天域名校C篇深度阅读 C ① For want of a chip, the factory was lost. On May 18th Toyota became the latest carmaker forced to cut production in a global shortage of microchips, announcing it would stop work at two of its plants in Japan. Other car makers have also had to send workers home. ② The pain is not limited to the car industry, for the shortage spans all sorts of chips, from the expensive, high-tech devices that power smartphones and data-centers to the simple sensors and micro-controllers that have become a vital commodity(商品). This chip drought is the result of the covid-19 pandemic interacting with an industry that is subject to cycles of boom and bust. ③“The most important thing”, says Malcolm Penn,who runs a chip-industry consultancy, "is that shortages are a natural part of the industry.” Chipmaking is a good example of a"pork-cycle"business, named for the regular swings between under-and over-supply in pork markets. As with pigs,the supply of chips cannot quickly react to changes in demand.Capacity was tight even before the pandemic, says Mr Penn, pointing out that investment by chipmakers in factory equipment has been below its long-term average for many years. ④The pandemic arrived at the worst possible time. After an early crash, demand in several fields boomed. Locked-down consumers bought laptops and other devices. Cloud-computing operators added servers to deal with the wave of home-workers. The car industry was particularly badly hit by a decision to cut orders early in the pandemic———demand for cars has since recovered. But the complexities of the production process mean it takes time to recover. “I can cancel my orders in an afternoon," says Mr.Penn. “If I want to start them up again, that takes months--and that capacity is now busy serving other customers.” ⑤But the pork cycle is turning once again. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world's biggest chipmaker, plans to spend $30bn on new capacity this year. Two other giants, have also decided on further investment. That will bring relief to the wider economy, but not immediately. The boss of IBM said he thought the shortages might last for two years. And, says Mr Penn,when the drought eventually ends, chipmakers may find they face a familiar problem on a bigger scale: a capacity investment in response to serious shortages today could well mean a sizeable surplus(过剩)tomorrow. 28.How does the author illustrate the cyclical nature of chipmaking in paragraph 3 A.By referring to a quotation. B.By making a comparison. C.By drawing a conclusion. D.By presenting an argument. 29.What may the investment mentioned in paragraph 5 eventually lead to A.Improved supply chain stability. B.Timely assistance to the business. C.Economic growth in related sectors. D.Possible future oversupply of chips. 30.What can we learn from the passage A.Production capacity would recover soon. B.A combination of reasons led to chip shortage. C.An investment of $30bn was enough ... ...
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