四、英语阅读理解题 阅读下列短文,从每题给出的四个选项中,选出最佳答案。 An old saying has it that half of all advertising budgets are wasted—the trouble is, no one knows which half. In the internet age, at least in theory, this fraction can be much reduced. By watching what people search for, click on and say online, companies can aim "behavioral" ads at those most likely to buy. In the past couple of weeks a quarrel has illustrated the value to advertisers of such fine grained-information: Should advertisers assume that people are happy to be tracked and sent behavioral ads? Or should they have explicit permission? In December 2010 America's Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed adding a "do not track" (DNT) option to internet browsers, so that users could tell advertisers that they did not want to be followed. Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Apple's Safari both offer DNT; Google's Chrome is due to do so this year. In February the FTC and Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) agreed that the industry would get cracking on responding to DNT requests. On May 31st Microsoft set off the row: It said that Internet Explorer 10, the version due to appear in Windows 8, would have DNT as a default. Advertisers are horrfied. Human nature being what it is, most people stick with default settings. Few switch DNT on now, but if tracking is off it will stay off. Bob Liodice, the chief executive of the Association of National Advertisers, one of the groups in the DAA, says consumers will be worse off if the industry cannot collect information about their preferences. "People will not get fewer ads," he says. "They'll get less meaningful, less targeted ads." It is not yet clear how advertisers will respond. Getting a DNT signal does not oblige anyone to stop tracking, although some companies have promised to do so. Unable to tell whether someone really objects to behavioral ads or whether they are sticking with Microsoft's default, some may ignore a DNT signal and press on anyway. Also unclear is why Microsoft has gone it alone. After all, it has an ad business too, which it says will comply with DNT requests,though it is still working out how. If it is trying to upset Google, which relies almost wholly on advertising, it has chosen an indirect method: there is no guarantee that DNT by default will become the norm. DNT does not seem an obviously huge selling point for Windows 8—though the firm has compared some of its other products favorably with Google's on that count before. Brendon Lynch, Microsoft's chief privacy officer, blogged: "we believe consumers should have more control." Could it really be that simple?
1. It is suggested in Paragraph 1 that "behavioral" ads help advertisers to ______.
[解析] 含义题。the industry在第三段指代前面出现过的内容,而前面提到的Microsoft's Internet Explorer、Apple's Safair和Google's Chrome都是D项中的“internet browser developers(浏览器开发商)”。A项“网上广告商”、B项“电子商务主导者”和C项“数字信息分析”均与原文不符。故本题选D。
3. Bob Liodice holds that setting DNT as a default ______.
A.may cut the number of junk ads
B.fails to affect the ad industry
C.will not benefit consumers
D.goes against human nature
A B C D
C
[解析] 细节题。根据关键词Bob Liodice和setting DNT as a default可以定位到第五段。文章提到:如果浏览器开发商不能搜集用户的喜好信息,消费者的境况只会更糟。人们收到的广告并不会减少,少的是那些有意义、有针对性的广告。也就是说,消费者并不会因此受益,因此选C项。A项“大大减少垃圾广告”与原文表述相反。B项“不会影响广告行业”原文未提及。D项“与人类的天性相反”是对原文的曲解。故本题选C。
4. Which of the following is true according to Paragraph 6? ______
A.DNT may not serve its intended purpose.
B.Advertisers are willing to implement DNT.
C.DNT is losing its popularity among consumers.
D.Advertisers are obliged to offer behavioral ads.
5. The author's attitude towards what Brendon Lynch said in his blog is one of ______.
A.indulgence
B.understanding
C.appreciation
D.skepticism
A B C D
D
[解析] 态度题。根据关键词Brendon Lynch和blog定位到最后一段。Brendon Lynch在博客中评论道:“我们认为消费者应该有更多的掌控权。”解题关键在于最后一句“Could it be really that simple?”,从中可明显看出作者持怀疑态度。A项“纵容”、B项“理解”和C项“欣赏”均不符合原文。故本题选D。
Cyberspace, data superhighways, multi-media—for those who have seen the future, the linking of computers, television and telephones will change our lives forever. Yet for all the talk of a forthcoming technological utopia, little attention has been given to the implications of these developments for the poor. As with all new high technology, while the West concerns itself with the "how", the question of "for whom" is put aside once again. Economists are only now realizing the full extent to which the communications revolution has affected the world economy. Information technology allows the extension of trade across geographical and industrial boundaries, and transnational corporations take full advantage of it. Terms of trade, exchange and interest rates and money movements are more important than the production of goods. The electronic economy made possible by information technology allows the haves to increase their control on global markets—with destructive impact on the have-nots. For them the result is instability. Developing countries which rely on the production of a small range of goods for export are made to feel like small parts in the international economic machine. As "futures" are traded on computer screens, developing countries simply have less and less control of. their destinies. So what are the options for regaining control? One alternative is for developing countries to buy in the latest computers and telecommunications themselves—so-called "development communications" modernization. Yet this leads to long-term dependency and perhaps permanent constraints on developing countries' economies. Communications technology is generally exported from the U.S., Europe or Japan; the patents, skills and ability to manufacture remain in the hands of a few industrialized countries. It is also expensive, and imported products and services must therefore be bought on credit—credit usually provided by the very countries whose companies stand to gain. Furthermore, when new technology is introduced there is often too low a level of expertise to exploit it for native development. This means that while local elites, foreign communities and subsidiaries of transnational corporations may benefit, those whose lives depend on access to the information are denied it.
6. From the passage, we know that the development of high technology is in the interests of ______.