雅思阅读真题（Part 3）
意外事故如何催生商业创新
本篇也叫：意外与商业创新、偶然发明与商业、事故在商业中的作用、玉米片发明故事、意外发明 雅思阅读、商业中的意外发现
Part 3 · 考频：中频 · 最近考试：2014.6.7
本篇为雅思阅读真题（Part 3）《The role of accidents in business》，共 14 题，2014.6.7雅思考试真题回忆，页面提供完整原文、题目、答案与解析，并支持在线机考模式免费练习。本页同时提供 Markdown 版本 供 AI 助手与搜索引擎直接读取。
文章讲述意外事故在商业创新中的作用，以家乐氏兄弟偶然发明玉米片为例，并列举摄影术、微波炉、糖精、便利贴等因意外而诞生的发明，说明突破性创新往往来自混乱而非有序规划，大公司因规避失误反而难以应对。
A
In 1894 Dr John Kellogg and his brother. Will, were supervising a hospital and health spa in Michigan. The patients were on a restricted diet. One day, the brothers left cooked wheat untended for more than 24 hours. When they returned, they saw what they had done. It was no good to eat, but they decided to run the stale wheat through rollers, just to see how it would turn out. Normally, the process produced long sheets, but they were surprised to discover that this time the rollers created flat flakes. They baked them, and then tried the same thing with corn. From this accidental discovery came the cornflakes that generations have now been eating for breakfast.
B
Accidents happen; there is nothing predictable and orderly about innovation. Nobel laureate Sir Alan Hodgkin, who discovered how nerve cells transmit electrical impulses between the skin and the brain, commented: '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.’
The same rule applies in business. The mistake that gave US cornflakes keeps repeating itself in the history of disruptive innovation, the kind that transforms markets. Louis Daguerre, for instance, discovered the technique that gave US photography in the 1830s, when drops of mercury from a shattered thermometer produced a photographic image. The microwave was discovered when Peroy Spender, a scientist with Raytheon, was testing a new vacuum tube and discovered that the sweet in his pocket had melted. The artificial sweetener, saccharin, was the unintentional result of a medical scientist’s work on a chemical treatment for gastric ulcers. 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.
C
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.
D
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’. Small and nimble, colonists are adept at creating market niches but are terrible institution builders. Consolidators, with their strong cultures of discipline and cost control, know how to take clever ideas from other firms and turn them into mass market items. Microsoft is a prime instance of this.
E
With companies spending hundreds of billions of dollars on research and development, US academics Robert Austin and Lee Devin examined how managers can encourage productive slip-ups. In their article Accident, Intention and Expectation in the Innovation Process, they argue that business processes actually prevent helpful mis-steps from occurring. According to their catalogue of accidents, not all false steps and mishaps are equal. 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.
F
Accident-prone innovation, they say, requires companies to get outside the ‘cone of expectation’. It means throwing together groups from diverse backgrounds, and combining ideas in unpredictable ways, other strategies also include having systems that watch out for accidents and examine them for value, generating them when they do not happen often enough, seizing oil the useful ones, capturing their valuable features, and building on them to add value and give potential for useful accidents.
G
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. ‘The cost of accidents business, people tend to call such efforts failure.’
H
There are tentative signs that more companies are starting to realise that failure can lead to commercial gain, and that this is part or the risk-talking that underpins innovation. Australia’s largest brewing company, for example, made a bad error when it launched a new beer called Empire Lager, pitched at younger consumers. Having spent a fortune creating a beer with a sweeter taste, designing a great-looking bottle and a television campaign, Foster’s was left with a drink that no-one wanted to buy. The target market was more interested in brands built up by word of mouth.
I
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. Unlike Empire Lager, there has been almost no promotion and its sales are generated more by word of mouth.
J
Other companies are taking similar steps to study their own slip-ups. Intuit, the company behind financial tools such as Quicken, holds regular ‘When Learning Hurts’ sessions. 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.
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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」
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」
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
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」
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
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」
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」
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」
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」
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」
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
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
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」
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」