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After graduation I returned home to my small town in Indiana. I didn't have a job yet. Mr. Hobbs, a
friend of my father's, owned a small shirt factory in town. Within the past five years it had grown from
twenty to eighty workers. Mr. Hobbs was worried that his plant was getting too big and inefficient, so he
asked me to come in on a short-term basis as a consultant.
I went to the plant and spent about a week looking around and making notes. I was really a mazed at
what I saw.
Most curious of all, there was no quality control at all. No one inspected the final product of the factory. As a result some of the shirts that were put in boxes for shipment were missing one or two buttons, the
collar, and even a sleeve sometimes!
The working conditions were poor. The tables where the workers sat were very high and
uncomfortable. Except for a half hour at lunchtime, there were no breaks in the day to relieve the boring
work. There was no music. The walls of the workrooms were a dull gray color. I was amazed that the
workers hadn't gone on strike.
Furthermore, the work flow was irregular. There was one especially absent-minded young man in the
assembly (组装) line who sewed on buttons. After a while I recognized him as "Big Jim", who used to sit
behind me in math class in high school. He was very slow and all the shifts were held up at his position.
Workers beyond him in line on his shift had to wait with nothing to do; therefore, a great deal of time and
efficiency were lost as Big Jim daydreamed while he worked. All week I wondered why he wasn't fired.
After I made observations for a week, Mr. Hobbs asked me for an oral report of my findings.
1. The shirts from Mr. Hobbs' factory can be described as ____.
A. of low quality
B. of high quality
C. fashionable
D. unfashionable
2. Why did Mr. Hobbs ask the writer to the factory?
A. The factory was too big.
B. The factory was not producing fast enough.
C. The factory was not big enough.
D. The writer was a college graduate.
3. Which is not likely to happen in the factory?
A. The workers will have more rest in the day.
B. Someone will examine the final product.
C. New machines will be bought.
D. The factory will be repainted.
4. Big Jim may get fired mainly because ____.
A. he was slow
B. he wasted much time
C. he was absent-minded
D. the work flow was irregular
