After graduation I returned home to my small town in Indiana. I didn’t have a job yet. Mr. Hobbs, a friend of my father’s, owned a small shirt factory in town. Within the past five years it had grown from twenty to eighty workers. Mr. Hobbs was worried that his plant was getting too big and inefficient, so he asked me to come in on a short-term basis as a consultant.
I went to the plant and spent about a week looking around and making notes. I was really a mazed at what I saw.
Most curious of all, there was no quality control at all. No one inspected the final product of the factory. As a result some of the shirts that were put in boxes for shipment were missing one or two buttons, the collar, and even a sleeve sometimes!
The working conditions were poor. The tables where the workers sat were very high and uncomfortable. Except for a half hour at lunchtime, there were no breaks in the day to relieve the boring work. There was no music. The walls of the workrooms were a dull gray color. I was amazed that the workers hadn’t gone on strike.
Furthermore, the work flow was irregular. There was one especially absent-minded young man in the assembly（组装）line who sewed on buttons. After a while I recognized him as "Big Jim", who used to sit behind me in math class in high school. He was very slow and all the shifts were held up at his position. Workers beyond him in line on his shift had to wait with nothing to do; therefore, a great deal of time and efficiency were lost as Big Jim daydreamed while he worked. All week I wondered why he wasn’t fired.
After I made observations for a week, Mr. Hobbs asked me for an oral report of my findings.
【小题1】The shirts from Mr. Hobbs’ factory can be described as ____.

After graduation I returned home to my small town in Indiana. I didn’t have a job yet. Mr. Hobbs, a friend of my father’s, owned a small shirt factory in town. Within the past five years it had grown from twenty to eighty workers. Mr. Hobbs was worried that his plant was getting too big and inefficient, so he asked me to come in on a short-term basis as a consultant.

I went to the plant and spent about a week looking around and making notes. I was really a mazed at what I saw.

Most curious of all, there was no quality control at all. No one inspected the final product of the factory. As a result some of the shirts that were put in boxes for shipment were missing one or two buttons, the collar, and even a sleeve sometimes!

The working conditions were poor. The tables where the workers sat were very high and uncomfortable. Except for a half hour at lunchtime, there were no breaks in the day to relieve the boring work. There was no music. The walls of the workrooms were a dull gray color. I was amazed that the workers hadn’t gone on strike.

Furthermore, the work flow was irregular. There was one especially absent-minded young man in the assembly（组装）line who sewed on buttons. After a while I recognized him as "Big Jim", who used to sit behind me in math class in high school. He was very slow and all the shifts were held up at his position. Workers beyond him in line on his shift had to wait with nothing to do; therefore, a great deal of time and efficiency were lost as Big Jim daydreamed while he worked. All week I wondered why he wasn’t fired.

After I made observations for a week, Mr. Hobbs asked me for an oral report of my findings.

1.The shirts from Mr. Hobbs’ factory can be described as ____.

2.Why did Mr. Hobbs ask the writer to the factory?

3.Which is not likely to happen in the factory?

4.Big Jim may get fired mainly because ____.

After graduation I returned home to my small town in Indiana. I didn’t have a job yet. Mr. Hobbs, a friend of my father’s, owned a small shirt factory in town. Within the past five years it had grown from twenty to eighty workers. Mr. Hobbs was worried that his plant was getting too big and inefficient, so he asked me to come in on a short-term basis as a consultant.
I went to the plant and spent about a week looking around and making notes. I was really a mazed at what I saw.
Most curious of all, there was no quality control at all. No one inspected the final product of the factory. As a result some of the shirts that were put in boxes for shipment were missing one or two buttons, the collar, and even a sleeve sometimes!
The working conditions were poor. The tables where the workers sat were very high and uncomfortable. Except for a half hour at lunchtime, there were no breaks in the day to relieve the boring work. There was no music. The walls of the workrooms were a dull gray color. I was amazed that the workers hadn’t gone on strike.
Furthermore, the work flow was irregular. There was one especially absent-minded young man in the assembly（组装）line who sewed on buttons. After a while I recognized him as "Big Jim", who used to sit behind me in math class in high school. He was very slow and all the shifts were held up at his position. Workers beyond him in line on his shift had to wait with nothing to do; therefore, a great deal of time and efficiency were lost as Big Jim daydreamed while he worked. All week I wondered why he wasn’t fired.
After I made observations for a week, Mr. Hobbs asked me for an oral report of my findings.

1. 1.

   The shirts from Mr. Hobbs’ factory can be described as ____.

   1. A.
      of low quality
   2. B.
      of high quality
   3. C.
      fashionable
   4. D.
      unfashionable
2. 2.

   Why did Mr. Hobbs ask the writer to the factory?

   1. A.
      The factory was too big.
   2. B.
      The factory was not producing fast enough.
   3. C.
      The factory was not big enough.
   4. D.
      The writer was a college graduate.
3. 3.

   Which is not likely to happen in the factory?

   1. A.
      The workers will have more rest in the day.
   2. B.
      Someone will examine the final product.
   3. C.
      New machines will be bought.
   4. D.
      The factory will be repainted.
4. 4.

   Big Jim may get fired mainly because ____.

   1. A.
      he was slow
   2. B.
      he wasted much time
   3. C.
      he was absent-minded
   4. D.
      the work flow was irregular

    After graduation I returned home to my small town in Indiana. I didn’t have a job yet. Mr. Hobbs, a friend of my father’s, owned a small shirt factory in town. Within the past five years it had grown from twenty to eighty workers. Mr. Hobbs was worried that his plant was getting too big and inefficient, so he asked me to come in on a short-term basis as a consultant.

    I went to the plant and spent about a week looking around and making notes. I was really a mazed at what I saw.

    Most curious of all, there was no quality control at all. No one inspected the final product of the factory. As a result some of the shirts that were put in boxes for shipment were missing one or two buttons, the collar, and even a sleeve sometimes!

    The working conditions were poor. The tables where the workers sat were very high and uncomfortable. Except for a half hour at lunchtime, there were no breaks in the day to relieve the boring work. There was no music. The walls of the workrooms were a dull gray color. I was amazed that the workers hadn’t gone on strike.

    Furthermore, the work flow was irregular. There was one especially absent-minded young man in the assembly（组装）line who sewed on buttons. After a while I recognized him as "Big Jim", who used to sit behind me in math class in high school. He was very slow and all the shifts were held up at his position. Workers beyond him in line on his shift had to wait with nothing to do; therefore, a great deal of time and efficiency were lost as Big Jim daydreamed while he worked. All week I wondered why he wasn’t fired.

    After I made observations for a week, Mr. Hobbs asked me for an oral report of my findings.

39. The shirts from Mr. Hobbs’ factory can be described as ____.

A．of low quality              B．of high quality              C．fashionable                   D．unfashionable

40. Why did Mr. Hobbs ask the writer to the factory?

A．The factory was too big.

B．The factory was not producing fast enough.

C．The factory was not big enough.

D．The writer was a college graduate.

41. Which is not likely to happen in the factory?

A．The workers will have more rest in the day.    B．Someone will examine the final product.

C．New machines will be bought.              D．The factory will be repainted.

42. Big Jim may get fired mainly because ____.

A．he was slow                                                     B．he wasted much time

C．he was absent-minded                                       D．the work flow was irregular

Lilian Hanson, a college student, expects to graduate in about two years. What makes Mrs Hanson different from her classmates is her age — 73 years. She has been studying at college, a few courses at a time, for 27 years.

  When Lilian Hanson graduated from high school, she went to the bank to borrow money for further education. The banker gave her no encouragement. He didn’t think that a country girl should borrow money to go to college. He thought she should be at home doing work in the house or around the farm. So Lilian Hanson went home and raised a family of nine children instead of going to college.

   Mrs Hanson never forgot her dream of getting a higher education. When her children were grown, she tried again. She finds the hardest part of going back to school at her age is the sitting in class for long periods of time. Because she is not as flexible（易适应的） as she used to be, Mrs Hanson often gets up and walks around between classes to keep from getting stiff（僵硬）. At the beginning of a course in using the computer, the other students all stood and gave her a warm welcome when she introduced herself and explained why she was there and what her aims were.

1.The difference between Lilian and her classmates is that         .

A. she works harder at her lessons

B. she is eager to graduate from college

C. she is much older

D. she is a country girl

2.Lilian wasn’t able to go to college after graduation from high school because ________.

A. she wanted to teach herself       B. she got married

C. she had to look after her children  D. she hadn’t enough money

3.The writer wrote the passage in order to show us that ________.

A. a friend in need is a friend indeed

B. one is never too old to learn

C. knowledge is power

D. education is of great importance

4.Lilian could get a higher education when she was old because ________.

A. she borrowed money from the bank

B. her husband and children helped her

C. her classmates encouraged her to get it

D. the reason isn’t mentioned in the passage