历年考研英语阅读理解mp3(98-2)

[00:00.00]在线英语听力室(www.tingroom.com)友情制作
[00:05.90]1998 Passage2
[00:08.42]Well, no gain without pain, they say.
[00:12.66]But what about pain without gain?
[00:16.19]Everywhere you go in America,
[00:18.40]you hear tales of corporate¹ revival².
[00:21.43]What is harder to establish
[00:23.15]is whether the productivity revolution
[00:25.36]that businessmen assume they are presiding over is for real.
[00:30.32]The official statistics are mildly discouraging.
[00:33.88]They show that, if you lump manufacturing
[00:36.80]and services together,
[00:38.72]productivity has grown on average by 1.2% since 1987.
[00:45.48]That is somewhat faster than the average
[00:47.89]during the previous decade.
[00:50.61]And since 1991, productivity has increased
[00:54.36]by about 2% a year,
[00:57.29]which is more than twice the 1978-1987 average.
[01:02.54]The trouble is that part of the recent acceleration
[01:05.86]is due to the usual rebound
[01:07.76]that occurs at this point in a business cycle,
[01:10.88]and so is not conclusive³ evidence of a revival
[01:13.90]in the underlying⁴ trend.
[01:16.19]There is, as Robert Rubin,
[01:18.27]the treasury⁵ secretary, says,
[01:20.48]a "disjunction" between the mass of business anecdote
[01:24.23]that points to a leap in productivity
[01:26.54]and the picture reflected by the statistics.
[01:30.07]Some of this can be easily explained.
[01:33.30]New ways of organizing the workplace
[01:36.12]--all that re-engineering and downsizing
[01:38.53]--are only one contribution to the overall productivity
[01:42.47]of an economy,
[01:44.39]which is driven by many other factors
[01:46.93]such as joint⁶ investment in equipment and machinery,
[01:50.56]new technology, and investment in education and training.
[01:55.42]Moreover, most of the changes that companies make
[01:58.95]are intended to keep them profitable,
[02:01.57]and this need not always mean increasing productivity:
[02:05.40]switching to new markets or improving quality
[02:08.33]can matter just as much.
[02:11.15]Two other explanations are more speculative⁷.
[02:14.79]First, some of the business restructuring
[02:17.33]of recent years may have been ineptly⁸ done.
[02:21.37]Second, even if it was well done,
[02:24.19]it may have spread much less widely than people suppose.
[02:27.61]在线英语听力室(www.tingroom.com)友情制作
[02:28.93]Leonard Schlesinger, a Harvard academic
[02:32.15]and former chief executive of Au BonPain,
[02:35.89]a rapidly growing chain of bakery cafes,
[02:39.10]says that much "re-engineering" has been crude.
[02:42.74]In many cases, he believes,
[02:44.95]the loss of revenue has been greater
[02:47.13]than the reductions in cost.
[02:49.55]His colleague, Michael Beer,
[02:51.58]says that far too many companies have applied⁹ re-engineering
[02:55.41]in a mechanistic fashion,
[02:57.82]chopping out costs without giving sufficient
[03:00.75]thought to long-term profitability.
[03:03.68]BBDO's Al Rosenshine is blunter.
[03:07.91]He dismisses a lot of the work of
[03:10.13]re-engineering consultants¹⁰ as mere¹¹ rubbish
[03:13.05]--"the worst sort of ambulance-chasing."

1 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

2 revival   

n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振

参考例句：

• The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。
• He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。

3 conclusive   

adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的

参考例句：

• They produced some fairly conclusive evidence.他们提供了一些相当确凿的证据。
• Franklin did not believe that the French tests were conclusive.富兰克林不相信这个法国人的实验是结论性的。

4 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

5 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

6 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

7 speculative   

adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的

参考例句：

• Much of our information is speculative.我们的许多信息是带推测性的。
• The report is highly speculative and should be ignored.那个报道推测的成分很大，不应理会。

8 ineptly   

adv. 不适当地，无能地

参考例句：

• Unless the tests are ineptly designed, removing tests will just remove power. 除非测试用例是不熟练的设计，否则去掉测试用例就是去除作用力。
• This function is ineptly left to a small voice. 这项任务不适当地交给了一个声音小的人。

9 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

10 consultants   

顾问( consultant的名词复数 )； 高级顾问医生，会诊医生

参考例句：

• a firm of management consultants 管理咨询公司
• There're many consultants in hospital. 医院里有很多会诊医生。

11 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。