英語六級閱讀真題練習1

　　While US executives give both responsibility and authority to their employees, Japaneseexecutives delegate only authority—the responsibility is still theirs. Although the subsidiarythat sold the sensitive technology to the Soviets had its own management, the Toshiba topexecutives said they “must take personal responsibility for not creating an atmospherethroughout the Toshiba group that would make such activity unthinkable, even in anindependently run subsidiary.”

　　Such acceptance of community responsibility is not unique to businesses in Japan. Schoolprincipals in Japan have resigned when their students committed major crimes after schoolhours.

　　Even if they do not quit, Japanese executives will often accept primary responsibility in otherways, such as taking the first pay cut when a company gets into financial trouble. Such personalsacrifices, even if they are largely symbolic, help to create the sense of community andemployee loyalty that is crucial to the Japanese way of doing business.

　　Harvard Business School professor George Lodge calls the ritual acceptance of blame “almosta feudal (封建的) way of purging (清除) the community of dishonor,” and to some in the UnitedStates, such resignations look cowardly. However, in an era in which both business andgovernmental leaders seem particularly good at evading responsibility, many US managerswould probably welcome an infusion (灌輸) of the Japanese sense of responsibility. If, forinstance, US automobile company executives offered to reduce their own salaries before theyasked their workers to take pay cuts, negotiations would probably take on a very differentcharacter.

　　英語六級閱讀真題練習

　　21. Why did the chairman of Toshiba resign his position in 1987?

　　A) Because in Japan, the leakage of a state secret to Russians is a grave crime.

　　B) Because he had been under attack for shifting responsibility to his subordinates.

　　C) Because in Japan, the chief executive of a corporation is held responsible for the mistakemade by its subsidiaries.

　　D) Because he had been accused of being cowardly towards crises that were taking place inhis corporation.(C)

　　22. According to the passage if you want to be a good manager in Japan, you have to________.

　　A) apologize promptly for your subordinates’ mistakes

　　B) be skillful in accepting blames from customers

　　C) make symbolic sacrifices whenever necessary

　　D) create a strong sense of company loyalty(A)

　　23. What’s Professor George Lodge’s attitude towards the resignations of Japanesecorporate leaders?

　　A) Sympathetic.

　　B) Biased.

　　C) Critical.

　　D) Approving.(C)

　　24. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

　　A) Boeing had nothing to do with the JAL air crash in 1985.

　　B) American executives consider authority and responsibility inseparable.

　　C) School principals bear legal responsibility for students’ crimes.

　　D) Persuading employees to take pay cuts doesn’t help solve corporate crises.(B)

　　25. The passage is mainly about ________.

　　A) resignation as an effective way of dealing with business crises

　　B) the importance of delegating responsibility to employees

　　C) ways of evading responsibility in times of crises

　　D) the difference between two business cultures

　　英語六級閱讀真題練習答案

　　21. C 22. A 23. C 24. B 25. D

　　英語六級閱讀真題練習2

　　As machines go, the car is not terribly noisy, nor terribly polluting, nor terribly dangerous; andon all those dimensions it has become better as the century has grown older. The main problemis its prevalence, and the social costs that ensue from the use by everyone of something thatwould be fairly harmless if, say, only the rich were to use it. It is a price we pay for equality.

　　Before becoming too gloomy, it is worth recalling why the car has been arguably the mostsuccessful and popular product of the whole of the past 100 years—and remains so. The storybegins with the environmental improvement it brought in the 1900s. In New York city in1900, according to the Car Culture, a 1975 book by J. Flink, a historian, horses deposited 2.5million pounds of manure (糞) and 60,000 gallons of urine (尿) every day. Every year, the cityauthorities had to remove an average of 15,000 dead horses from the streets, it made carssmell of roses.

　　Cars were also wonderfully flexible. The main earlier solution to horse pollution and trafficjams was the electric trolley bus (電車). But that required fixed overhead wires, and rails andplatforms, which were expensive, ugly, and inflexible. The car could go from any A to any B,and allowed towns to develop in all directions with low-density housing, rather than just beingconcentrated along the trolley or rail lines. Rural areas benefited too, for they became lessremote.

　　However, since pollution became a concern in the 1950s, experts have predicted—wrongly—that the car boom was about to end. In his book Mr. Flink argued that by 1973 the Americanmarket had become saturated, at one car for every 2.25 people, and so had the markets ofJapan and Western Europe (because of land shortages). Environmental worries anddiminishing oil reserves would prohibit mass car use anywhere else.

　　He was wrong. Between 1970 and 1990, whereas America’s population grew by 23%, thenumber of cars on its roads grew by 60%. There is now one car for every 1.7 people there, onefor every 2.1 in Japan, one for every 5.3 in Britain. Around 550 million cars are already on theroads, not to mention all the trucks and mocorcyeles, and about 50 million new ones are madeeach year worldwide. Will it go on? Undoubtedly, because people want it to.

　　英語六級閱讀真題練習

　　26. As is given in the first paragraph, the reason why the car has become a problem isthat ________.

　　A) poor people can’t afford it

　　B) it is too expensive to maintain

　　C) too many people are using it

　　D) it causes too many road accidents(B)

　　27. According to the passage, the car started to gain popularity because ________.

　　A) it didn’t break down as easily as a horse

　　B) it had a comparatively pleasant odor

　　C) it caused less pollution than horses

　　D) it brightened up the gloomy streets(C)

　　28. What impact did the use of cars have on society?

　　A) People were compelled to leave downtown areas.

　　B) People were able to live in less crowded suburban areas.

　　C) Business along trolley and rail lines slackened.

　　D) City streets were free of ugly overhead wires.(B)

　　29. Mr. Flink argued in his book that cars would not be widely used in other countriesbecause ________.

　　A) the once booming car market has become saturated

　　B) traffic jams in those countries are getting more and more serious

　　C) expensive motorways are not available in less developed countries

　　D) people worry about pollution and the diminishing oil resources(D)

　　30. What’s wrong with Mr. Flink’s prediction?

　　A) The use of automobiles has kept increasing worldwide.

　　B) New generations of cars are virtually pollution free.

　　C) The population of America has not increased as fast.

　　D) People’s environmental concerns are constantly increasing.

　　英語六級閱讀真題練習答案

　　26. B 27. C 28. B 29. D 30. A