Passage Two
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.
If you know exactly what you want, the best route to a job is to get specialized training. A recent survey shows that companies like graduates in such fields as business and health care who can go to work immediately with very little on-the-job training.
That’s especially true of booming fields that are challenging for workers. At Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, for example, bachelor’s degree graduates get an average of four or five job offers with salaries ranging from the high teens to the low 20s and plenty of chances for rapid advancement. Large companies, especially, like a background of formal education coupled with work experience.
But in the long run, too much specialization doesn’t pay off. Business, which has been flooded with MBAs, no longer considers the degree an automatic stamp of approval. The MBA may open doors and command a higher salary initially, but the impact of a degree washes out after five years.
As further evidence of the erosion (销蚀) of corporate (公司的) faith in specialized degrees, Michigan State’s Scheetz cites a pattern in corporate hiring practices, although companies tend to take on specialists as new hires, they often seek out generalists for middle and upper-level management. “They want someone who isn’t constrained (限制) by nuts and bolts to look at the big picture, “says Scheetz.
This sounds suspiciously like a formal statement that you approve of the liberal-arts graduate. Time and again labor-market analysts mention a need for talents that liberal-arts majors are assumed to have: writing and communication skills, organizational skills, open-mindedness and adaptability, and the ability to analyze and solve problems, David Birch claims he does not hire anybody with an MBA or an engineering degree, “I hire only liberal-arts people because they have a less-than-canned way of doing things,” says Birch. Liberal-arts means an academically thorough and strict program that includes literature, history, mathematics, economics, science, human behavior—plus a computer course or two. With that under your belt, you can feel free to specialize, “A liberal-arts degree coupled with an MBA or some other technical training is a very good combination in the marketplace,” says Scheetz.
26. What kinds of people are in high demand on the job market?
A) Students with a bachelor’s degree in humanities.
B) People with an MBA degree front top universities.
C) People with formal schooling plus work experience.
D) People with special training in engineering.(C)
27. By saying “... but the impact of a degree washes out after five years” (Line 3, Para, 3), the author means ________.
A) most MBA programs fail to provide students with a solid foundation
B) an MBA degree does not help promotion to managerial positions
C) MBA programs will not be as popular in five years’ time as they are now
D) in five people will forget about the degree the MBA graduates have got(B)
28. According to Scheetz’s statement (Lines 4-5. Para. 4), companies prefer ________.
A) people who have a strategic mind
B) people who are talented in fine arts
C) people who are ambitious and aggressive
D) people who have received training in mechanics(A)
29. David Birch claims that he only hires liberal-arts people because ________.
A) they are more capable of handling changing situations
B) they can stick to established ways of solving problems
C) they are thoroughly trained in a variety of specialized fields
D) they have attended special programs in management(A)
30. Which of the following statements does the author support?
A) Specialists are more expensive to hire than generalists.
B) Formal schooling is less important than job training.
C) On-the-job training is, in the long run, less costly.
D) Generalists will outdo specialists in management.(D)
这篇文章讲的是何种专业在人才市场上更受青睐的问题。到底什么样的人才更受青睐呢?文章实际上讲了两个观点，前两段论述了第一个观点，即“专家”更受青睐;后面的三段又提出了与此相反的观点，“杂家”更受青睐。观点之所以不同，是因为它们的前提条件不同。
先来看第一个观点。第一句可以说开宗明义：the best route to a job is to get specialized training，最好的办法是练就专业技能。而后作者提出了论据——最近一项调查结果显示，商务类和医疗保健类的毕业生很受公司青睐(companies like graduates in such fields as business and health care)。
下一段举出了更多的例子。That’s especially true of booming fields，这里的fields应该和第一段的fields所指相同，都是指学生的专业。急速发展的领域更是炙手可热，一个酒店管理学院的本科毕业生平均可以接到五到六个职位邀请(get an average of four or five job offers)，同时有大量的升职机会。
接下来，作者笔锋一转，提出了一个反面观点，too much specialization doesn’t pay off(pay off词组指“得到回报”)。而观点不同的关键在于条件，第二个观点是in the long run，即从长远来看。作者首先以商务领域为例，指出MBA过剩使得这一学历不再是职业通行证(no longer considers the degree an automatic stamp of approval)。
下一段介绍了密歇根州的Scheetz的说法，继续支持第二个观点。Scheetz认为，尽管现在的公司在招新人时依然倾向于招收“专家”(tend to take on specialists as new hires)，但在中上层管理职位上更倾向于“杂家”(generalists for middle and upper-level management)。原因是专家的眼光局限于具体细节，考试.大难以从大局考虑(constrained by nuts and bolts to look at the big picture)。
如果这篇材料是写给高中生们的，那么最后一段可以算是大学专业报考指南。This sounds suspiciously like a formal statement that you approve of the liberal-arts graduate：这似乎是在正面肯定文科毕业生。那么文科生有什么优势呢?写作、交流能力、组织技巧、开放的头脑、适应性、分析和解决问题的能力(writing and communication skills, organizational skills, open-mindedness and adaptability, and the ability to analyze and solve problems)。作者又引出另一位人士David Birch把文科生大夸了一番，最后以Scheetz的中庸观点收场：文科学历加上专业技能(liberal-arts degree coupled with an MBA or some other technical training)将是市场的宠儿。
26. What kinds of people are in high demand on the job market?
A) Students with a bachelor’s degree in humanities.
B) People with an MBA degree from top universities.
C) People with formal schooling plus work experience.
D) People with special training in engineering.
本题问哪些人在人才市场上需求量颇高。
这道题的考查的内容涉及全篇材料，必须根据每一个选项所描述的特点，在文章中找到相应的内容，对比之后排除错误选项。(C)
A，人文学科的本科毕业生。Humanities，人文学科，可以认为是文章后几段所说的liberal-arts，但这些专业的人在是从长远角度看(in the long run)，易进入中高层职位(for middle and upper-level management)，而不是本科毕业生。
B，拥有顶尖大学MBA学位的人。第三段提到MBA学位no longer considers the degree an automatic stamp of approval，说明MBA学位已经并不火爆了。
C，经过正规学校教育同时拥有工作经验的人。第二段最后一句是Large companies, especially, like a background of formal education coupled with work experience，这里提到经过正规学校教育同时拥有工作经验的人受到了大公司的青睐，符合题意。
D，在工程学方面拥有专业技能的人。最后一段说明文科生的特点有利于找工作，其中提到工程人才：David Birch claims he does not hire anybody with an MBA or an engineering degree，意思是此人绝不雇用MBA或是工程学毕业生。这说明工程学人才并不火爆。
27. By saying “... but the impact of a degree washes out after five years” (Line 3, Para, 3), the author means ________.
A) most MBA programs fail to provide students with a solid foundation
B) an MBA degree does not help promotion to managerial positions
C) MBA programs will not be as popular in five years’ time as they are now
D) in five people will forget about the degree the MBA graduates have got(B)
这道题问but the impact of a degree washes out after five years一句是什么意思。这是一道句子考查题，需要理顺上下文的逻辑关系之后作答。
A，大多数MBA课程没能为学生打下坚实的基础。
B，MBA学位并不会对升入管理层带来帮助。
C，MBA课程在五年以后就不会像现在这样受欢迎了。
D，五年后人们就会忘记MBA毕业生们的学位。
首先应该判断这一段在全篇中所起到的作用是什么，也就是这一段的大体功能，段落中的每一句话都是为了这个功能服务的。
本段第一句话应该是一个总领句，in the long run, too much specialization doesn’t pay off，意思是从长远来看，太专并不会带来回报。这句话提出了本文的第二个观点，文章的余下部分都是在论证这个观点。而实际上，这句话的意思并没有非常清晰地表达出来，比如in the long run到底指什么，不会带来回报具体是什么意思等。根据下一段的论述，可以知道这句话的意思实际上指的是在公司工作几年之后，太专不利于进入管理层。第三段余下的部分应该是为证明这个观点所举的例子，那么其背后的意义当然也是这个观点本身。四个选项中B的表达与此最为接近。
28. According to Scheetz’s statement (Lines 4-5. Para. 4), companies prefer ________.
A) people who have a strategic mind
B) people who are talented in fine arts
C) people who are ambitious and aggressive
D) people who have received training in mechanics(A)
根据Scheetz的说法，公司更喜欢什么样的人才。
A，具有战略头脑的人。
B，具有美术才能的人。
C，有野心、侵略性强的人。
D，在机械学方面接受过教育的人。
文章提到Scheetz是在第四段，首先是他介绍的一种人才雇用惯例(Scheetz cites a pattern in corporate hiring practices)，而后直接引用了他的原话。此外，在全文最后一句话中也提到了Scheetz。考虑到本题刚刚是第三道题，考查最后一句话的可能性不大，所以，只需研究第四段就可以了。
Scheetz所提到的惯例大致是这样的：在招聘新员工时还是会招“专家”，而在提拔中上管理层时则青睐“杂家”(generalists)。他的原话直译是：他们想要不被具体细节限制的人，这些人有更广阔的视角。可以看到公司更喜欢的人有两个要点，一是杂家，二是视角广阔或者看问题更为深远。A所说的strategic mind与look at the big picture应该是一个意思，可以选A。B所说的美术才能虽是文科，但恰恰也属于专家，只有通晓大部分文科专业的人才能称之为杂家。C的说法在文中没有提到。D也属于specialists。
29. David Birch claims that he only hires liberal-arts people because ________.
A) they are more capable of handling changing situations
B) they can stick to established ways of solving problems
C) they are thoroughly trained in a variety of specialized fields
D) they have attended special programs in management(A)
题目问David Birch宣称他只雇用文科生是因为……
A，文科生处理变化情况的能力更强。
B，他们能够坚持固有的解决问题的方式。
C，他们在一系列专业领域内都受到了完整的教育。
D，他们参加了管理方面的特别课程。
文章提到David Birch是在最后一段，文中他宣称he does not hire anybody with an MBA or an engineering degree，即不愿雇用specialists，而后文章引用了他的原话“I hire only liberal-arts people because they have a less-than-canned way of doing things”，这里的because从句已经说出了原因，本题考查的就是对句话的理解。Way of doing things，做事情的方式，由此可以估计，原因大体上是某种特别的做事的方式，基本可以把C和D排除，因为它们与方式无关。这具体是一种什么方式呢?less-than-canned，这是一个临时自造的词，字典里肯定没有，我们只能通过分析考(试大它的构成来猜测它的意思。Can是“能够”，此外还有罐头的意思，这里是被动式，说明已经转化成了动词形式，canned就是做成了罐头的意思。做事情时头脑像装进罐头一样，说明是死脑筋，墨守陈规。David Birch先生最不喜欢的就是这种人，反过来，他喜欢的就是脑筋灵活，思路开阔的人，A的说法与此一致，B的说法与此相反。应该选A。
30. Which of the following statements does the author support?
A) Specialists are more expensive to hire than generalists.
B) Formal schooling is less important than job training.
C) On-the-job training is, in the long run, less costly.
D) Generalists will outdo specialists in management.(D)
题目问作者支持下列哪个观点。从四个选项来看，这道题的考查范围遍布全文，不过解答难度却并不高，原因就是三个错误选项的迷惑性相对较小。
A，给“专家”所付的薪水比“杂家”要高。文中没有直接说工资高低问题。从文中的观点——杂家进入管理层的机会高于专家来看，杂家的薪水肯定是高于专家的。这与A的说法相反。
B，正规学校教育不如工作培训重要。文章里没有类似的内容，可以直接排除。
C，在职培训从长远角度讲花费更少。文章没有讲到花费问题，可以直接排除。
D，“杂家”在管理方面要胜过“专家”。这正是文章后三段论述的中心。
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