1990年1月大学英语六级(CET-6)真题试卷Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)Questions 21 to 24 are based on the following passage.Automation refers to the introduction of electronic control and automatic operation of productive machinery. It reduces the human factors, mental and physical, in production, and is designed to make possible the manufacture of more goods with fewer workers. The development of automation in American industry has been called the “Second Industrial Revolution”.Labours concern over automation arises from uncertainty about the effects on employment, and fears of major changes in jobs. In the main, labour has taken the view that resistance to technical change is unfruitful. Eventually, the result of automation may well be an increase in employment, since it is expected that vast industries will grow up around manufacturing, maintaining, and repairing automation equipment. The interest of labour lies in bringing about the transition with a minimum of inconvenience and distress to the workers involved. Also, union spokesmen emphasize that the benefit of the increased production and lower costs made possible by automation should be shared by workers in the form of higher wages, more leisure, and improved living standards.To protect the interests of their members in the era of automation, unions have adopted a number of new policies. One of these is the promotion of supplementary unemployment benefit plans. It is emphasized that since the employer involved in such a plan has a direct financial interest in preventing unemployment, he will have a strong drive for planning new installations so as to cause the least possible problems in jobs and job assignment. Some unions are working for dismissal pay agreements, requiring that permanently dismissed workers be paid a sum of money based on length of service. Another approach is the idea of the “improvement factor”, which calls for wage increases based on increases in productivity. It is possible, however, that labour will rely mainly on reduction in working time.21.Though labour worries about the effect of automation, it does not doubt that _.A) automation will eventually prevent unemploymentB) automation will help workers acquire new skillsC) automation will eventually benefit the workers no less that the employersD) automation is a trend which cannot be stopped22.The idea of the “improvement factor” (Line 6, Para. 3) probably implies that _.A) wages should be paid on the basis of length of serviceB) the benefit of increased production and lower costs should be shared by workersC) supplementary unemployment benefit plans should be promotedD) the transition to automation should be brought about with the minimum of inconvenience and distress to workers 23.In order to get the full benefits of automation, labour will depend mostly on _.A) additional payment to the permanently dismissed workersB) the increase of wages in proportion to the increase in productivityC) shorter working hours and more leisure timeD) a strong drive for planning new installations 24.Which of the following can best sum up the passage?A) Advantages and disadvantages of automation.B) Labour and the effects of automation.C) Unemployment benefit plans and automation.D) Social benefits of automation. Questions 25 to 30 are based on the following passage.The case for college has been accepted without question for more than a generation. All high school graduates ought to go, says conventional wisdom and statistical evidence, because college will help them earn more money, become “better” people, and learn to be more responsible citizens than those who dont go.But college has never been able to work its magic for everyone. And now that close to half our high school graduates are attending, those who dont fit the pattern are becoming more numerous, and more obvious. College graduates are selling shoes and driving taxis; college students interfere with each others experiments and write false letters of recommendation in the intense competition for admission to graduate school. Others find no stimulation in their studies, and drop out-often encouraged by college administrators.Some observers say the fault! Is with the young people themselves-they are spoiled and they are expecting too much. But thats a condemnation of the students as a whole, and doesnt explain all campus unhappiness. Others blame the state of the world, and they are partly right. Weve been told that young people have to go to college because our economy cant absorb an army of untrained eighteen-year-olds. But disappointed graduates are learning that it can no longer absorb an army of trained twenty-two-year-olds, either.Some adventuresome educators and campus watchers have openly begun to suggest that college may not be the best, the proper, the only place for every young person after the completion of high school. We may have been l