2011考研英语阅读理解精选文章二

　　   TEXT TWO

　　Berkeley seems like a fitting place to find the godfather of the open-innovation movement basking in glory. The Californian village was, after all, at the very heart of the anti-establishment movement of the 1960s and has spawned plenty of radical thinkers. One of them, Henry Chesbrough, a business professor at the University of California at Berkeley, observes with a smile that “this is the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love.”

　　Mr Chesbrough's two books “Open Innovation” and “Open Business Models” have popularised the notion of looking for bright ideas outside of an organisation. As the concept of open innovation has become ever more fashionable, the corporate R&D lab has become decreasingly relevant. Most ideas don't come from there.

　　To see why travel to Cincinnati, Ohio—which is about as far removed culturally from Berkeley as one can get in America. The conservative mid-western city is home to P&G, historically one of the most traditional firms in America. For decades, the company that brought the world Ivory soap, Crest toothpaste and Ariel detergent had a closed innovation process, centred around its own secretive R&D operations.

　　No longer. P&G has radically altered the way it comes up with new ideas and products. It now welcomes and works with universities, suppliers and outside inventors. It also offers them a share in the rewards. In less than a decade, P&G has increased the proportion of new-product ideas originating from outside of the firm from less than a fifth to around half. That has boosted innovation and, says its boss, Mr Lafley, is the main reason why P&G has been able to grow at 6% a year between 2001 and 2006, tripling annual profits to $8.6 billion. The company now has a market capitalisation of over $200 billion.

　　IBM is another iconic firm that has jumped on the open-innovation bandwagon. The once-secretive company has done a sharp U-turn and embraced Linux, an open-source software language. IBM now gushes about being part of the “open-innovation community”, yielding hundreds of software patents to the “creative commons” rather than registering them for itself. However, it also continues to take out patents at a record pace in other areas, such as advanced materials, and in the process racks up some $1 billion a year in licensing fees.

　　Since an army of programmers around the world work on developing Linux essentially at no cost, IBM now has an extremely cheap and robust operating system. It makes money by providing its clients with services that support the use of Linux—and charging them for it. Using open-source software saves IBM a whopping $400m a year, according to Paul Horn, until recently the firm's head of research. The company is so committed to openness that it now carries out occasional “online jam sessions” during which tens of thousands of its employees exchange ideas in a mass form of brainstorming.

　　Mr Chesbrough, of course, heartily approves. He gives dozens of other examples of firms doing similar things, ranging from Clorax, a household products firm to Air Products, an industrial gases company. Mr Chesbrough reckons that “IBM and P&G have timed their shift to a high-volume open-business model very well” and that if their competitors do not do the same they will be in trouble.

　　1. “Summer of Love” is probably _____

　　[A] a religious activity celebrating the open-innovation movement.

　　[B] the anti-establishment movement.

　　[C] a movement advocating the innovation.

　　[D] an activity calling for open innovation.

　　2. According to the passage, the annual profits of P&G in 2001 was about_____

　　[A] $ 2.87 billion.

　　[B] $ 1.075 billion.

　　[C] $ 2.15 billion.

　　[D] $ 4.3 billion.

　　3. IBM now gushes about being part of the “open-innovation community” in that_____

　　[A] it embraced an open-source software language that is widely supported by the “creative commons”.

　　[B] it endows people inside and outside the company with the access to the software patents it owns.

　　[C] it encourages an extensive public involvement in the development of new software for the company.

　　[D] it indeed whops its cost and gains considerable profit from using Linux.

　　4. IBM could provide its clients with cheap operating system because_____

　　[A] its progrmmers around the world develop Linux essentially at no cost.

　　[B] it makes money by providing its client with toll services supporting the operating system instead.

　　[C] it could save a lot of money by using open-source software.

　　[D] it has shifted its R&D outside, which save a lot of money.

　　5. According to the last paragrph, if their competitors do not do the same they will be in trouble because_____

　　[A] their competitors will would lose their market share gradually which would be taken by R&D.

　　[B] they fail to adopt the new model of open business which would pave the way to constant business success.

　　[C] they do not recognize the best time to shift their backward business model.

　　[D] they will be sifted out by the market as a result of their conservativeness.

　　篇章剖析：

　　这篇文章介绍了开放式发明的一些情况。第一段从开放式发明运动教父的故乡引入该话题;第二段讲述开放式发明理念的流行;第三、四段讲述宝洁公司过去的研发模式和现在的发明新方式;第五、六段讲述IBM转向开源软件的情况;第七段讲述Chesbrough先生的观点。

　　词汇注释：

　　detergent n. 清洁剂 bandwagon n.流行

　　whopping adj. 巨大的

　　难句突破：

　　(1) For decades, the company that brought the world Ivory soap, Crest toothpaste and Ariel detergent had a closed innovation process, centred around its own secretive R&D operations.

　　[主体句式] The company had a closed innovation process.

　　[结构分析] 这是一个复合句，that引导的是company的定语，centred…分词结构做前面process 的定语。

　　[句子译文] 几十年来，该公司为世界制造了象牙牌香皂、佳洁士牙膏和Ariel清洁剂，它拥有封闭的发明程序，以其秘密的研发部为核心。

　　(2) IBM now gushes about being part of the “open-innovation community”, yielding hundreds of software patents to the “creative commons” rather than registering them for itself.

　　[主体句式] IBM now gushes about being …

　　[结构分析] 这是一个简单句，yielding… rather than registering…是做前面community的定语。

　　[句子译文] IBM现在总说自己是“开放发明社团”的一员，将大量的软件专利权给了“发明的公众”而不是由公司自己注册。

　　题目分析：

　　1. “Summer of Love” is probably _____1. “爱的夏日”可能是_____

　　[A] a religious activity celebrating the open-innovation movement.[A] 庆祝开放式创新运动的宗教活动。

　　[B] the anti-establishment movement.[B] 反对固定的运动。

　　[C] a movement advocating the innovation.[C] 号召创新的运动。

　　[D] an activity calling for open innovation.[D] 提倡开放是创新的运动。

　　[答案] B

　　[难度系数] ☆☆

　　[分析] 推理题。根据第一段“The Californian village was, after all, at the very heart of the anti-establishment movement of the 1960s and has spawned plenty of radical thinkers”，20世纪60年代发生了反对固定运动，可能爱的夏日就是这个运动的名称。因此，答案为B选项。

　　2. According to the passage, the annual profits of P&G in 2001 was about_____2.根据这篇文章，宝洁公司2001年的年利润为_____

　　[A] $ 2.87 billion.[A] 28.7亿美元。

　　[B] $ 1.075 billion.[B] 10.75亿美元。

　　[C] $ 2.15 billion.[C] 21.5亿美元。

　　[D] $ 4.3 billion.[D] 43亿美元。

　　[答案] A

　　[难度系数] ☆☆☆

　　[分析] 推理题。根据文章第四段“That has boosted innovation and, says its boss, Mr Lafley, is the main reason why P&G has been able to grow at 6% a year between 2001 and 2006, tripling annual profits to $8.6 billion. The company now has a market capitalisation of over $200 billion”，从2001年到2006年年利润增加，是原来的三倍，是86亿美元，那么原来就应该是28.7亿美元，因此A选项是正确答案。

　　3. IBM now gushes about being part of the “open-innovation community” in that_____3.IBM现在不停地说自己是“开放发明社团”的一员，因为_____

　　[A] it embraced an open-source software language that is widely supported by the “creative commons”.[A] 它拥有资源公开的软件语言，这种语言受到了“发明的公众”的广泛支持。

　　[B] it endows people inside and outside the company with the access to the software patents it owns.[B]它赋予人们使用它所拥有的软件专利权。

　　[C] it encourages an extensive public involvement in the development of new software for the company.[C]它鼓励更多的公众参与到为公司研发新的软件中来。

　　[D] it indeed whops its cost and gains considerable profit from using Linux.[D]由于使用了Linux，公司确实大大降低了成本并增加了可观的利润。

　　[答案] C

　　[难度系数] ☆☆☆

　　[分析] 细节题。根据文章第五段“IBM now gushes about being part of the “open-innovation community”, yielding hundreds of software patents to the “creative commons” rather than registering them for itself”，可见IBM现在不听地说自己是“开放发明社团”的一员，他让公众发明软件，从而拥有专利权，而不是自己去注册;但是在其他领域自己也进行注册。因此，只有C选项符合题意。A在一定程度上也是正确的，只是没有C选项更加确切地符合原文的意思。

　　4. IBM could provide its clients with cheap operating system because_____4.IBM可以为自己的客户提供廉价的操作系统，因为_____

　　[A] its progrmmers around the world develop Linux essentially at no cost.[A]它分布于世界各地的程序员基本以零成本来开发Linux。

　　[B] it makes money by providing its client with toll services supporting the operating system instead.[B]它通过为客户提供支持操作系统的付费服务来赚钱。

　　[C] it could save a lot of money by using open-source software.[C]它可以使用资源开放的软件来节约一大笔资金。

　　[D] it has shifted its R&D outside, which save a lot of money.[D]它将自己的研发部转移到了外面，这可以省去一大笔钱。

　　[答案] B

　　[难度系数] ☆☆☆

　　[分析] 细节题。根据第六段“It makes money by providing its clients with services that support the use of Linux—and charging them for it”，可见IBM为其客户提供支持Linux系统的服务并收取费用来赢得利润，而操作系统就收费低廉了。因此，答案为B选项。

　　5. According to the last paragrph, if their competitors do not do the same they will be in trouble because_____5.根据最后一段，如果他们的竞争者不这样做，他们就会陷入麻烦，因为_____

　　[A] their competitors will would lose their market share gradually which would be taken by R&D.[A]他们的竞争者会逐渐失去他们的市场份额，这些市场份额都会被宝洁取得。

　　[B] they fail to adopt the new model of open business which would pave the way to constant business success.[B] 他们没有采用开放商业的新模式，而只有这种模式才能使公司取得持续的成功。

　　[C] they do not recognize the best time to shift their backward business model.[C] 这些公司没有意识到改变他们落后商业模式的最佳时期。

　　[D] they will be sifted out by the market as a result of their conservativeness.[D] 他们会因为保守被市场淘汰。

　　[答案] D

　　[难度系数] ☆☆☆☆

　　[分析]推理题。根据文章最后一段“Mr Chesbrough reckons that “IBM and P&G have timed their shift to a high-volume open-business model very well” and that if their competitors do not do the same they will be in trouble”，如果他们的竞争对手不这样做，可就麻烦了，要明确是谁会碰到麻烦。是他们的竞争对手，因为这样的话他们的竞争对手很可能会被淘汰出局，因此D选项是正确答案。A选项的前半句即“their competitors will would lose their market share gradually”是正确的，但是后半句却不正确，这里的公司不仅仅指的宝洁，还包括文中提到的其他采用了新的商业模式的公司。B选项的错误在于文章并没有明确指出开放商业的新模式能够达到“pave the way to constant business success”的作用。C选项则与题干的问题无关。

　　参考译文：

　　伯克利似乎是备受瞩目的开放式发明运动教父的故乡。毕竟这个加利福尼亚村装是20世纪90年代反固定运动的中心，在这里诞生了许多激进的思想者。其中有一位名叫Henry Chesbrough的加利福尼亚大学商业教授，他笑着说“这是爱的夏日的40周年庆典”。

　　Chesbrough先生的两本书《开放的发明》与《开放的商业模式》使得在组织向外部寻找好主意的理念开始流行起来。随着开放式发明的理念越来越流行，公司的研发实验室就显得越来越不重要了。大多数的新主意都并不是从那些实验室里产生的。

　　为什么要到俄亥俄州的辛辛那提去呢，那里是全美与伯克利文化差异最大的地方了。这个保守的中西部城市是保洁公司的发源地，保洁是美国历史上最传统的公司之一。几十年来，该公司为世界制造了象牙牌香皂、佳洁士牙膏和Ariel清洁剂，它拥有封闭的发明程序，以其秘密的研发部为核心。

　　但这些都已经成为历史了。保洁公司已大幅度改变了其发明新产品的模式。公司现在欢迎并与大学、供应商以及外面的发明家合作，甚至还将奖金分给他们一份。十年之内保洁公司就大幅增加了公司外新产品研发的比例，从不到1/5上的比例升到了现在的1/2。公司老总Lafley先生说这大大推进了创新，也是保洁从2001年到2006年保持每年6%增长的主要原因，现在年利润已是原来的三倍，达到86亿美元。目前该公司的市场资本总额为两千亿美元。

　　IBM是另外一家跳上开放式发明流行花车的传统公司。这家曾经非常秘密的公司进行了U型反转，开始欢迎一种资源公开的软件语言Linux。IBM现在总说自己是“开放发明社团”的一员，将大量的软件专利权给了“发明的公众”而不是由公司自己注册。但是，IBM在其他领域继续以创纪录的速度取得专利，比如高级材料，在这个过程许可费用就达到了每年10亿美元。

　　由于在全世界有大批程序师以几乎零成本的方式开发Linux，因此IBM现在拥有非常廉价且强健的操作系统。它通过为户提供支持Linux系统的服务来取费用、赢得利润。据该公司研发主任Paul Horn称，使用开源的软件一年就为IBM节约了四亿美元。该公司如此致力于开放的态度，以至于它有时会开展一些“在线会议”，使得成千上万的员工可以通过自由讨论来交流想法。

　　Chesbrough先生当然赞同这点，他还举了许多其他公司相似的情况，其中就有家居用品公司Clorax，还有工业汽油公司“空气产品”。 Chesbrough先生承认“IBM和保洁公司成功转变为高度开放的商业模式”，而如果他们的竞争对手不这样做的话，可能就麻烦了。