2017全国英语等级（三级）考试阅读A训练

　　Once this was done, workers no longer started on the product and labored to complete it. In- stead, they might work only one thousandth of it, other workers completing their own parts in cer- tain order. There is nothing strange about this manufacturing work by today' s standards. Highly skilled workers were unable to compare with the new production techniques, as mass production al- lowed goods of high standard to be produced in greater number than could ever be done by hand. But the skilled worker wasn' t the only loser, the common workers lost too. Similar changes forced farmers away. The increased mechanization(机械化) of agriculture freed masses of workers from ploughing the land and harvesting its crops. They had little choice but to stream toward the rapidly developing industrial centers. Increasingly, standards were set by machines. Workers no longer owned their own tools, their skill was no longer valued, and pride in their work was no longer pos- sible. Workers fed, looked after and repaired the machines that could work faster than humans at greatly reduced cost.