目录 PASSAGE 1 Your Job May Be Next! PASSAGE 2 Hitch-hikers PASSAGE 3 Coping with Crisis PASSAGE 4 Get Ready for a Digitalized Future PASSAGE 5 Leave to Enter PASSAGE 6 The Ozone PASSAGE 7 Back to Nature PASSAGE 8 First Lady of the Seeing Eye PASSAGE 9 Robots PASSAGE 10 The Heart PASSAGE 11 Counterfeiters Cash in on Reject Chips PASSAGE 12 Rice Harvesting with Uncle Lansana PASSAGE 13 Socrates PASSAGE 14 Salt PASSAGE 15 Pioneers in Space PASSAGE 16 Aging in the Western Tradition:Cultural Origins of the Modern Life Course PASSAGE 17 Planned Cities PASSAGE 18 Louis Armstrong--a Jazz Immortal PASSAGE 19 Tokyo Goes Underground PASSAGE 20 The Disney World PASSAGE 21 The Midnight Visitor PASSAGE 22 The Plant Wizard PASSAGE 23 Roof Work PASSAGE 24 Benjamin Franklin PASSAGE 25 Ants Are Smarter Than We Think PASSAGE 26 Taming the Elephant PASSAGE 27 Pockety Women Unite? PASSAGE 28 Chinese Americans PASSAGE 29 Some Benefits of Large Families in India PASSAGE 30 Man and Insects PASSAGE 31 Two Major Political Parties in America PASSAGE 32 Discovery by Accident PASSAGE 33 When Marriage Is a Crime PASSAGE 34 Characteristic Features of English PASSAGE 35 Imports and Exports PASSAGE 36 International Transfer of Money PASSAGE 37 The Haunted Spacesuit PASSAGE 38 A Killer Is Born PASSAGE 39 Clone Technology PASSAGE 40 Microbes, Infection and Disease APPENDIX Keys,Notes and Vocabulary
内容摘要 PAssAGE 1 Your Job May Be Next! [1]The mood in the conference room was light and festive.It was j ust twoweeks before Christmas 2002 and many of the 300 or SO Dell①employees weregetting set for the holidays and year—end vacation time as they gathered at Dell’Scampus in Austin,Texas,for a“town hall”meeting.They were ill prepared for the message that senior vice president Jeff Clarke was about to deliver.Meetings of this sort were usually big on awards,recognition,and introductions of new products and project teams.And despite the market drubbing of tech stocks in general,Dell had posted another—ban—ner year in sales balance,Mr Clarke noted.Then came the bad news.The company was announcing new personnel“—attri—tion goals”of 10 percent per year,about double the normal attrition rate.These positions would not be filled in the United States,Clarke explained.They would be filled by new hires in India,China,and other countries where Dell is shifting business. [2]Audible gasps came from the employee audience,a hi—tech assemblage of Dell software engineers,electrical engineers,test engineers,group managers,and administrative talents.A Dell employee who attended the meeting told The New American:“A definite pall came over the crowd.It did not make for a happy Christmas.” [3]Although Clarke’S announcement came as a shock,there had been hints of an impending axe-fall⑨.In 2000,Dell had announced the launching of its ChinaDesign Centre in the People’S Republic of China(PRC).A steady trickle Of Chinese engineers,project planners,and managers had been brought to Dell’S Austin campus for training,and some US Dell employees had made the trek to China for four-to-six-month stints to train Chinese personnel there.Around the Dell headquarters in Austin,employees had begun wryly referring to the“Chinese invasion"as“training our replacements.’’Few expected that the replacing would start SO soon. [4]Dell’S new China Design Centre in Shanghai joins similar research and design centres in China,Russia and India built by Microsoft,Motorola,Boeing,General Electric⑥,and other corporate titans.The hi—tech centres are a distinctly new development,in contrast to the huge number of foreign manufacturing plants--especially in Mexico and China built by US companies over the past couple of decades.These early rounds of“globalization”cost millions of US jobs,but various experts assured US that this should not concern US because these wereblue collar“rust belt’’jobs⑦.Old technology,they claimed.Manufacturing is pass4 and development--these would be the clean,high-paying jobs that would keep America on top. E53But guess what?After years of stripmining America’S industrial base,US corporate—61it—ists and their political allies in Washington,DC,Beij ing,Mexico,Moscow,and elsewhere are nOW looking to dispense with upscale white collar jobs as well.College graduates who obtained degrees in computer science and engineering are finding themselves replaced by Third World counterparts willing to work for 20~50 percent less pay.In corporate globalese this replacement process is euphemistically called“outsourcing’….Adding insult to inj ury。many of the replacement foreign workers、received tax-subsidized education in US universities. [6]According to Business Week:In a recent PowerPoint presentation,Microsoft Corp.Senior Vice-President Brian Valentine--the No.2 executive in thecompany’S Windows unit--urged managers to“pick something to move offshore today.”In India,said the briefing,you can get“quality work at 50%to 60%of the cost.That’S tWO heads for the price of one." [73Business Week offered this forecast:Now,all kinds of knowledge work can be done almost anywhere.“You will see an explosion of work going overseas."says Forrester Research Inc.analyst John McCarthy.He goes SO far as to predict at least 3.3 million white-collar jobs and$136 billion in wages will shift from the USA to low-cost countries by 2015.(about 660 words) Exercises I.Tick off the best choice according to the information given in this passage. 1.All the foilowing words can be used to describe the mood of the Dell’S employees in the conference room at the beginning Except——. A.joyfulB.gloomyC.gratifyingD.1ight—hearted 2.The message delivered by senior vice president______. A.brought happiness to everyone in the conference room B.made a11 the employees in the conference room very satisfied C.caused a great cheer among the employees in the conference room D.was entirely beyond expectation of the employees in the conference room 3.The purpose of the“town hall’’meetings held at Dell’s campus used to include all the following contents but A.analyze the situation of stock market B.award prizes to the excellent employees C.give recognition tO those who made great achievements. D.made the introduction of new products and project teams 4.Though Dell did quite well in sales,growth,and profits last year,the new “attrition goals”this year has been——. A.the sameB.doubledC.tripledD.reduced 5.The news of 10 percent of attrition rate was a great _______to all the employees at the meeting. A.joyB.wonderC.shockD.crash 6.With the shift of its business,Dell has launched its_______in 2000. A.China Design CentreB.China Training Centre C.China Personnel CentreD.China Proj ect Centre 7.Many Dell’s employees considered training Chinese personnel in Austin as “Chinese invasion”because——. A.they envy anyone who can do better than them B.they don’t want to be outworked by Chinese employees
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