Passage 6

     Technology  has  been  an  encouragement  of  historical change. It acted as such a force in England heginning in the eighteenth century, and across the entire Western World in the nineteenth. Rapid advances were made in the use of scientific findings in the manufacture (制造)of goods, which hanged ide as about work. Onc of the first changes was that other forms of energy have taken the place of human power. Along with this came the increased use of machines to manufacture products in less time. People also developed machines that could produce the same parts for a product: each nail was exactly like every other nail. meaning that each nail could be changed for every other nail. This means that goods could be mass production, ahhough mass production required breaking production down into smaller and smaller tasks.

     Oncc this was done, workers no longer started on the product and lahored to complete it. Instead, they might work only one thousandth of it, other workers completing their own parls in certain order.

     There is nothing strange about this manufacturing work by today's standards. Highly skilled workers were unable to com pare with the new produciion techniques, as mass production allowed goods of high standard to be produced in greater number than could ever be done by hand. But the skilled workers wasn't the only loser, thc common workers lost too. Similar changes forced fanners a way. The increased mechanization (械化) of agriculture freed masses of workers from ploughing the land and harvesting its crops. They had little choice but to stream toward the rapidly developing industrial centers. Increasingly, standards were set by machines. Workers no longer owned their own tools, their skill was no longer valued, and pride in their work was no longer possible. Workers fed, looked after and repaired the machines that could work faster than humans at greatly reduced cost.

1. In this passage, which of the following is NOT considered as a change caused by tile use of scientific findings in the production of goods?
   A. Other forms of energy have taken the place of human power.
   B. The increased exploitation of workers in the 19th century.
   C. The increased use of machines to make products in less  time.
   D. The use of machines producing parts of the same stand ard.
答案：B 指导：由文中第一段可知。
2. The underlined word "this" in the first paragraph refers to_________.
   A. the use of scientific findings
   B. the practice of producing the same parts for a product
   C. the human power being replaced by other forms of energy
   D. the technology becoming the encouragement of historical change
答案：C 指导：由于其他“能”代替了“人力”，从而使“机器”生产出现。所以C为正确答案。
3. The underlined word "this"in the second paragraph refers to the change that______.
   A. each nail could be taken tile place of by every other nail
   B. each nail was exactly like every other nail
   C. producing tasks became smaller and smaller
   D. goods could lie mass produced
答案：D 指导：由于产品成批生产，所以产生工人只做千分之一的工作。故D为正确答案。