2015.6四级第三套阅读

Reaping the Rewards of Risk-Taking

[A] Since Steve Jobs resigned as chief executive of Apple, much has been said about him as a peerless business leader who has created immense wealth for shareholders, and guided the design of hit products that are transforming entire industries, like music and mobile communications. [B] All true, but let?s think different, to borrow the Apple marketing slogan of years back. Let?s look at Mr. Jobs as a role model.

[C] Above all, he is an innovator 创新者). His creative force is seen in products such as the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, and in new business models for pricing and distributing music and mobile software online. Studies of innovation come to the same conclusion: you can?t engineer innovation, but you can increase the odds of it occurring. And Mr. Jobs?career can be viewed as a consistent pursuit of improving those odds, both for himself and the companies he has led. Mr. Jobs, of course, has enjoyed singular success. But innovation, broadly defined, is the crucial ingredient in all economic progress—higher growth for nations, more competitive products for companies, and more prosperous careers for individuals. And Mr. Jobs, many experts say, exemplifies what works in the innovation game.

[D] “We can look at and learn from Steve Jobs what the essence of American innovation is,” says John Kao, an innovation consultant to corporations and governments. Many other nations, Mr. John Kao notes, are now ahead of the United States in producing what are considered the raw materials of innovation. These include government financing for scientific research, national policies to support emerging industries, educational achievement, engineers and scientists graduated, even the speeds of Internet broadband service.

[E] Yet what other nations typically lack, Mr. Kao adds, is a social environment that encourages diversity, experimentation, risk-taking, and combining skills from many fields into products that he calls “recombinant mash-ups (打碎重组),”like the iPhone, which redefined the smartphone category. “The culture of other countries doesn?t support the kind of innovation that Steve Jobs exemplifies, as America does,” Mr. John Kao says.

[F] Workers of every rank are told these days that wide-ranging curiosity and continuous learning are vital to thriving in the modem economy. Formal education matters, career counselors say, but real-life experience is often even more valuable.

[G] An adopted child, growing up in Silicon Valley, Mr. Jobs displayed those traits early on. He was fascinated by electronics as a child, building Heathkit do-it-yourself projects, like radios. Mr. Jobs dropped out of Reed College after only a semester and traveled around India in search of spiritual enlightenment, before returning to Silicon Valley to found Apple with his friend, Stephen Wozniak, an engineering wizard(奇才). Mr. Jobs was forced out of Apple in 1985, went off and founded two other companies, Next and Pixar, before returning to Apple in 1996 and becoming chief executive in 1997.

[H]

His path was unique, but innovation experts say the pattern of exploration is not unusual. “It?s often people like Steve Jobs who can draw from a deep reservoir of diverse experiences that often generate breakthrough ideas and insights,” says Hal Gregersen, a professor at the European Institute of Business Administration.

[I] Mr. Gregersen is a co-author of a new book, The Innovator?s DNA, which is based on an eight-year study of 5,000 entrepreneurs (创业者) and executives worldwide. His two collaborators and co-authors are Jeff Dyer, a professor at Brigham Young University, and Clayton Christensen, a

professor at the Harvard Business School, whose 1997 book The Innovator’s Dilemma popularized the concept of “disruptive (颠覆性的) innovation.”

[J] The academics identify five traits that are common to the disruptive innovators: questioning, experimenting, observing, associating and networking. Their bundle of characteristics echoes the ceaseless curiosity and willingness to take risks noted by other experts. Networking, Mr. Hal Gregersen explains, is less about career-building relationships than a consistent search for new ideas. Associating, he adds, is the ability to make idea-producing connections by linking concepts from different disciplines.

[K] “Innovators engage in these mental activities regularly,” Mr. Gregersen says. “It?s a habit for them.” Innovative companies, according to the authors, typically enjoy higher valuations in the stock market, which they call an “innovation premium(溢价).”It is calculated by estimating

the share of a company?s value that cannot be accounted for by its current products and cash flow. The innovation premium tries to uantify (量化) investors?bets that a company will do even better in the future because of innovation.

[L] Apple, by their calculations, had a 37 percent innovation premium during Mr. Jobs?first term with the company. His years in exile resulted in a 31 percent innovation discount. After his return, Apple?s fortunes improved gradually at first, and improved markedly starting in 2005, yielding a 52 percent innovation premium since then.

[M]There is no conclusive proof, but Mr. Hal Gregersen says it is unlikely that Mr. Jobs could have reshaped industries beyond computing, as he has done in his second term at Apple, without the experience outside the company, especially at Pixar—the computer-animation(动画制作) studio that created a string of critically and commercially successful movies, such as “Toy Story”and “Up.”

[N] Mr. Jobs suggested much the same thing during a commencement address to the graduating class at Stanford University in 2005. “It turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me,”he told the students. Mr. Jobs also spoke of perseverance (坚持) and will power. “Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick,” he said. “Don?t los e faith.”

[O] Mr. Jobs ended his commencement talk with a call to innovation, both in one?s choice of work and in one?s life. Be curious, experiment, take risks, he said to the students. His advice was emphasized by the words on the back of the final edition of The Whole Earth Catalog, which he quoted: “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” “And,” Mr. Jobs said, “I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.”

46. Steve Jobs called on Stanford graduates to innovate in his commencement address.

47. Steve Jobs considered himself lucky to have been fired once by Apple.

48. Steve Jobs once used computers to make movies that were commercial hits.

49. Many governments have done more than the US government in providing the raw materials for innovation.

50. Great innovators are good at connecting concepts from various academic fields.

51. Innovation is vital to driving economic progress.

52. America has a social environment that is particularly favorable to innovation.

53. Innovative ideas often come from diverse experiences.

54. Real-life experience is often more important than formal education for career success.

55. Apple?s fortunes suffered from an innovation discount during Jobs?absence.

Section C

Passage One

Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.

The Gatais used to frown when they received power bills that routinely topped $200. Last September the couple moved into a 1 500-square-foot home in Premier Gardens, a subdivision of 95 “zero-energy homes”(ZEH) just outside town. Now they?re actually eager to see their electricity bills. The grand total over the 10 months they?ve lived in the three-bedroom house: $75. For the past two months they haven?t paid a cent. ZEH communities are the leading edge of technologies that might someday create houses that produce as much energy as they consume. Premier Gardens is one of a half-dozen subdivisions in California where every home cuts power consumption by 50%, mostly by using low-power appliances and solar panels. Aside from the panels on the roof, Premier Gardens looks like a community of conventional homes. But inside, special windows cut power bills by blocking solar heat in summer and retaining indoor warmth in winter. The rest of the energy savings comes from the solar units. They don?t just feed the home they serve. If they generate more power than the home is using, the excess flows into the utility?s power grid (电网). The residents are billed by “net metering” : they pay for the amount of power they tap off the grid, less the kilowatts (千瓦) they feed into it. If a home generates more power than it uses, the bill is zero. That sounds like a bad deal for the power company, but it?s not. Solar homes produce the most power on the hot sunny afternoons when everyone rushes home to turn up the air conditioner. “It helps us lower usage at peak power times, “says solar expert Mike Keesee. “That lets us avoid building costly plants or buying expensive power at peak usage time.” What?s not to like? Mostly the costs. The special features can add $25000 or more to the purchase price of a house. Tax breaks bring the cost down, especially in California, but in many states ZEHs can be prohibitively expensive. For the consumer, it?s a matter of paying now for the hardware to save later on the utilities.

56. Why are the Gatais eager to see their electricity bills now?

A) They want to know if they are able to pay.

B) They want to cut down their utility expenses.

C) They want to see how much they have saved.

D) They want to avoid being overcharged.

57. What is special about the ZEH communities?

A) They have created cutting-edge technologies.

B) They are subdivided into half a dozen sections.

C) They aim to be self-sufficient in power supply.

D) They are built in harmony with the environment.

58. How are the residents in the ZEH communities billed for electricity use?

A) They pay for the electricity from the grid less their home-generated power.

B) They needn?t pay a single cent for their power consumption on sunny days.

C) They only pay for the excess power that flows into the utility?s power grid.

D) They are only charged for the amount of power they consume on rainy days.

59. What does the “net metering” practice mean to the power company?

A) More pressure at peak time.

B) Reduced operational costs.

C) Increased electricity output.

D) Less profits in the short term.

60. The author believes that buying a house in a ZEH community ________.

A) is a worthy investment in the long run

B) gives the owner substantial tax benefits

C) is but a dream for average consumers

D) contributes to environmental protection

Passage Two

Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.

Romantic love has clear evolutionary roots but our views about what makes an ideal romantic relationship can be swayed by the society we live in. So says psychologist Maureen O?Sullivan from the University of San Francisco. She suggests that humans have always tried to strengthen the pair-bond to maximize (使最大化) reproductive success. Many societies throughout history and around the world today have cultivated strong pressures to stay married. In those where ties to family and community are strong, lifelong marriages can be promoted by practices such as the cultural prohibition of divorce and arranged marriages that are seen as a contract between two families, not just two individuals. In modern western societies, however, the focus on individuality and independence means that people are less concerned about conforming to (遵守) the dictates of family and culture. In the absence of societal pressures to maintain pair-bonds, O?Sullivan suggests that romantic love has increasingly come to be seen as the factor that should determine who we stay with and for how long. “That?s why historically we see an increase in romantic love as a basis for forming long-term relationships,” she says.

According to O?Sullivan culture also shapes the sorts of feelings we expect to have, and actually do experience, when in love. Although the negative emotions associated with romantic love-fear of loss, disappointment and jealousy-are fairly consistent across cultures, the positive feelings can vary. “If you ask Japanese students to list the positive attributes they expect in a romantic partner, they rate highly things like loyalty, co mmitment and devotion,” says O?Sullivan.

“If you ask American college women, they expect everything under the suit: in addition to being committed, partners have to be amusing, funny and a friend.” We judge a potential partner according to our specific cultural expectations about what romantic love should feel like. If you believe that you have found true romance, and your culture tells you that this is what a long-term relationship should be based on, there is less need to rely on social or family pressures to keep couples together. O?Sullivan argues.

61. What does the author say about people?s views of an ideal romantic relationship?

A) They are influenced by psychologists.

B) They ensure the reproductive success.

C) They reflect the evolutionary process.

D) They vary from culture to culture.

62. We can infer from the passage that strong family and community ties _________.

A) can contribute to stable marriages

B) largely rely on marriage contracts

C) often run counter to romantic love

D) make divorces virtually unacceptable

63. Without social pressures to keep pair-bonds, romantic love _________.

A) will be a substitute for marriage in human relationships

B) is likely to replace the dictates of family and society

C) plays a key role in maintaining long-term relationships

D) is a way to develop individuality and independence

64. O?Sullivan believes that when people from different cultures fall in love, _________.

A) they lay more emphasis on commitment and devotion

B) they tend to exaggerate each other?s positive qualities

C) they often fail to see each other?s negative qualities

D) they expect different things from their partner

65. We can conclude from the passage that _________.

A) cultural differences often tear apart a family built on romantic love

B) romantic love is becoming increasingly important in family relationships

C) marriages arc hard to sustain without social or family pressures

D) romantic love tends to yield where family or social pressures are strong