文章大意：本文是一篇说明文。半导体的短缺帮助了像英伟达这样制造芯片的公司市值上升，因为芯片为从视频游戏到机器学习和数据中心的一切事物提供动力，文章主要说明了芯片短缺对于很多公司带来的影响和结果，对于芯片短缺的问题，文章提出，这是一个自我解决的问题。
1 . A shortage of semiconductors (半导体) has helped firms such as Nvidia, whose chips (芯片) power everything from video gaming to machine learning and data centres. But boom time for sellers means misery for buyers. Carmakers, whose products have become computers on wheels, are among the victims. Analysts say the industry might build around 5 million fewer cars this year, all for want of the chips. Apple and Microsoft have also warned that they will be affected.
The shortage is the result of a sudden rise in demand. Chipmaking has been enjoying strong growth for decades as computers have stepped into every corner of society. But there was a strong upward trend during the pandemic. Locked-down consumers shopped online, had meetings remotely, and killed time with video-streaming and videogaming.
The crisis has had three consequences, two encouraging and one less so.
The first is an investment boom. Big producers such as Intel, Samsung and TSMC are planning to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on extra capacity (产能) over the next few years. As in many markets, high prices are the best cure for high prices.
The second is that the chip industry’s customers are adapting. too. When demand fell early in the pandemic, carmakers cut their orders with chipmakers. Following Tesla, Volkswagen has announced plans to develop driver-assistance chips in-house.
Unwelcome effect has been a sudden rise of techno-nationalism. America is planning to hand out billions of dollars to attract chipmakers back from East Asia. Europe wants to double its share of global production, to 20%，by 2030. Even Britain has declared the fate of a small chip factory in Wales to be a matter of national security.
Chips have come to occupy what used to be called the “commanding heights” of an economy, in the way that car factories did in the 20th century. But as last century’s governments discovered, subsidies (补贴) lend 10 oversupply. Personally, the chip shortage is mostly a self-solving problem. Governments should resist the temptation to scc themselves as saviours (救星).
1. What is the main cause of the sudden shortage of chips according to the passage?
| A．Economic crisis | B．The outbreak of the pandemic. |
| C．Governments’ control. | D．Great demand in online products. |
2. What is the discouraging result of the chip shortage according to the passage?
| A．Hot investment in chips. | B．Carmakers’ adaptation to the market. |
| C．Arise of techno-nationalism. | D．Realization of technological globalization. |
3. What does the author tend to think in the last paragraph?
| A．Markets are the cure for the chip shortage. |
| B．Government subsidies will lead to waste. |
| C．The government should rescue the market. |
| D．Car factories in the 20th century were on the rise. |
4. Which would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Chip Shortage—A Self-solving Problem |
| B．Techno-nationalism—A War without Smoke |
| C．Challenges—Promises of New Opportunities |
| D．High Prices—the Best Cure for High Prices |
