The Life Cycle Of Innovation托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

The Life Cycle Of Innovation托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

一、The Life Cycle Of Innovation 托福听力原文：

NARRATOR: Listen to part of a discussion in a business management class.FEMALE PROFESSOR: Last week we were talking about innovation in business. Remember the graph I showed you?FEMALE STUDENT: The curve that looked sort of like the letter S?FEMALE PROFESSOR: Right. Cathy. Let's take another look. Do you recall? Cathy. How this S-curve represents the life cycle of innovation?FEMALE STUDENT: Sure. Starting on the left, the new innovation, let's say it's a new product.Almost nobody's heard of it or at least nobody takes it seriously. Then its popularity increases, uh, slowly at first till sales really start accelerating quickly—

There are where the line goes up steeply in the middle as more and more get excited about the product and they go out and buy it. But eventually, moving over to the right side there, interest begins to fade and the growth and sales levels off.FEMALE PROFESSOR: At which point, the market has matured for that product. We can still sell it and even marginally improve it, but it's not new anymore. It no longer offers exciting growth opportunities. So a business leader might face a choice: either stick with this old, safe, proven idea or move on to the next big idea, a fresh innovation.

But innovations are risky. They may succeed or they may not.OK. A case study. George. I have heard your Thursday night program on the campus radio station. You like Jazz, right?MALE STUDENT: Huh? Uh, yeah, sure. But what?

FEMALE PROFESSOR: OK. Stay with me here. On your program last week, I heard an old Miles Davis album. Tell us about that.MALE STUDENT: Uh...Miles Davis, trumpet. I played a CD of a Jazz classic he recorded in the 1950s called Kind of Blue. It's my all-time favorite Jazz recording.

FEMALE PROFESSOR: Mine too. Would you call that recording innovative for its time?MALE STUDENT: Absolutely! Nothing at all like what he had recorded up till then. I mean, before that Miles Davis played things so complex that...well, nobody could touch him. But this was something totally new. Suddenly his playing sounded so amazingly simple.FEMALE PROFESSOR: And how did people react to this new sound of Miles Davis?MALE STUDENT: Well, some were disappointed, even angry that he'd abandon his old style. But soon most of his fans came around and this new style appealed to a whole new group of jazz listeners.FEMALE PROFESSOR: I guess so. Kind of Blue became the most commercially successful album in the history of jazz! So is there a lesson here anyone? Think of that S-curve I showed you.FEMALE STUDENT: Oh! So his old style of jazz was actually a kind of product, one that had been developed pretty thoroughly. And he'd taken it about as far as he could. So he decided to take a big risk and try something totally new.

FEMALE PROFESSOR: Exactly! Something completely fresh and cool. And people couldn't get enough of it. It was a brand new beginning that left lots of room for further development artistically. And as a market analyst, you could say that with Kind of Blue, he was jumping to the beginning of a brand new S-curve, with all that potential for profitable development still ahead of him! But let me ask you something else. This isn't just the music of a single performer, is it? George.MALE STUDENT: Hardly. More like a group of all-stars. Along with Miles Davis on trumpet, there is Bill Evans on piano, John Coltrane on tenor saxophone?FEMALE PROFESSOR: Individually perhaps the best in the business. But thinking of Miles Davis as the leader of this group, how did he organize and manage all these incredible talent?

MALE STUDENT: Well, he'd lay out the general outline, the theme and then give each of these star performers, one by one, the creative freedom to really show what they could do with it on their own instrument, to improvise and add something new, but always within the same general theme.FEMALE PROFESSOR: So Miles Davis gets credit for recruiting the best jazz talent anywhere and getting them to collaborate on a fantastic musical product. Everyone see the business parallels here? And give each of these musicians credit for seizing this opportunity and creating great individual performances. But good jazz is more than just outstanding individual performances, isn't it?MALE STUDENT: Definitely. Jazz musicians need to listen to each other and go with the flow. Like, one time somebody goofed and came in a little early, but everyone else adjusted and went right along with it, as if nothing were wrong. And this mistake came out like just another unexpected creative interpretation.

FEMALE PROFESSOR: Thanks. George. Great insights, ones that would certainly apply to what we are studying here.

二、The Life Cycle Of Innovation 托福听力中文翻译：

旁白：听一下商业管理课上的部分讨论。女教授：上周我们讨论了商业创新。还记得我给你看的图表吗？女生：看起来有点像字母S的曲线？女教授：对。凯西。让我们再看一看。你还记得吗？凯西。这条S曲线如何代表创新的生命周期？女学生：当然可以。从左边开始，新的创新，让我们说这是一个新产品。几乎没有人听说过，或者至少没有人认真对待它。然后它的受欢迎程度开始缓慢上升，直到销售真正开始快速加速-

随着越来越多的人对产品感到兴奋，他们走出去购买产品，中间的队伍急剧上升。但最终，转到右侧，人们的兴趣开始消退，增长和销售趋于平稳。女教授：到那时，这种产品的市场已经成熟了。我们仍然可以销售它，甚至稍微改进它，但它不再是新的了。它不再提供令人兴奋的增长机会。因此，企业领导者可能面临一个选择：要么坚持这个古老、安全、行之有效的想法，要么继续下一个大想法，一个新的创新。

但创新是有风险的。他们可能成功，也可能失败。好啊案例研究。乔治。我在校园广播电台听了你星期四晚上的节目。你喜欢爵士乐，对吗？男学生：嗯？嗯，是的，当然。但是什么呢？

女教授：好的。跟我呆在这里。上周在你的节目中，我听到了迈尔斯·戴维斯的一张旧专辑。告诉我们吧。男学生：呃。。。迈尔斯·戴维斯，小号。我播放了一张他在20世纪50年代录制的爵士乐经典CD，名为《种蓝色》。这是我一直以来最喜欢的爵士乐唱片。

女教授：我也是。你认为那是一次创新的录音吗？男学生：当然！到那时为止，他所记录的完全不像。我的意思是，在那之前，迈尔斯·戴维斯玩得很复杂，以至于。。。没人能碰他。但这是全新的东西。突然，他的演奏听起来非常简单。女教授：人们对迈尔斯·戴维斯的新声音有什么反应？男生：嗯，有些人很失望，甚至对他放弃旧风格感到愤怒。但很快，他的大多数歌迷都来了，这种新风格吸引了一群全新的爵士乐听众。女教授：我想是的。《种蓝》成为爵士乐历史上最成功的商业专辑！那么这里有什么教训吗？想想我给你看的S曲线。女生：哦！所以他的旧爵士乐风格实际上是一种产品，一种已经发展得相当彻底的产品。他已经尽了最大努力。所以他决定冒很大的风险，尝试一些全新的东西。

女教授：没错！完全新鲜凉爽的东西。人们对此感到满足。这是一个全新的开始，为艺术的进一步发展留下了很大的空间。作为一名市场分析师，你可以说，凭借某种蓝色，他跳到了一个全新的S曲线的起点，所有盈利发展的潜力仍在他面前！但让我问你一件事。这不仅仅是一个表演者的音乐，是吗？乔治。男学生：几乎没有。更像是一群全明星。除了小号演奏者迈尔斯·戴维斯，还有钢琴演奏者比尔·埃文斯，男高音萨克斯管演奏者约翰·科尔特兰？女教授：就个人而言，也许是业内最好的。但是考虑到迈尔斯·戴维斯是这个团队的领导者，他是如何组织和管理这些不可思议的人才的呢？

男学生：嗯，他会列出大致的大纲和主题，然后给每个明星演员一个接一个的创作自由，让他们在自己的乐器上真正展示他们可以用它做什么，即兴创作并添加一些新的东西，但总是在同一个总主题内。女教授：因此，迈尔斯·戴维斯（MilesDavis）因招募了世界上最好的爵士乐天才，并让他们合作制作了一款美妙的音乐产品而获得了赞誉。每个人都看到这里的商业相似之处了吗？并赞扬每一位音乐家抓住这个机会，创造了伟大的个人表演。但好的爵士乐不仅仅是出色的个人表演，不是吗？男学生：当然。爵士乐演奏者需要互相倾听，随波逐流。比如，有一次有人搞错了，来得有点早，但其他人都调整好了，也跟着做了，好像什么都没发生。这个错误就像另一个意想不到的创造性解释。

女教授：谢谢。乔治。伟大的见解，这些见解肯定适用于我们在这里所研究的内容。

三、The Life Cycle Of Innovation 托福听力问题：

Q1:1.What are the main topics that the class discusses? [Click on 2 answers.]

A. New and innovative ways to market jazz recordings

B. The successful introduction of a major product change

C. An organizational model for managers to consider

D. Appropriate standards for evaluating a musical performance

Q2:2.What do the speakers indicate can be represented by the S-curve graph?

A. The typical pattern of sales for a product

B. The flow of a music composition

C. The general popularity of jazz in the 1950s

D. The recent increase in sales for a classic jazz album

Q3:3.How did jazz fans react to Miles Davis' album Kind of Blue? [Click on 2 answers.]

A. Most did not notice that his style had changed.

B. Some were disappointed about how his style had changed.

C. Many were inspired to try to become jazz musicians.

D. Many bought the album, making it a huge commercial success.

Q4:4.Based on Miles Davis' approach to recording Kind of Blue, what does the professor imply managers should do in running a business?

A. Master the complexities of each task before asking anyone else to perform it

B. Hire very capable people and give them the freedom to make their own decisions

C. Try to sense what the public is comfortable with and then provide it

D. Plan all details carefully and make sure that the plan is followed

Q5:5.What lesson can be learned from the example about a mistake during a musical performance?

A. Performances of the highest quality require extensive practice.

B. Making mistakes hurts not just the individual, but the entire group.

C. When people work well together, mistakes can result in positive outcomes.

D. Leaders need to ensure that group members do not make mistakes.

Q6:6.What is the professor encouraging the student to do when she says this?

A. Continue the discussion with her

B. Remain seated in the front of the classroom

C. Wait patiently to see how the professor's question relates to the lesson

D. Remain open-minded while listening to another point of view

四、The Life Cycle Of Innovation 托福听力答案：

A1:正确答案：BC

A2:正确答案：A

A3:正确答案：BD

A4:正确答案：B

A5:正确答案：C

A6:正确答案：C

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