The Role of Accidents in Business

文章内容（节选）

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题目与答案

1. 27 The delay in the process used by the Kellogg brothers affected the final product.
   • YES
   • NO
   • NOT GIVEN

   答案：YES

   原文定位：One day, the brothers left cooked wheat untended for more than 24 hours;Normally, the process produced long sheets, but they were surprised to discover that this time the rollers created flat flakes

   同义替换：「The delay in the process」↔「left cooked wheat untended for more than 24 hours」

2. 28 Sir Alan Hodgkin is an example of someone whose work proceeded in a logical and systematic way.
   • YES
   • NO
   • NOT GIVEN

   答案：NO

   原文定位：I believe that the record of my published papers conveys an impression of directedness and planning which does not at all coincide with the actual sequence of events

   同义替换：「proceeded in a logical and systematic way」↔「directedness and planning」

3. 29 Daguerre is an exception to the general rule of innovation.
   • YES
   • NO
   • NOT GIVEN

   答案：NO

   原文定位：The same rule applies in business. The mistake that gave US cornflakes keeps repeating itself in the history of disruptive innovation;Louis Daguerre, for instance, discovered the technique

4. 30 The discovery of saccharin occurred by accident during drug research.
   • YES
   • NO
   • NOT GIVEN

   答案：YES

   原文定位：The artificial sweetener, saccharin, was the unintentional result of a medical scientist’s work on a chemical treatment for gastric ulcers

   同义替换：「by accident」↔「unintentional result」，「drug research」↔「work on a chemical treatment for gastric ulcers」，「saccharin」↔「The artificial sweetener, saccharin」

5. 31 The company 3M should have supported Art Fry by funding his idea of Post-It Notes.
   • YES
   • NO
   • NOT GIVEN

   答案：NOT GIVEN

   原文定位：While working for the firm 3M, researcher Art Fry had no idea he was taking the first steps towards Post- It Notes when he used bits of adhesive office paper that could be easily lifted off the page to replace the scrap paper bookmarks that kept falling out of his hymn book

6. The usual business environment
   • can be found in unusual thoughts and chance events.
   • can be taught in business schools.
   • has made a success from someone else’s invention.
   • is designed to nurture differences.
   • is unlikely to lead to creative innovation.
   • says that all mistakes are the same.

   答案：says that all mistakes are the same.

   原文定位：Breakthrough and disruptive innovation are rarely driven by orderly process. Usually they come out of a chaotic, haphazard mess, which is why big companies, full of managers schooled in business programmes designed to eliminate random variation and mistakes, struggle with them. In these sorts of environments, accidents are called failures and are discouraged

   同义替换：「The usual business environment」↔「big companies」，「unlikely to lead to creative innovation」↔「struggle with breakthrough and disruptive innovation」

7. Geroki and Markides’s book
   • can be found in unusual thoughts and chance events.
   • can be taught in business schools.
   • has made a success from someone else’s invention.
   • is designed to nurture differences.
   • is unlikely to lead to creative innovation.
   • says that all mistakes are the same.

   答案：shows that businesses are good at either inventing of selling.

   原文定位：It is no surprise then that research from the late British economist Paul Geroski and London Business School’s Constantinos Markides found that companies that were skilled at innovation were usually not that skilled when it came to commercialisation, and vice versa. Their book, Fast Second, divides businesses into 'colonists’ and 'consolidators

   同义替换：「businesses are good at either inventing of selling」↔「skilled at innovation were usually not that skilled when it came to commercialisation, and vice versa」

8. Microsoft is an example of a company which
   • can be found in unusual thoughts and chance events.
   • can be taught in business schools.
   • has made a success from someone else’s invention.
   • is designed to nurture differences.
   • is unlikely to lead to creative innovation.
   • says that all mistakes are the same.

   答案：has made a success from someone else’s invention.

   原文定位：Consolidators, with their strong cultures of discipline and cost control, know how to take clever ideas from other firms and turn them into massmarket items. Microsoft is a prime instance of this

   同义替换：「an example of a company which」↔「a prime instance of this」，「has made a success from someone else’s invention」↔「take clever ideas from other firms and turn them into mass-market items」

9. The origin of useful accidents
   • can be found in unusual thoughts and chance events.
   • can be taught in business schools.
   • has made a success from someone else’s invention.
   • is designed to nurture differences.
   • is unlikely to lead to creative innovation.
   • says that all mistakes are the same.

   答案：can be found in unusual thoughts and chance events.

   原文定位：Accidents, they say, come from unlikely mental associations such as memories and vague connections, looking for something and finding it in an unexpected way, looking for one thing and finding something else, and not looking for anything but finding something valuable

   同义替换：「looking for one thing and finding something else」↔「chance events」

10. 36 How do Austin and Devin advise companies to get out of the 'cone of expectation'?
    • by decreasing the number of company systems
    • by forming teams of different types of people
    • by hiring new and creative people
    • by holding regular brainstorming meetings

    答案：by forming teams of different types of people

    原文定位：It means throwing together groups from diverse backgrounds, and combining ideas in unpredictable ways

    同义替换：「forming teams of different types of people」↔「throwing together groups from diverse backgrounds」

11. 37 In recommending ‘counter-intuitive’ thinking, what do Austin and Devin imply?
    • that failing at business is bad for staff morale
    • that innovation cannot be planned for
    • that most businesses should be devoted to avoiding mistakes
    • that the cost of mistakes is an important consideration

    答案：that innovation cannot be planned for

    原文定位：All this, however, requires thinking that is often counter-intuitive to the way businesses operate. In other words, it is the kind of thinking that goes against the beliefs of most business managers. It runs counter to the notion frequently pushes by consultants that you can ‘harness’ creativity and direct it to line up with intention

12. 38 The writer describes the Empire Lager disaster in order to show that
    • success can come out of a business failure.
    • the majority of companies now value risk-talking.
    • TV advertising works better on older people.
    • young beer drinkers do not like a sweet taste.

    答案：success can come out of a business failure.

    原文定位：Australia’s largest brewing company, for example, made a bad error when it launched a new beer called Empire Lager;Foster’s was left with a drink that no-one wanted to buy. I 段：Instead of wiping the unsuccessful product launch, Fosters used this lesson learned to go on and develop other brands instead. One of them, Pure Blonde, is now ranked as Australia’s fifth-largest beer brand

13. 39 Pure Blonde has been more successful than Empire Lager because
    • digital media other than TV were used.
    • it was advertised under a different brand name.
    • it was launched with very little advertising.
    • the advertising budget was larger.

    答案：it was launched with very little advertising.

    原文定位：Unlike Empire Lager, there has been almost no promotion and its sales are generated more by word of mouth

    同义替换：「very little advertising」↔「almost no promotion」

14. 40 The writer concludes that creating a culture that learns from mistakes
    • brings short-term financial gains.
    • can be very difficult for some companies.
    • holds no risk for workers.
    • is a popular move with shareholders.

    答案：can be very difficult for some companies.

    原文定位：But this sort of transformation is never easy. In a market that focuses on the short-term, convincing employees and shareholders to tolerate failure and not play it safe is a big thing to ask

    同义替换：「creating a culture that learns from mistakes」↔「this sort of transformation」，「can be very difficult」↔「is never easy」