directions:

read the following four passages. answer the questions below each passage by choosing a, b, c or d.
mark your answers on answer sheet 1.

passage one

there is a widespread belief that the emergence of giant industries has been accomplished by an equivalent surge in industrial research. a recent study of mportant inventions made since the turn of the century reveals that more than half were the product of individual inventors working alone, independent of rganized industrial research. while industrial laboratories contributed such important products as nylon and transistors, independent inventors developed air conditioning, the automatic transmission, the jet engine, the helicopter, insulin, and streptomycin. still other inventions, such as stainless steel, television, silicons, and plexiglass were developed through the combined efforts of individuals and laboratory teams.

despite these findings, we are urged to support monopoly power on the ground that such power creates an environment supportive of innovation. we are told that the independent inventor, along with the process driven forward by competition. the price variable once perceived as the dominant aspect of the competitive process is now subordinate to the competition of the new product, the new business structure, and the new technology. while it can be assumed that in a highly competitive industry not dominated by a single corporation, investment in innovation—a risky and expensive budget item—might meet resistance from management and stockholders who might be more concerned with cost-cutting, small firm, cannot afford to undertake the important research needed to improve our standard of living while protecting our diminishing resources; that only the huge assets of the giant corporation or conglomerate can afford the kind of expenditures that can produce the technological advances vital to economic progress. but when we examine expenditures for research, we find that more than half of the government expenditure is funneled into military research and product development. there are those who consider it questionable that these defense-linked research projects will account for an improvement in the standard of living or, alternately, do much to protect our diminishing resources. recent history has demonstrated that we may have to change our long-standing conception of the efficient-organization, and large advertising budgets, it would be a shocking error to assume that the
monopolistic producer should be equated with bountiful expenditures for research. large-scale enterprises tend to operate more comfortably in stable and secure circumstances, and their managerial bureaucracies tend to promote the status and resist the threat implied in change. furthermore, the firm with a small share
of the market will aggressively pursue new techniques and different products, since with little supplied interest in capital equipment or plant it is not deterred from investment in innovation. in some cases where inter-industry competition is reduced or even entirely eliminated, the industrial giants may seek to avoid capital loss by deliberately preventing technological progress.

the conglomerates are not, however, completely exempt from strong competitive pressures; there are instances in which they, too, must compete, as against nother industrial leviathan, and then their weapons may include large expenditures on innovation.

 41. according to the passage, important inventions of the 20th century
a. sometimes reduced our standard of living and diminish our natural resources.
b. came primarily from the huge laboratories of monopoly industries.
c. were produced at least as frequently by independent inventors as by research teams.
d. had greater impact on smaller firms than on conglomerates.

42. from paragraph 2, we learn that
a. it is reasonable to support independent inventors because they lack capital.
b. it is beyond all doubt that small enterprises alone contribute to promote the living standard.
c. there is no doubt that military research can protect resources.
d. it still remains doubtful whether defense research is the cause of better living. 来源：www.gzu521.com

43. management and stockholders might be concerned with cost-cutting rather than innovation if
a. they are faced with strong competition in a field not dominated by one of the industrial giants.
b. they are very stable and secure and hold a monopoly in their industry.
c. they have produced some of the important inventions of this century.
d. they have little vested interest in capital equipment or plant.

44. which of the following statements is implied in the passage?
a. in the past, important inventions were produced by both individuals and corporate teams.
b. for a better living, the money spent on military research should be reduced.
c. the development of the automatic transmission is not credited to organized industrial research.
d. industrial giants may suppress innovations to avoid capital loss resulting from obsolescence.

45. the purpose of this passage is to
a. advocate an increase in governmental support of organized industrial research.
b. reveal a misconception about the relationship of the research and the monopolistic power.
c. show that america’s strength depends upon individual ingenuity and resourcefulness.
d. encourage free market competition.