After working 12-hour shifts in a factory, the other options have become only too clear. When I’m back at the university, skipping classes and turning in lazy re-writes seems too irresponsible after seeing what I would be doing without school. All the advice and public-service announcements about the value of an education that used to sound stale now ring true.
These lessons I’m learning, however valuable, are alwaystinged (带有) with sense of guilt. Many people pass their lives in the places I briefly work, spending 30 years where I spend only two months at a time. “This job pays well, but it’s hell on the body,” said one co-worker. “Study hard and keep reading,” she added.
My experiences in the factories have inspired me to make the most of my college years before I enter the real world for good.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答 。
57. How did the author look back on his summer days while at college?
[A] They brought him nothing but torture.
[B] They were no holiday for him at all.
[C] They were a relief from his hard work at school.
[D] They offered him a chance to know more people.
58. What does the author say about college students?
[A] They expect too much from the real world.
[B] They have little interest in blue-collar life.
【2012年12月英语四级真题及答案第一套）】[C] They think too highly of themselves.
[D] They are confident of their future.
59. What, according to the author, is most frustrating for blue-collar workers?
[A] They do not get decent pay. [B] They do not have job security.
[C] They have to work 12-hour shifts. [D] They have to move from place to place.
60. In what important way has the author’s work experience changed him?
[A] He learned to be more practical.
[B] He acquired a sense of urgency.
[C] He came to respect blue-collar workers.
[D] He came to appreciate his college education.
61. Why does the author feel somewhat guilty?
[A] He realizes there is a great divide between his life and that of blue-collar workers.
[B] He looks down upon the mechanical work at the assembly life.
[C] He has not done much to help his co-workers at the factory.
[D] He has stayed at school just for the purpose of escaping from the real world.
Passage Two
Questions 62 to 66 are based on the following passage.
Are people suffering form gadget(小器具) overload? Are they exhausted by the consumer equivalent of the brain fatigue — information overload — that is caused by constant updates of devices and online media?
Underwriters Laboratories issued a report last week that found 48% of consumers “feel high-tech manufacturers bring new products to market faster than people need them.”
There are two possible explanations. The first, obvious one is that the pace ofinnovation(创新) is too fast for consumers. The second, less obvious one is that, innovation is too slow. That is the new offerings companies are pushing out the door every six months or so are me-too products or ones with just a couple of new features. Marketing schedules, not product innovation, are driving the corporate(公司的) train. Manufacturers in American valued “spend to market” more than in other countries, the report found.
Sara Greenstein, Underwriters Laboratories’ chief strategy officer, offered her interpretation of the survey results, “Innovation is too fast only if corners are cut.”
For the high-tech sector, there are a few other interesting finding. Consumers are less concerned about safety in high-tech products than categories like fresh and processed food. But their top safety concerns are emissions and wireless radio waves. Many people, it seems, are uneasy living in a thickening cloud of radio waves from mobile phone towers and the gadgets they communicate with.
A finding that was a bit surprising is that to consumers, the inner parts of high-tech devices do apparently matter. Some 55% of consumers, according to the report, said they are “more” concerned about high-tech components come from than where the product was assembled.”
The report doesn’t really say how that information would affect consumer buying decisions. It could be complicated. Manufacturing companies on average rely on more than 35 contract suppliers around the world to create a single product. That number would be higher for a smartphone or laptop.
But maybe some sort of supply-chain labeling showing where parts come from in a product? “We’re working on it,” Ms. Greenstein said.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答 。
62. What is the finding in Underwriters Laboratories’ report about many consumers?
[A] They are exhausted by the information overload.
[B] They are tired of the constant updating of devices.
[C] They feel products are updated faster than needed.
[D] They have difficulty following high-tech innovations.
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