2. 职称英语
  3. In the last half of the nineteenth century "capital" and "labour" were enla

In the last half of the nineteenth century "capital" and "labour" were enla

游客2023-11-19  47
问题      In the last half of the nineteenth century "capital" and "labour" were enlarging and perfecting their rival organisations on modern lines. Many an old firm was replaced by a limited liability company with a bureaucracy of salaried managers. The change met the technical requirements of the new age by engaging a large professional element and prevented the decline in efficiency that so commonly spoiled the fortunes of family firms in the second and third generation after the energetic founders. It was moreover a step away from individual initiative, towards collectivism and municipal and state-owned business. The railway companies, though still private business managed for the benefit of shareholders, were very unlike old family business. At the same time the great municipalities went into business to supply lighting, trams and other services to the taxpayers.
      The growth of the limited liability company and municipal business had important consequences. Such large, impersonal manipulation of capital and industry greatly increased the numbers and importance of shareholders as a class, an element in national life representing irresponsible wealth detached from the land and the duties of the landowners, and almost equally detached from the responsible management of business. All through the nineteenth century, America, Africa, India, Australia and parts of Europe were being developed by British capital, and British shareholders were thus enriched by the world’s movement towards industrialisation. Towns like Bournemouth and Eastbourne sprang up to house large "comfortable" classes who had retired on their incomes, and who had no relation to the rest of the community except that of drawing dividends and occasionally attending a shareholders’meeting to dictate their orders to the management. On the other hand "shareholding" meant leisure and freedom which were used by many of the later Victorians for the highest purpose of a great civilization.
      The "shareholders" as such had no knowledge of the lives, thoughts or needs of the workmen employed by the company in which be held shares, and his influence on the relations of capital and labour was not good. The paid manager acting for the company was in more direct relation with the men and their demands, but even be had seldom that familiar personal knowledge of’ the workmen which the employer had often had under the more patriarchal system of the old family business now passing away. Indeed the mere size of operations and the numbers of workmen involved rendered such personal relations impossible. Fortunately, however, the increasing power and organisation of the trade unions, at least in all skilled trades, enabled the workmen to meet on equal terms the managers of the companies who employed them. The cruel discipline of the strike and lockout taught the two parties to respect each other’s strength and understand the value of fair negotiation.  [br] All of the following statements are true EXCEPT ______.
选项 A、the shareholders did not care about the needs of the workers
B、the paid managers did not have better understanding of their workers than old family owners did
C、the larger size of modem companies made personal relations more complex
D、the trade unions helped to preserve the equality of workers with the paid managers
答案 C
解析 细节题。文章第三段第一句话就提到：这样的“股东”根本就不了解自己持股的公司里的工人们的生活、思想和需要，因此他们对劳资双方的关系有不良影响，所以A的内容正确。本段第二句指出，公司的拿薪水的执行经理与工人和他们的需要有更直接的关系，但是，与现在正在消失的世袭制的旧家族企业的老板相比，即使是他也很少有过去那种对工人的熟悉程度，因此B的内容也是正确的。第三句话指出，仅经营的规模和雇用工人的数量两方面就使得这种个人关系的建立成为不可能的事，说明要建立熟悉的个人关系很难实现，但并不是说关系变得复杂(complex)，所以C的论述是错误的，故为正确答案。
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