While these tactics have the admirable outcome of holding down consumer prices, they’re costly in other ways. More than a quarter of the labor force, about 34 million workers, is trapped in low-wage, often dead-end jobs. Many middle-income and high-skilled employees face fewer opportunities, too, as companies shift work to subcontractors and temps agencies and move white-collar jobs to China and India.
The result has been an erosion of one of America’s most cherished value: giving its people the ability to move up the economic ladder over their lifetimes. Historically, most Americans, even low-skilled ones, were able to find poorly paid janitorial or factory jobs, then gradually climbed into the middle class as they gained experience and moved up the wage curve. But the number of workers progressing upward began to slip in 1970s. Upward mobility diminished even more in the 1980s as globalization and technology slammed blue-collar wages.
Restoring American mobility is less a question of knowing what to do than of making it happen. Experts have decried schools’ inadequacy for years, but fixing them is a long, arduous struggle. Similarly, there have been plenty of warnings about declining college access, but finding funds was difficult even in eras of large surpluses.
45. The American dream in this passage mainly refers to ____________. ¬
A. there are always possibilities offered to people to develop themselves in the society
B. Americans can always move up the pay ladder
C. American young people can have access to college, even they are poor
D. the labor force is not trapped in low-wage and dead-end jobs
46. Wal-Mart strategy, according to this passage, is to ___________.
A. hire temps and part-timers to reduce its cost
B. outsource its contracts to lower price agencies at home and abroad
C. hold down its consumer price by controlling its labor costs
D. dismantle the career ladder and stop people’s mobility upward
47. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?
A. Wal-Martization has been successful in keeping costs at rock-bottom levels.
B. Upward mobility for low-skilled workers has become impossible in the U.S.
C. More business opportunities are given to low-cost agencies in China and India.
D. Although people know how to restore American mobility, it’s difficult to change the present situation.
小编推荐：
素材来源：网络
