passage3注解：标题为红色，翻译为蓝色，分析为绿色。????????the relationship between
formal education and economic growth in poor countries is widely misunderstood by economists and politicians alike. progress in both areas is undoubtedly necessary for the social, political, and intellectual development of these and all other societies; however, the conventional view that education should be one of the very highest priorities for promoting rapid economic development in poor countries is wrong. we are fortunate that it is, because building new educational systems there and putting enough people through them to improve economic performance would require two or three generations. the findings of a research institution have consistently shown that workers in all countries can be trained on the job to achieve radically higher productivity and, as a result, radically higher standards of living.
????????ironically, the first evidence for this idea appeared in the united states. not long ago, with the country entering a recession and japan at its pre-bubble peak, the u.s. workforce was derided(deride嘲笑,.愚弄) as poorly educated and one of primary causes of the poor u.s. economic performance. japan was, and remains, the global leader in automotive-assembly productivity. yet the research revealed that the u.s. factories of honda, nissan, and toyota achieved about 95 percent of the productivity of their japanese counterparts — a result of the training that u.s. workers received on the job.
????????more recently, while examining housing construction, the researchers discovered that illiterate(不识字的,不理解的，文盲的(文章取这个意思)), non-english-speaking mexican workers in houston, texas, consistently met best-practice labor productivity standards despite the complexity of the building industry’s work.
????????what is the real relationship between education and economic development? we have to suspect that continuing economic growth promotes the development of education even when governments don’t force it. after all, that’s how education got started. when our ancestors were hunters and gatherers 10,000 years ago, they didn’t have time to wonder much about anything besides finding food. only when humanity began to get its food in a more productive way was there time for other things.
????????as education improved, humanity’s productivity potential increased as well. when the competitive environment pushed our ancestors to achieve that potential, they could in turn afford more education. this increasingly high level of education is probably a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for the complex political systems required by advanced economic performance. thus poor countries might not be able to escape their poverty traps(trap陷阱,夹子,圈套) without(没有，在没有...的情况下(本文取这个意思))? political changes that may be possible only with broader formal education. a lack of formal education, however, doesn’t constrain(限制=limit) the ability of the developing world’s workforce to substantially improve productivity for the foreseeable future. on the contrary, constraints on improving productivity explain why education isn’t developing more quickly there than it is.
一、文章结构分析这是一篇关于教育与经济发展的议论文。
文章第一段在对传统观点提出了批判的同时提出了自己的观点。
接下来的几段都是从几个不同方面对作者观点的论述。
31. the author holds in paragraph 1 that the importance of education in poor countries ___.
[a] is subject to groundless doubts
[b] has fallen victim of bias
[c] is conventionally downgraded
[d] has been overestimated
31.作者在第一段认为在贫穷国家教育的重要性。
【a】遭受到毫无根据的怀疑
【b】沦为偏见的牺牲品
【c】传统被低估了
【d】被高估了
32. it is stated in paragraph 1 that the construction of a new education system _______.
[a] challenges economists and politicians
[b] takes efforts of generations
[c] demands priority from the government
[d] requires sufficient labor force
32.第一段中认为构建一个新的教育体系。
【a】对经济学家和政治家构成了挑战
【b】需要几代人的努力
【c】需要政府的优先发展
【d】要求足够的劳动力
33. a major difference between the japanese and u.s workforces is that _______.
[a] the japanese workforce is better disciplined
[b] the japanese workforce is more productive
[c] the u.s workforce has a better education
[d] the u.s workforce is more organize
33.在日本和美国的劳动力之间主要的不同是。
【a】日本劳动力更有纪律性
【b】日本劳动力更有生产力
【c】美国的劳动力受到更好的教育
【d】美国的劳动力有更好的组织
34. the author quotes the example of our ancestors to show that education emerged ______.
[a] when people had enough time
[b] prior to better ways of finding food
[c] when people on longer went hungry
[d] as a result of pressure on government
34.作者引用远古祖先的例子为了显示教育的出现。
【a】当人们有足够的时间
【b】先于找到食物好的方法
【c】当人们不在饥饿
【d】作为政府压力的结果
35. according to the last paragraph, development of education ________.
[a] results directly from competitive environments
[b] does not depend on economic performance
[c] follows improved productivity
[d] cannot afford political changes
35.根据最后一段，教育的发展。
【a】直接源于竞争的环境
【b】不依赖于经济的表现
【c】随着生产力的提高而提高
【d】不能负担政治的变革
二、核心词汇与超纲词汇1.priority n.优先（权）v.把……（计划或目标）列入优先地位
2.recession n.撤回，工商业之衰退，不景气
3.deride v.嘲弄，嘲笑
4.ancestor n.祖先，先驱，起源
5.foreseeable adj.可预知的，能预测的，能看透的
三、阅读答案：d b b c c四、全文翻译：?????????贫困国家中正规教育与经济发展之间的关系被经济学家和政客们广泛的误解了。毫无疑问，这两个领域的进步对这些国家和所有其他国家的社会、政治和才智的发展都必不可少；然而，传统认为为了促进贫困国家的经济快速发展，教育应该别放在最优先的地位之一的观点是错误的。幸运的是，这一观点是错误的。因为在那些国家建立新的教育体系，让足够多的人接受教育以改善经济状况要用上两至三代人的时间。一个研究机构的研究成果同样表明所有国家的工人都可以通过在岗培训的方式实现相当高的生产率，因此，也就获得了生活水平的根本改善。
????????非常具有讽刺意味的是，这一思想的第一个证据就出现在美国。不久前，美国进入了经济衰退期，而日本也到泡沫破裂的前的顶峰时期。人们讽刺美国的工人受教育程度低，而这是美国经济不好的主要原因。在汽车装配生产率方面，日本无论过去还是现在都是世界的领头羊，然而，该研究显示本田、尼桑、丰田的美国生产厂的生产效率已经达到日本同级厂家的95%，其原因就是美国工人接受了在岗培训。
????????最近，当研究人员检验房屋建筑工程的时候，他们发现尽管建筑行业工作非常的复杂，但是在德克萨斯休斯顿的那些不认识字而且不会讲英文的墨西哥工人一直都能够达到最佳的生产率标准。
????????教育和经济发展的真正关系到底如何？我们认为即使在政府不去强制进行，持续的经济发展也会促进教育的发展。毕竟，教育就是这样开始的。一万年前，当我们的祖先还过着狩猎和集体生活的时候，他们根本没有时间去思考觅食以外的事情。只有在人类能够以效率更高的方式觅食之后才有时间想别的。
????????随着教育的进步，人类的生产潜力也在进步，当竞争的环境促使我的先辈获得了这种潜力。这反过来又会促进教育的发展。这种日益提高的教育水平对于先进经济发展所要求的复杂政治体系来说可能是必要的但不充分的条件。因此，贫困国家如果不能通过提供更广泛的正规教育而带来政治的变革的话，他们就可能无法摆脱贫困。然而，在可预见的未来，正规教育的缺失并不会限制大幅度提高发展中国家工人生产率的能力。相反，对于提高生产率的制约因素正好解释了在贫困国家里教育发展不快的原因。
转载：2009年考研英语阅读真题及解析【第三篇】(2009年考研英语一阅读答案解析)
