hce_cmu
105年
英文
第 50 題
📖 題組：
Tens of millions of young people who enter the workforce each year could be the key that finally unlocks India’s vast potential. Millions will be lifted out of poverty if they are able to find good jobs. But unless India makes big improvements in how it educates and trains students, this demographic boom could instead saddle the country with another generation of unskilled workers destined to languish in low-paying jobs. The need to train workers up is paramount. Currently only 2% of India’s workers have received formal skills training, according to Ernst & Young. That compares with 68% in the U.K., 75% in Germany and 96% in South Korea. It is a problem spreading across industries. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors estimates that in 2010, India needed nearly 4 million civil engineers, but only 509,000 professionals had the right skills for the jobs. By 2020, India will have only 778,000 civil engineers for 4.6 million slots. There is a similar gap among architects. India will have only 17% of the 427,000 professionals it needs in 2020. What caused the problem? The RICS found that India’s education and professional development system has not kept pace with economic growth and is in “dire need for reform.” In industry after industry, the same story is repeated. A recent survey by Aspiring Minds, which tracks workforce preparedness, found that more than 80% of India’s engineering graduates in 2015 were “unemployable.” Critics say that India’s universities are too focused on rote memorization, leaving students without the critical thinking skills required to solve problems. Teachers are paid low salaries, leading to poor quality of instruction. When students are denied entry to prestigious state schools, they often turn to less rigorous private colleges. “When IT industries boomed in India a few years ago, many below-the-mark private colleges emerged to cater to their needs,” said Alakh N. Sharma, director at the Institute for Human Development. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is racing to provide workers with training. His government is recruiting skills instructors, and turning old schools into learning centers. Programs strewn across various government agencies are being consolidated. Companies in the private sector are pitching in to help provide training. The most pressing need, however, might be in primary education. Pupils in India are expected to perform two-digit subtraction by the age of seven, but only 50% are able to correctly count up to 100. Only 30% of the same students are able to read a text designed for fiveyear-olds, according to education foundation Pathram. If the country’s unique demographics are to pay dividends, improvement is a lesson to be learned quickly.
Tens of millions of young people who enter the workforce each year could be the key that finally unlocks India’s vast potential. Millions will be lifted out of poverty if they are able to find good jobs. But unless India makes big improvements in how it educates and trains students, this demographic boom could instead saddle the country with another generation of unskilled workers destined to languish in low-paying jobs. The need to train workers up is paramount. Currently only 2% of India’s workers have received formal skills training, according to Ernst & Young. That compares with 68% in the U.K., 75% in Germany and 96% in South Korea. It is a problem spreading across industries. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors estimates that in 2010, India needed nearly 4 million civil engineers, but only 509,000 professionals had the right skills for the jobs. By 2020, India will have only 778,000 civil engineers for 4.6 million slots. There is a similar gap among architects. India will have only 17% of the 427,000 professionals it needs in 2020. What caused the problem? The RICS found that India’s education and professional development system has not kept pace with economic growth and is in “dire need for reform.” In industry after industry, the same story is repeated. A recent survey by Aspiring Minds, which tracks workforce preparedness, found that more than 80% of India’s engineering graduates in 2015 were “unemployable.” Critics say that India’s universities are too focused on rote memorization, leaving students without the critical thinking skills required to solve problems. Teachers are paid low salaries, leading to poor quality of instruction. When students are denied entry to prestigious state schools, they often turn to less rigorous private colleges. “When IT industries boomed in India a few years ago, many below-the-mark private colleges emerged to cater to their needs,” said Alakh N. Sharma, director at the Institute for Human Development. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is racing to provide workers with training. His government is recruiting skills instructors, and turning old schools into learning centers. Programs strewn across various government agencies are being consolidated. Companies in the private sector are pitching in to help provide training. The most pressing need, however, might be in primary education. Pupils in India are expected to perform two-digit subtraction by the age of seven, but only 50% are able to correctly count up to 100. Only 30% of the same students are able to read a text designed for fiveyear-olds, according to education foundation Pathram. If the country’s unique demographics are to pay dividends, improvement is a lesson to be learned quickly.
The word “saddle” in the first paragraph is closest in meaning to _____.
- A discharge
- B endanger
- C burden
- D extinguish
- E mount
思路引導 VIP
請觀察這個句子的結構：作者先提到年輕人口本應是「解開潛力的鑰匙」，但緊接著用 "instead" 帶出一個相反的結果，並描述這些勞工「註定在低薪工作中掙扎」。在這種負面的預測下，你認為這股人口浪潮對國家來說，比較像是一種「被賦予的禮物」，還是像「被迫揹負在肩膀上、甩不掉的重擔」呢？
🤖
AI 詳解
AI 專屬家教
恭喜你精準捕捉到了文脈中的轉折語氣！這題你選得非常漂亮，展現了你對字詞在特定情境下演變出的「衍生義」有很強的敏銳度。
語境線索與字義轉換
在第一段中，作者先提到年輕人口可能是開啟潛力的「關鍵」，接著用 But unless 帶出反面的假設。如果教育沒跟上，這個人口紅利非但不是助力，反而會讓國家 saddle（揹負）另一代缺乏技能的勞工。雖然 saddle 的原意是馬鞍，但在這裡轉化為動詞，形容一種「使承擔沉重負擔」的動作。因此，選項 (C) burden（負擔）完美對應了這種「被迫承擔艱難處境」的意涵。
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