2019年MBA考研英語二真題及解析（31-35題）

2019年考研英語二真題及解析（31-35題）

Section II Reading Comprehension

Part A

Directions:

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A,B,C or D.Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.(40 points)

Text 3

American farmers have been complaining of labor shortages for several years. The complaints are unlikely to stop without an overhaul of immigration rules for farm workers.

Congress has obstructed efforts to create a more straightforward visa for agricultural workers that would let foreign workers stay longer in the U.S. and change jobs within the industry. If this doesn’t change, American businesses, communities, and consumers will be the losers.

Perhaps half of U.S. farm laborers are undocumented immigrants. As fewer such workers enter the country, the characteristics of the agricultural workforce are changing. Today’s farm laborers, while still predominantly born in Mexico, are more likely to be settled rather than migrating and more likely to be married than single. They’re also aging. At the start of this century, about one-third of crop workers were over the age of 35. Now more than half are. And picking crops is hard on older bodies. One oft-debated cure for this labor shortage remains as implausible as it’s been all along: Native U.S. workers won’t be returning to the farm.

Mechanization isn’t the answer, either—not yer, at least. Production of corn, cotton, rice, soybeans, and wheat has been largely mechanized, but many high-value, labor-intensive corps, such as strawberries, need labor. Even dairy farms, where robots do a small share of milking, have a long way to go before they’re automated.

As a result, farms have grown increasingly reliant on temporary guest workers using the H-2A visa to fill the gaps in the workforce. Starting around 2012, requests for the visas rose sharply; from 2011 to 2016 the number of visas issued more than doubled.

The H-2A visa has no numerical cap, unlike the H-2B visa for nonagricultural work, which is limited to 66,000 a year. Even so, employers complain they aren’t given all the workers they need. The process is cumbersome, expensive, and unreliable. One survey found that bureaucratic delays led the average H-2A worker to arrive on the job 22 days late. The shortage is compounded by federal immigration raids, which remove some workers and drive others underground.

In a 2012 survey, 71 percent of tree-fruit growers and almost 80 percent of raisin and berry growers said they were short of labor. Some western farmers have responded by moving operations to Mexico. From 1998 to 2000, 14.5 percent of the fruit Americans consumed was imported. Little more than a decade later, the share of imports was 25.8 percent.In effect, the U.S. can import food or it can import the workers who pick it.

31. What problem should be addressed according to the first two paragraphs?

A. Discrimination against foreign workers in the U.S.

B. Biased laws in favor of some American businesses.

C. Flaws in U.S. immigration rules for farm workers.

D. Decline of job opportunities U.S. agriculture.

32. One trouble with U.S. agricultural workforce is.

A. the rising number of illegal immigrants

B. the high mobility of crop workers

C. the lack of experienced laborers

D. the aging of immigrant farm workers

33.What is the much-argued solution to the labor shortage in U.S. farming?

A. To attract younger laborers to farm work.

B. To get native U.S. workers back to farming.

C. To use more robots to grow high-value crops.

D. To strengthen financial support for farmers.

34. Agricultural employers complain about the H-2A visa for its.

A. slow granting procedures

B. limit on duration of stay

C. tightened requirements

D. control of annual admissions

35. Which of the following could be the best title for this text?

A. U.S. Agriculture in Decline?

B. Import Food or Labor?

C. America Saved by Mexico?

D. Manpower vs. Automation?

31-35參考答案及解析：

31.【答案】[C]  Flaws in U. S. immigratinon rules for farm workers.

【解析】題干為What problem should be addressed according to the first two paragraphs?原文第一段第三句The complaints are unlikely to stop without an overhaul of immigration rules for farm workers.可知如果不修改農(nóng)場(chǎng)工人的移民法規(guī)，這種抱怨不太可能會(huì)停止。因此可以得出目前需要解決的一個(gè)問題是修改農(nóng)場(chǎng)工人的移民法規(guī)。C選項(xiàng)意為美國農(nóng)場(chǎng)工人移民法規(guī)的缺陷需要解決，和原文含義一致因此C選項(xiàng)為正確選項(xiàng)。

32.【答案】[D]  the aging of immigrant farm workers

【解析】題干為One trouble with U.S. agricultural workforce is       .原文第三段倒數(shù)第二句 And picking crops is hard on older bodies. 可知農(nóng)作物的活對(duì)于老人來說困難，而本句話的前幾句提到美國的農(nóng)場(chǎng)工人年齡上漲，現(xiàn)在一多半人是35歲以上的人，因此可知美國農(nóng)場(chǎng)勞動(dòng)力的一個(gè)問題是農(nóng)場(chǎng)工人老齡化。D選項(xiàng)為移民農(nóng)場(chǎng)農(nóng)人的老齡化，因此D選型為正確選項(xiàng)。

33.【答案】[B]  To get native U.S. workers back to farming.

【解析】根據(jù)題干What is the much-argued solution to the labor shortage in U.S. farming?中的關(guān)鍵詞much-argued solution 定位到原文第三段最后一句 One oft-debated cure for this labor shortage remains as implausible as it’s been all along: Native U.S. workers won’t be returning to the farm. [B] 選項(xiàng) To get native U.S. workers back to farming. 和該句屬于同義替換，因此答案為B選項(xiàng)。

34【答案】[A]  slow graning procedures.

【解析】根據(jù)題干Agricultural employers complain about the H-2A visa for its        .定位到原文第六段第二句 Even so, employers complain they aren’t given all the workers they need. 但是我們發(fā)現(xiàn)該句只提到了農(nóng)場(chǎng)雇主抱怨 H-2A visa 的事實(shí)，而并沒有給出題干所問農(nóng)場(chǎng)雇主抱怨 H-2A visa 的原因，而第三句The process is cumbersome, expensive, and unreliable. 提到這個(gè)過程是耗時(shí)的、昂貴的并且不可靠的。點(diǎn)名了農(nóng)場(chǎng)主抱怨的原因，A選項(xiàng)含義為緩慢的頒發(fā)流程，因此A選項(xiàng)為正確選項(xiàng)。

35.【答案】[B]  Import Food or Labor?

【解析】題干為Which of the following could be the best title for this text？問的是本文最好的標(biāo)題屬于主旨題。原文首先提到美國農(nóng)場(chǎng)存在缺乏農(nóng)場(chǎng)工人的問題，之后討論了一些解決方法，并指出這些解決方法不可取，目前比較有效的方法是H-2A簽證給臨時(shí)農(nóng)場(chǎng)工人，但是H-2A簽證頒發(fā)的流程慢，需要解決，最后指出美國人需要進(jìn)口食物或者工人。因此可知本文最好的標(biāo)題應(yīng)該是B選項(xiàng)Import Food or Labor?“進(jìn)口食物或者勞動(dòng)力？”