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The relationship between formal education and economic growth in poor countries is widely misunderstood by economists and politicians alike progress in both area is undoubtedly necessary for the social, political and intellectual development of these and all other societies; however, the conventional view that education should be one of the very highest priorities for promoting rapid economic development in poor countries is wrong. We are fortunate that is it, because new educational systems there and putting enough people through them to improve economic performance would require two or three generations. The findings of a research institution have consistently shown that workers in all countries can be trained on the job to achieve radical higher productivity and, as a result, radically higher standards of living.

Ironically, the first evidence for this idea appeared in the United States. Not long ago, with the country entering a recessing and Japan at its pre-bubble peak. The U.S. workforce was derided as poorly educated and one of primary cause of the poor U.S. economic performance. Japan was, and remains, the global leader in automotive-assembly productivity. Yet the research revealed that the U.S. factories of Honda Nissan, and Toyota achieved about 95 percent of the productivity of their Japanese countere pants a result of the training that U.S. workers received on the job.

More recently, while examing housing construction, the researchers discovered that illiterate, non-English- speaking Mexican workers in Houston, Texas, consistently met best-practice labor productivity standards despite the complexity of the building industry’s work.

What is the real relationship between education and economic development? We have to suspect that continuing economic growth promotes the development of education even when governments don’t force it. After all, that’s how education got started. When our ancestors were hunters and gatherers 10,000 years ago, they didn’t have time to wonder much about anything besides finding food. Only when humanity began to get its food in a more productive way was there time for other things.

As education improved, humanity’s productivity potential, they could in turn afford more education. This increasingly high level of education is probably a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for the complex political systems required by advanced economic performance. Thus poor countries might not be able to escape their poverty traps without political changes that may be possible only with broader formal education. A lack of formal education, however, doesn’t constrain the ability of the developing world’s workforce to substantially improve productivity for the forested future. On the contrary, constraints on improving productivity explain why education isn’t developing more quickly there than it is.

31. The author holds in paragraph 1 that the important of education in poor countries ___________.

[A] is subject groundless doubts

[B] has fallen victim of bias

[C] is conventional downgraded

[D] has been overestimated

32. It is stated in paragraph 1 that construction of a new education system __________.

[A]challenges economists and politicians

[B]takes efforts of generations

[C] demands priority from the government

[D] requires sufficient labor force

33.A major difference between the Japanese and U.S workforces is that __________.

[A] the Japanese workforce is better disciplined

[B] the Japanese workforce is more productive

[C]the U.S workforce has a better education

[D] ]the U.S workforce is more organize

34. The author quotes the example of our ancestors to show that education emerged __________.

[A] when people had enough time

[B] prior to better ways of finding food

[C] when people on longer went hung

[D] as a result of pressure on government

35. According to the last paragraph , development of education __________.

[A] results directly from competitive environments

[B] does not depend on economic performance

[C] follows improved productivity

[D] cannot afford political changes
 

31.【D】推理判断题目。意为：在第一段作者认为在贫困国家教育的重要性被高估了。

作者在首段指出“传统的观点认为在贫困国家对促进经济的快速发展而言，教育是极应优先考虑的要素之一，这是种错误的看法。”教育的优先性和教育的重要性实际上是一个意思，而既然文中说优先教育是种错误的看法，由此可推出教育的重要性被过度的重视了即被高估了，因此D正确。

32.【B】事实细节题。意为：第一段表明建立新的教育体系需要几代人的努力。

在第一段作者主要谈论了靠优先发展教育来促进经济发展是错误的看法，而世界各国的工人经过了劳动培训可以获取高产量进而带来更高的生活水平。解答细节题时同样明显背离中心的选项可首先排除，即先可排除A,C;在依据第一段的倒数第二句可知：通过教育体系来使足够多的人能提高经济能力将需要两三代人。由此可知建立教育体系在当前是不可能，而这种建立需要几代人的努力才能实现。

33.【B】事实细节题。意为：日本和美国劳动力的主要区别是日本的劳动力更多产。

解答本题可用运排除法。依据文章的第二段，美国劳动力受教育程度差遭到嘲笑并被认为是其经济表现差的原因之一。美国工人接受了职业培训后，本田、丰田的美国公司才达到了日本95%的产量，由此可知日本工人的生产力比美国工人的生产力高。从文中可知，美国劳动力受教育程度差是个事实也是美国经济表现差的重要原因，由此可排除不符合文意的C选项;而A,D的信息在文中未提及，由此可得出只有B正确，而依据文意，既然日本保持了汽车产量的全球领先地位，自然日本的劳动力比美国的劳力更多产也验证了B为正确答案。

34.【A】推理判断题。意为：作者引用了我们祖先的例子来表明当人们有了充裕的时间时，教育才出现。

依据文章倒数第二段的最后两句可知，作者举出了我们祖先的例子是来论证最后一句话得出的观点：只有当人们有了更高产的获得食物的方式时，人们才有时间做其它事情。由此可推知，教育是获得食物以外的其它事情，而受教育的前提是人们有剩余时间，由此可知A为正确答案。

35.【C】主旨大意题。意为：教育的发展受约于产量的提高。

文章在最后一段针对上文讨论的教育和生产的关系做出了总结。在本段作者明确指出缺乏正规的教育并不能限制发展极大提高产量的世界劳动力，而反之，对提高产量的限制得以解释了为什么教育发展得没有那么快。由此可见，提高产量优先于发展教育，故C为正确答案。而A,D的表达不符合文章的中心;B项的意思和文意相反。