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考研英语阅读理解有一部分是截取自报刊文章，因此考生在复习备考的过程中要注意提高报刊文章的阅读能力，把握时事阅读。下面新东方在线小编分享历年真题同源的30篇报刊文章，附有注释和解析，希望考生认真阅读，提高对此类文章的阅读能力和增加相关词汇量。
考研英语阅读真题同源报刊文章30篇（26）
Chain reaction
"The great manufacturers in the Yorkshire and Lancashire districts tell me
that, under modern conditions, they have got into the habit of laying in supply
not for a period of two to five months but they are dependent week by week on
the importation of the raw material." So Sir George Parkin described the
alarming business practices found in Britain at the dawn of the 20th century. As
a leader of the Imperial Federation League, he sought to replace the British
empire with a bigger group of trading partners, so as to guarantee supplies. A
hundred years on, Sir George would have marvelled at globalisation, but been
aghast that today’s manufacturers measure their inventories in only a few hours
of production.
The great manufacturers now have amazingly lean operations. They have
outsourced business to contractors that can do the work more efficiently, often
in places where wages are lower. A huge logistics industry has sprung up to move
stuff around the world at dazzling speed.
Contain erisation has slashed the cost of shipping. Express airfreight has
made overnight delivery possible to most places on earth. Moreover, such
services are within the grasp not just of the supply departments of giant
multinationals but also of anyone trading on eBay from the spare bedroom.
The logistics business is one of the marvels of commerce, but it is not
without its risks. Supply chains have become ever more complex and extended.
Some great manufacturers and great service companies may have become too lean in
their relentless drive to reduce costs, outsourcing not just their noncore
activities but essential ones too. If one link of a company’s supply chain
snaps, the consequences can be grave. Ericsson and Nokia found this out when
they both relied on the same supplier for a special chip in their mobile phones.
After the chipmaker’s factory was hit by lightning, Nokia swiftly locked up all
the alternative supplies whereas Ericsson suffered a severe parts shortage and
later quit making handsets on its own.
A company’s best protection from its own supply chain is to expect failure,
not to hide from it. Toyota last year narrowly escaped a parts shortage when an
American supplier went bankrupt. The carmaker has now introduced an
earlywarning system in Europe to try to detect any looming problems with
suppliers before they bring production lines to a halt.
The good news is that many companies are now trying to identify the choke
points and weak links in their supply chains. What about Sir George’s
concern-the wider threat to national economies? With so many people worrying
about oil supplies and a birdflu pandemic, the prospect of supply chains
collapsing around the world can seem a scary idea.
It shouldn’t be. There are a few industries where it makes sense for
governments to keep some emergency stocks of a few essentials such as energy,
munitions and medicines. But the logistical apocalypse is not a good way for
politicians to think about everyday life, let alone to start interfering in
markets.
Natural disasters are not, in fact, a common cause of supplychain
disruptions. Most are the result of humdrum internal problems, like bad planning
or the choice of an unreliable subcontractor. That can be terrible for a
particular company, but hardly poses a threat to society at large. After all, if
Ericsson and Nokia cannot supply you with a mobile phone, Samsung would be only
too happy to get one to you tomorrow.
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发表于 2017-8-6 15:51:18
