1.[单选题]

　　In a recent lecture， David Autor， a labor economist， attempted to weave the biggest and most important issues together into a single story.Paraphrasing heavily， that story goes something like this： Forty years ago， Americans who didn't go to college could move to cities and get good jobs in manufacturing or office work.But starting in about 1980， these jobs began to disappear， thanks in part to offshoring and automation.

　　Workers without a college education were increasingly moved to low-skilled service jobs.Even as educational inequality was growing， geographic inequality was growing as well.High-skilled occupations increasingly clustered in cities， while low-skilled service jobs have become more plentiful outside of urban centers.At the same time， wages for mid-skilled jobs like manufacturing and office work equalized between cities and rural areas - workers in these jobs can no longer get much of a pay bump by moving into town.Thus， a major route to middle-class prosperity has been closed off.

　　Some of this can be explained by virtue of the two basic economic reasons for cities to exist in a modern economy - agglomeration， and clustering.Agglomeration refers to the tendency of businesses of all types， but especially manufacturers， to locate near each other.This happens because employers want to be near to employees， who want to be near to the businesses they work for and buy goods from.The result is a city with lots of different industries.

　　Clustering on the other hand， refers to the tendency of companies within a single industry to want to be near each other.Clustering effects are much stronger in knowledge-based industries like tech and finance， because ideas are their lifeblood， and workers who live near each other tend to share ideas with each other.Clustering also arises because of the need for employers to have access to a deep pool of skilled workers.

　　As the U.S.economy has transferred manufacturing overseas or automated it， and as consumers have moved from buying more physical goods to buying more digital services， agglomeration has become less important relative to clustering.The smokestack cities of the last century have given way to tech hubs and financial centers.

　　So what's to be done in order to help mid-skilled and non-college workers live decent， middle-class lives? And how can the emerging divide between small towns and big cities be arrested? One idea is to build lots more housing in cities， driving down rents and making cities more livable for everyone.Another idea is to use research universities to revitalize economically depressed regions by dispersing knowledge workers to less-populated areas.

　　But in the end， the government may simply have to step in and intervene on behalf of the services class.Wage subsidies， portable pensions and various other incentives for higher wages can be deployed to make today's low-skilled jobs more like the good office and factory jobs of yesteryear.The alternative may be to watch non-college workers and small towns fall further behind.

　　David Autor is cited to show that non-college Americans ______.

　　Aare moving to cities for good jobs

　　Bbenefit a lot from automation

　　Care causing many social problems

　　Dfind it hard to prosper in cities

　　参考答案：D

　　2.[单选题]

　　In a recent lecture， David Autor， a labor economist， attempted to weave the biggest and most important issues together into a single story.Paraphrasing heavily， that story goes something like this： Forty years ago， Americans who didn't go to college could move to cities and get good jobs in manufacturing or office work.But starting in about 1980， these jobs began to disappear， thanks in part to offshoring and automation.

　　Workers without a college education were increasingly moved to low-skilled service jobs.Even as educational inequality was growing， geographic inequality was growing as well.High-skilled occupations increasingly clustered in cities， while low-skilled service jobs have become more plentiful outside of urban centers.At the same time， wages for mid-skilled jobs like manufacturing and office work equalized between cities and rural areas - workers in these jobs can no longer get much of a pay bump by moving into town.Thus， a major route to middle-class prosperity has been closed off.

　　Some of this can be explained by virtue of the two basic economic reasons for cities to exist in a modern economy - agglomeration， and clustering.Agglomeration refers to the tendency of businesses of all types， but especially manufacturers， to locate near each other.This happens because employers want to be near to employees， who want to be near to the businesses they work for and buy goods from.The result is a city with lots of different industries.

　　Clustering on the other hand， refers to the tendency of companies within a single industry to want to be near each other.Clustering effects are much stronger in knowledge-based industries like tech and finance， because ideas are their lifeblood， and workers who live near each other tend to share ideas with each other.Clustering also arises because of the need for employers to have access to a deep pool of skilled workers.

　　As the U.S.economy has transferred manufacturing overseas or automated it， and as consumers have moved from buying more physical goods to buying more digital services， agglomeration has become less important relative to clustering.The smokestack cities of the last century have given way to tech hubs and financial centers.

　　So what's to be done in order to help mid-skilled and non-college workers live decent， middle-class lives? And how can the emerging divide between small towns and big cities be arrested? One idea is to build lots more housing in cities， driving down rents and making cities more livable for everyone.Another idea is to use research universities to revitalize economically depressed regions by dispersing knowledge workers to less-populated areas.

　　But in the end， the government may simply have to step in and intervene on behalf of the services class.Wage subsidies， portable pensions and various other incentives for higher wages can be deployed to make today's low-skilled jobs more like the good office and factory jobs of yesteryear.The alternative may be to watch non-college workers and small towns fall further behind.

　　Which of the following describes the situation in the US properly?

　　ALow-skilled jobs are less abundant in cities than in rural areas.

　　BMid-skilled jobs are evenly distributed between cities and rural areas.

　　CMid-skilled workers can earn more in cities than in rural areas.

　　DLow-skilled workers may earn as much as high-skilled workers.

　　参考答案：A

　　3.[单选题]

　　In a recent lecture， David Autor， a labor economist， attempted to weave the biggest and most important issues together into a single story.Paraphrasing heavily， that story goes something like this： Forty years ago， Americans who didn't go to college could move to cities and get good jobs in manufacturing or office work.But starting in about 1980， these jobs began to disappear， thanks in part to offshoring and automation.

　　Workers without a college education were increasingly moved to low-skilled service jobs.Even as educational inequality was growing， geographic inequality was growing as well.High-skilled occupations increasingly clustered in cities， while low-skilled service jobs have become more plentiful outside of urban centers.At the same time， wages for mid-skilled jobs like manufacturing and office work equalized between cities and rural areas - workers in these jobs can no longer get much of a pay bump by moving into town.Thus， a major route to middle-class prosperity has been closed off.

　　Some of this can be explained by virtue of the two basic economic reasons for cities to exist in a modern economy - agglomeration， and clustering.Agglomeration refers to the tendency of businesses of all types， but especially manufacturers， to locate near each other.This happens because employers want to be near to employees， who want to be near to the businesses they work for and buy goods from.The result is a city with lots of different industries.

　　Clustering on the other hand， refers to the tendency of companies within a single industry to want to be near each other.Clustering effects are much stronger in knowledge-based industries like tech and finance， because ideas are their lifeblood， and workers who live near each other tend to share ideas with each other.Clustering also arises because of the need for employers to have access to a deep pool of skilled workers.

　　As the U.S.economy has transferred manufacturing overseas or automated it， and as consumers have moved from buying more physical goods to buying more digital services， agglomeration has become less important relative to clustering.The smokestack cities of the last century have given way to tech hubs and financial centers.

　　So what's to be done in order to help mid-skilled and non-college workers live decent， middle-class lives? And how can the emerging divide between small towns and big cities be arrested? One idea is to build lots more housing in cities， driving down rents and making cities more livable for everyone.Another idea is to use research universities to revitalize economically depressed regions by dispersing knowledge workers to less-populated areas.

　　But in the end， the government may simply have to step in and intervene on behalf of the services class.Wage subsidies， portable pensions and various other incentives for higher wages can be deployed to make today's low-skilled jobs more like the good office and factory jobs of yesteryear.The alternative may be to watch non-college workers and small towns fall further behind.

　　Tech hubs and financial clusters arise partly because they ______.

　　Amake it convenient for employees to buy goods

　　Bpromote interactions among different industries

　　Cfacilitate the exchange of ideas among workers

　　Doffer well-paid jobs to high-skilled workers

　　参考答案：C

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