2019学年度外研版选修八Module 3Period Integrating Skills阅读学案设计

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Steve Jobs was 52 when he announced the iPhone. That was in 2007. Years later, the Apple co-founder introduced the MacBook Air, App Store and iPad. Tim Cook, who was 51 when he took over from Jobs, is building on his legacy. They both shattered a myth that the young rule the technology industry.

Silicon Valley's venture capitalists speak openly of their bias toward the young. "People under 35 are the people who make change happen； people over 45 basically die in terms of new ideas," Vinod Khosla, a prominent investor, said at a conference.

The result of this bias is that older entrepreneurs often are ignored while younger entrepreneurs receive attention and funding. This is hurting the venture-capital system as well as Silicon Valley-because the stereotypes are flawed.

Research on successful technology firms looked only at companies that had made it out of the garage and were making at least $ 1 million in profits. The research revealed that the average and medium age of their founders was 39. Twice as many were older than 50 as were younger than 25. And twice as many were older than 60 as were younger than 20. In a follow- up project, we studied the backgrounds of 549 successful entrepreneurs in 12 high-growth industries. The average and medium age of male founders in this group was 40，and a significant proportion were older than 50.

There are lots of young founders in Silicon Valley, some of whom drop out of school to start their companies. The vast majority of these start-ups fail, however, because there is no substitute for experience and knowledge. These come with age.

Young entrepreneurs surely have an advantage in social media and app building. They understand these new technologies better than their parents do because they have grown up using them. It is also easier to write code for a cellphone than to learn how to motivate and inspire employees, manage finances and market products. But building a business requires all of those skills. That is why older entrepreneurs have more success. As baby boomers become as familiar with Internet and mobile technologies as their children are，they surely will give the youngsters a run for their money. They also have greater buying power and a better understanding of the markets for the next generation of technologies.

That is why we need to get beyond the stereotypes and realize that baby boomers are going to better the world.

63. Which age group might the baby boomers belong to?

A. Under 20. B. 20 to 30. C. 35 to 45. D. 55 to 65.

64. From the passage, we can infer that ________.

A. people in their 50s are absolutely unable to come up with new ideas

B. the average and medium age of the founders of technology firms was 50

C. some young founders in Silicon Valley quit school to start their companies

D. younger people tend to have a better understanding of the markets than old ones