Unit 2 Looking into the Future 课时跟踪检测4 重点题型强化练（Word练习）-【新课程学案】新教材2023-2024学年高中英语选择性必修第一册（人教版2019）

UNIT 2 课时跟踪检测（四） 重点题型强化练 Ⅰ.阅读理解 Over the next decade, technology will decimate more jobs in many professions. Some robots already cost less to operate than the salaries of the humans they replace, and they are getting cheaper. Boston Consulting Group predicts that, by 2025, the operating cost of a robot that does welding (焊接) will be less than $2 per hour, for example. That's more affordable than the $25 per hour that a human welder earns today in America. Uber and many other companies are working on developing cars and trucks that don't need a driver in the driver's seat. According to the American Trucking Associations, approximately 3 million truck drivers were employed in the United States in 2010, and 6.8 million others were employed in other jobs relating to trucking activity. So roughly one of every 15 workers in the country is employed in the trucking business. We could be talking about millions of jobs disappearing in the early 2020s. And then there is the “Gig Economy (零工经济)” that has some businesses moving toward part-time, on-demand employment. Uber has already done this to taxi drivers, and other technology companies are doing it to a wide range of jobs. A study by Intuit predicted that 40% of American workers will be self-employed, and that full-time jobs will be harder to find. We are talking about 60 million people in this category. The problem is that not only do such part-time workers lack reliable full-time jobs and sick pay, but they can't enjoy health insurance and longer-term benefits. The measures to be taken are to raise trade barriers. But closing the doors to foreign trade won't bring jobs back. It will only slow the global economy and hurt American exports, shrinking the US economy and accelerating job loss. 语篇解读：本文是一篇说明文。随着技术进步，未来很多公司会使用更多的机器人来取代全职工人。零工经济时代很快就会到来。 1．The underlined word “decimate” in Paragraph 1 can be replaced by “________”． A．make someone interested in B．equip someone for C．wipe out D．bring back 解析：选C　词义猜测题。根据第二段第一句可知机器