考研英语阅读理解精读100篇【社会文化类】

考研英语阅读理解精读100篇unit23
Unit 23
Jim Clark, 55, is the first person ever to start three companies that each grew to be worth more than $1 billion--an achievement celebrated in Michael Lewis' best-selling book, The New New Thing. Clark saw in primitive computer graphics chips the potential for powerful new workstations built by Silicon Graphics. He looked at a simple interface for websites, and turned it into the Netscape Web browser. And he most recently has exploited the potential of the Web for dispensing medical information through a company called Healtheon. Each of these ideas has netted Clark a cool billion or so. Shouldn't such a visionary come up with a similarly new way of giving those bucks away?

Well, no. Clark has bestowed his money the old-fashioned way--by attaching his name to a building at Stanford University, his alma mater. His $150 million grant, establishing the Jim C. Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, reflects his belief that just as computer technology has been driving today's economy, biotech will power it over the next 40 years. "Some people say you should give where the need is greatest," he says, shrugging. "But that's the job for government. For me, with only a few billion, I have more impact targeting a specific priority."

Clark also wanted to reward Stanford, whose labs he used while engineering the chip for his Silicon Graphics workstations. And this was the sort of philanthropic gesture that would still leave him time to have fun running companies, building yachts and flying helicopters. Clark has a personal insight into why some tech multimillionaires postpone serious charitable giving. At one point in 1998, he watched the value of his Netscape stock erode from $2 billion to $200 million. And other wealthy techies have seen similar wild swings in their personal fortunes. Explains Clark: "When you see your net worth drop like that, you think, 'If this keeps going, I'm going to have to sell my airplane.'"

Clark is critical of some of his Silicon Valley brethren who haven't been as generous, despite their multibillion-dollar net worth. He hopes his gift will spur other tech billionaires to action, particularly Yahoo founders Jerry Yang and David Filo, who don't discuss specifics of any giving they may have done--and who Clark believes have been too frugal. "These guys actually ran the Yahoo servers out of Stanford," says Clark. "They should be giving something back. These guys are young, but they've got more money than me. Or take Larry Ellison; he should be doing more."

But Clark remains optimistic: "These new-money guys, first they have to get a couple of houses, the plane. At that point they'll think about, How can I do something more impacting?"

Time; 07/24/2000, Vol. 156 Issue 4, p59, 2/3p, 1 chart, 1 diagram, 1c

注（1）：本文选自Time; 07/24/2000, p59；
注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象2003年真题Text 2；

1.       The author begins his article with Clark’s experience to _________.

[A]show the great achievements of Clark
[B]show the richness of Clark
[C]show the payback of Clark’s brilliant ideas
[D]show his desire to get fortunes

2.       Clark believes that the bestowal of the money _________.

[A]should be done in an old way
[B]should take the form of generosity
[C]should be given in limited field
[D]should involve all rich men
3.       The founders of Yahoo are mentioned to show ________.

[A]their way of saving money
[B]their ungenerosity and less interest in donating
[C]Clark’s contempt of the new money
[D]their difficulty in getting rich

4.       Clark’s attitude toward his Silicon Valley brethren is _________.

[A]strong disapproval
[B] reserved consent
[C]slight contempt
[D]enthusiastic support

5.       From the text we learn that Larry Ellison is _________.

[A]a Yuppie
[B]Clark’s competitor
[C]a successful techie
[D]a young tech billionaire

答案：ABBAD

难句突破
本文是一篇记叙文。主要记述了一位成功开办了三家大公司的电脑专家克拉克本人的捐赠方式以及他对同行富豪们捐赠的态度。第一段指出克拉克所取得的成就；第二段指出克拉克的捐赠方式及其原因；第三段、四段和五段指出克拉克对他的同行富豪们在捐赠方面的态度的看法。

词汇注释
techie []:‘Tech’是‘technology’的缩略形式，它的结尾为‘-ie’，表示人。这个词是上个世纪80年代早期计算机变得越来越普及的时候出现了出现的，意思是高电脑技术的技师，或对计算机技术很熟悉的人，尤指计算机编程人员或迷恋计算机技术的人；电脑迷，电脑专家,电脑高手。
硅谷图形(Silicon Graphics)公司
网景(Netscape)公司
健康保险网络(Healtheon)公司
net vt. 净赚，净得，赢利
cool［口］（价格）实价的；(数额)不打折扣的，整整的
visionary [] n. 幻想家; 空想家，梦想者
attach one’s name to 在...上签名
engineer vt. 设计, 修建；监督(工程等)；操纵, 指挥；图谋, 策划
philanthropic [] adj.慈善事业的；博爱的
charitable [] adj. 心慈的；仁慈的；慈善的；大慈大悲的
have an insight into adv. 有对...的了解，有对...的洞察力
postpone [] vt. 使延期, 推迟, 搁置(until, till, to, for)；把...放在次要地位(to)
erode [] vt. 侵蚀掉，腐蚀掉，像磨蚀、侵蚀那样使…减少、减弱或消失
swing n. 巨大的改变，巨大的变迁
net worth 资本净值
critical adj. 有判断力的；批评的；批判的
be critical of sth. 对某事表示谴责
brethren [] n. 兄弟；会友，教友；同业人士，同行
frugal [] adj. 节俭的；俭朴的
new money 暴发户，新贵

注释：
1. Jim Clark (吉姆•克拉克): 硅谷图形(Silicon Graphics)公司、网景(Netscape)公司、健康保险网络(Healtheon)公司的创始人、董事长，资产：25亿美元，财富积累时间：17年；格言：“最初的几百万最难赚。”，他不但开创了许多偶发事件，他本身就是一个偶发事件。国际畅销书作家刘易斯花了18个月的时间，贴身采访这位硅谷传奇人物，让世人得以一窥硅谷之所以成为硅谷，并不在于制造新电脑来致富，而是设计新事物让电脑来执行；也就是永远不满足现状，不断寻求突破，比新还要更新。

2. The New New Thing (新新事物)：经济学家罗莫提出的“新增长理论”强调科技在经济成长过程扮演的重要角色，等于强调新新事物(The New New Thing)的重要。不过，他也提出另一个更深入的理由，说明科技为什么会日新月异，千变万化。“一旦认定现实生活还有精益求精的空间，就是认定现有成就外还有更大的可能，只要稍有变动，已知的世界将截然不同。我们不得不接受一个事实：如今已知的世界，只是一长串偶发事件的结果。”

3. Michael Lewis (迈克尔•刘易斯)：出生于新奥尔良，毕业于美国普林斯顿大学和英国伦敦经济学院，曾任所罗门兄弟公司的债券交易员，后来为《纽约时报》撰稿和英国《观察家周刊》的美国版编辑，目前是加州大学柏克莱校区新闻学院的客座研究员。他的成名之作《说谎者的扑克牌》被公认是描写80年代华尔街文化的经典名作，至今仍然在亚马逊书店热销，其中的精彩片段被各种媒体广为引用。他80年代的成名作「说谎者的扑克牌」及2000年的《一个想法一千万》是对变革的两个时代最真实细腻的写照，对美国商业文化产生了重大的影响。在福布斯2001年评选的20年来最伟大的20本商业书籍中，他的两本著作全部入选。

难句突破
His $150 million grant, establishing the Jim C. Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, reflects his belief that just as computer technology has been driving today's economy, biotech will power it over the next 40 years.
主体句式：His $150 million grant … reflects his belief that …
结构分析：此句是一个定语从句。主语是“$150 million grant”，谓语是“reflects”，其中“establishing”是现在分词做伴随状语来修饰“grant”；“that”引导定语从句来修饰“belief”，在从句中注意“just as”的用法，“正如…一样”，后面可跟句子。
句子译文：他捐赠的用于建立生物医学工程学和科学系的吉姆•C•克拉克中心1.5亿美元的赠款反映了他的这种信念：像计算机技术推动了今天的经济那样，生物技术也同样会在以后的40 年里给经济提供强大的动力。

题目分析
1.答案为A,属事实细节题。原文对应信息是“Jim Clark, 55, is the first person ever to start three companies that each grew to be worth more than $1 billion--an achievement celebrated in Michael Lewis' best-selling book, The New New Thing.”。
2.答案为B，属推理判断题。从句子“Clark is critical of some of his Silicon Valley brethren who haven't been as generous, despite their multibillion-dollar net worth.”我们可看出克拉克对于其他富翁吝啬的举动是持否定态度的。
3.答案为B，属事实细节题。原文对应信息是“He hopes his gift will spur other tech billionaires to action, particularly Yahoo founders Jerry Yang and David Filo, who don't discuss specifics of any giving they may have done--and who Clark believes have been too frugal.”
4.答案为A，属情感态度题。原文对应信息是“Clark is critical of some of his Silicon Valley brethren who haven't been as generous, despite their multibillion-dollar net worth.”。注意把握词组“be critical of”的含义。
 5.答案为D，属推理判断题。原文对应信息是“They should be giving something back. These guys are young, but they've got more money than me. Or take Larry Ellison; he should be doing more.”句中“they”指的是那些赚钱比克拉克还多的年轻富豪，那些新贵们（new money）。
Larry Ellison也是他们中的一分子。由此我们可做出判断。

参考译文
吉姆•克拉克今年55岁，是创办了三家公司，并且每家公司都发展成价值超过10亿美元大公司的第一人。他所取得的成就在迈克尔•刘易斯的最畅销书《新新事物》里被大力颂扬。克拉克在原始计算机图形芯片里看到了硅谷图形公司开发的强大新型工作站的潜力。他看了一下简单的网络用接口, 就把它变成了网景公司的浏览器。就在最近，他利用网络的潜力通过一个叫健康保险网络的公司来分发医疗信息。克拉克的每个点子都为自己净赚了高达十亿多美元的利润。这样的一个幻想家是否也应该想出类似的捐赠这笔钱的新方法呢？

嗯, 没有。克拉克以古老的方式——在他的母校斯坦福大学一座建筑物上刻上自己的名字的方式——捐出了他的钱。他捐赠的用于建立生物医学工程学和科学系的吉姆•C•克拉克中心1.5亿美元的赠款反映了他的这种信念：像计算机技术推动了今天的经济那样，生物技术也同样会在以后的40 年里给经济提供强大的动力。“有人说，你应该把钱投到最需要的地方，” 他耸了耸肩说，“但这是政府的事。对我来说，把这区区几十亿用到某个优先发展的项目上会产生更大的影响。”

克拉克也想酬谢一下斯坦福大学, 因为他设计他的硅谷图形工作站所用的芯片时使用的就是该校的实验室。而这是一种仍然能给他留出时间让他尽享开办公司、建造游艇和驾驶直升机之乐的慈善之举。克拉克对为什么有些搞技术的千万富翁把严肃的为慈善事业捐款放在无足轻重的地位有个人见解。1998年某一时刻，他密切注视着他的网景公司股票价值从20亿美元逐渐降到2亿美元。其他技术富豪们在他们个人时运方面也经历了类似疯狂的大起大落。克拉克解释说：“当你看到你的资本净值跌得那么快, 你会想，‘如果再继续这样跌下去，我必须卖我的飞机了。’”

克拉克对硅谷的那些尽管拥有数十亿美元资本净值却不够大方的亿万富翁同行们持批评态度。他希望他的馈赠能激励其他技术亿万富翁们行动起来，特别是雅虎公司的创始人杰尔•杨和大卫•非罗。这两人从不谈论他们完全可以做得到的任何捐助事宜——克拉克认为他们两人太过于精打细算。“这些人实际上是靠斯坦福来经营雅虎服务器的。”克拉克说，“他们应该做出一定的回报。这些人很年轻，但他们挣得钱却比我多。就拿拉里•埃利森来说，他应该做得更多一些。”

但克拉克仍保留乐观态度：“这些新贵们, 他们首先得有两三套房子，得有飞机。只有到了那时候他们才会考虑，我如何做些更有影响力的事？”

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