陳蕙雅思教材 - 雅思閱讀精選 (Henry Ford)

Henry Ford

Although Henry Ford'sname is closely associated with the concept of mass

production, heshould  receive  equal   credit  for  introducing labor  

practices  as early  as  1913 that  would  be considered advanced even by

today's          standards. Safety measures wereimproved, and the work day was

reduced to eight hours,compared with the ten-or         twelve-hourday common at

the time. In order  to accommodate  the shorter work  day, the entire

factory was converted        from two to three shifts.

In addition, sick leavesas well as improved medical care for those injured

on the job wereinstituted. The Ford        Motor Companywas one of the first

factories to develop atechnical school to train specialized skilled

laborers         and an English language school forimmigrants. Some efforts were

even made to hire thehandicapped and provide jobs for former convicts.

The most widely acclaimedinnovation was the five-dollar-a-day minimum wage

that was offered in orderto recruit          and retain the bestmechanics and to

discourage the growth oflabor unions. Ford explained the new wage policy

in        terms of efficiency and profit sharing. He alsomentioned  the fact that

his employees would be able to purchase theautomobiles that  they

produced -- in effectcreating a market for the product. In order to

qualify for the minimum    wage, an employee  had to establish a  decent home

and demonstrate goodpersonal habits, including sobriety,      thriftiness,

industriousness, anddependability. Although some criticism was directed at

Ford for involvinghimself too much in the personal lives of his employees,

there can be no doubtthat, at a time when immigrants were being     taken

advantage of in frightfulways, Henry Ford was helping many people to

establish themselves inAmerica.

亨利·福特 儘管亨利·福特的名字和大生產的概念相連，但他在勞工保護上得到同樣的讚譽，因為

他早在 1913 年便實行了用今天的標準來衡量依然是先進的標準。 安全措施得到改進，日工 作時間從當時普遍的 10 或 12 小時減少到 8 小時。  

為了適應更短的日工作時間，整個工廠 從雙班變成了三班。而且，病假和改善了的工傷醫療得以制度化。  福特汽車公司是最早建

立技術學校來培訓專門技工和為移民開設英語學校的工廠之一。  公司甚至為雇傭殘疾人和

有前科的人而作出了一些努力。最受廣泛稱讚的革新是實行五美元一天的最低工資。  其目 的是招收和留住那些最好的技工並阻礙工會的發展。

福特從效率和利潤分享的角度來解釋 這項新的工資政策。  他也提到這樣一個事實，他的員工可以買他們生產的汽車--這實際上 是為其產品另開闢了一個市場。  

為了夠資格得到最低工資，員工必須建立一個得體的家庭 並顯示出良好的個人習慣，包括節制、儉省、勤勉和可靠。  雖然有人批評福特過多地干涉

了員工的私人生活，但毫無疑問，在移民們被用惡劣的方式剝削的時代，亨利·福特卻幫助 了許多人在美國紮下根來。