
Ford
1 Ford's great strength was the manufacturing process——not invention. Long before he started a car company, he was a worker, known for picking up pieces of metal and wire and turning them into machines. He started putting cars together in 1891. Although it was by no means the first popular automobile, the Model T showed the world just how creative Ford was at combining technology and market.
2 The company's assembly line alone threw America's Industrial Revolution into overdrive (高速运转). Instead of having workers put together the entire car, Ford's friends, who were great toolmakers from Scotland, organized teams that added parts to each Model T as it moved down a line. By the time Ford's Highland Park plant was humming(嗡嗡作响) along in 1914, the world's first automatic conveyor belt could turn out a car every 93 minutes.
3 The same year Henry Ford shocked the world with the $5-a-day minimum wage scheme, the greatest contribution he had ever made. The average wage in the auto industry then was $2.34 for a 9-hour shift. Ford not only doubled that, he also took an hour off the workday. In those years it was unthinkable that a man could be paid that much for doing something that didn't involve an awful lot of training or education. The Wall Street Journal called the plan "an economic crime", and critics everywhere laughed at Ford.
4 But as the wage increased later to daily $10, it proved a critical component of Ford's dream to make the automobile accessible (可及的)to all. The critics were too stupid to understand that because Ford had lowered his costs per car, the higher wages didn't matter except for making it possible for more people to buy cars.
1 Paragraph 1 .
2 Paragraph 2 .
3 Paragraph 3 .
4 Paragraph 4 .
A Ford's Followers
B The Assembly Line
C Ford's Great Dream
D The Establishment of the Company
E Ford's Biggest Contribution
F Ford's Great Talent
5 The assembly line made it possible to .
6 Ford was the first to adopt .
7 Higher wages enabled many people to .
8 Ford's higher-wage and lower-cost strategy was strongly .
A criticized by the media
B the low wage in the auto industry
C own a car
D produce cars in large numbers
E the 8-hour-shift'practice
F combined technology and market
【参考答案】1. F 2. B 3. E 4. C 5. D 6. E 7. C 8. A
2017职称英语理工B级:概括大意练习题(2).doc正在阅读:
工艺员个人工作简历模板大全04-28
加拿大留学奖学金的具体分类介绍09-11
2021年贵州资产评估师报名入口已开通(3月22日至5月10日)09-16
2023年安徽省合肥市长丰县机关事业单位招募青年就业见习人员48人公告07-13
2023四川成都市青白江区中医医院招聘32人(报名时间:6月18日17:00止)06-14
广东云浮2018成人高考准考证打印时间:10月19日后07-17