Section A: Banked Cloze
Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.
The things people make, and the way they make them, determine how cities grow and decline, and influence how empires rise and fall. So, any disruption to the world's factories (26) ______. And that disruption is surely coming. Factories are being digitised, filled with new sensors and new computers to make them quicker, more (27) ______, and more efficient.
Robots are breaking free from the cages that surround them, learning new skills and new ways of working. And 3D printers have long (28) ______ a world where you can make anything, anywhere, from a computerised design. That vision is (29) ______ closer to reality. These forces will lead to cleaner factories, producing better goods at lower prices, personalised to our individual needs and desires. Humans will be (30) ______ many of the dirty, repetitive, and dangerous jobs that have long been a (31) ______ of factory life.
Greater efficiency (32) ______ means fewer people can do the same work. Yet factory bosses in many developed countries are worried about a lack of skilled human workers and see (33) ______ and robots as a solution. But economist Helena Leurent says this period of rapid change in manufacturing is a (34) ______ opportunity to make the world a better place. “Manufacturing is the one system where you have got the biggest source of innovation, the biggest source of economic growth, and the biggest source of great jobs in the past. You can see it changing. That's an opportunity to (35) ______ that system differently, and if we can, it will have tremendous significance.”
Word Bank
Answers & Explanations
26. K (matters)。解析：句子缺谓语动词。主语是 disruption (单数)，语义上意为“对工厂的干扰是至关重要的/有重大影响的”。
27. G (flexible)。解析：与 efficient 并列，修饰工厂。数字化使工厂更快、更“灵活”。
28. M (promised)。解析：位于 have 之后，需填过去分词。promised a world 意为“预示/许诺了一个世界”。
29. L (moving)。解析：位于 is 之后，描述正在进行的状态。愿景正“移动/趋向”现实。
30. O (spared)。解析：位于 will be 之后，填过去分词。be spared (from) jobs 意为人类将“免于/避开”那些肮脏、重复的工作。
31. F (feature)。解析：位于冠词 a 之后，填名词。意为这些糟糕的工作长期以来是工厂生活的“特征/特点”。
32. H (inevitably)。解析：修饰动词 means，填副词。意为效率提高“必然地”意味着需要的人手更少。
33. A (automation)。解析：与 robots 并列，填名词。工厂老板将“自动化”和机器人视为解决劳动力短缺的方案。
34. D (fantastic)。解析：修饰名词 opportunity。这是一个“极好的”机会。
35. N (shape)。解析：位于 to 之后，填动词原形。意为一个以不同方式“塑造/重塑”系统的机会。
核心搭配与高分句型
【核心搭配与高频短语】
- rise and fall：兴衰，起落（influence how empires rise and fall）
- break free from：挣脱，摆脱（Robots are breaking free from the cages...）
- at lower prices：以更低的价格
- be spared sth.：免受某事之苦，省去（Humans will be spared many of the dirty jobs）
- a lack of：缺乏（a lack of skilled human workers）
- a source of：...的来源（the biggest source of innovation）
- make the world a better place：让世界变得更美好
- have tremendous significance：具有极大的/深远的意义
【亮点句型解析】
- 并列主语 + 宾语从句 句型：
"The things people make, and the way they make them, determine how cities grow and decline, and influence how empires rise and fall."
（人们制造的东西，以及制造它们的方式，决定了城市的兴衰，并影响着帝国的起落。）该句结构极其工整，两个主语分别引出两个并列谓语，且谓语后均接 `how` 引导的宾语从句，是四级翻译和写作极佳的模仿句型。 - 伴随状语/补充说明 句型：
"These forces will lead to cleaner factories, producing better goods at lower prices, personalised to our individual needs and desires."
（这些力量将带来更清洁的工厂，以更低的价格生产更好的商品，并针对我们个人的需求和愿望进行个性化定制。）现在分词 `producing` 和过去分词短语 `personalised...` 连续作状语，使句子信息丰富且连贯。