Again: cut and apple

If you have got the book "The Multicultural Workshop" by Linda London Blanton & Linda Lee (published by Heinle & Heinle Publishers), you can see the article "A Lucky Traffic Light" inside by Irving Stern, in which my "cut" and "apple" questions come out of.

So does "cut" mean "get 100 in that new job"?
Who is called an apple?

Sorry, sphinx, I don't have the book. Concerning "cut", were you quoting directly from the "Lucky Traffic Light" story, or paraphrasing? The word didn't make sense to me in the context you gave; can you quote a few sentences directly? (I don't recall your "apple" question--what was the date?)