单选题
In the 1960s pop was a young person"s business. But today age is no barrier to success. The Rolling Stones are still touring in their 60s. Bob Dylan"s songwriting skills have survived intact. Sir Paul McCartney warbles on.
It is time to do for enterprise what such ageing rockers have done for pop music: explode the myth that it is a monopoly of the young. This idea has been powerfully reinforced by the latest tech boom: Facebook, Google and Groupon were all founded by people in their 20s or teens. Mark Zuckerberg, aged 27, will soon be able to count his years on earth in billions of dollars.
Research suggests that age may in fact be an advantage for entrepreneurs. Vivek Wadhwa of Singularity University in California studied more than 500 American high-tech and engineering companies with more than $1m in sales. He discovered that the average age of the founders of successful American technology businesses is 39. There were twice as many successful founders over 50 as under 25, and twice as many over 60 as under 20.
Experience continues to count for a great deal, in business as in other walks of life—or, to borrow a phrase from P.J. O"Rourke, age and guile can still beat "youth, innocence and a bad haircut". It is one thing to invent a clever new product but quite another to hire employees or build a sales machine. And even when it comes to breakthrough ideas, age may still be an asset. Benjamin Jones of Northwestern University"s Kellogg School of Management and Bruce Weinberg of Ohio State University examined the careers of Nobel Prizewinners in chemistry, physics and medicine. They found that the average age at which these stars made their greatest innovations is now higher than it was a century ago.
This is not to say that the rise of young entrepreneurs like Mr. Zuckerberg is insignificant. The barriers that once discouraged enterprise among the young are collapsing. Social networks make it easier to build contacts. Knowledge-intensive industries require relatively little capital. But the fact that barriers are collapsing for the young does not mean that they are being erected for greybeards. The point is that the creation of fast-growing businesses is now open to everybody regardless of age.
The evidence that older people are if anything becoming more enterprising should help to calm two of the biggest worries that hang over the West. One is that the greying of the population will inevitably produce economic sluggishness. The second is that older people will face hard times as companies shed older workers in the name of efficiency and welfare states cut back on their pensions.
单选题
The Nobel Prize winners are mentioned to illustrate that ______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】例证题
[解析] 根据题干中的关键字Nobel Prize winners锁定文章第四段的内容。第四段的中心句是第一句话，“Experience continues to count for a great deal, in business as in other walks of life”。另外在提到诺贝尔获奖者之前，有一句话也很关键“...even when it comes to breakthrough ideas, age may still be an asset”，“就突破性思维而言，年长似乎还是有利因素。”研究者通过对诺贝尔奖项获得者的事业情况进行了调查发现当代的学术大师取得自己最杰出的创新成果的平均年龄比上个世纪的要高，这一研究发现是为了印证作者关于年纪对突破性思维有利的说法，因此本题的正确答案应该选D。A选项偷换概念，将breakthrough ideas偷换为technological entrepreneurship。B选项错误，经验能够促进创新性观点的产生，并不意味着它是创新性观点产生的必备条件。C选项偷换概念，研究发现当代的诺贝尔获奖者取得最杰出的创新成果的年龄比上个世纪的诺贝尔获奖者要老，但是他们取得成果的年纪并不一定就是他们获得诺贝尔奖的年纪。
单选题
The author shows ______ the success achieved by young entrepreneurs like Mr. Zuckerberg.