2012年12月大学英语四级真题试卷（第1套）

The Magician

The revolution that Steve Jobs led is only just beginning

When it came to putting on a show, nobody else in the computer industry, or any other industry for that matter, could match Steve Jobs. His product launches, at which he would stand alone on a black stage and produce as if by magic an “incredible” new electronic gadget (小器具) in front of an amazed crowd, were the performances of a master showman. All computers do is fetch and work with numbers, he once explained, but do it fast enough and “ the results appear to be magic”. Mr Jobs, who died recently aged 56, spent his life packaging that magic into elegantly designed, easy-to-use products.

The reaction to his death, with people leaving candles and flowers outside Apple stores and politicians singing praises on the internet, is proof that Mr Jobs had become something much more significant than just a clever money-maker. He stood out in three ways—as a technologist, as a corporate (公司的) leader and as somebody who was able to make people love what had previously been impersonal, functional gadgets. Strangely, it is this last quality that may have the deepest effect on the way people live. The era of personal technology is in many ways just beginning.

As a technologist, Mr Jobs was different because he was not an engineer—and that was his great strength. Instead he was keenly interested in product design and aesthetics (美学), and in making advanced technology simple to use. He repeatedly took an existing but half-formed idea—the mouse-driven computer, the digital music player, the smartphone, the tablet computer (平板电脑) —and showed the rest of the industry how to do it properly. Rival firms competed with each other to follow where he led. In the process he brought about great changes in computing, music, telecoms and the news business that were painful for existing firms but welcomed by millions of consumers.

Within the wider business world, a man who liked to see himself as a hippy (嬉皮士) , permanently in revolt against big companies, ended up being hailed by many of those corporate giants as one of the greatest chief executives of his time. That was partly due to his talents: showmanship, strategic vision, an astonishing attention to detail and a dictatorial management style which many bosses must have envied. But most of all it was the extraordinary trajectory (轨迹) of his life. His fall from grace in the 1980s, followed by his return to Apple in 1996 after a period in the wilderness, is an inspiration to any businessperson whose career has taken a turn for the worse. The way in which Mr Jobs revived the failing company he had co-founded and turned it into the world’s biggest tech firm (biggter even than Bill Gates’s Microsoft, the company that had outsmarted Apple so dramatically in the 1980s) , sounds like something from a Hollywood movie.

But what was perhaps most astonishing about Mr Jobs was the absolute loyalty he managed to inspire in customers. Many Apple users feel themselves to be part of a community, with Mr Jobs as its leader. And there was indeed a personal link. Apple’s products were designed to accord with the boss’s tastes and to meet his extremely high standards. Every iPhone or MacBook has his finger-prints all over it. His great achievement was to combine an emotional spark with computer technology, and make the resulting product feel personal. And that is what put Mr Jobs on the right side of history, as technological innovation (创新) has moved into consumer electronics over the past decade.

As our special report in this issue (printed before Mr Jobs’s death) explains, innovation used to spill over from military and corporate laboratories to the consumer market, but lately this process has gone into reverse. Many people’s homes now have more powerful, and more flexible, devices than their offices do; consumer gadgets and online services are smarter and easier to use than most companies’ systems. Familiar consumer products are being adopted by businesses, government and the armed forces. Companies are employing in-house versions of Facebook and creating their own “app stores” to deliver software to employees. Doctors use tablet computers for their work in hospitals. Meanwhile, the number of consumers hungry for such gadgets continues to swell. Apple’s products are now being snapped up in Delhi and Dalian just as in Dublin and Dallas.

Mr Jobs had a reputation as a control freak (怪人) , and his critics complained that the products and systems he designed were closed and inflexible, in the name of greater ease of use. Yet he also empowered millions of people by giving them access to cutting-edge technology. His insistence on putting users first, and focusing on elegance and simplicity, has become deep-rooted in his own company, and is spreading to rival firms too. It is no longer just at Apple that designers ask: “ What would Steve Jobs do?”

The gap between Apple and other tech firms is now likely to narrow. This week’s announcement of a new iPhone by a management team led by Tim Cook, who replaced Mr Jobs as chief executive in August, was generally regarded as competent but uninspiring. Without Mr Jobs to shower his star dust on the event, it felt like just another product launch from just another technology firm. At the recent unveiling of a tablet computer by Jeff Bezos of Amazon, whose company is doing the best job of following Apple’s lead in combining hardware, software, content and services in an easy-to-use bundle, there were several attacks at Apple. But by doing his best to imitate Mr Jobs, Mr Bezos also flattered (抬举) him. With Mr Jobs gone, Apple is just one of many technology firms trying to arouse his uncontrollable spirit in new products.

Mr Jobs was said by an engineer in the early years of Apple to emit a “ reality distortion (扭曲) field” , such were his powers of persuasion. But in the end he created a reality of his own, channelling the magic of computing into products that reshaped entire industries. The man who said in his youth (hat he wanted to “put a ding in the universe” did just that.

Americans today have different eating habits than they had in the past. There is a wide【B1】___of food available. They have a broader【B2】of nutrition (营养), so they buy more fresh fruit and【B3】than ever before. At the same time, Americans【B4】___increasing quantities of sweets and sodas.

Statistics show that the way people live【B5】___the way they eat. American lifestyles have changed. There are now growing numbers of people who live alone,【B6】parents and children, and double-income families. These changing lifestyles are【B7】for the increasing number of people who must【B8】meals or sometimes simply go without them. Many Americans have less time than ever before to spend preparing food.【B9】___. Moreover, Americans eat out nearly four times a week on average.

It is easy to study the amounts and kinds of food that people consume.【B10】___. This information not only tells us what people are eating, but also tells us about the changes in attitudes and tastes.【B11】___. Instead, chicken, turkey and fish have become more popular. Sales of these foods have greatly increased in recent years.

French fries, washed down with a pint of soda, are a favorite part of fast-food lunches and dinners for millions of American youngsters. But【S1】___a cue from health experts, a group of 19 restaurant companies are pledging to offer more-healthful menu options for children at a time when【S2】___is growing over the role of fast food in childhood obesity (肥胖症).

Burger King, the nation’s second-largest fast food chain, for instance, will【S3】___automatically including French fries and soda in its kids’ meals starting this month, although they will still be【S4】. Instead, the company said Tuesday, its employees will ask parents whether they【S5】such options as milk or sliced apples before assembling the meals. “ We’re asking the customers to【S6】what they want,” said Craig Prusher, the chain’s vice president of government relations. Other participating chains, with a【S7】___of menu options, include Denny’s, Chili’s, Friendly’s and Chevy’s.

As part of the Kids Live Well campaign—expected to be announced【S8】___Wednesday—participating restaurants must promise to offer at least one children’s meal that has fewer than 600 calories (卡路里), no soft drinks and at least two【S9】from the following food groups: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins or low-fat dairy. Among other requirements, they must offer a side dish that meets similar【S10】___, with fewer than 200 calories and less than 35% of its calories from sugar.

A) adapt D prefer

B) available J) recommending

C) begin K) species

D) concern L) specify

E) criteria M) stop

F) items N) taking

G) nationwide O) variety

H) possible

As you are probably aware, the latest job markets news isn’t good: Unemployment is still more than 9 percent, and new job growth has fallen close to zero. That’s bad for the economy, of course. And it may be especially discouraging if you happen to be looking for a job or hoping to change careers right now. But it actually shouldn’t matter to you nearly as much as you think.

That’s because job growth numbers don’t matter to job hunters as much as job turnover (人员更替) data. After all, existing jobs open up every day due to promotions, resignations, terminations (解雇), and retirements. (Yes, people are retiring even in this economy.) In both good times and bad, turnover creates more openings than economic growth does. Even in June of 2007, when the economy was still moving ahead, job growth was only 132,000, while turnover was 4.7 million!

And as it turns out, even today—with job growth near zero—over 4 million job hunters are being hired every month.

I don’t mean to imply that overall job growth doesn’t have an impact on one’s ability to land a job. It’s true that if total employment were higher, it would mean more jobs for all of us to choose from (and compete for). And it’s true that there are currently more people applying for each available job opening, regardless of whether it’s a new one or not.

But what often distinguishes those who land jobs from those who don’t is their ability to stay motivated. They’re willing to do the hard work of identifying their valuable skills; be creative about where and how to look; learn how to present themselves to potential employers; and keep going, even after repeated rejections. The Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that 2.7 million people who wanted and were available for work hadn’t looked within the last four weeks and were no longer even classified as unemployed.

So don’t let the headlines fool you into giving up. Four million people get hired every month in the US. You can be one of them.

Our risk of cancer rises dramatically as we age. So it makes sense that the elderly should be routinely screened for new tumors—or doesn’t it?

While such vigilant (警觉的) tracking of cancer is a good thing in general, researchers are increasingly questioning whether all of this testing is necessary for the elderly. With the percentage of people over age 65 expected to nearly double by 2050, it’s important to weigh the health benefits of screening against the risks and costs of routine testing.

In many cases, screening can lead to surgeries to remove cancer, while the cancers themselves may be slow-growing and may not pose serious health problems in patients’ remaining years. But the message that everyone must screen for cancer has become so deep-rooted that when health care experts recommended that women under 50 and over 74 stop screening for breast cancer, it caused a riotous reaction among doctors, patients and advocacy groups.

It’s hard to uproot deeply held beliefs about cancer screening with scientific data. Certainly, there are people over age 75 who have had cancers detected by routine screening, and gained several extra years of life because of treatment. And clearly, people over age 75 who have other risk factors for cancer, such as a family history or prior personal experience with the disease, should continue to get screened regularly. But for the remainder, the risk of cancer, while increased at the end of life, must be balanced with other factors like remaining life expectancy (预期寿命).

A recent study suggests that doctors start to make more objective decisions about who will truly benefit from screening—especially considering the explosion of the elderly that will soon swell our population.

It’s not an easy calculation to make, but one that makes sense for all patients. Dr. Otis Brawley said, “ Many doctors are ordering screening tests purely to cover themselves. We need to think about the rational use of health care. “

That means making some difficult decisions with elderly patients, and going against the misguided belief that when it comes to health care, more is always better.

Try to imagine what it is like to live without electricity. It is boring,【C1】___one thing—no television, no MP3 player, no video games. And you feel【C2】and disconnected as well—no computer, no Internet, no mobile phone. You can read books, of course—【C3】at night you won’t have light, other than the flicker (闪烁) of firewood. And about that firewood—you or someone in your family had to【C4】it during the day, taking you away from more【C5】work or schooling, and in some parts of the world, exposing you【C6】danger. That same firewood is used to cook dinner,【C7】smoke that can turn the air inside your home far more【C8】than that breathed in an industrial city. You may lack access to modern drugs【C9】the nearest hospital does not have continuous【C10】to keep the medicine refrigerated. You are【C11】poor—and the lack of electricity helps to【C12】___that you’ll stay that way.

That is life for the 1. 3 billion people around the【C13】___who lack access to the grid (电网). It is a【C14】problem of the developing world and the countryside—more than 95% of【C15】without electricity are either in sub-Saharan Africa or developing Asia, and 84% live in rural areas.【C16】it hasn’t gotten the attention that【C17】problems like HIV/AIDS and water shortage have【C18】in recent years, lack of power remains a major【C19】___to any progress in the world’s development.

” Lacking access to electricity【C20】______health, well-being and income,” says Fatih Birol, the chief economist of the International Energy Agency. “ It’s a problem the world has to pay attention to. “