2019考研英语（二）真题+答案详解（完整版）(4)

发布日期：2020-06-12 16:17:20    点击：次

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?
31-35参考答案及解析：
31.     【答案】[C]  Flaws in U. S. immigratinon rules for farm workers.
【解析】题干为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.可知如果不修改农场工人的移民法规，这种抱怨不太可能会停止。因此可以得出目前需要解决的一个问题是修改农场工人的移民法规。C选项意为美国农场工人移民法规的缺陷需要解决，和原文含义一致因此C选项为正确选项。
32.     【答案】[D]  the aging of immigrant farm workers
【解析】题干为One trouble with U.S. agricultural workforce is       .原文第三段倒数第二句 And picking crops is hard on older bodies. 可知农作物的活对于老人来说困难，而本句话的前几句提到美国的农场工人年龄上涨，现在一多半人是35岁以上的人，因此可知美国农场劳动力的一个问题是农场工人老龄化。D选项为移民农场农人的老龄化，因此D选型为正确选项。
33【答案】[B]  To get native U.S. workers back to farming.
【解析】根据题干What is the much-argued solution to the labor shortage in U.S. farming?中的关键词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] 选项 To get native U.S. workers back to farming. 和该句属于同义替换，因此答案为B选项。
34【答案】[A]  slow graning procedures.
【解析】根据题干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. 但是我们发现该句只提到了农场雇主抱怨 H-2A visa 的事实，而并没有给出题干所问农场雇主抱怨 H-2A visa 的原因，而第三句The process is cumbersome, expensive, and unreliable. 提到这个过程是耗时的、昂贵的并且不可靠的。点名了农场主抱怨的原因，A选项含义为缓慢的颁发流程，因此A选项为正确选项。
 
35【答案】[B]  Import Food or Labor?
【解析】题干为Which of the following could be the best title for this text？问的是本文最好的标题属于主旨题。原文首先提到美国农场存在缺乏农场工人的问题，之后讨论了一些解决方法，并指出这些解决方法不可取，目前比较有效的方法是H-2A签证给临时农场工人，但是H-2A签证颁发的流程慢，需要解决，最后指出美国人需要进口食物或者工人。因此可知本文最好的标题应该是B选项Import Food or Labor?“进口食物或者劳动力？”