概括大意
Ford
1 Ford's great strength was the manufacturing process——not invention. Long before he started a car company， he was a worker， known for picking up pieces of metal and wire and turning them into machines. He started putting cars together in 1891. Although it was by no means the first popular automobile， the Model T showed the world just how creative Ford was at combining technology and market.
2 The company's assembly line alone threw America's Industrial Revolution into overdrive （高速运转）。Instead of having workers put together the entire car， Ford's friends， who were great toolmakers from Scotland， organized teams that added parts to each Model T as it moved down a line. By the time Ford's Highland Park plant was humming（嗡嗡作响）along in 1914，the world's first automatic conveyor belt could turn out a car every 93 minutes.
3 The same year Henry Ford shocked the world with the 5 dollars-a-day minimum wage scheme，the greatest contribution he had ever made. The average wage in the auto industry then was 2.34 dollars for a 9-hour shift. Ford not only doubled that，he also took an hour off the workday. In those years it was unthinkable that a man could be paid that much for doing something that didn't involve an awful lot of training or education. The Wall Street Journal called the plan “an economic crime”，and critics everywhere laughed at Ford.
4 But as the wage increased later to daily 10 dollars，it proved a critical component of Ford's dream to make the automobile accessible（可及的）to all. The critics were too stupid to understand that because Ford had lowered his costs per car，the higher wages didn't matter except for making it possible for more people to buy cars.
1. Paragraph 1 ________.
2. Paragraph 2 ________.
3. Paragraph 3 ________.
4. Paragraph 4 ________.
A. Ford's opponents
B. The assembly line
C. Ford's great dream
D. The establishment of the company
E. Ford's biggest contribution
F. Ford's great talent
[正确答案]
1. F 中心句一般在段首或段末出现，第一段的中心句在Ford's great strength was the manufacturing process——not invention.福特最伟大的力量在于生产过程而不是发明。所以这段话讲的是福特的才能。这里应该排除干扰项E.
2. B 中心句在段首The company's assembly line alone threw America's Industrial Revolution into overdrive，福特公司的装配线使美国工业革命飞速运转。所以这里主要是讲福特公司的装配线利用，因此B为正确答案。
3. E 中心句在段首The same year Henry Ford shocked the world with the 5 dollars-a-day minimum wage scheme， the greatest contribution he had ever made.后面的宾语从句就是修饰5 dollars-a-day minimum wage scheme，所以选择E，这也排除了1题的干扰项。
4. C 这段话只有两句话，But as the wage increased later to daily 10 dollars， it proved a critical component of Ford's dream to make the automobile accessible to all.日均工资涨到10美元，对福特让汽车普及的梦想起了关键因素。所以这里就是讲福特的梦想。
5. The assembly line made it possible to ________.
6. Ford was the first to adopt ________.
7. Ford's cars became available to ordinary people thanks to ________.
8. Ford's higher-wage and lower-cost strategy was strongly ________.
A. criticized by the media
B. the low wage in the auto industry
C. their lower prices
D. produce cars in large numbers
E. the 8-hour shift
F. combined technology and market
[正确答案]
5. D 第二段话assembly line大大提高了工作效率，使得大规模生产汽车成为可能。
6. E 第三段The average wage in the auto industry then was 2.34 dollars for a 9-hour shift. Ford not only doubled that， he also took an hour off the workday.所以福特首先采取了8小时工作制。
7. C 第四段最后一句话道明了是工资上涨使得很多人有能力买车了，而不是生产汽车的成本降低了。
8. A 第三段最后一句福特的高工资、低成本策略的描述在第三段这段主要说明了福特创举引来的争议，The Wall Street Journal called the plan “an economic crime”， and critics everywhere laughed at Ford.这里的The Wall Street Journal华尔街日报属于媒体，所以选择A比较合适。
