平成 25 年度 大学院博士（前期）課程入学者選抜学力試験

英語［90 分］注意事項

1.

試験開始の合図があるまで，この問題冊子を開かないでください．

2.

問題冊子 (問題は 1∼5 ページにあります) と解答冊子 (解答用紙 3 枚) は別々になっています．解答冊子のみを提出してください．

3.

解答冊子の表紙に氏名と受験番号を，解答用紙のすべてに受験番号をはっきり記入してください．

4.

問題冊子や解答冊子に印刷上の問題などがあれば，静かに手を挙げて監督員に知らせてください．

5.

試験終了後，問題冊子は持ち帰ってください．

6.

問題ごとに配点が記されています．

Part 1

Reading Comprehension(55 points)

Read the article below and answer the following questions.
Two recent events have boosted Apple’s dominance as a platform for computer programming. The ﬁrst event was the development of an Apple supercomputer. The second
event was a rapid increase in applications programmed for Apple.
The ﬁrst event, development of an Apple supercomputer, was in 2003 at Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA. It was the third fastest supercomputerin the world [1]. It had a parallel cluster server speed of 36 teraﬂops. Flops (ﬂoatingoperations per second) are used to measure a computer’s performance especially inthe ﬁeld of scientiﬁc calculations. The supercomputer was a product of a research
project by a professor, some colleagues and graduate students. They combined 1,100Apple computers to make this supercomputer. No huge conglomerate of corporations
or ﬁnancial investments were involved. Although the supercomputer cluster cost $5.2
million, it was much cheaper than the supercomputers that ranked ﬁrst and second.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University considered this project a ﬁnancial
investment. Since they had a supercomputer, they were able to apply for a portion of
the $1 billion research funding in the USA. The supercomputer was eventually used by
the Genome Project to map the complete set of human genes.
The second event, a rapid increase in applications programmed speciﬁcally for Apple’s
iPhone and iPod Touch devices, started in 2009. In December 2009, it was announced
that Apple’s iTunes Store had one hundred thousand applications (called Apps) available, and that three billion downloads had occurred in just 18 months. In April 2012,
the number of Apps surpassed ﬁve hundred thousand, and twenty ﬁve billion downloads
had occurred.
The two events were signiﬁcant for programmers (also known as developers). Theﬁrst event showed the power of the operating system of Apple computers. The second
showed that programming in the Apple computer market makes money. For independent
programmers, these are two very important considerations before they invest time, eﬀort
and ﬁnancial resources into writing programs for the Apple system. For instance, Apple’s
App Store is generating $5.4 million every day for its top two hundred Apps. Moreover,since 2011, Apple has paid developers $4 billion from sales of applications.
Of course, Apple has competition. Fifty percent of the smartphones sold in the last— 1 —quarter of 2011 used Google’s Android operating system. However, for Android developers the ﬁnancial rewards are much less than their Apple counterparts. For example,
Google paid developers approximately $600,000 at the end of 2011 which was the equivalent of only 12% of Apple’s payment to its developers.
One major issue for Android developers is the large number of devices running theAndroid operating system. OpenSignals, a network coverage application, recently found
1,363 devices running Android from 599 diﬀerent brands. Samsung dominated with
about 40% of the market [2]. In contrast there are seven models of iPhone, three
diﬀerent iPads and four of the non-phone iPod Touch from Apple. The fragmentationof the Android market makes it very diﬃcult to generate ﬁnancial return on investment.
Apple computers nowadays are more than simply icons of design, form and function.
They are incredibly powerful computers for IT professionals. In the current austere
ﬁnancial climate, Apple computers can also be used by programmers to generate areasonably high personal income.
References[1] Top 500 Supercomputer Sites. [Online]. Available: http://www.top500.org/system/7286.
[Accessed Dec. 30, 2009].
[2] C.Arthur and S.Dredge, (June 10, 2012). APPS BLOG, iOS vs Android: whySchmidt was wrong and developers still start on Apple. [Online]. Available: http://www.
guardian.co.uk/technology/appsblog/2012/jun/10/apple-developer-wwdc-schmidt-android[Accessed June 18, 2012].

— 2 —Based on the information provided in the above article, answer the followingquestions.

(1)

Judge TRUE(○) or FALSE(× ) for each statement below, according to the text.
(25 points)(a) Programming for the Apple system is more lucrative than for the Androidsystem.
(b) Two signiﬁcant events enabled Google to develop Android devices.
(c) Of the top three supercomputers in 2003, that of Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University was the most expensive.
(d) In less than three years, there was more than a ﬁve fold increase in thenumber of Apple Apps.
(e) Apple devices suﬀer from a process called fragmentation.
(2)

Which ONE of the following statements is FALSE? (10 points)(a) The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University supercomputer
was set up by university staﬀ and students.
(b) The success of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
supercomputer guaranteed increased research funding.
(c) Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University used over a thousand
Apple computers to achieve a server speed of 36 teraﬂops.
(d) The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University supercomputer
was used by the Genome project.

(3)

On average, how much is generated for each of the top two hundred Apple Apps
per day? Choose the answer from the following options. (10 points)(a) $2,700(b) $27,000(c) $270,000(d) $648,000

— 3 —

(4)

Which statement best summarizes the article? (10 points)(a) Apple has become an insigniﬁcant company in the computer and smartphone market. The rapid increase in portable devices has enabled Android developers to gain a rapid return on investment. Apple computers
are simply icons of design and should not be used by IT professionals.
(b) Apple has extended its appeal beyond design and ease of use. Apple
computers have been utilized in science research and supercomputer clustering, as well as smartphone application development. Developers ofApple Apps have an increased possibility of ﬁnancial return on investment. Apple has therefore become a credible option for programmers toconsider.
(c) Two signiﬁcant events enabled the iPhone, iPad and Android smartphones to gain acceptance. The ﬁrst was the investment in supercomputers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in USA, andthe second was the announcement of Apple’s iTunes Store. These events
enabled developers to increase the number of Apps and therefore gain
an increased ﬁnancial return on investment. The Apple versus Android
dichotomy is now simply a case of form over function.
(d) Apple’s iTunes Store and Android market place can thank Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA for generating $4 billion ofsales of smartphone Apps. With a speed of 36 teraﬂops, the VirginiaPolytechnic Institute and State University supercomputer has enabled
programmers to develop over ﬁve hundred thousand Apps and served
over ﬁve billion downloads. One professor and a number of his graduate
students are now positioned third in research rankings thanks to Apple
computers and Android devices.

— 4 —Part 2 Academic Skills(45 points)

Imagine that a university in Japan proposed that all its students must buy
a tablet computer such as an Apple iPad or Android Tablet. Write an essay of approximately 200 words in English expressing your opinion about thisproposal.

— 5 —