Why Doesn't Anybody Copy Apple?
Apple’s products are the envy of the world. They have been amazingly successful and are widely imitated, if not copied. The minute Apple launches a product, everyone knows how to compete．This idea that the basis of competition is set by Apple and then the race is on to climb the path of improvement is unquestionable. When Apple releases a product that defines a category or dramatically changes the structure of an industry, it becomes obvious what needs to be built. But what I wonder is why everyone wants to copy Apple's products but nobody wants to copy being Apple?
I can think of two reasons. Firstly, Apple is not worth copying because it's not successful; secondly, Apple's success cannot be copied because it is a magical process.
There is a great deal of evidence for the first assumption. The idea of Apple being successful is not something reflected in its stock price. Being valued lower than the average company in the S&P（标准普尔）500 indicates that to whatever degree Apple was successful in the past, and it's not seen by the vast majority of observers as successful in the future. Why should one bother copying Apple if it results in being punished with a low valuation? If one works really hard at innovation（革新）and then that innovation becomes commoditized（商品化）very quickly, why should one bother?
When innovation practitioners are asked what makes Apple successful, the answers regarding the cause of this success border on the mythical. The fabulous part of this assumption is the " chief-sorcerer" theory of success which places one magician, like Steve Jobs, in charge of casting all the right spells．
What about Apple's own opinion of what makes it tick? Tim Cook refers to a great team and integration（一体）of hardware, software and services as unique Apple advantages. It's a better explanation. Integration is something that can take a long time, but it is possible with great effort. A few companies are starting to make moves in that direction, but efforts are half-hearted. There is no "move the Earth" feeling to become an integrated company from Samsung, Google or Microsoft.
My own suspicion is that Apple is more aware of what makes it special than it lets out. However, as Tim points out, it's not a formula. It's complex, it's subtle, but it's not magic. It's a process that requires a degree of faith and courage.When a new product of Apple comes out, often it _________.
| A．ruins an industry dramatically |
| B．puts itself in an unbeatable position |
| C．starts a revolution of an industry |
| D．is soon overtaken by imitated products |
According to the passage, other companies don't "copy being Apple" because_________.
| A．Apple is not a successful company |
| B．they have no access to relevant resources |
| C．it's hard to find a magician like Steve Jobs |
| D．being Apple takes more than time and efforts |
We can infer from Para. 5 that _________.
| A．other companies are dedicated to integration |
| B．Apple itself is fully aware of its unique advantages |
| C．Apple will hold the leading position in this industry |
| D．other companies don't have an extraordinary team as Apple does |
What does the author think of Tim Cook's statement?
| A．Neutral. | B．Disappointing. | C．Indifferent. | D．Acceptable. |
University Room Regulations
Approved and Prohibited Items
The following items are approved for use in residential (住宿的) rooms: electric blankets, hair dryers, personal computers, radios, televisions and DVD players. Items that are not allowed in student rooms include: candles, ceiling fans, fireworks, waterbeds, sun lamps and wireless routers. Please note that any prohibited items will be taken away by the Office of Residence Life.
Access to Residential Rooms
Students are provided with a combination (组合密码) for their room door locks upon check-in. Do not share your room door lock combination with anyone. The Office of Residence Life may change the door lock combination at any time at the expense of the resident if it is found that the student has shared the combination with others. The fee is $25 to change a room combination.
Cooking Policy
Students living in buildings that have kitchens are only permitted to cook in the kitchen. Students must clean up after cooking. This is not the responsibility of housekeeping staff. Kitchens that are not kept clean may be closed for use. With the exception of using a small microwave oven (微波炉) to heat food, students are not permitted to cook in their rooms.
Pet Policy
No pets except fish are permitted in student rooms. Students who are found with pets, whether visiting or owned by the student, are subject to an initial fine of $100 and a continuing fine of $50 a day per pet. Students receive written notice when the fine goes into effect. If, one week from the date of written notice, the pet is not removed, the student is referred to the Student Court.
Quiet Hours
Residential buildings must maintain an atmosphere that supports the academic mission of the University. Minimum quiet hours in all campus residences are 11:00 pm to 8:00 am Sunday through Thursday. Quiet hours on Friday and Saturday nights are 1:00 am to 8:00 am. Students who violate quiet hours are subject to a fine of $25.Which of the following items are allowed in student rooms?
| A．Ceiling fans and waterbeds. |
| B．Wireless routers and radios. |
| C．Hair dryers and candles. |
| D．TVs and electric blankets. |
What if a student is found to have told his combination to others?
| A．The combination should be changed. |
| B．The Office should be charged. |
| C．He should replace the door lock. |
| D．He should check out of the room. |
What do we know about the cooking policy?
| A．A microwave oven can be used. |
| B．Cooking in student rooms is permitted. |
| C．A housekeeper is to clean up the kitchen. |
| D．Students are to close kitchen doors after cooking. |
If a student has kept a cat in his room for a week since the warning, he will face _____.
| A．parent visits | B．a fine of $100 |
| C．the Student Court | D．a written notice |
My mother got divorced when I was 5 and was left to raise me and my two younger brothers. She didn’t have a formal education, so she had to work two full-time jobs to make ends meet.
One day several years later, I was determined to help. I told the manager of the Don Carlos Motel in Nana Point that I was 15, so I could get a work permit to work as a maid.
Since then, I’ve started to work alongside some of America’s top leaders, written books, and achieved financial independence. It took a lot of hard work and sacrifices.
But what if I was 15 years old today? Would I be able to accomplish the same things in this new, highly competitive world with so many global challenges? It seems hard work and sacrifices aren’t enough anymore.
Today, you need to be extremely adaptable. To progress in your career, it’s not enough to know one thing well. As my friend Sean Harvey, product manager at Google put it when we were speaking to students, “Today, companies aren’t hiring people for a specific position but rather people who are smart and flexible. The way you prove that is by showing you can do multiple things well.”
People need to take more risks to succeed now than ever. The combination of unemployment and slow wage growth means that we are not only at greater financial risk, but we have to take more risks to succeed.
Luckily, the new Internet world of all-the-time connectedness means that anyone with a hot idea, product or service can create a business out of almost nothing. And success can be quick and big. But that success demands more “out of the box” thinking.
And what about our kids? It makes me think a lot about the future that my 3-years-old daughter faces. But no matter what the future brings, I think the best message I’ll give her is to believe in herself. Life won’t get any easier, but the opportunities will come — as they always have — to those who work hard, adapt as they need to, and trust their abilities.We can infer that the author had _________.
| A．a difficult childhood | B．a lonely childhood |
| C．a normal childhood | D．a happy childhood |
The author achieved financial independence when she was 15 largely due to ______.
| A．her strong leadership |
| B．her boss’s help |
| C．her hard work |
| D．her competitive spirit |
Compared to the past, people who want to succeed now need __________.
| A．more time | B．more money |
| C．to work harder | D．to be more creative |
The author writes the text mainly to __________.
| A．describe her childhood |
| B．give some suggestions about success |
| C．tell a story about her mother |
| D．share some useful parenting skills |
Coincidences happen all the time to ordinary people, but the following events are perhaps some of the strangest of them all.
1. In the 19th century, the famous writer, Edgar Allan Poe, wrote a book called The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. It was about four survivors of a shipwreck (船只失事) who were in an open boat for many days before three of them decided to kill and eat the cabin boy whose name was Richard Parker. Some years later, in 1884, the boat Mignonette sank, and only four survivors were left in an open boat for many days. Finally the three older members killed and ate the cabin boy. The name of the cabin boy was Richard Parker.
2. In Monza, Italy, King Umberto I went to a small restaurant for dinner. When the owner took King Umberto I’s order, the King noticed that he and the restaurant owner were doubles, in face and in build. Both men began discussing the resemblance between each other and found many more similarities. Both men were born in the same place, on the same day, of the same year (March 14, 1844, Turin, Italy). On the day that the King married Queen Margherita, the restaurant owner had married a lady named Margherita. The restaurant owner opened his restaurant on the same day that King Umberto I was crowned(加冕) King of Italy. On July 29, 1900, King Umberto I was informed that the restaurant owner had died that day in a shooting accident, and as he expressed his regret, someone in the crowd killed him!
3. Mark Twain was a popular American author who wrote famous books such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain was born on the day of the appearance of Halley’s Comet(哈雷彗星) in 1835, and died on the day of its next appearance in 1910. He himself predicted this in 1909, when he said: “I came in with Halley’s Comet in1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it.”In The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, _________.
| A．the boat was named Mignonette |
| B．the ship sank after the cabin boy’s death |
| C．three people in all eventually survived the shipwreck |
| D．Richard Parker was unfriendly to the other survivors |
Whose story is related to astronomy?_________.
| A．Mark Twain’s | B．Edgar Allan Poe’s |
| C．King Umberto I’s | D．Queen Margherita’s |
The author wrote the text with a feeling of __________.
| A．worry | B．regret |
| C．amazement | D．satisfaction |
What’s the best title for the text?_________.
| A．Unexplained deaths |
| B．Terrible events in the world |
| C．Well-known people in history |
| D．Strangest coincidences in history |
Most nights I lie in bed, ready for an escape from myself, yet a streaming video of everything I ate, how I exercised, the activities of the day won’t stop playing in my mind.
I pause. I breathe. I try to relax once again, but it doesn’t work.
When I’m not exercising — even if I’ve already exercised that day — I’m consumed with anxiety about my next workout. Will something come up and make me miss the gym? What about holidays when the gym is closed?
Exercise has become a disease; it even disguises (伪装，假装) itself as the cure. If I don’t have it as an escape, then what’s left to hold me together? Working out feels like the only way to calm myself, but as soon as I leave the gym or finish a walk, the whole cycle starts over again.
As you might have guessed by now, I suffer from depression and OCD (强迫症). I’m a highly-educated adult woman who knows the risks of this behavior, and yet I can’t stop.
As a society, we’re told over and over that it’s important to exercise. That’s what makes it so easy to keep this addiction a secret; it’s not as obvious as lighting up a cigarette. You can continue to feed your addiction under the guise that you’re just being “healthy”. I not only have to fight the nonstop thoughts in my head but also the “more exercise is better” messages I receive from the media every day.
For me, exercise has become a drug, which is a way to numb the pain I might feel. I wonder what it would be like to “have the problem” of not wanting to go to the gym. It still feels very far away.
Yet I know I can be stronger than this. I can break the cycle I’m in. I can tell my story so as to give up a piece of the secrecy that keeps me sick.
Because no, you don’t want my problem. And finally, neither do I.When the author goes to bed, she___________.
| A．can’t breathe normally | B．can’t fall asleep |
| C．always feels hungry | D．always feels tired |
The underlined word “it” in paragraph 4 probably refers to ___________.
| A．the gym | B．disease | C．exercise | D．the cure |
What is special about the addition to exercise?
| A．It is popular among highly-educated people. |
| B．It is widely reported by the mass media. |
| C．It does little harm to health. |
| D．it is not easily discovered. |
We know from the text that the author ____________.
| A．is emotionless |
| B．lives far away from the gym |
| C．is seriously ill |
| D．has difficulty in keeping secrets |
Thinking about taking a year out before going to university?Check out your gap year choices here and decide if it’s the right decision for you…
What is it?
It’s a year out between finishing senior high school and starting university in which you can travel, work and generally do mind-broadening stuff you will never forget.
I don’t want to travel, but I don’t know what I want to do at university.
You will have a good three months between finishing your A Levels and university Clearing (when last-minute vacancies (空缺) on courses for the coming academic year are advertised): surely enough time to decide what to do. You don’t need to take a year for that.
I need to take some money before starting university.
Fair enough. But don’t get comfortable and decide not to get a full-time job. Spending a year on income support (收入补贴) will be depressing; you’ll have nothing to say when future employers ask what you did in your gap year, and you’ll have to put up with smug (得意的) post-gap year students comparing notes when you start university.
I’d love to travel, but I can’t afford it.
Most gap year students work for the first six months and then travel, using the money they’ve earned in the second six months.
I’m scared.
Try not to let fear of the unknown put you off seeing the world. Earth is a big planet, but when you travel it seems much smaller (even the remotest countries have email access).
The potential readers of the text are _________.
| A．parents | B．high school students |
| C．university students | D．teachers |
Most students get money for their gap year trip_____.
| A．from their parents |
| B．by borrowing from their friends |
| C．from the government |
| D．by working themselves |
The last paragraph can be regarded as a(n) ___________.
| A．encouragement | B．warning |
| C．suggestion | D．invitation |
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