What is the role of computers in the production process？A．They control the techniques of p

The procurement department is in charge of ______.

A．purchasing the production materials

B．distributing the inventories in stock

C．controlling the quality of the products

D．making constant communication with other departments

Which of the following aspects is the focus of the fourth paragraph?

A．Quality control.

B．Inventory control.

C．Coordination of production activities.

D．The necessity to obtain the latest information.

To meet the production quota, it is of vital importance that ______.

A．every machine be utilized to its fullest capability

B．problems be corrected at once whenever they arise

C．work shifts be arranged to yield the highest productivity

D．the optimal staffing and budgeting arrangement be made

millions of goods every year in the United States. Although their duties vary from plant to plant, industrial production managers share many of the same major responsibilities. These responsibilities include production scheduling, staffing, procurement and maintenance of equipment, quality control, inventory control, and the coordination of production activities with those of other departments.

The primary mission of industrial production managers is planning the production schedule within budgetary limitations and time constraints. They do this by analyzing the plant's personnel and capital resources to select the best way of meeting the production quota. Industrial production managers determine, often using mathematical formulas, which machines, will be used, whether new machines need to be purchased, whether overtime or extra shifts are necessary, and what the sequence of production will be. They monitor the production run to make sure that it stays on schedule and correct any problems that may arise.

Industrial production' managers also must monitor product standards. When quality drops below the established standard, they must determine why standards are not being maintained and how to improve the product. If the problem relates to the quality of work performed in the plant, the manager may implement better training programs, reorganize the manufacturing process, or institute employee suggestion or involvement programs. If the cause is substandard materials, the manager works with the purchasing department to improve the quality of the product's components.

Because the work of many departments is interrelated, managers work closely with heads of other departments such as sales, procurement, and logistics to plan and implement company goals, policies, and procedures. For example, the production manager works with the procurement department to ensure that plant inventories are maintained at their optimal level. This is vital to a firm's operation because maintaining the inventory of materials necessary for production ties up the firm's financial resources, yet insufficient quantities cause delays in production. A breakdown in communications between the production manager and the purchasing department can cause slowdowns and a failure to meet production schedules. Just-in- time production techniques have reduced inventory levels, making constant communication among the manager, suppliers, and purchasing departments even more important. Computers play an integral part in this coordination. They also are used to provide up-to-date information on inventory, the status of work in progress, and quality standards.

Production managers usually report to the plant manager or the vice president for manufacturing, and may act as liaison between executives and first-line supervisors. In many plants, one production manager is responsible for all aspects of production. In large plants with several operations, there are managers in charge of each operation, such as machining, assembly or finishing.

The passage is mainly about ______.

A．the procedures for industrial production

B．the ways to raise working efficiency and productivity

C．the importance of coordination in production activities

D．the role of an industrial production manager

In the passage, the author is mainly concerned with ______.

A．analyzing a problem

B．providing a solution

C．defining a situation

D．outlining a proposal

The word "pronounced" in the last sentence of the passage probably means ______.

A．sympathetic

B．conspicuous

C．identifiable

D．unbridgeable

In the eyes of the society, ______.

A．the poor tend to symbolize what lazy and evil people turn out to be

B．the poor are not worthy of the sympathy the society shows them

C．economic prejudice is more of an obstacle to the solution of poverty

D．the non-poor should show more sympathy for the poor

While social scientists are devoting much of their effort to poverty research, ______.

A．not enough legal frameworks have been created to relieve the condition of the poor

B．they have done little to actually provide relief programs for the poor

C．they ignore the role of the elites as an object for poverty research

D．the poor people themselves do not much appreciate such effort

f poor communities, neighborhoods and regions, as products of larger poverty-creating structures. They have been analyzed as victims of crime and criminals, as members of minority cultures, as passive consumers of mass culture and active producers of a "counterculture", as an economic burden and as a reserve army of labor - to mention just some of the preoccupations of poverty research.

The elites, who occupy the small upper stratum within the category of the non-poor, and their functions in the emergence and reproduction of poverty are as interesting and important an object for poverty research as the poor themselves. The elites have images of the poor and of poverty which shape their decisions and actions. So far, little is known about those images, except as they are sketchily portrayed in popular stereotypes. The elites may well ignore or deny the external effects of their own actions (and omissions) upon the living conditions of the poor. Many social scientists may take a very different view. As poverty emerged and was reproduced, legal frameworks were created to contain the problems it caused with profound, and largely unknown, consequences for the poor themselves. In general, political, educational and social institutions tend to ignore or even damage the interests of the poor. In constructing a physical in frastructure for transport, industry, trade and tourism, the settlements of the poor are often the first to suffer or to be left standing and exposed to pollution, noise and crowding.

Most important are the economic functions of poverty, as for lack of other options the Ix)or are forced to perform. activities considered degrading or unclean. The poor are more likely to buy secondhand goods and leftover foodstuffs, thus prolonging their economic utility. They are likely to use the services of low-quality doctors, teachers and lawyers whom the non-poor shy away from. Poverty and the poor serve an important symbolic function, in reminding citizens of the lot that may befall those who do not heed the values of thrift, diligence and cleanliness, and of the constant threat that the rough, the immoral and the violent represent for the rest of society.

Physically, the poor and the non-poor are kept apart, through differential land use and ghettoization. Socially, they are separated through differential participation in the labor market, the consumption economy, and in political, social and cultural institutions. Conceptually, they are divided through stereotyping and media cliche. This separation is even more pronounced between the elites and the poor.

According to the author, studying the elites also sheds light on poverty research because ______.

A．they are also members of the same society as the poor

B．they play an important role in creating and reproducing poverty

C．solution of the poverty problem is at their mercy

D．they know the living conditions of the poor better than other groups

It is implied in the passage that students of distance education ______.

A．enjoy greater freedom in choosing the subjects to study

B．do not have to meet any enrolling requirement at all

C．take longer to complete their study than college students

D．can usually enter college to work toward a degree