2012年12月大学英语四级真题(2)Part IWriting(30 minutes)注意：此部分试题在答题卡1上，请在答题卡1上作答。Direction:For this part,you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition entitled EducationPays based on the statistics provided in the chart below (Weekly earnings of 2010).Please write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Education:A Worthy InvestmentWeekly earnings in 2010($)Doctoral degree1,550Master's degree1,272Bachelor's degree1.038Some college,no degree712High school diploma626Less than high school degree444Source:U.S.Bureau of Labor StatisticsEducation PaysPart II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning)(15 minutes)Directions:In this part,you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer thequestions on Answer sheet 1.For questions 1-7,choose the best answer from the fourchoices marked A).B).C)and D).For questions 8-10.complete the sentences with theinformation given in the passage.The MagicianThe revolution that Steve Jobs led is only just beginningWhen it came to putting on a show,nobody else in the computer industry,or any otherindustry for that matter,could match Steve Jobs.His product launches,at which he would standalone on a black stage and produce as if by magic an“incredible'”new electronic gadger(小器具)in front of an amazed crowd,were the performances of a master showman.All computers do isfetch and work with numbers,he once explained,but do it fast enough and"the results appear tobe magic".Mr Jobs,who died recently aged 56,spent his life packaging that magic into elegantlydesigned,easy-to-use products.The reaction to his death,with people leaving candles and flowers outside Apple stores andpoliticians singing praises on the internet,is proof that Mr Jobs had become something much moresignificant than just a clever money-maker.He stood out in three ways-as a technologist,as acorporate (leader and as somebody who was able to make people love what hadpreviously been impersonal,functional gadgets.Strangely,it is this last quality that may have thedeepest effect on the way people live.The era of personal technology is in many ways justbeginning.As a technologist,Mr Jobs was different because he was not an engineer-and that was hisgreat strength.Instead he was keenly interested in product design and aesthetics )and inmaking advanced technology simple to use.He repeatedly took an existing but half-formedidea-the mouse-driven computer,the digital music player,the smartphone,the tablet computer(板电脑)一and showed the rest of the industry how to do it properly.Rival firms competed witheach 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 bymillions 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 corporategiants 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 managementstyle which many bosses must have envied.But most of all it was the extraordinary trajectory)of his life.His fall from grace in the 1980s,followed by his return to Apple in 1996 after aperiod in the wilderness,is an inspiration to any businessperson whose career has taken a turn forthe worse.The way in which Mr Jobs revived the failing company he had co-founded and turned itinto the world's biggest tech firm (bigger even than Bill Gates's Microsoft,the company that hadoutsmarted 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 managedto inspire in customers.Many Apple users feel themselves to be part of a community,with MrJobs as its leader.And there was indeed a personal link.Apple's products were designed to accordwith the boss's tastes and to meet his extremely high standards.Every iPhone or MacBook has hisfingerprints all over it.His great achievement was to combine an emotional spark with computertechnology,and make the resulting product feel personal.And that is what put Mr Jobs on theright side of history,as technological innovation )has moved into consumer electronics overthe past decade.As our special report in this issue (printed before Mr Jobs's death)explains,innovation usedto spill over from military and corporate laboratories to the consumer market,but lately thisprocess 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 usethan most companies'systems.Familiar consumer products are being adopted by businesses,govemment and the armed forces.Companies are employing in-house versions of Facebook andcreating their own"app stores"to deliver software to employees.Doctors use tablet computers fortheir work in hospitals.Meanwhile,the number of consumers hungry for such gadgets continuesto swell.Apple's products are now being snapped up in Delhi and Dalian just as in Dublin andDallas.Mr Jobs had a reputation as a control freak ()and his critics complained that theproducts 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.Hisinsistence on putting users first,and focusing on elegance and simplicity,has become deep-rootedin his own company,and is spreading to rival firms too.It is no longer just at Apple that designersask:"What would Steve Jobs do?"The gap between Apple and other tech firms is now likely to narrow.This week'sannouncement of a new iPhone by a management team led by Tim Cook,who replaced Mr Jobs aschief executive in August,was generally regarded as competent but uninspiring.Without Mr Jobsto shower his star dust on the event,it felt like just another product launch from just anothertechnology firm.At the recent unveiling of a tablet computer by Jeff Bezos of Amazon,whosecompany is doing the best job of following Apple's lead in combining hardware,software,contentand services in an easy-to-use bundle,there were several attacks at Apple.But by doing his best toimitate Mr Jobs,Mr Bezos also flattered )him.With Mr Jobs gone,Apple is just one of manytechnology 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 (l)field",such were his powers of persuasion.But in the end he created a reality of his own,channeling the magic of computing into products that reshaped entire industries.The man whosaid in his youth that he wanted to "put a ding in the universe"did just that.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。1.We learn from the first paragraph that nobody could match Steve Jobs in[A intelligence[B]showmanship[C]magic power[D]persuasion skills2.What did Steve Jobs do that most deeply affected people's way of life?[A]He invented lots of functional gadgets.[B]He kept improving computer technology.[C]He started the era of personal technology.[D]He established a new style of leadership.3.Where did Mr Jobs's great strength lie?[A]His profound insight about consumers'needs in general.[B]His keen interest in designing elegant and user-friendly gadgets.[C]His firm determination to win in the competition against his rivals.[D]His rich knowledge as a computer scientist and electronic engineer.4.Many corporate giants saw Steve Jobs as[A]one of the greatest chief executives of his time[B]a dictator in the contemporary business world[C]an unbeatable rival in the computer industry[D]the most admirable hippy in today's world