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英語考試閱讀題原文
Passage 2
Well, no gain without pain, they say. But what about painwithout gain? Everywhere you go inAmerica, you hear tales ofcorporate revival. What is harder to establish is whether theproductivity revolution that businessmen assume they are presiding overis for real.
The official statistics are mildly discouraging. They showthat, if you lump manufacturing and services together, productivity hasgrown on average by 1.2% since 1987. That is somewhat faster than the averageduring the previous decade. And since 1991, productivity has increased by about2% a year, which is more than twice the 1978-1987 average. Thetrouble is that part of the recent acceleration is due to the usual reboundthat occurs at this point in a business cycle, and so is not conclusive evidenceof a revival in the underlying trend. There is, as Robert Rubin, the treasurysecretary, says, a "disjunction" between the mass ofbusiness anecdote that points to a leap in productivity and the picturereflected by the statistics.
Some of this can be easily explained. New ways of organizing theworkplace — all that re-engineering and downsizing — are only one contributionto the overall productivity of an economy, which is driven by many otherfactors such as joint investment in equipment and machinery, new technology,and investment in education and training. Moreover, most of the changesthat companies make are intended to keep them profitable, and this need notalways mean increasing productivity: switching to new markets or improvingquality can matter just as much.
Two other explanations are more speculative. First, some of thebusiness restructuring of recent years may have been ineptly done.Second, even if it was well done, it may have spread much less widely thanpeople suppose.
Leonard Schlesinger, a Harvard academic and former chiefexecutive of Au Bong Pain, a rapidly growing chain of bakery cafes, says thatmuch "re-engineering" has been crude. In many cases, he believes, theloss of revenue has been greater than the reductions in cost. Hiscolleague, Michael Beer, says that far too many companies have appliedre-engineering in a mechanistic fashion, chopping out costs without givingsufficient thought to long-term profitability. BBDO's AlRosenshine is blunter. He dismisses a lot of the work of re-engineering consultantsas mere rubbish — "the worst sortof ambulance-chasing".
55. According tothe author, the American economic situation is ________.
[A] not as good as it seems
[B] at its turning point
[C] much better than it seems
[D] near to complete recovery
56. The officialstatistics on productivity growth ________.
[A] exclude the usual rebound in a business cycle
[B] fall short of businessmen's anticipation
[C] meet the expectation of business people
[D] fail to reflect the true state of economy
57. The authorraises the question "what about pain without gain?" because ________.
[A] he questions the truth of "no gain without pain"
[B] he does not think the productivity revolution works
[C] he wonders if the official statistics are misleading
[D] he has conclusive evidence for the revival of businesses
58. Which of thefollowing statements is NOT mentioned in the passage?
[A] Radical reforms are essential for the increase ofproductivity.
[B] New ways of organizing workplaces may help to increaseproductivity.
[C] The reduction of costs is not a sure way to gain long-termprofitability.
[D] The consultants are a bunch of good-for-nothings.
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