阅读理解 The people who run Facebook are furious about a new movie that depicts the existence of Facebook. They' re upset because much of the story about The Social Network is just completely made up. But the really interesting thing about this movie is that the story tells a lager truth about Silicon Valley' s get-rich-quick culture and the kind of people—like Mark Zuckerberg—who thrive in this environment.
The Valley used to be a place run by scientists and engineers. But now the Valley has become a casino, a place where smart kids arrive hoping to make an easy fortune building companies that seem at least not as serious as old-guard companies.
The three hottest tech companies today are Facebook, Twitter, and Zynga. Facebook lets you keep in touch with your friends; it will generate about $1.5 billion in revenue this year by bombarding its 500 million members with ads. Twitter is a noisy circus of spats and celebrity watching, and its hapless founders still can' t figure out how to make money. The biggest of Facebook app-makers, reportedly will rake in $500 million this year by getting people addicted to cheesy games like Farmville and Mafia Wars.
Meanwhile, among some longtime techies, there' s a sense that something important has been lost. "The old Silicon Valley was about solving really hard problems, making technical bets. But there's no real technical bet being made with Facebook or Zynga," says Nathan Myhrvold, the former chief technology officer at Microsoft who now runs an invention lab in Seattle. "Today almost everyone in the Valley will tell you there is too much 'me-tooism', too much looking for a gold rush and not enough people who are looking to solve really hard problems."
Sure, there are still entrepreneurs and investors chasing serious technology challenges in the Valley. Myhrvold says he means no disrespect to Facebook and Zynga. "What bother me are the millions of wannabes who will follow along, and the expectation that every company ought to be focused on doing really short-term, easy things to achieve giant paydays. I think that' s unrealistic, and it's not healthy." What he worries are "the unknown engineers and professors who have good ideas will get funded or will they be talked out of it and told they should do something like Zynga? "
We' ve already fallen behind in areas like alternative energy, better batteries, and nanotechnolo-gy. Instead of racing to catch up, we're buying seeds and garden gnomes on Facebook. This won't end well.
单选题 21.The people who run Facebook are furious because______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】根据题干关键词定位到文章首段前两句话,通过原文They’re upset because much of the story about The Social Network is just completely made up可知,《社交网络》这部电影很多内容都是虚构的,所以,人们愤怒的根源在于电影脱离实际,故D项“电影所展示的脸书网是不真实的”符合题意。A项“脸书网和推特之间存在激烈的竞争”、B项“这部电影诽谤了脸书网”和C项“这部电影揭露了脸书网的秘密”均不符合题意,故本题选D。
单选题 22.We can infer from Paragraph 2 that______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】根据题干关键词定位到文章第二段。通过原文“现在的硅谷好像一个赌场,人们渴望成立公司一夜暴富,并不再像之前那样追求严肃的科技创新”可推断出,C项“轻松赚取财富在今天的硅谷大行其道”符合题意。A项“硅谷不再是硬科学和创造事物的地方”过于夸大事实。B项“硅谷已经变成了一家赌场”错误,其在原文只是一个比喻,并不是实指。D项“半导体公司得名于硅谷”在原文中并未提及,故本题选C。
单选题 23.From the third paragraph, the author's attitude towards Facebook, Twitter and Zynga is______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】根据题干关键词定位到文章第三段。作者介绍这三家公司的主流业务,如提到Twitter时,用noisy circus(喧闹的马戏团)来比喻。提到Zynga时,用到cheesy game(蹩脚游戏)来形容。可见作者对于这三家企业的态度存在批判性。故critical“批判的”符合题意。slightly complimentary“略有称赞的”、positive“积极的”和neutral“中立的”均不符合题意。故本题选A。
单选题 24.What Myhrvold worries about the Silicon Valley is______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】根据题干关键词定位到文中第四、五段。第四段的第二句话指出:硅谷应该切实解决复杂的问题,实现技术方面的巨大进步,然而Facebook或者Zynga主营的业务并没有太多的技术进步包含其中。反而越来越多地纷纷效仿Facebook或者Zynga,将技术创新抛诸脑后。故D项“解决难题的能力正在下降”与上述分析相符。A项“如何获得足够的企业家和投资者”、B项“硅谷的每个人都不追求淘金热”和C项“Facebook或Zynga进行了大量技术押注”均不是Myhrvold担心的内容,不符合题意,故本题选D。
单选题 25.The main idea about this text is______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】本题为主旨题,答题需要纵览全文。文章主要讲:述硅谷盛行快速致富的氛围,越来越多的人已经忽略了硅谷科技创新的传统追求,从而引发人们更深入的讨论。C项“一个关于硅谷快速致富的故事”符合题意。A项“美国在替代能源、更好的电池和纳米技术等领域的落后”、B项“一部关于Facebook和社交网络的不真实电影”和D项“Facebook等公司的成功对硅谷的负面影响”都只是文章部分内容的概括,不能成为主旨,故本题选C。