Ford

1 Ford's greatstrength was the manufacturing process一not invention.Long before he

started a car company,hewas a worker,known for picking up pieces of metal and wire

and turning theminto machines.He started putting cars together in 189Although it was

by no means thefirst popular automobile,the Model T showed the world just how creative

Ford was at combiningtechnology and market.

2 The company'sassembly line alone threw America'sIndustrial Revolution into overdrive

（高速运转）.Insteadof having workers put together the entire car, Ford's friends, who

were greattoolmakers from Scotland,organizedteams that added parts to each Model T as

it moved down aline. By the time Ford's Highland Park plant was humming（嗡嗡作响）

along in 1914,theworld's first automatic conveyor belt could turn out a car every 93 minutes.

3 The same yearHenry Ford shocked the world with the$5-a-day minimum wage

scheme,the greatestcontribution he had ever made.The average wage in the auto

industry then was$2.34for a 9-hour shift.Ford not only doubled that,he also took an

hour off theworkday.In those years it was unthinkable that a man could be paid that much

for doing somethingthat didn't involve an awful lot of training or education.The Wall Street

Journal called theplan"an economic crime",and critics everywhere laughed at Ford.

4 But as the wageincreased later to daily$10,it proved a critical component of Ford's

dream to make theautomobile accessible（可及的）toall. The critics were too stupid to

understand thatbecause Ford had lowered his costs per car,the higher wages didn't

matter一except for making it possible for morepeople to buy cars.Ford's cars becameavailable to ordinary people thanks to_________.

A.criticized by themedia

B.the low wage inthe auto industry

C.their lower pricesand the higher wages

D.produce cars inlarge numbers

E.the8-hour shift