Question

This is an excerpt(节选)from a speech by Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple, delivered to graduates of Stanford University on June 12, 2005.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents’ garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired.

How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions(远见) of the future began to diverge(to be different) and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was destructive.

I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs(企业家)down. I even thought about running away from the valley(硅谷). But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar. Pixar went on to create the world’s first computer animated(动画) feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance.

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

1.Which of the following is TRUE about Apple?

A. It rejected one of its founders when he turned 30.

B. It once fell apart due to different visions of the future.

C. NeXT became its parent company and made a great comeback.

D. It has survived after it had a destructive blow.

2.The underlined phrase could be replaced by ______.

A. a complete change  B. a huge debt

C. a quarrel   D. a race

3. Steve Jobs probably values _____ most according to his speech.

A. patience     B. faith   C. inspiration   D. luck

Answer

1.A

2.C

3.B

【解析】

试题分析: 这是一篇节选自Steve Jobs的演讲，内容主要是讲Steve Jobs的人生经历，包括最早成立苹果公司的创业历程，离开苹果公司后的经历，到最终重新回到苹果公司，给苹果公司带来的复兴，他还告诉人们千万不要放弃自己的信念，不能停滞不前。

1.A推理判断题。根据第二段最后一句话“We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired.”可以知道他刚30岁的时候，他们最好的创造品——Macintosh上市了，然后他就被解雇了，他正是他们公司的成立者之一，A选项符合题意。故选A。

2.C推理判断题。根据这句话前半部分“But then our visions(远见) of the future began to diverge(to be different)”可以知道我们对于未来的远见开始不同，有分歧，所以最终我们吵架了，fall out本身就要争吵的意思，故选C。

3.Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love.”可以知道Steve Jobs最看重自己的信念，即做自己喜欢的事才能发现自己喜欢的是什么，而且不能丢了自己的信念，B选项faith符合题意。故选B。

考点：考察演讲类文章的阅读。