1、专业英语八级（经济网络类阅读理解）模拟试卷 1及答案与解析 0 Eight years later, Facebook is one of the hottest companies in the world. On February 1 st the social network announced plans for an initial public offering (IPO) that could value it at between $75 billion and $ 100 billion. This is extraordinary. Investors believe th
2、at a start-up run by a cocky 27-year-old is more valuable than Boeing, the worlds largest aircraft maker. Are they nuts? Not necessarily. Facebook could soon boast one billion users. Last year it generated $3.7 billion in revenue and $1 billion in net profits. That is nowhere near enough to justify
3、its price tag. But there are reasons to bet Facebook will justify the hype, for it has found a new way to harness a prehistoric instinct. People love to socialise, and Facebook makes it easier. The shy become more outgoing online. The young, the mobile and the busy find that Facebook is an efficient
4、 way of staying in touch. You can do it via laptop or smartphone, while lying in bed, waiting for a bus or pretending to work. You can look up old friends, make new ones, share photos, arrange parties and tell each other what you thought of the latest George Clooney film. As more people join Faceboo
5、k, its appeal grows. Those who sign up have access to a wider circle. Those who dont can feel excluded. This powerful feedback loop has already made Facebook the biggest social-networking site in many countries. It accounts for one in seven minutes spent online worldwide. Its growth may be slowing i
6、n some rich countries unsurprisingly, given how enormous it already is. But it is still growing fast in big emerging markets such as Brazil and India. A $100 billion price tag would hardly be cheap, but other tech giants are worth more: Googles market capitalisation is $190 billion, Microsofts $250
7、billion and Apples $425 billion. And the commercial possibilities are immense, for three reasons. First, Facebook knows a staggering amount about its users. It is also constantly devising ways to find out more. The company mines users data to work out what they like and then hits their eyeballs with
8、 spookily well-targeted ads. Second, Facebook is the most powerful platform for social marketing. Few sales pitches are as persuasive as a recommendation from a friend, so the billions of interactions on Facebook now influence everything from the music that people buy to the politicians they vote fo
9、r. Companies, like teenagers, are discovering that if they are not on Facebook, they are left out. Social commerce is still in its infancy, but a study by Booz it employs some of the worlds top business professors, yet it is not a business school; it lists some of the worlds top companies among its
10、members, but it is not a club. So what exactly is Cedep? Founded more than 40 years ago on Inseads French campus, and employing the same architect as Insead to construct its teaching facilities, the best description of Cedep might be that it is an executive education community. One of executive educ
11、ations best-kept secrets, the group includes corporate members, some full-time and many visiting professors and by reputation at least, a better wine cellar than any business school. The other big difference between Cedep and a traditional business school, says Jens Meyer, former full-time Insead pr
12、ofessor and now director general of Cedep, is the corporate involvement. Most business schools develop programmes to answer the aspirations of the corporate board or the interests of business school faculty. “Cedep is built around HR people. We serve the HR community.“ And HR involvement is the key
13、to Cedep. Representatives from each of Cedeps corporate partners there are between 20 and 30 at any one time compile a portfolio of their development needs and specify new courses. Because all the companies are involved in the course design though Cedep brings in designers and faculty to develop dif
14、ferent content clusters the process takes longer than it would in a traditional business school. But it has to be a transparent process, says Prof Meyer. “In a club environment, sharing is more open. Here we design the product together, we look at best practice. If there is no ready-made solution, w
15、e start building it together.“ Faculty are sources from across the business education community. It is a model that has stood the test of time, with many of the companies that joined the group more than 30 years ago still participating. These days big name members include LOreal, Honeywell, Aviva, R
16、enault and Tata Steel. The aim is to have a rounded group of non-competing companies, says Cedep president Francois Vachey. He is now hoping to encourage both a retail and a publishing company to join the group. There are clear cost benefits to participants as Cedep works on a break-even model, unli
17、ke most business schools for which executive short courses are the cash cow of the institution. Even so, in 2008 and 2009, Cedep saw revenues drop by 12 percent as the recession spread across Europe. Business is now coming back, says Prof Meyer and income is close to pre-recession times. But as with
18、 business schools, the type of business has changed. When Cedep started, about half the programmes run were customised programmes for specific member organisations and the other 50 percent were consortium programmes, run for mixed groups of managers from the member companies. But more recently compa
19、nies have been leaning more heavily towards customised programmes. That balance is now beginning to be redressed, says Prof Meyer, with multi-company programmes proving increasingly popular. In particular, member companies are keen to develop programmes for younger managers, he says. Originally set
20、up in conjunction with Insead to teach corporate programmes outside the traditional business school, Cedeps approach was quite revolutionary 40 years ago. These days corporate education is a substantial and highly competitive business and Cedep is looking for the next breakthrough. To begin with it
21、is now teaching programmes away from its French campus, in Sao Paolo and Shanghai. More significantly, though, it has launched a more personalised service for its members. The fellows programme gives every member company their own professor, whose job it is to shadow corporate managers and use an ou
22、tsiders eye to help analyse the companys competitive problems. The fellows can then feed valuable information into the design of new programmes, to ensure their rigour. As Prof Meyer says: “The exchange is not a cocktail conversation.“ From Financial Times, May 2, 2012 14 What is Cedep? （ A） It is a
23、 part of Insead. （ B） It is a club. （ C） It is a business school. （ D） It could be described as an executive education community. 15 What are the programmes of most business schools for? （ A） They are for serving the HR community. （ B） They are for answering the aspirations of the corporate board or
24、 the interests of business school faculty. （ C） They are for teaching business knowledge. （ D） They are for exchanging ideas. 16 Whats Cedep president Francois Vacheys hope? （ A） He hopes to encourage both a retail and a publishing company to join the group. （ B） He hopes to encourage either a retai
25、l or a publishing company to join the group. （ C） He hopes to encourage both a wholesale and a stationery company to join the group. （ D） He hopes to encourage either a wholesale or a stationery company to join the group. 17 According to Prof. Meyer, which statement is TRUE? （ A） More recently, comp
26、anies have been leaning more heavily towards consortium programmes. （ B） Member companies are very interested in developing programmes for younger managers. （ C） Though multi-company programmes proved increasingly popular, the balance remained same. （ D） Nowadays, about half the programmes were cust
27、omised programmes while the other half were consortium programmes. 18 What is the original purpose of Cedep? （ A） To teach corporate programmes outside the traditional business school. （ B） To serve HR community. （ C） To provide personalised service for its members. （ D） To help analyse its members
28、competitive problems. 18 All the hype and prognostication around Apples allegedly forthcoming MacBook Pro refresh pivots on two bullet points: thinner frames and higher-resolution screens. The new laptops initially said to resemble the MacBook Air in terms of the latters tapered body, now said to be
29、 more of an existing box-frame shrink are supposed to give us more power (with less expenditure) by way of Ivy Bridge as well as more to appreciate, screen-wise, while delivering all of that in a lighter, slimmer package. But what if all the talk about “Retina“ quality displays turns out to be media
30、-misled or pipe dreaming bunkum? What if, at WWDC next week, Apple unveils new MBPs with industry standard laptop screens? Engadget just put up a screen of what resembles a leaked product listing for the forthcoming 13.3-inch MBP, snagged from WeiPhone, which suggests Apples going with a classic 128
31、0 x 800 pixel screen instead of something roughly twice that. The whole thing could be a fake, of course, and that some of the other specs appear to align with parallel rumors may just mean the prankster could pass an elementary “how to collate media gossip“ test. But what if its not a fake? Would n
32、ew MBPs absent ultra-high-resolution displays be a gigantic letdown? Putting higher-resolution screens on laptops would make them more valuable to imaging specialists, its true, but its hard to see the average consumer really noticing, much less deeply caring, about higher pixels-per-inch counts. Fo
33、r starters, ultra-HD screens wouldnt offer more in the way of screen real estate (nor would we want them to have you ever played around at something like 1920 x 1080 without asset scaling on a 15-inch screen?). No, Apple would instead have to upscale its interface art to make it look like youre runn
34、ing at conventional resolutions, proportionally speaking, while benefitting from the higher, crisper PPI count. In fact recent updates to OS X Lion that, among other things, double icon resolution have led many to assume its all part of a not-so-secret Apple plan to bring ultra-HD to the laptop mass
35、es. But what if Apple just released thinner, lighter, more powerful MBPs? Would that be such a letdown? Beautys in the eye of the beholder, sure, and I cant say an even larger iPad-like screen wouldnt be impressive to an ordinary user like me at a purely aesthetic level, but if Im thinking practical
36、ly, my inclination to buy one wouldnt hinge on something so functionally trivial. To be fair, Apple could always demonstrate some new OS X-related technology at WWDC that torpedoes everything I just said about functional superficiality. Something else that bothers me: the way the media takes a rumor
37、 like this, spots something that suggests the rumor may be false, then writes about it as if not satisfying the medias possibly fabricated conditions would be Apples fault. Is Apple (or any company) responsible when the media gets it wrong? Shouldnt we take it on the nose, not Apple, when we hype an
38、onymously sourced information that turns out to be incorrect, come showtime? Somethings screwy where the folks stoking the propaganda engine are blaming the rumors object when reality fails to pony up. If these nigh legendary MBPs do appear at WWDC and they dont have ultra-HD displays, I suggest con
39、sumers train their animus on us, not Apple, for wasting everyones time the past half-year. By the way, theres a third possibility here that no ones mentioned: Apple could simply be planning to make the larger MBPs ultra-HD while leaving the 13-inch models unchanged. But my guess is this ad really is
40、 a fake. Look at two of the other bits and bobs on that listing: a 5400 RPM hard drive (not solid state) and a DVD drive (as opposed to its absence, as strongly suggested by prior rumors). I know, citing one rumor to dispel another is no less suspect, and its just as possible Apples planning to offe
41、r alternative “with“ or “without“ versions. Im basing my skepticism about this “listing“ on conventional wisdom that mainstream laptops in 2012 are poised to lose optical drives and shift to solid state storage, and that, coupled to Apples history of embracing changes like this ahead of, or at least
42、 in sync with, the curve. From The Times, June 5, 2012 19 According to the passage, whats the average consumers response to putting higher-resolution screens on laptops? （ A） They will appreciate the laptops more. （ B） They will deeply care about it. （ C） They will obviously notice it. （ D） They wil
43、l hardly notice or care about it. 20 According to the passage, what will the author think if Apple just releases thinner, lighter, more powerful MBPs? （ A） He will not be impressed by the beauty but will like its function. （ B） He will not be impressed by the beauty and will consider its trivial fun
44、ction. （ C） He will be impressed by the beauty and will like its function. （ D） He will be impressed by the beauty but will consider its trivial function. 21 According to the author, if these nigh legendary MBPs do appear at WWDC and they dont have ultra-HD displays,_should be responsible for wastin
45、g everyones time the past half-year. （ A） Apple （ B） the media （ C） designers of the forthcoming MBPs （ D） the public 22 Judged from Apples history, what will Apple do if the mainstream laptops in 2012 are poised to lose optical drives and shift to solid state storage? （ A） It will stick to its own
46、ideas. （ B） It will follow the trend. （ C） It will lead the trend or at least be at the same pace with it. （ D） It will be skeptical about the new trend. 22 Its tempting to compare Clipboard, a new service thats launching today, to Pinterest. Actually, its irresistible: Clipboard, like Pinterest, le
47、ts you collect interesting tidbits from all over the web, then share them in “boards“ which piece together all the tidbits on one page. And Clipboard, unlike Pinterest, lets you share web content of all sorts: images, videos, text and more, preserving the original layout and formatting. But Clipboar
48、d isnt just a Pinterest variant. Its also a way to save parts of the web for later reference without ever sharing them with anyone else something Ive been doing lately with Evernote and therefore a useful research tool as much as an exercise in social networking. You save stuff to Clipboard by using
49、 a special bookmark (or a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox) which lets you hover your mouse on any web page and highlight either the entire page or part of it, such as an image, a snippet of text, a video, or a combination thereof. Once the elements you want are highlighted, you click. Clipboard then saves them to your Clipboard, allowing you to tag it and either keep it private, share it with other members or publish it so its completely public. When you clip text and images, Clipboard makes a copy, so theyr
