公共英语考试三级阅读理解模拟题：
　　Will Quality Eat up the U.S.Lead in Software?
　　If U.S.software companies don't pay more attention to quality,they could kiss their business good-bye.Both India and Brazil are developing a world-class software industry.Their weapon is quality and one of their jobs is to attract the top U.S.quality specialists whose voices are not listened to in their country.
　　Already,of the world's 12 software houses that have earned the highest rating in the world,seven are in India.That's largely because they have used new methodologies rejected by American software specialists.For example,for decades,quality specialists,W.Edwards Deming and J.M.Juran had urged U.S.software companies to change their attitudes to quality.But their quality call mainly fell on deaf ears in the U.S.-but not in Japan.By the 1970s and 1980s,Japan was grabbing market share with better,cheaper products.They used Deming's and Juran's ideas to bring down the cost of good quality to as little as 5%of total production costs.In U.S.factories,the cost of quality then was 10 times as high:50%.In software,it still is.
　　Watts S.Humphrey spent 27 years at IBM heading up software production and then quality assurance.But his advice was seldom paid attention to.He retired from IBM in 1986.In 1987,he worked out a system for assessing and improving software quality.It has proved its value time and again.For example,in 1990 the cost of quality at Raytheon Electronics Systems was almost 60%of total software production costs.It fell to 15%in 1996 and has since further dropped to below 10%.
　　Like Deming and Juran,Humphrey seems to be wining more praises overseas than at home.The India government and several companies have just founded the Watts Humphrey Software Quality Institute at the Software Technology Park in Chennai,India.
　　Let's hope that U.S.lead in software will not be eaten up by its quality problems.
　　EXERCISE:
　　1、What is the writer worrying about?
　　A.Many US software specialists are working for Japan.
　　B.The quality problem has become a worldwide problem.
　　C.The US will no longer be the first software player in the world.
　　D.India and Japan are joining hands to compete with the US.
　　参考答案：C
　　2、what country has more highest-rating companies in the world than any other country has?
　　A.Germany.
　　B.The U.S.
　　C.Brazil
　　D.India
　　参考答案：D
　　3、What does the founding of the Watts Humphrey Software Quality Institute symbolize?
　　A.It symbolizes the US determination to move ahead with its software
　　B.It symbolizes the India ambition to take the lead in software.
　　C.It symbolizes the Japanese efforts to solve the software quality problem.
　　D.It symbolizes the Chinese policy on importing software.
　　参考答案：B
　　4、By what means did Japan grab its large market share by the 1970s and the 1980s?
　　A.Its products were cheaper in price and better in quality.
　　B.Its advertising was most successful.
　　C.The US hardware industry was lagging behind.
　　D.Japan hired a lot of India software specialists.
　　参考答案：A
　　5、Which of the following statements about Humphrey is true?
　　A.He is now still an IBM employer.
　　B.He has worked for IBM for 37 years.
　　C.The US pays much attention to his quality advice.
　　D.India honors him highly.
　　参考答案：D
　　参考译文：
　　质量会吞噬美国软件的领先地位吗？
　　如果美国软件公司不重视质量，他们可以吻别他们的业务。印度和巴西都在开发世界级的软件产业。他们的武器是质量，他们的工作之一是吸引顶尖的美国质量专家，他们的声音在他们国家不被倾听。
　　世界上12家软件公司在世界上排名最高，其中七家在印度。这很大程度上是因为他们使用了美国软件专家拒绝的新方法。例如，几十年来，质量专家，W.Edwards Deming和J.M.Juran一直敦促美国软件公司改变他们对质量的态度。但在美国，他们的质量要求主要被忽视了，但在日本却没有。到了70年代和80年代，日本正以更好、更便宜的产品抢占市场份额。他们利用了戴明和朱兰的想法，把优质产品的成本降低到总生产成本的5%。在美国的工厂，质量成本是10倍高：50%。在软件方面，它仍然是。
　　Watts S.Humphrey在IBM工作了27年，负责软件生产和质量保证。但他的建议很少受到重视。他于1986从IBM退休。在1987，他制定了一个评估和改进软件质量的系统。它一次又一次地证明了它的价值。例如，在1990年，雷声电子系统的质量成本几乎是软件总生产成本的60%。1996下降到15%，此后进一步下降到10%以下。
　　和戴明和朱兰一样，汉弗莱似乎在海外赢得了比国内更多的赞誉。印度政府和几家公司刚刚在印度钦奈的软件技术园成立了美国瓦茨汉弗莱软件质量研究所。
　　我们希望美国在软件领域的领先地位不会被其质量问题所吞噬。