Question

After graduation I returned home to my small town in Indiana. I didn’t have a job yet. Mr. Hobbs, a friend of my father’s, owned a small shirt factory in town. Within the past five years it had grown from twenty to eighty workers. Mr. Hobbs was worried that his plant was getting too big and inefficient, so he asked me to come in on a short-term basis as a consultant.

I went to the plant and spent about a week looking around and making notes. I was really a mazed at what I saw.

Most curious of all, there was no quality control at all. No one inspected the final product of the factory. As a result some of the shirts that were put in boxes for shipment were missing one or two buttons, the collar, and even a sleeve sometimes!

The working conditions were poor. The tables where the workers sat were very high and uncomfortable. Except for a half hour at lunchtime, there were no breaks in the day to relieve the boring work. There was no music. The walls of the workrooms were a dull gray color. I was amazed that the workers hadn’t gone on strike.

Furthermore, the work flow was irregular. There was one especially absent-minded young man in the assembly（组装）line who sewed on buttons. After a while I recognized him as "Big Jim", who used to sit behind me in math class in high school. He was very slow and all the shifts were held up at his position. Workers beyond him in line on his shift had to wait with nothing to do; therefore, a great deal of time and efficiency were lost as Big Jim daydreamed while he worked. All week I wondered why he wasn’t fired.

After I made observations for a week, Mr. Hobbs asked me for an oral report of my findings.

1.The shirts from Mr. Hobbs’ factory can be described as ____.

A．of low quality

B．of high quality

C．fashionable

D．unfashionable

2.Why did Mr. Hobbs ask the writer to the factory?

A．The factory was too big.

B．The factory was not producing fast enough.

C．The factory was not big enough.

D．The writer was a college graduate.

3.Which is not likely to happen in the factory?

A．The workers will have more rest in the day.

B．Someone will examine the final product.

C．New machines will be bought.

D．The factory will be repainted.

4.Big Jim may get fired mainly because ____.

A．he was slow

B．he wasted much time

C．he was absent-minded

D．the work flow was irregular

Answer

1.A

2.B

3.C

4.C

【解析】文章介绍了作者视察一家一家工厂所存在的很多问题。

1.Ａ推理题。根据文章第３段２,３行As a result some of the shirts that were put in boxes for shipment were missing one or two buttons, the collar, and even a sleeve sometimes!可知Ａ正确。

2.B 推理题。根据文章第一段Mr. Hobbs was worried that his plant was getting too big and inefficient可知这个工厂的效率很低，正是老板担心的内容，故B正确。

3.C 推理题。根据3，4,5段，我发现了工厂中存在的诸多问题，ABD三个措施将会被采用，并没有提及机器的问题，故B不会被采用。

4.C 细节题。根据文章倒数第二段Workers beyond him in line on his shift had to wait with nothing to do; therefore, a great deal of time and efficiency were lost as Big Jim daydreamed while he worked.可知他的效率太低，经常走神，导致工作积压，故C正确。