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  3. Automobile industry has been well developed both in the United States and in Japan, but it is generally agreed that Japanese aut

Automobile industry has been well developed both in the United States and in Japan, but it is generally agreed that Japanese aut

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问题 Automobile industry has been well developed both in the United States and in Japan, but it is generally agreed that Japanese automobile firms have achieved the highest levels of manufacturing efficiency in the world automobile industry. It is assumed that Japanese automobile firms use the same manufacturing equipment and techniques as the automobile firms in the United States. Then, why can Japanese automobile firms achieve higher levels of manufacturing efficiency than United States automobile firms? Some observers attribute it to the unique characteristics of Japanese employees and the Japanese culture. However, if it were true, then one would expect Japanese auto plants in the United States to perform no better than the factories nm by United States companies; but this does not prove to be the case. Japanese-run automobile plants located in the United States and staffed by local workers have demonstrated higher levels of productivity when they are, compared with the automobile plants owned by United States companies.
Other observers link high Japanese productivity to higher levels of capital investment per worker. But a historical perspective leads to a different conclusion. When the two top Japanese automobile makers matched and then doubled United States productivity levels in the mid-sixties, capital investment per employee was comparable to that of United States firms. Furthermore, by the late seventies, the amount of fixed assets required to produce one vehicle was roughly equivalent in Japan and in the United States. Since the capital investment was not higher in Japan, it had to be other factor that led to higher productivity.
A more fruitful explanation to high productivity of Japanese automobile firms may lie with Japanese production techniques. Japanese automobile producers did not simply implement conventional processes more effectively; they made critical changes in United States procedures. For instance, the mass production philosophy of United States automakers encouraged the production of a large number of cars in order to utilize fully expensive, specific equipment and to occupy fully workers who have been trained to execute one operation efficiently. Japanese automakers choose to make small-scale production feasible by introducing several departures from United States practices, including the use of flexible equipment that could be altered easily to do several different production tasks and the training of workers in multiple jobs. Automakers could schedule the production of different components or models on single machines, thereby eliminating to store the buffer (减缓) stocks of extra components that result when specialized equipment and workers are kept constantly active.
选项 A、American auto plants have lower efficiency because they often have fewer workers
B、American auto plants cannot improve their efficiency by hiring Japanese workers
C、Japanese auto makers achieve higher productivity because of their unique culture
D、Japanese auto makers will see a lower efficiency if they hire American workers
答案B
解析 由题干中的the first paragraph定位到原文首段。[精析] 文章第一段分析：美国和日本汽车制造厂生产设备相同，日本生产效率较高，而日本在美国雇佣美国雇员的工厂效率仍然很高，证明不是员工素质或文化问题，因此可以推知B)“美国汽车制造商不能通过雇佣日本雇员的方式提高生产效率”与原文吻合，为正确答案。[排除干扰] A)“美国汽车厂通常因为工人少而效率低下”在原文没有体现，故排除；C)只是部分人的猜测，作者在下文给予了否定but this does not prove to be the case(可是这并不是实际情况)，故排除；由原文首段末句“日本在美国开设的汽车工厂雇佣的是当地的美国人，但这些工厂的生产效率比起美国公司还是要高”排除D)“如果雇佣美国工人的话，日本汽车厂效率会降低”。
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