We lived in a technological society where most goods are mass-produced by unskilled labor. Because of this, most people think that craft(手艺) no longer exists.
One of the ways these people wrongly support their view is by pointing to 100-year-old homes which are still solid, and arguing that it is the craftsmanship that is responsible for their durability(持久性). “Homes in those days were well-built,” they say. No doubt these homes were well-built, but what these people have done is mix up the quality of material used in the house with the quality of the craftsmanship.
Homes today could be built to last just as long as those old homes if people were willing or able to pay the price. For example, more people can no longer afford solid oak stairways, although they were once fairly common in older homes. Nor can they afford the high labor cost of employing a carpenter to build the stairway. Yet if someone can pay the high cost, there are still plenty of carpenters around able to make those stairways. And not only would these carpenters know how to build them, they would probably do a better job than carpenters of old.
One thing the modern carpenter has which enables him to do a better job is much more advanced tools. Such tools as laser beams and power planes help them lay out a house better and make more precision cuts on the wood. Also, it is not uncommon any more to find carpenters with college degrees and carpenters with a solid knowledge of mathematics, which would enable them to deal with more difficult house designs.
The problems of modern quality, then, really boils down to the problem of material, for the modern carpenter is just as able to produce craftsmanship as the carpenter of fifty years ago, but only if given proper material.
1． Compared to the carpenters in the past, modern carpenters are _______.
A．more successful
B．more learned
C．more imaginative
D．more hardworking2． What does the underlined word “they” (paragraph 2) refer to?
carpenters who are fond of oak stairways.
carpenters who have college degrees.
people who think highly of carpenters of old.
people who think that modern material is of low quality.
3． What does the third paragraph mainly discuss?
People in the past preferred to use oak to build stairways.
It is now expensive to employ a carpenter.
Modern houses last as long as the old one.
Good carpenters still exist in modern times.
4． What would be the best title for the text?
Is Craft Dead?
Craft, Back to life?
History of craftsmanship
Carpenters Today and Yesterday
