英語(yǔ)四級(jí)基礎(chǔ)閱讀訓(xùn)練 Text 13

Text 13

When they advise your kids to "get an education" if you want to raise your income, they tell you only half the truth. What they really mean is to get just enough education to provide manpower for your society, but not too much that you prove an embarrassment to your society.

Get a high school diploma, at least. Without that, you are occupationally dead, unless your name happens to be George Bernard Shaw or Thomas Alva Edison and you can successfully drop out in grade school.

Get a college degree, if possible. With a　B.A., you are on the launching pad. But now you have to start to put on the brakes. If you go for a master's degree, make sure it is an M.B.A., and only from a first-rate university. Beyond this, the famous law of diminishing returns begins to take effect.

Do you know, for instance, that long-haul truck drivers earn more a year than full professors? Yes, the average salary in 1977 for those truckers was $24,000, while the full professors managed to average just$23,930.

A Ph.D.is the highest degree you can get, but except in a few specialized fields such as physics or chemistry, where the degree can quickly be turned to industrial or commercial purposes, you are facing a dim future. There are more Ph.D.s unemployed or underemployed in this country than in any other part of the world by far.

If you become a doctor of philosophy in English or history or anthropology or political science or languages or — worst of all — in philosophy, you run the risk of becoming overeducated for our national demands. Not for our needs, mind you, but for our demands.

Thousands of Ph.D.s are selling shoes, driving cabs, waiting on tables and filling out fruitless applications month after month. And then maybe taking a job in some high school or backwater college that pays much less than the janitor earns.

You can equate the level of income with the level of education only so far. Far enough, that is, to make you useful to the gross national product, but not so far that nobody can turn much of a profit on you.

1.According to the writer, what the society expects of education is to turn out people who_______.

A.will not be a shame to the society　B.will become loyal citizens

C.can take care of themselves　　　D.can meet the demands as a source of manpower

2.Many Ph.D.s are out of job because_______.

A.they are wrongly educated　　　　　　B.they are of little commercial value to the society

C.there are fewer jobs in high schools　　　D.they prefer easy jobs with more money

3.The nation is only interested in people_______.

A.with diplomas　　　　　　　　　　　B.specialized in physics and chemistry

C.valuable to the gross national product　　D.both A and C

4.Which of the following is NOT true?

A.Bernard Shaw didn't finish high school, nor did Edison.

B.One must think carefully before going for a master's degree.

C.The higher your educational level, the more money you will earn.

D.If you are educated too much, you'll make things difficult for the society.

5.What is the attitude of the author to the education?

A.Education is necessary but not crucial.　　　　B.Higher education isn't equal to the higher income.

C.Education works not so good as technique.　　D.A Ph.D.can only work in schools or colleges.

長(zhǎng)難例句分析

［長(zhǎng)難例句］What they really mean is to get just enough education to provide manpower for your society, but not too much that you prove an embarrassment to your society.

［結(jié)構(gòu)分析］本句是主系表結(jié)構(gòu)。what引導(dǎo)的名詞從句作主語(yǔ)，系動(dòng)詞是is，to do不定式作表語(yǔ)。在這個(gè)不定式中，動(dòng)詞get的賓語(yǔ)有兩個(gè)，一個(gè)是enough education...，一個(gè)是not too much...，而enough education的賓語(yǔ)補(bǔ)足語(yǔ)是to provide...。

［參考譯文］他們真實(shí)的意思是受到足夠的教育可以為社會(huì)提供勞動(dòng)力，可不要過(guò)度，否則你就只能在社會(huì)中困窘不堪。

［長(zhǎng)難例句］Without that, you are occupationally dead, unless your name happens to be George Bernard Shaw or Thomas Alva Edison and you can successfully drop out in grade school.

［結(jié)構(gòu)分析］本句中，主干是...you are occupationally dead...。without that是一個(gè)條件狀語(yǔ)，后面也是一個(gè)由unless引導(dǎo)的條件狀語(yǔ)從句，unless引導(dǎo)的條件狀語(yǔ)是由兩個(gè)并列的句子構(gòu)成的。

［參考譯文］沒(méi)有中學(xué)文憑，你就會(huì)沒(méi)有工作，除非你碰巧是大名鼎鼎的喬治·蕭伯納或是托馬斯·阿爾瓦·愛(ài)迪生，并且成功地從中小學(xué)輟學(xué)。

［長(zhǎng)難例句］A Ph.D.is the highest degree you can get, but except in a few specialized fields such as physics or chemistry, where the degree can quickly be turned to industrial or commercial purposes, you are facing a dim future.

［結(jié)構(gòu)分析］本句的主干是A Ph.D.is the highest degree..., but... you are facing a dim future。在第一個(gè)分句中，you can get是一個(gè)定語(yǔ)從句修飾前面的degree。在第二個(gè)分句中，except引導(dǎo)的介賓短語(yǔ)作條件狀語(yǔ)，in...作except的賓語(yǔ)。在英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)法中，常見(jiàn)到介詞后面接介詞短語(yǔ)的情況。physics or chemistry后面是關(guān)系副詞where引導(dǎo)的非限定性定語(yǔ)從句。

［參考譯文］你能得到的最高學(xué)位是博士學(xué)位，可除非學(xué)習(xí)個(gè)別專(zhuān)業(yè)，諸如能把學(xué)位應(yīng)用于工商業(yè)的物理或化學(xué)，否則你的前途就會(huì)很黯淡。

全文參考譯文

如果你要提高收入，他們就會(huì)建議你的孩子去“接受教育”，這種建議只對(duì)了一半。他們真實(shí)的意思是受到足夠的教育可以為社會(huì)提供勞動(dòng)力?？刹灰^(guò)度，否則你就只能在社會(huì)中困窘不堪。

至少應(yīng)該獲得中學(xué)文憑，否則你會(huì)沒(méi)有工作，除非你碰巧是大名鼎鼎的喬治·蕭伯納或是托馬斯·阿爾瓦·愛(ài)迪生，并且成功地從中小學(xué)輟學(xué)。

若可能的話，要得到大學(xué)文憑。擁有了大學(xué)文憑，你就像上了“發(fā)射臺(tái)”。不過(guò)此時(shí)，你就應(yīng)該“剎車(chē)”了。如果你想申請(qǐng)碩士學(xué)位，那最好是一流大學(xué)的MBA。否則，再往后，著名的報(bào)酬遞減率就會(huì)起作用了。

舉例來(lái)說(shuō)，你知道長(zhǎng)途運(yùn)輸司機(jī)的年收入就比正教授高嗎？沒(méi)錯(cuò)，那些卡車(chē)司機(jī)1977年的平均收入是2.4萬(wàn)美金，而教授的收入平均是2.393萬(wàn)美金。

你能得到的最高學(xué)位是博士學(xué)位，可除了學(xué)習(xí)個(gè)別專(zhuān)業(yè)，諸如能把學(xué)位應(yīng)用于工商業(yè)的物理或化學(xué)，你的前途就很黯淡。到目前為止，這個(gè)國(guó)家里失業(yè)或是收入低的博士要比世界上其他地區(qū)多得多。

假如你成為一名研究英語(yǔ)、歷史、人類(lèi)學(xué)、政治、語(yǔ)言或者——最糟糕的——哲學(xué)的博士，你就有危險(xiǎn)受到過(guò)度教育而超出了國(guó)家的需要。提醒你，不是超出了我們自身的需求，而是超出了國(guó)家對(duì)我們的需求。

成千上萬(wàn)的博士或者賣(mài)鞋、開(kāi)出租車(chē)，或者月復(fù)一月地坐在辦公桌旁填寫(xiě)一些沒(méi)用的表格。也可能在一些中學(xué)或沒(méi)有前途的大學(xué)當(dāng)差，掙的錢(qián)比看門(mén)人還要少得多。

你可以將收入的高低和受教育的高低對(duì)等起來(lái)，即讓你能夠?yàn)樘岣邍?guó)民生產(chǎn)總值有點(diǎn)用處的教育就已足夠，而不要受過(guò)度的教育，以至于沒(méi)有人能夠從你身上得到利潤(rùn)。

題目答案與解析

1.按照作者的觀點(diǎn)，培養(yǎng)出_________ 的人是社會(huì)對(duì)教育的期望。

A.不會(huì)成為社會(huì)羞恥　B.將成為忠誠(chéng)的城市人

C.能夠自我照顧　　　D.可以滿足人力資源需求

【答案】D

【解析】本題的依據(jù)是第一段的最后一句話just enough education to provide manpower for your society，因此D項(xiàng)為正確答案。

2.很多博士生無(wú)法找到工作的原因是_________。

A.他們受到了錯(cuò)誤的教育　B.他們對(duì)社會(huì)缺乏社會(huì)商業(yè)價(jià)值

C.高校中的工作職位太少　D.他們更喜歡掙錢(qián)多的簡(jiǎn)單工作

【答案】B

【解析】本題的依據(jù)是第五段的第一句A Ph.D.is the highest degree you can get, but except in a few specialized fields such as physics or chemistry, where the degree can quickly be turned to industrial or commercial purposes，據(jù)此可知，他們的學(xué)識(shí)不能很快應(yīng)用在工業(yè)或商業(yè)上。因此B項(xiàng)為正確答案。

3.這個(gè)國(guó)家僅僅對(duì)_________ 人感興趣。

A.有學(xué)位的　　　　　　　B.物理或化學(xué)專(zhuān)業(yè)的

C.對(duì)國(guó)民生產(chǎn)總值有用的　D.A和C類(lèi)

【答案】D

【解析】本題可參照文章的第二段和第三段。這兩段告訴我們，社會(huì)對(duì)有文憑的人感興趣。但我們不能選擇A項(xiàng)，因?yàn)槲闹幸蔡岬接行W(xué)歷太高的人，社會(huì)也不需要，有的是賣(mài)鞋、開(kāi)出租車(chē)和當(dāng)看門(mén)人的博士。再參照最后一段，對(duì)國(guó)民生產(chǎn)總值有價(jià)值的人才能獲得較高的收入，因此C項(xiàng)也對(duì)。所以D項(xiàng)為正確答案。

4.下面各項(xiàng)中不正確的是哪項(xiàng)？

A.蕭伯納或是愛(ài)迪生都沒(méi)有上完高中?！.申請(qǐng)碩士學(xué)位前必須仔細(xì)考慮一下。

C.受到的教育水平越高，賺的錢(qián)越多?！.如果你受了過(guò)度教育，你將給社會(huì)制造麻煩。

【答案】C

【解析】從文中內(nèi)容可知，你有可能受教育過(guò)度。對(duì)國(guó)民生產(chǎn)總值有價(jià)值的人才能獲得較高的收入。又根據(jù)第四段里講到的例子——卡車(chē)司機(jī)的收入比教授的高，因此C項(xiàng)為正確答案。

5.作者對(duì)教育的態(tài)度是什么？

A.教育是必需的但不是決定性的。　B.受教育水平高不等于收入水平高。

C.教育不如技術(shù)好使?！　　　　　.哲學(xué)博士只能在學(xué)校工作。

【答案】A

【解析】其他選項(xiàng)都過(guò)于絕對(duì)。