坚持英文13年及14年英语四级长篇阅读

2021年1月20日发(作者：休息)
Directions:
In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements
attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs.
Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a
paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter.

A Mess on the Ladder of Success

A)
Throughout
American
history
there
has
almost
always
been
at
least
one
central
economic narrative that gave the ambitious or unsatisfied reason to pack up and seek
their fortune elsewhere. For the first 300 or so years of European settlement, the story
was
about
moving
outward:
getting
immigrants
to
the
continent
and
then
to
the
frontier to clear the prairies(
大草原
), drain the wetlands and build new cities.
B) By the end of the 19th century, as the frontier vanished, the US had a mild panic
attack.
What
would
this
energetic,
enterprising
country
be
without
new
lands
to
conquer?
Some
people,
such
as
Teddy
Roosevelt,
decided
to
keep
on
conquering
(Cuba, the Philippines, etc.), but eventually, in industrialization, the US found a new
narrative of economic mobility at home. From the 1890s to the 1960s, people moved
from farm to city, first in the North and then in the South. In fact, by the 1950s, there
was enough prosperity and white-collar work that many began to move to the suburbs.
As the population aged, there was also a shift from the cold Rust Belt to the comforts
of the Sun Belt. We think of this as an old person's migration, but it created many jobs
for
the
young
in
construction
and
health
care,
not
to
mention
tourism,
retail
and
restaurants.
C) For the last 20 years from the end of the cold war through two burst bubbles in a
single decade-the US has been casting about for its next economic narrative. And now
it
is
experiencing
another
period
of
panic,
which
is
bad
news
for
much
of
the
workforce but particularly for its youngest members.
D)
The
US
has
always
been
a
remarkably
mobile
country,
but
new
data
from
the
Census Bureau indicate that mobility has reached its lowest level in recorded history.
Sure, some people are stuck in homes valued at less than their mortgages(
抵押贷款
),
but many young people-who don't own homes and don't yet have families-are staying
put,
too.
This
suggests,
among
other
things,
that
people
aren't
packing
up
for
new
economic opportunities the way they used to.
Rather than dividing the country into
the 1 percenters versus(
与
......
相对
) everyone else, the split in our economy is really
between two other classes: the mobile and immobile.
E) Part of the problem is that the country's largest industries are in decline. In the past,
it was perfectly clear where young people should go for work (Chicago in the 1870s,
Detroit in the 1910s, Houston in the 1970s) and, more or less, what they'd be doing
when
they
got
there
(killing
cattle,
building
cars,
selling
oil).
And
these
industries
were
large
enough
to
offer
jobs
to
each
class
of
worker,
from
unskilled
laborer
to
manager or engineer. Today, the few bright spots in our economy are relatively small
(though
some
promise
future
growth)
and
decentralized.
There
are
great
jobs
in
Silicon Valley, in the biotech research capitals of Boston and Raleigh-Durham and in
advanced
manufacturing
plants
along
the
southern
z-85
corridor.
These
companies
recruit
all
over
the
country
and
the
globe
for
workers
with
specific
abilities.
(You
don't need to be the next Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook. to get a job in one
of the microhubs(
微中心
), by the way. But you will almost certainly need at least a B.
A. in computer science or a year or two at a technical school.) This newer, select job
market is national, and it offers members of the mobile class competitive salaries and
higher bargaining power.
F) Many members of the immobile class, on the other hand, live in the America of the
gloomy headlines. If you have no specialized skills, there's little reason to uproot to
another
state
and
be
the
last
in
line
for
a
low-paying
job
at
a
new
auto
plant
or
a
green-energy
startup.
The
surprise
in
the
census(
普查
)
data,
however,
is
that
the
immobile workforce is not limited to unskilled workers. In fact, many have a college
degree.
G)
Until
now,
a
B.
A.
in
any
subject
was
a
near-guarantee
of
at
least
middle-class
wages.
But
today,
a
quarter
of
college
graduates
make
less
than
the
typical
worker
without
a
bachelor's
degree.
David
Autor,
a
prominent
labor
economist
at
M.I.T.,
recently told me that a college degree alone is no longer a guarantor of a good job.
While graduates from top universities are still likely to get a good job no matter what
their major is, he said, graduates from less-famous schools are going to be judged on
what they know. To compete for jobs on a national level, they should be armed with
the skills that emerging industries need, whether technical or not.
H)
Those
without
such
specialized
skills- like
poetry,
or
even
history,
majors-are
already
competing
with
their
neighbors
for
the
same
sorts
of
second-rate,
poorer- paying local jobs like low-level management or big-box retail sales. And with
the low-skilled labor market
atomized into thousands of microeconomics, immobile
workers
are
less
able
to
demand
better
wages
or
conditions
or
to
acquire
valuable
skills.
I)
So
what,
exactly,
should
the
ambitious
young
worker
of
today
be
learning?
Unfortunately, it's hard to say, since the US doesn't have one clear national project.
There
are
plenty
of
emerging,
smaller
industries,
but
which
ones
are
the
most
promising?
(Nanotechnology's(
纳米技术
)
moment
of
remarkable
growth
seems
to
have
been
5
years
into
the
future
for
something
like
20
years
now.)
It's
not
clear
exactly what skills are most needed or if they will even be valuable in a decade.
J)
What
is
clear
is
that
all
sorts
of
government
issues--education.
health-insurance
portability, worker retraining-are no longer just bonuses to
already prosperous lives
but
existential
requirements.
It's
in
all
of
our
interests
to
make
sure
that
as
many
people
as
possible
are
able
to
move
toward
opportunity,
and
America's
ability
to
invest people and money in exciting new ideas is still greater than that of most other
wealthy countries. (As recently as five years ago, US migration was twice the rate of
European Union states.) That, at least, is some comfort at a time when our national
economy seems to be searching for its next story line.


注意：此部分试题请在答题卡
2
上作答。

46. Unlike in the past, a college degree alone does not guarantee a good job for its
holder.
47.
The
census
data
is
surprising
in
that
college
graduates
are
also
among
the
immobile workforce.
48.
New
figures
released
by
the
government
show
that
Americans
today
are
less
mobile than ever before.
49. The migration of old people from cold to warm places made many jobs available
to the young.
50. America is better at innovation than most other rich nations-
51. Early American history is one of moving outward.
52. Young people don't know what to learn because it is hard to predict what skills are
most needed or valued ten years from now.
53. Computer or other technical skills are needed to get a well-paying job in high-tech
or advanced manufacturing.
54.
When
the
frontier
vanished
about
a
century
ago,
America
found
new
economic
mobility in industrialization.
55. America today can be divided into two classes: those who move and those who
don't.

accommodation
n.
住处，膳宿；

prominent
adj.
突出的，显著的；杰出的；卓越的

individual
n.
个人；个体

scale
n.
规模；比例；鳞；刻度；天平；数值范围

transaction
n.
交易；事务；办理；


availability
n.
可用性；有效性；实用性。
（形容词
available
）

payment
n.
付款，支付；报酬，报答；

handle
n.
把手；柄；手感；口实

vt.
处理；操作；运用；买卖；触摸

ownership
n.
所有权；物主身份

subject
n.
主题；科目；主语；国民

adj.
服从的；易患
…
的；受制于
…
的

idle
adj.
闲置的；懒惰的；停顿的

core
n.
核心；要点；
(
和热火队的科尔一个读音
)
devoted


adj.
献身的；忠诚的

v.
献身于
…
；致力于
…
（
devote
的过去分词）

charm
n.
魅力，吸引力；魔力

security
n.
安全；保证；

enterprise
n.
企业；事业；

excess
n.
超过，
超额；
过度，
过量；
无节制
adj.
额外 的，
过量的；
附加的
（形容词
excessive
）

track
n.
轨道；足迹，踪迹；小道
vt.
追踪；通过；循路而行；

competition
n.
竞争；比赛，竞赛

immense
adj.
巨大的，广大的；无边无际的；

adequate
adj.
充足的；适当的；

consumer
n.
消费者，消耗者；用户，顾客

potential


n.
潜能；可能性；

adj.
潜在的；可能的；


The rise of the sharing economy.

A) Last night 40 000 people rented accommodation from a service that offers 250 000
rooms
in
30
000
cities
in
192
countries.
They
chose
their
rooms
and
paid
for
everything online. But their beds were provided by private individuals, rather than a
hotel
chain.
Hosts
and
guests
were
matched
up
by
Airbnb,
a
firm
based
in
San
Francisco.
Since
its
launch
in
2008
more
than
4
million
people
have
used
it
2.5
million
of
them
in
2012
alone.
It
is
the
most
prominent
example
of
a
huge
new

economy
in
which
people
rent
beds,
cars,
boats
and
other
assets
directly
from each other, co-ordinated via the internet.
B) You might think this is no different from running a bed-and-breakfast (
家庭旅店
),
owning a timeshare (
分时度假房
) or participating in a car pool. But technology has
reduced
transaction
costs,
making
sharing
assets
cheaper
and
easier
than
ever-and
therefore possible on a much larger scale. The big change is the availability of more
data
about
people
and
things,
which
allows
physical
assets
to
be
divided
and
consumed
as
services.
Before
the
internet,
renting
a
surfboard,
a
power
tool
or
a
parking space from someone else was feasible, but was usually more trouble than it
was
worth.
Now
websites
such
as
Airbnb,
Relay
Rides
and
SnapGoods
match
up
owners and renters; smartphones with GPS let people sec where the nearest rentable
car is parked; social networks provide a way to check up on people and build trust;
and online payment systems handle the billing.
What's mine is yours, for a fee
C)
Just
as
peer-to-peer
businesses
like
eBay
allow
anyone
to
become
a
retailer,
sharing
sites let individuals act
as
an ad hoc (
临时的
) taxi
service, car- hire firm
or
boutique hotel (
精品酒店
) as and when it suits them. Just go online or download an
app. The model works for items that are expensive to buy and are widely owned by
people who do not make full use of them. Bedrooms and cars are the most obvious
examples,
but
you
can
also
rent
camping
spaces
in
Sweden,
fields
in
Australia
and
washing
machines
in
France.
As
advocates
of
the
sharing
economy
like
to
put
it,
access trumps (
胜过
) ownership.
D)
Rachel
Botsman,
the
author
of
a
book
on
the
subject,
says
the
consumer
peer-to-peer
rental
market
alone
is
worth
$$26
billion.
Broader
definitions
of
the
sharing
economy include peer-to-peer lending or
putting a solar panel
on
your roof
and
selling
power
back
to
the
grid
(
电网
).
And
it
is
not
just
individuals:
the
web
makes it easier for companies to rent out spare offices and idle machines, too. But the
core of the sharing economy is people renting things from each other.
E)
Such

(
合作的
)
consumption
is
a
good
thing
for
several
reasons.
Owners make money from underused assets. Airbnb says hosts in San Francisco who
rent
out
their
homes
do
so
for
an
average
of
58
nights
a
year,
making
$$9300.
Car
owners who rent their vehicles to others using RelayRides make an average of $$250 a
month; some make more than $$1000. Renters, meanwhile, pay less than they would if
they bought the item themselves, or turned to a traditional provider such as a hotel or
car-hire firm. And there are environmental benefits, too: renting a car when you need
it, rather than owning one, means fewer cars are required and fewer resources must be