When he was just 19, Michael Dell started the company
that would dominate the industry.
At the time, IBM personal computers sold in stores for
about $3,000. After taking them apart and
rebuilding them, Dell realized the components (零部件)
could be bought for one-fourth the price. Soon he was buying components to
reduce the cost. A good business decision, but it meant his room was starting
to look like a mechanic’s shop.
“I was quite excited about the possibilities for
personal computers and how they could change society. I had this idea to sell
the products directly to the users over the phone”, he said. College plans and
his parents’ expectations bothered him a lot. But Michael Dell was determined.
He drove off to the University of Texas at Austin in August 1983 in a car he’d
bought with earnings from selling newspapers. He was surprised that his mother
wasn’t suspicious about the three computers in the backseat. By November, news
reached his parents that he wasn’t attending classes. On a surprise visit to
Austin, they caught their son on spot. Michael Dell told his dad that he wanted
to compete with IBM.
Although Michael agreed to focus on his studies, the
business chances and the timing couldn’t have been better. The public was
becoming more interested in computers, but no one was producing them. In early
May, a week before his final exams, Michael started Dell computer Corporation
with $1,000. He took his exams, and then dropped
out of college at the end of his freshman year. It was time to try out his
direct-to-customer business model.
“Three years later”, Dell says, “we had already
achieved annual sales of about $150 million, I was 22
years old then.”
1.What does the underlined word in paragraph 1 mean?
A. affect B.
develop C.
support D.
lead
2.Which of the following is true according to
paragraph 2?
A. Dell discovered a good chance to make money
B. Dell could buy a computer at one-fourth the price
C. IBM made little money from personal computers
D. Dell rebuilt computers in a mechanic’s shop
3.When Dell’s parents learned about his absence from
class, they .
A. tried to help with his business
B. were too suspicious to accept it
C. wanted him to go hack to class
D. encouraged him to compete with IBM
4.It can be inferred from the article that .
A. Dell was tired of his college life
B. Dell was not devoted to his study at college
C. Dell’s college life helped him greatly
D. Dell didn’t finish his final exams
5.Dell’s experiences show that .
A. determination and opportunity lead to success
B. family support plays an import in one’s success
C. there’s no need for all of us to go to college
D. we should insist on whatever we are doing