2020考研英語閱讀理解精讀100篇：Unit 49

Unit 49

Windsurfers in Hawaii might not seem to have much in common with the geeks who these days tinker with Linux software as part of the open-source movement. But in the late ’70s, the surfers freely swapped ideas on how to redesign their equipment right on the beach, and sporting-goods makers were quick to pick up on innovations like foot straps for leaping giant waves.

Linux’s success is making freely revealed innovation a hot idea again. After decades in which patents closed off innovation, open source has caught the attention of businesses because “it so violated accepted wisdom and so clearly worked,” says Yochai Benkler, a Yale scholar. Giants like IBM and HP, and newcomers like Red Hat, have made lots of money on Linux-based services and equipment.

Pharmaceuticals represent one new and surprising area where freely shared innovation is catching on. Most industry profits have been made from expensive patented drugs. But now the BioBricks project at MIT is trying to establish standardized tools and processes for research. That way, researchers from everywhere can contribute. Open innovation also makes sense in industries where patents aren’t relevant—for example, finding new uses for existing drugs.① Eric Von Hippel, MIT’s head of innovation and entrepreneurship, is studying FDA applications since 1998 for these so-called off-label uses of patented drugs to see whether, as he suspects, they come mostly from independent researchers rather than the big drugmakers holding the original patents. If they do, it means open-source innovation is already well underway.

An open system would also work when the payback is too small to entice Big Pharma, as in the case of tropical diseases. Law professor Stephen Maurer of the University of California, Berkeley, has coauthored a proposal called the Tropical Disease Initiative that could give graduate students, for instance, a chance to work on finding drugs to help fight the likes of malaria. Because discoveries wouldn’t be patented, contracts could be awarded to the lowest bidder. Manufacturing prices could be kept down, too, because generic-drug makers could compete as soon as a drug was ready.

Plant genetics is another field showing the promise of open innovation.② The basic tools for manipulating plant genes, and thereby modifying food, are protected by a thicket of patents largely controlled by multinationals, which means farmers in developing countries don’t have access to the techniques. The BIOS Initiative, recently launched by Cambia, an Australian nonprofit, aims to make publicly available an alternative technology.（People would be free to patent any resulting discoveries.） One early aim has been to help farmers find a way to breed their own corn, so they don’t need to buy expensive hybrid seeds each year. It’s not yet clear just how far this kind of research can be democratized. But in many areas, the open-source option is becoming a serious one.

注（1）：本文選自Newsweek；

注（2）：本文習(xí)題命題模仿對象為2003年真題Text 3。

1. The author compares windsurfers in Hawaii with the geeks who these days tinker with Linux software because ______.

A) they loved adventures

B) producers relied on their work

C) they shared their new ideas with other people freely

D) they redesigned their equipments

2. What is businesses’ attitude toward Linux’s open source?

A) Indifferent.

B) Apprehensive.

C) Indignant.

D) Happy.

3. It can be inferred from Paragraph 3 that ______.

A) patented drugs are expensive because they close off innovation

B) independent researchers are more innovative

C) BioBricks allows researchers from the world to share their ideas with each other

D) new uses for existing drugs violate patents

4. The word “entice” （Line 1, Paragraph 4） most probably means ______.

A) satisfy

B) attract

C) repel

D) persuade

5. According to the text, open innovation is promising in the field of plant genetics because ______.

A) farmers can lower their cost if they know how to breed seeds through open innovation

B) genetically modified food has a bright perspective

C) it can break the monopoly of big companies

D) it is an important part of democracy

篇章剖析

本文是一篇說明文，主要說明公開開放創(chuàng)意在各個領(lǐng)域所創(chuàng)造的巨大價值以及巨大潛力。第一段通過比較夏威夷的沖浪愛好者和那些修補(bǔ)Linux程序的怪才來說明二者的共同之處在于：都能夠公開開放創(chuàng)意；接著在第二段介紹了Linux通過公開開放創(chuàng)意在IT領(lǐng)域所取得的成功及其影響；在第三段指出公開開放創(chuàng)意在醫(yī)藥品領(lǐng)域的廣闊前景；第四段指出公開開放創(chuàng)意的現(xiàn)實(shí)意義；最后一段說明了公開開放創(chuàng)意在植物遺傳學(xué)領(lǐng)域的應(yīng)用前景。

詞匯注釋

windsurfer /?w?nds??f?/ n. 風(fēng)帆沖浪者；沖浪愛好者

geek /gi?k/ n. 怪人；怪才

tinker /?t??k?/ v. （與at, with連用）修補(bǔ)

swap /sw?p/ v. 交換

strap /str?p/ n. 帶，皮帶

patent /?pe?t?nt,?p?t?nt/ n. 專利權(quán)，執(zhí)照，專利品 v. 取得…的專利權(quán)，請準(zhǔn)專利

pharmaceutical /?fɑ?m??sju?t?k?l/ n. 藥物

entrepreneurship /??ntr?pr??n????p/ n. 創(chuàng)業(yè)精神；企業(yè)家精神；企業(yè)家（主辦人等）的身份（地位、職權(quán)、能力）

FDA 美國食品藥品管理局（Food and Drug Administration）

off-label use 非適應(yīng)癥性用藥

underway /??nd??we?/ adj. 起步的，進(jìn)行中的

entice /?n?ta?s/ v. 誘惑；吸引

coauthor /k?????θ?/ v. 合著

initiative /??n????t?v/ n. 提案

malaria /m??le?r??/ n. 瘧疾

bidder /?b?d?/ n. 出價人，投標(biāo)人

thicket /?θ?k?t/ n. 叢狀物，密集的東西

multinational /m?lt??n???n(?)l/ n. 跨國公司

alternative /??lt??n?t?v/ n. 二者擇一，可供選擇的辦法

breed /bri?d/ v. 育種

hybrid /?ha?br?d/ n. /a. 雜交（的）

難句突破

① Eric Von Hippel, MIT’s head of innovation and entrepreneurship, is studying FDA applications since 1998 for these so-called off-label uses of patented drugs to see whether, as he suspects, they come mostly from independent researchers rather than the big drugmakers holding the original patents.

主體句式：Eric Won Hippel is studying FDA application.

結(jié)構(gòu)分析：本句為復(fù)合句，MIT’s head of innovation and entrepreneurship是主語Eric Von Hippel的同位語，賓語之后的for these...to see是目的狀語，whether...the original patents是賓語從句，其中，as he suspects是as引導(dǎo)的方式狀語，作插入語。

句子譯文：麻省理工學(xué)院的創(chuàng)新和創(chuàng)業(yè)精神負(fù)責(zé)人埃里克·馮·希佩爾正在研究1998年以來美國食品藥品管理局收到的將專利藥物用于所謂“非適應(yīng)癥性用藥”的申請，目的是想了解這些申請是否像自己猜想的那樣主要來自于獨(dú)立研究人員而非那些擁有專利權(quán)的大制藥公司。

② The basic tools for manipulating plant genes, and thereby modifying food, are protected by a thicket of patents largely controlled by multinationals, which means farmers in developing countries don’t have access to the techniques.

主體句式：The basic tools are protected.

結(jié)構(gòu)分析：本句為復(fù)雜句，主語由for引導(dǎo)的介詞短語修飾，介詞的賓語為兩個并列的動名詞短語，by a thicket of patents這個介詞短語在句中作狀語，which引導(dǎo)了一個非限定性定語從句，對整個句子加以修飾。

句子譯文：處理植物基因，并以此改良食物的基本工具都被各種專利保護(hù)起來，而這些專利大都由跨國公司控制，這就意味著發(fā)展中國家的農(nóng)民無法獲得這些技術(shù)。

題目分析

1. C 細(xì)節(jié)題。第一段講沖浪愛好者在海灘上自由交換想法，制造商們迅速pick up on innovations。第二段說起Linux的時候，作者說Linux的成功使freely revealed innovation流行起來。兩段中都出現(xiàn)了innovation一詞，可見自由地同他人交換想法是兩者的共同之處。

2. D 情感態(tài)度題。根據(jù)第二段，Linux的成功吸引了很多企業(yè)的注意，而且從大型企業(yè)到新興企業(yè)都從中受益良多，可見企業(yè)歡迎Linux開放源碼。

3. C 推理題。文章提到BioBricks時說它可以讓各地的研究人員貢獻(xiàn)自己的想法，加上本文主要是探討公開開放創(chuàng)意，因此這一項(xiàng)目可以使研究人員自由交換思想。

4. B 語義題。文中第四段第一行里有一個too...to...結(jié)構(gòu)，表示“太…而不能…”。如果回報(bào)太少，大制藥廠自然不愿意做。那么entice最有可能的意思就是“吸引”。

5. A 細(xì)節(jié)題。文中最后一段提到由于很多跨國公司控制著生產(chǎn)轉(zhuǎn)基因食品的工具和技術(shù)，使第三世界的農(nóng)民無法獲得這些技術(shù)。通過一個開放創(chuàng)意項(xiàng)目，農(nóng)民們就可以breed their own corn, so they don’t need to buy expensive hybrid seeds each year?？梢娺x項(xiàng)A是正確的。

參考譯文

夏威夷的風(fēng)帆沖浪愛好者似乎與那些在開放源代碼活動中不斷修補(bǔ)Linux軟件的怪才們沒有多少共同之處。但在上個世紀(jì)70年代末，這些沖浪愛好者經(jīng)常在海灘上就如何重新設(shè)計(jì)他們的裝備自由地交換想法，運(yùn)動商品制造商們很快就熟悉了諸如用于跳過巨浪的腳帶等新創(chuàng)意。

Linux的成功使自由展示創(chuàng)意的做法再次流行。經(jīng)過了幾十年專利對創(chuàng)意的封鎖，公開開放源代碼由于其“既大大打破常規(guī)又立竿見影”的特性吸引了企業(yè)的注意力，耶魯大學(xué)的教授尤查·本克勒說。像IBM和惠普這樣的大企業(yè)以及紅帽子（Red Hat）這樣的新秀已經(jīng)在基于Linux平臺的服務(wù)和設(shè)備上獲得了豐厚的利潤。

醫(yī)藥品代表了另一個流行創(chuàng)意免費(fèi)共享的不同尋常的新領(lǐng)域。這一行業(yè)的大部分利潤都來自昂貴的專利藥品。不過現(xiàn)在麻省理工學(xué)院的“生物磚”（BioBricks）項(xiàng)目正在嘗試確立供研究用的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化工具和程序。這樣，來自世界各地的研究人員都可以貢獻(xiàn)自己的想法。公開開放創(chuàng)意對于那些和專利無關(guān)的行業(yè)也有一定的意義——比如，為現(xiàn)有藥物找到新用途。麻省理工學(xué)院的創(chuàng)新和創(chuàng)業(yè)精神負(fù)責(zé)人埃里克·馮·希佩爾正在研究1998年以來美國食品藥品管理局收到的將專利藥物用于所謂“非適應(yīng)癥性用藥”的申請，目的是想了解這些申請是否像自己猜想的那樣主要來自于獨(dú)立研究人員而非那些擁有專利權(quán)的大制藥公司。如果確實(shí)如此的話，那就意味著開源創(chuàng)新的實(shí)踐已經(jīng)起步了。

當(dāng)回報(bào)太小不足以吸引大公司的時候，比如對熱帶疾病的研究，一個開放系統(tǒng)就可以派上用場。加州大學(xué)伯克利分校的法律教授斯蒂芬·莫勒和他人一起撰寫了一個《熱帶病提案》，以使研究生有機(jī)會從事諸如尋找治瘧疾藥物的工作。由于發(fā)現(xiàn)不會受到專利保護(hù)，那些出價最低的競標(biāo)者就可以拿到合同。一旦找到了藥物，由于基因藥物制藥商參加競爭，制藥價格也可以被壓低。

植物遺傳學(xué)是公開開放創(chuàng)意大有可為的另一個領(lǐng)域。處理植物基因，并以此改良食物的基本工具都被各種專利保護(hù)起來，而這些專利大都由跨國公司控制，這就意味著發(fā)展中國家的農(nóng)民無法獲得這些技術(shù)。最近由澳大利亞非營利機(jī)構(gòu)“堪比亞”（Cambia）所發(fā)起的“BIOS行動”就是要使公眾能夠得到一項(xiàng)可選擇的技術(shù)。（人們將可以自由地為任何由此帶來的發(fā)現(xiàn)申請專利。）該活動的一個最初目標(biāo)就是幫助農(nóng)民們找到一條培育自己玉米品種的方法，這樣他們就不需要每年購買昂貴的雜交種子了。目前還不清楚這種研究能夠普及到多大范圍。但在很多領(lǐng)域，開源正在成為一種嚴(yán)肅認(rèn)真的選擇。