by digital media, online research tools, cell phones and e-mail.
But that’s not the only reason for the problem. Over the last three years, American manufacturers have shipped 2. 6 million jobs to low-Wage countries like China. Meanwhile. a flood of white-collar jobs--like computer technicians and customer service reps--have gone to countries with well-educated work forces, such as India.
There is of course a simple solution to all this-a hotter economy, with stronger demand that would force companies to hire workers. But the seven-point decline in July of the Consumer Confidence Index doesn’t offer much near-term hope. Some economists also worry that Bush’s deep tax cuts are "a very expensive way of getting an amount of stimulus that is too small," says Janet Yellen, a professor at the Haas School of Business who also chaired Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers. The Bush administration responds by asking Americans to wait until the full effect of the cuts are felt and the economy kicks into a high gear growth rate of 3 percent to 4 percent. For the millions of Americans who are out of work, that day can’t come soon enough.
A:the productivity increases here are amazing. B:the plant is highly effective and sophisticated. C:IBM is successful in producing computer-chips. D:East Fishkill is famous for the production of computer-chips.
Text 4 IBM’s year-old, $ 2.5 billion computer-chip plant in East Fishkill, N. Y. , is a manufacturing marvel. Three-hundred robotic tools, six miles of networking cable and more computing power than NASA uses to launch the space shuttle all work together to produce tens of millions of chips a year-- each with circuitry 800 times thinner than a human hair. Not that you’ll find much human hair around the plant. Other chip plants need about 400 employees at all times to operate the Complex machinery. But today at East Fishkill, 100 engineers per shift oversee a totally automated production line. Last winter, when a fierce snowstorm sent everyone home early, the machines hummed along overnight without any problem. "The productivity increases for IBM are amazing," says Perry Hartswick, the senior program manager at the plant. Productivity improvements like those at IBM can be a boon in a healthy economy, helping to make American business more competitive abroad and keeping a lid on inflation as employees work harder to meet strong demand for their products. But today’s soaring productivity is having a harmful side effect: it’s holding back job growth. Last Thursday the Commerce Department reported that GDP grew at an annual rate of 2. 4 percent. But unemployment was hovering at an uncomfortably high 6.2 percent in July, and 44. 000 additional jobs were axed from payrolls, marking the sixth month in a row the economy has lost jobs. One fault is that seemingly profligate spending ’on high tech during the ’90s boom. More than three years after the bust, it’s continuing to generate a productivity payoff inside companies. Even industries like entertainment and higher education, once thought to be largely immune to productivity improvements, have been revolutionized by digital media, online research tools, cell phones and e-mail. But that’s not the only reason for the problem. Over the last three years, American manufacturers have shipped 2. 6 million jobs to low-Wage countries like China. Meanwhile. a flood of white-collar jobs--like computer technicians and customer service reps--have gone to countries with well-educated work forces, such as India. There is of course a simple solution to all this-a hotter economy, with stronger demand that would force companies to hire workers. But the seven-point decline in July of the Consumer Confidence Index doesn’t offer much near-term hope. Some economists also worry that Bush’s deep tax cuts are "a very expensive way of getting an amount of stimulus that is too small," says Janet Yellen, a professor at the Haas School of Business who also chaired Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers. The Bush administration responds by asking Americans to wait until the full effect of the cuts are felt and the economy kicks into a high gear growth rate of 3 percent to 4 percent. For the millions of Americans who are out of work, that day can’t come soon enough.
By citing the detailed numbers related to the plant, the author intends to show that（）A:the productivity increases here are amazing. B:the plant is highly effective and sophisticated. C:IBM is successful in producing computer-chips. D:East Fishkill is famous for the production of computer-chips.
Passage Four
Luggage
You may take one item of hand baggage with you on the coach. Suitcases, etc. must be deposited in the van which will follow the coach at all times. Inflammable materials explosives and weapons (including scissors and pocket knives) may not be taken with you either in the hand baggage or other baggage.
Accommodation
Hotel rooms are distributed on a double-room basis. If you prefer a single room, please let us know one week before the departure date. There is a 30 % surcharge for a single room. Please keep in mind that single rooms are not always available.
Special requirements
If you require a special diet, please notify us at the time of booking, submitting a writ- ten copy of your dietary requirements. There may be an extra charge for special meals ingredients. Vegetarian dishes are available at all the hotels and restaurants we visit at the same price as regular dishes, so advance notice is not required.
Travelers with small children, who desire special hotel services such as baby-sitting, should also inform us at the time of booking.
Entertainment
Amazing Tours arranges a program of evening entertainment, which consists of movies and lectures, the cost of which is included in the price of the trip. Visits to art galleries, museums, etc. are also arranged during the day, subject to a minimum of five people wishing to make such visits. However, for these visits, the individual traveler is responsible for the cost of entrance tickets.
The hotels also offer evening entertainment, such as stage shows, discos, folk dancing, etc. The price is fixed by the hotel, and must be paid by the traveler if he or she wishes to participate.
Emergencies
Every client of Amazing Tours Ltd is fully insured in case of accidents occurring on the bus or in the hotels. However, it is the individual traveler’s responsibility to provide him- self or herself with insurance to cover theft and medical emergencies.
If you need to take special medicine, please bring a supply with you, as the countries we visit have only basic medical services.
A:Amazing Tours' insurance will cover the cost B:the individual traveler's insurance will cover the cost C:the host nation will cover the cost D:the thief will cover the cost
Passage Four
Luggage
You may take one item of hand baggage with you on the coach. Suitcases, etc. must be deposited in the van which will follow the coach at all times. Inflammable materials explosives and weapons (including scissors and pocket knives) may not be taken with you either in the hand baggage or other baggage.
Accommodation
Hotel rooms are distributed on a double-room basis. If you prefer a single room, please let us know one week before the departure date. There is a 30 % surcharge for a single room. Please keep in mind that single rooms are not always available.
Special requirements
If you require a special diet, please notify us at the time of booking, submitting a writ- ten copy of your dietary requirements. There may be an extra charge for special meals ingredients. Vegetarian dishes are available at all the hotels and restaurants we visit at the same price as regular dishes, so advance notice is not required.
Travelers with small children, who desire special hotel services such as baby-sitting, should also inform us at the time of booking.
Entertainment
Amazing Tours arranges a program of evening entertainment, which consists of movies and lectures, the cost of which is included in the price of the trip. Visits to art galleries, museums, etc. are also arranged during the day, subject to a minimum of five people wishing to make such visits. However, for these visits, the individual traveler is responsible for the cost of entrance tickets.
The hotels also offer evening entertainment, such as stage shows, discos, folk dancing, etc. The price is fixed by the hotel, and must be paid by the traveler if he or she wishes to participate.
Emergencies
Every client of Amazing Tours Ltd is fully insured in case of accidents occurring on the bus or in the hotels. However, it is the individual traveler’s responsibility to provide him- self or herself with insurance to cover theft and medical emergencies.
If you need to take special medicine, please bring a supply with you, as the countries we visit have only basic medical services.
A:there will be no problem B:you will have to pay extra C:you must notify Amazing Tours in advance D:you must bring your own ingredients
A:there will be no problem B:you will have to pay extra C:you must notify Amazing Tours in advance D:you must bring your own ingredients
A:Amazing Tours’ insurance will cover the cost B:the individual traveler’s insurance will cover the cost C:the host nation will cover the cost D:the thief will cover the cost
Passage Five Whatever you do, don’t challenge a chimpanzee named Ayumu to a number memory game. In 2007, Ayumu became famous for his lightning speed at a game that goes like this: A player views a computer screen where the number 1 through 9 appear briefly at once and then tun to white squares. The player then taps the squares where the numbers had been, in order from 1 to 9. People can do it .But no human competitor has ever completed the game faster or more accurately than Ayumu the chimp. For almost five years Ayumu remains undefeated. Psychologist Nicholas Humphrey of Darwin College at Cambridge University in England now thinks he knows the secret behind the chimp’s ability. Humphrey suspects Ayumu’s brain may have a condition that allows the chimp to see numbers as colors. This would mean that Ayumu may see a color glow after the number disappears. Then, instead of remembering the numbers, he remembers a sequence of colors, each associated with a number. The condition that Humphrey believes Ayumu may have is called synesthesia. Humans with synesthesia may associate number and letters with colors. For example, a person may see the number“5”as the color blue. Until now, scientists and assumed only humans could have synesthesia. Humphrey found the inspiration for his idea at a 2011 scientific conference. There, he heard a presentation about Ayumu’s memory abilities and another talk about synesthesia. He then put the two ideas together. Not everyone is convinced that Humphrey is correct. Primatologist Tetsuro Matsuzawa of the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University in japan has spent decades studying the amazing memories of chimpanzees, including Ayumu. He maintains that chimps simply have faster memory recall than people. What is Ayumu famous for
A:His gift in playing computers. B:His talent in calculating numbers. C:His skill in tapping the numbered squares. D:His amazing performance in memory game.
Passage Five Whatever you do, don’t challenge a chimpanzee named Ayumu to a number memory game. In 2007, Ayumu became famous for his lightning speed at a game that goes like this: A player views a computer screen where the number 1 through 9 appear briefly at once and then tun to white squares. The player then taps the squares where the numbers had been, in order from 1 to 9. People can do it .But no human competitor has ever completed the game faster or more accurately than Ayumu the chimp. For almost five years Ayumu remains undefeated. Psychologist Nicholas Humphrey of Darwin College at Cambridge University in England now thinks he knows the secret behind the chimp’s ability. Humphrey suspects Ayumu’s brain may have a condition that allows the chimp to see numbers as colors. This would mean that Ayumu may see a color glow after the number disappears. Then, instead of remembering the numbers, he remembers a sequence of colors, each associated with a number. The condition that Humphrey believes Ayumu may have is called synesthesia. Humans with synesthesia may associate number and letters with colors. For example, a person may see the number“5”as the color blue. Until now, scientists and assumed only humans could have synesthesia. Humphrey found the inspiration for his idea at a 2011 scientific conference. There, he heard a presentation about Ayumu’s memory abilities and another talk about synesthesia. He then put the two ideas together. Not everyone is convinced that Humphrey is correct. Primatologist Tetsuro Matsuzawa of the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University in japan has spent decades studying the amazing memories of chimpanzees, including Ayumu. He maintains that chimps simply have faster memory recall than people. Which of the following is true of Nicholas Humphrey
A:He thinks Ayumu has an amazing memory. B:He believes that Ayumu sees the colors of numbers. C:He was inspired by Primatologist Tetsuro Matsuzawa. D:He delivered a speech on synesthesia at the 2011 conference.
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