重庆交通学院《大学英语 IV》期末预测试卷 No.3 Part I Listening Comprehension ( 20%) (略) Part II Reading Comprehension (40%) Directions: There are three reading passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four suggested answers marked A), B), C) and D). Choose the best answer to each question. Then you should mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the center. Passage 1 Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage: The car industry suffered another setback yesterday when Lucas Electric Company announced that many of its 12,000 workers at 15 factories in the West midlands would be going on short time. “There will be a requirement for some short-time working in selected product areas and the final details will be organized on site-by-site basis,” a Lucas spokesman said in Birmingham. The factories cover all area from Telford, Shropshire, to Solihull in the West Midlands. Many of those involved are women and the products include alternators, batteries and headlamps. For many families the wife has been the sole earner in recent months. The Lucas announcement is expected to have an aggravated effect on the region’s rapidly declining economy. The company spokesman said that not all the 12,000 would be affected; about 20 percent of the staff would not be affected at all. The announcement comes after BL’s production cuts in the Austin-Rover division with a two-week extended holiday for 8,000 workers because of the sluggish (疲软的) market. Dunlop in Birmingham has made a similar decision. Lucas said that it was also because of reductions in the schedules of other customers in th...
