参考译文

技术的发展趋势有可能把硅谷重新推向未来。卡弗·米德——集成电路的一位先驱，加州理工学院的计算机教授——注意到，现在有些计算机工作站使工程技术人员可以在他们的办公桌上设计、试验和生产芯片，就像一位编辑在苹果机上编出一份时事通讯一样。由于制造一块芯片的时间已缩短至几天，费用也只有几百美元，因此，工程技术人员可能很快就可以充分发挥他们的想像力，而不会因失败而造成经济上的损失。米德预言发明者可以在办公室用一个周末的时间生产出完美的、功能很强的、按客户需求设计的芯片——造就新一代从汽车间起家的技术人员，在把产品推向市场方面使美国把它的外国对手们打个措手不及。“我们有更多的汽车间，而那里有许多聪明人，”米德说。“我们确实是靠这种无政府状态发展起来的。”靠的是亚洲人。硅谷许多公司中工程技术人员的大多数是东方人和亚裔美国人。中国、韩国、菲律宾和印度的工程师一批批地从加州的大学毕业。作为新掘起一代的带头人，亚裔发明家可以凭借他们在习惯和语言上的优势，与关键的太平洋沿岸市场建立起更加牢固的联系。比如说，亚历克斯·奥，一位来自香港的斯坦福大学博士，已经在台湾建厂，对日本在内存条市场上近似垄断的局面提出了挑战。印度出生的N·达莫达·雷迪经营的小小的加州公司在堪萨斯城重新启用了美国电话电报公司的一家芯片工厂，并从密苏里州获取了财政上的支持。在硅谷变成一个退休村之前，它很可能成为建立全球商业的一个教学场地。

Comprehension理解

Give short answers to these questions in your own words as far as possible．Use one complete sentence for each answer.

1Why, in future, will chip engineers be able to‘let their imaginations soar’?

2What do you think is meant by the phrase‘garage start-ups’(1.7)?

3What additional non-computer skills can Asian computer engineering staffs provide that are important in Pacific Rim markets?

Vocabulary词汇

Refer to the text to see how the following words have been used, then write sentences of your own using these words: trends(1.1);soar(1.5);penalized(1.5);a jump(1.7);rivals(1.7);thrive(1.9);links(1.13);crucial(1.13);setup(1.14); near lock(1.14); global(1.17).

The paragraph段落

AWhich of these statements best expresses the main idea in the first paragraph of the passage? Give reasons for your answer:

1Computer engineers can design computer chips on their desks.

2The cost of producing chips has dropped to a few hundred dollars.

3As the cost of producing chips falls, engineers will be free to make more mistakes.

4Chip engineers thrive on anarchy.

BWhich of these statements best expresses the main idea in the second paragraph of the passage?

Give reasons for your answer:

1Most chip engineers are Oriental and Asian Americans.

2Oriental and Asian American chip engineers can help the US beat the competition.

3Alex Au has set up a factory in Taiwan.

4Silicon Valley is a global business.

CWhat idea do the two examples quoted in the second paragraph(11.10-17) illustrate?(‘For instance, Alex Au…’11.12-14)

Key structure关键句型

Supply a, an or the only where necessary in the following paragraph．Do not refer to the passage until you have finished the exercise:

____ technology trends may push Silicon Valley back to ____ future．Carver Mead, ____ pioneer in ____integrated circuits and ____professor of computer science at ____ California Institute of Technology, notes there are now ____ workstations that enable ____ engineers to design, test and produce ____ chips right on their desks, much ____ way ____ editor creates ____ newsletter on ____ Macintosh．As ____ time and cost of making ____ chip drop to____ few days and ____ few hundred dollars, ____ engineers may soon be free to let their imaginations soar without being penalized by ____ expensive failures．Mead predicts that ____ inventors will be able to perfect ____ powerful customized chips over ____ weekend at ____ office----spawning ____ new generation of garage start-ups and giving ____ U.S．____ jump on its foreign rivals in getting new products to market fast．‘We've got more garages with ____ smart people,’ Mead observes.‘We really thrive on ____ anarchy.’ (11.1-9)

BNote the use of the -ing form after the preposition without:

Engineers may soon be free to let their imaginations soar without being penalized by expensive failures．(11.5-6)

Complete the following sentences:

1A lot of people are afraid of ____(speak) in public．

2I always believe in ____(tell) the truth.

3Poor eyesight prevents me from ____(drive) a car.

4Would you be interested in ____(buy) a second-hand car?

5A lot of people object to ____(smoke) these days.

CNote the form of the verb after before:

Before it becomes a retirement village, Silicon Valley may prove a classroom for building a global business．(11.16-17)

Complete these sentences with the right form of the verbs:

1As soon as your sister ____(arrive) please give me a call.

2We'd better tidy the house up before my mother ____(get) back from work.

3I'm going to wait here until he ____(arrive).

4We go through Customs after we ____(collect) our luggage.

Special difficulties难点

ANote the use of the following verb:

Carver Mead notes there are now workstations that enable engineers to produce chips right on their desks．(11.1-3)

Write sentences using each of these verbs:

notice, observe, remark.

BThere are now workstations that enable engineers to produce chips right on their desks．(11.2-3)

Write a sentence using the noun chips with an entirely different meaning.

CNote the use of set up in this sentence:

Alex Au has set up a Taiwan factory．(11.13-14)

Suggest meanings for these combinations with set:

1The explorers set off at dawn.

2Winter has set in early this year.

3We'll have to set by some money if we want to buy a car.

4What time do you set out tomorrow morning?

5If we all set to, we can finish this job in no time.

Multiple choice questions多项选择题

Choose the correct answers to the following questions.

Comprehension理解

1Engineers can now ____.

a．create chips at the California Institute of Technology

b．pioneer integrated circuits in garages

c．create chips on computers without having to manufacture them

d．create newsletters whenever they want to

2The important thing about this new technology is that ____.

a．it doesn't matter whether inventors make mistakes

b．there will be more people working in garages

c．the computer industry is in a state of anarchy

d．people will be able to buy chips for a few hundred dollars

3One great advantage of employing Asian American engineers is they ____.

a．have an advantage over others in the Pacific Rim markets

b．are graduating in large numbers from California's colleges

c．are now more widely employed than engineers with other backgrounds

d．are more able than other graduates in the computer industry

4Japan almost has a monopoly of the memory-chip market which ____.

a．is now being challenged by a Taiwanese

b．is now facing real competition

c．is about to end

d．an AT＆T chip plant in Kansas is going to take over

Structure句型

5It is ____ that engineers will soon be free to let their imaginations soar．(1.5)

a．certain

b．true

c．necessary

d．possible

6Carver Mead predicts that inventors will be capable ____ powerful chips．(1.6)

a．to perfect

b．to perfecting

c．of perfecting

d．perfecting

7____ engineering staffs at Valley firms are orientals and Asian Americans．(11.10-11)

a．The most

b．Most

c．Many

d．The greatest

8N．Damodar Reddy, who ____ in India, has a tiny California company．(1.15)

a．is born

b．was born

c．born

d．has borne

Vocabulary词汇

9There are now work-stations that ____ engineers to design, test and produce chips right on their desks．(11.2-3)

a．make possible

b．allowed

c．make it capable for

d．allow

10If a chip is ‘customized’, it has been made ____ .(1.6)

a．in a traditional way

b．according to custom

c．to suit your needs

d．perfectly

11Indian engineers are graduating ____．(1.11)

a．in large numbers

b．increasingly

c．like cattle

d．without limits

12Japan has ____ the memory-chip market．(1.14)

a．control of

b．locked up

c．the key to

d．the master of