考研考研英语易错题（2015-11-30）

考研习题练习

考研考研英语易错题（2015-11-30）

第1题：Americans have always been excessive worshippers of what William James called “the bitch goddess success”. Self-help gurus have topped the bestseller lists since Benjamin Franklin published his autobiography. Americans are much more likely than Europeans to believe that people can get ahead in life so long as they are willing to work hard. And they are much more likely to choose a high-paying job that carries a risk of redundancy than a lower-paid job that guarantees security.
But you can’t have winners without losers (or how would you know how well you are doing?). And you can’t broaden opportunity without also broadening the opportunity to fail. For instance, until relatively recently, blacks could not blame themselves for their failure in the “race of life”, in Abraham Lincoln’s phrase, because they were debarred from so many parts of it. Now the barriers are lifted, the picture is more complicated.
All of which creates a huge problem: how exactly should a hyper-competitive society deal with its losers? It’s all very well to note that drunkards and slackers get what they deserve. But what about the honest toilers? One way to deal with the problem is to offer people as many second chances as possible. In his intriguing new book “Born Losers: A History of Failure in America”, Scott Sandage argues that the mid-nineteenth century saw a redefinition of failure—from something that had described a lousy business to something that defined a whole life.
Yet one of the striking things about America is how valiantly it has resisted the idea that there is any such thing as a born loser. American schools resist streaming their pupils much longer than their European counterparts: the whole point is to fit in rather than stand out. American higher education has numerous points of entry and reentry. And the American legal system has some of the most generous bankruptcy rules in the world. In Europe, a bankrupt is often still a ruined man; in America, he is a risk-taking entrepreneur.
American history—not to mention American folklore—is replete with examples of people who tried and tried again until they made a success of their lives. Lincoln was a bankrupt storekeeper. Henry Ford was a serial failure. At 40, Thomas Watson, the architect of IBM, faced prison. America’s past is also full of people who came back from the brink. A second way to deal with losers is to celebrate them. Perhaps in reaction to the relentless boosterism of business life, American popular culture often sympathises with losers. But even in the loser-loving bits of popular culture, the American obsession with success has a habit of winning through. More often than not, born losers turn out to be winners in disguise.
31. According to paragraph 1, why are Americans “much more likely to choose a high-paying job that carries a risk of redundancy than a lower-paid job that guarantees security”?
[A] Because they don’t mind taking risks.
[B] Because Americans believe in the idea of “no pain, no gain”.
[C] Because Americans rely a lot on self瞙elp books written by famous people.
[D] Because a having high瞤aying job is how many Americans view success.
32. Paragraph 2 suggests that ________________
[A] America was once a racist country.
[B] black Americans now have equal rights.
[C] if you give someone the chance to succeed, you also give them the chance to fail.
[D] you can know how successful you are by seeing how many people are failing.
33. The “honest toilers” mentioned in paragraph 3 refer to__________________
[A] lazy people and alcoholics.
[B] trustworthy workers.
[C] people who fail even though they try hard.
[D] born losers—people who need lots of second chances in order to succeed.
34. We can learn from paragraph 4____________
[A] that the United States is better than Europe.
[B] that American society is designed to give people many opportunities.
[C] that the American system is better for children and businessmen.
[D] that Scott Sandage’s book is largely irrelevant to modern American society.
35. According to paragraph 5, which of these is NOT an example of why Americans might like losers?
[A] They often succeed in the end.
[B] Losers often have legal problems.
[C] There is sometimes a dislike of people who enthusiastically promote business.
[D] Some very famous Americans were once losers.

【分析题】：

第2题：From Southeast Asia to the Black Sea, fishing nets have become deathtraps for thousands of whales, dolphins and porpoises—species whose survival will be threatened unless fishing methods change.
The World Wildlife Fund, a U.S. based environmental group, lists species threatened by accidental catch, and recommends low cost steps to reduce their entanglement in fishing gear. (41) . Dolphins in the Philippines, India and Thailand are urgent priorities.
Threatened populations include Irrawaddy dolphins in Malampyaya Sound off the Philippines’ Palawan island, about 220 miles south of Manila. Only 77 remain. Dolphins also face the threat of traders who sell them to aquariums, especially in Asia.
(42) .
The WWF report said up to 3,000 Spinner dolphins may be caught each year in gillnets, which stretch from the sea floor to the surface and are hard for dolphins to see or detect with their sonar.
(43).
Dolphins are also under threat in Indonesia, Myanmar, India’s Chilka Lake and Thailand’s Songkhla Lake.
Fishing gear kills thousands of porpoises each year in the Black Sea. Atlantic humpback dolphins face the same fate off the coasts of Ghana and Togo in Africa, as do Franciscana dolphins in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. Indo Pacific humpback and bottlenose dolphins often die in nets off the south coast of Zanzibar.
(44) .U.S. fisheries in 1993 2003 introduced changes that reduced by a third the number of dolphins accidentally killed by fishing, or bycatch. But few other countries have followed that example and in much of the rest of the world, progress on bycatch mitigation has been slow to nonexistent.
(45). Slight modifications in fishing gear can mean the difference between life and death for dolphins.

【分析题】：

第3题：
For all his vaunted talents, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has never had much of a reputation as an economic forecaster. In fact, he shies away from making the precise-to-the-decimal-point predictions that many other economists thrive on. Instead, he owes his success as a monetary policymaker to his ability to sniff out threats to the economy and manipulate interest rates to dampen the dangers he perceives.

Now, those instincts are being put to the test. Many Fed watchers—and some policymakers inside the central bank itself—are beginning to wonder whether Greenspan has lost his touch. Despite rising risks to the economy from a swooning stock market and soaring oil prices that could hamper growth, the Greenspan-led Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) opted to leave interest rates unchanged on Sept.24. But in a rare dissent, two of the Fed’s 12 policymakers broke ranks and voted for a cut in rates—Dallas Fed President Robert D. McTeer Jr. and central bank Governor Edward M.Gramlich.

The move by McTeer, the Fed’s self-styled “Lonesome Dove”, was no surprise. But Gramlich’s was. This was the first time that the monetary moderate had voted against the chairman since joining the Fed’s board in 1997. And it was the first public dissent by a governor since 1995.

Despite the split vote, it’s too soon to count the maestro of monetary policy out. Greenspan had good reasons for not cutting interest rates now. And by acknowledging in the statement issued after the meeting that the economy does indeed face risks, Greenspan left the door wide open to a rate reduction in the future. Indeed, former Fed Governor Lyle Gramley thinks chances are good that the central bank might even cut rates before its next scheduled meeting on Nov.6, the day after congressional elections.

So why didn’t the traditionally risk-averse Greenspan cut rates now as insurance against the dangers dogging growth? For one thing, he still thinks the economy is in recovery mode. Consumer demand remains buoyant and has even been turbocharged recently by a new wave of mortgage refinancing. Economists reckon that homeowners will extract some $100 billion in cash from their houses in the second half of this year. And despite all the corporate gloom, business spending has shown signs of picking up, though not anywhere near as strongly as the Fed would like.

Does that mean that further rate cuts are off the table? Hardly. Watch for Greenspan to try to time any rate reductions to when they’ll have the most psychological pop on business and investor confidence. That’s surely no easy feat, but it’s one that Greenspan has shown himself capable of more than once in the past. Don’t be surprised if he surprises everyone again.
21. Alan Greenspan owes his reputation much to .
A. his successful predictions of economy
B. his timely handling of interest rates
C. his unusual economic policies
D. his unique sense of dangers

22. It can be inferred from the passage that .
A. instincts most often misguide the monetary policies
B. Greenspan has lost his control of the central bank
C. consensus is often the case among Fed’s policymakers
D. Greenspan wouldnt tolerate such a dissent

23. Gramley’s remarks are mentioned to indicate that .
A. Greenspan didnt rule out the possibility of a future rate reduction
B. Greenspan’s monetary policy may turn out to be a failure
C. Greenspan’s refusal to cut rates now was justified
D. Greenspan will definitely cut the rates before Nov.6

24. From the fifth paragraph, we can learn that .
A. economy is now well on its way to recovery
B. economists are uncertain about consumer demand
C. corporate performance is generally not encouraging
D. businesses have been investing the way the Fed hoped

25. The author seems to regard Greenspan’s manipulation of interest rates with .
A. disapproval B. doubt C. approval D. admiration

【分析题】：

第4题：The current French bestseller lists are wonderfully eclectique. In 1 , there is everything 2 blockbuster thrillers to Catherine Millet's "La vie sexuelle de Catherine M.", a novel which has been 3 praised as high art and 4 as upmarket porn. Then there are novels 5 the sticky questions of good and 6 ("Le demon et mademoiselle Prym") and faith versus science in the modern world ("L'apparition"). Philosophical 7 continue in the non-fiction list, 8 this week by Michel Onfray's "Antimanuel de philosophie", a witty take 9 some of philosophy's perennial debates. Those who like their big issues in small chunks are also enjoying Frederic Beigbeder's "Dernier inventaire avant liquidation", a survey of France's 10 20th-century books, 11 with Mr Beigbeder's 12 humour from the title on ("The 50 books of the century chosen by you and critiqued by me").
In Britain, meanwhile, there is olive oil all over the non- fiction list. It's a staple 13 for Nigella Lawson, a domestic divinity and celebrity 14 , whose latest 15 of recipes tops the list. Annie Hawes, in second 16 , took herself 17 to the sun- drenched hills of Italy to grow her own olives and write a book about them-as did Carol Drinkwater, just 18 the border in France. Fiction-wise, it's business as 19 , with the requisite holiday mix of thrillers, romance, fantasy-and Harry Potter, with "The Goblet of Fire" still burning 20 at number three.
1. A. literature B. narrative C. story D. fiction
2. A. on B. from C. about D. of
3. A. both B. equally C. rather D. together
4. A. approved B. admired C. derided D. scolded
5. A .attempting B, dealing C. tackling D. talking
6. A. .evil B. sin C. wickedness D. bad
7. A. topics B. ideas C. arguments D. themes
8.A. topped B. covered C. overdone D. surpassed
9. A. of B. by C. at D. on
10. A good B. favourite C. favorable D. satisfying
11. A. dealt B. handled C. touched D. managed
12.A. brand B. trademark C. marked D. obvious
13. A. ingredient B. constitution C. part D. factor
14.A. writer B. novelist C. chef D. journalist
15.A. set B. anthology C. collection 　 D. album
16. A. rank B. place C. point D. status
17.A. up B. on C. off D. in
18. A. above B. around C. about D. across
19. A. usual B. usually C. common D. commonly
20. A. bright B. intense C. dazzling D. brilliant

【分析题】：

第5题：As the American West enters its fifth year of drought—the longest stretch in 108 years—the region’s cities are instituting sweeping water-usage restrictions and conservation programs. In Aurora, Colo., where the reservoir system is at just 26% capacity and is expected to reach only half of normal levels by summer, planting new trees and shrubs is prohibited, and privately owned pools may not be filled.

In the thirsty, growing cities of Southern California, however, simple conservation simply won’t do the trick. This region imports more than 80% of its water from neighboring states. And even though it jealously guards those arrangements, they won’t be enough to compensate for the rapid growth that lies just ahead: San Diego County’s population alone is projected to rise about 29% by 2020, from 2.84 million to 3.67 million.

Drastic times call for drastic measures, so state water agencies are turning to desalination, a technology that makes ocean and brackish water drinkable by stripping it of salt and other minerals. California has plans in various stages to build 13 desalination plants along its coastline. The projects will cost billions, but planners say they’ll provide a far more reliable supply for California residents than waiting for Mother Nature to adjust her weather patterns.

Since just 3% of water on earth is fresh, this is a step that would have to be taken anyway as the global population grows. “Desalination will create a drought-proof supply of water,” says Bob Yamada, the San Diego Water Authority’s seawater-desalination program manager. He adds that 20 years from now, 10% to 20% of the state’s water could come from the ocean. The American Water Works Assn., a Denverbased nonprofit dedicated to improving drinkingwater quality and supply, predicts that the market for desalination plants and equipment, now just $2 billion, will grow to more than $70 billion over the next two decades.

Environmentalists embrace desalination. Studies show that pumping the cooling water and concentrate back into the ocean raises its salinity by less than 1%, which is equivalent to the natural rise and fall. Barry Nelson, a senior policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council, says he became a proponent of desalination when a June, 1999, California report demonstrated that it was cheaper than building new dams, which often have a huge environmental impact.
Nelson still worries about energy consumption and coastal disruption. But he adds that “desalination is no longer on the lunatic fringe. It has entered the mainstream. That means we look at desalt projects on a case-by-case basis, as we would any other legitimate water policy.”

As the technology continues to improve, experts say it’ll fast become a solution not only for municipalities but for hotels and resorts, corporations, and, someday, homeowners. Privately held water-treatment outfit Matrix Water, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is installing a desalination plant that will process 800,000 gallons of water per day for the new Emerald Bay Four Seasons Resort in the Bahamas. And the new U.S. Homeland Security Dept. is investigating ways of using reverse osmosis to protect the nation’s water supply from bioterrorism.
31. Water conservation programs alone wont solve the problem in Southern California because .
A. it is confronting an unprecedented drought in 108 years
B. private citizens are consuming a lot more water than before
C. it imports a large proportion of its water from other states
D. population in the cities of this area is always growing fast

32. The third paragraph is written to .
A. discuss the cause of the decline of water supply
B. introduce a solution to the issue of water shortage
C. explain the way in which desalination develops
D. exemplify the different ways to solve the problem

33. Barry Nelson became a supporter of desalination owing to its .
A. universal support among environmentalists
B. contribution to natural resources
C. low cost and little damage to environment
D. advantage to natural defense

34. Nelson’s attitude towards desalination programs can best be described as one of .
A. qualified approval B. unreserved support
C. slight indifference D. absolute pessimism
35. The expression “reverse osmosis” most probably refers to .
A. costal disruption B. technology
C. antiterrorism policies D. desalination

【分析题】：

第6题：　We can learn a good deal about the nature of business by comparing it with poker. While both have a large element of chance, in the long run the winner is the man who plays with steady skill. In both games ultimate victory requires intimate knowledge of the rules, insight into the psychology of the other players, self-confidence, a considerable amount of self-discipline, and the ability to respond swiftly and effectively to opportunities provided by chance.

No one expects poker to be played on the ethical principles preached in churches. Poker has its special ethics, and here I am not referring to rules against cheating. The man who keeps an ace up his sleeve or who marks the cards is more than unethical; he is a crook, and can be punished as such—kicked out of the game or, in the Old West, shot.

In contrast to the cheat, the unethical poker player is one who, while abiding by the letter of the rules, finds ways to put the other players at an unfair disadvantage. Perhaps he bothers them with loud talk. Or he tries to get them drunk. Ethical poker players frown on such tactics.

Poker’s own brand of ethics is different from the ethical ideals of civilized human relationships. The game calls for distrust of the other fellow. It ignores the claim of friendship. Cunning deception and concealment of one’s strength and intentions, not kindness and openheartedness, are vital in poker. No one thinks any the worse of poker on that account. And no one should think any the worse of the game of business because its standards of right and wrong differ from the prevailing traditions of morality in our society. That most businessmen are not indifferent to ethics in their private lives, everyone will agree. My point is that in their office lives they cease to be private citizens; they become game players who must be guided by a somewhat different set of ethical standards.

The point was forcefully made to me by a Midwestern executive who has given a good deal of thought to the question: “So long as a businessman complies with the laws of the land and avoids telling harmful lies, he is ethical. If the law as written gives a man wide-open chance to make a killing, he would be a fool not to take advantage of it. If he doesn’t, somebody else will. There is no obligation on him to stop and consider who is going to get hurt. If the law says he can do it, that’s all the justification he needs. There is nothing unethical about that. It’s just plain business sense.”
I think it is fair to sum up the prevailing attitude of businessmen on ethics as follows:

We live in what is probably the most competitive of the world’s civilized societies. Our customs encourage a high degree of aggression in the individual’s striving for success. Business is our main area of competition, and it has been made into a game of strategy. The basic rules of the game have been set by the government, which attempts to detect and punish business frauds. But as long as a company does not break the rules of the game set by law, it has the legal right to shape its strategy without reference to anything but its profits. Decisions in this area are, finally, decisions of strategy, not of ethics.
36. According to the author, one of the common features of poker winners is .
A. a quick response to chances B. extensive knowledge of games
C. familiarity with the other players D. chancy response strategies

37. In terms of poker’s ethics, the author believes that .
A. a player who keeps an ace up his sleeve violates poker’s ethics
B. it is unethical for a player not to annoy the other players with noise
C. a player who doesn’t observe poker’s special ethics can be punished
D. poker has its own type of ethics different than those of social morality

38. The fifth paragraph implies that .
A. nothing should prevent a businessman from making big money legally
B. every businessman should give considerable thought to business ethics
C. law grants businessmen the right to hurt others when necessary
D. business sense simply approves anything unethical

39. It can be concluded from the passage that .
A. companies may neglect laws when making their strategies
B. deceptions in business might be thought of as reasonable strategies
C. laws are especially tolerant of businessmen and their actions
D. business ethics can be applied to solve moral problems in society

40. The game ethics as described in the passage might apply to which of the following?
A. Medicine. B. Sports. C. Diplomacy. D. Finance.

【分析题】：

第7题： The U.S. may so far have enjoyed good luck in escaping a direct SARS hit, but officials aren’t leaving anything to chance. The best hope for averting a SARS epidemic at home will be to keep SARS out at the nation’s borders.
Federal immigration laws authorize immigration authorities to exclude non-citizens who are determined to have a “communicable disease of public health significance”. Immigration law also authorizes the President by proclamation to suspend the entry of any group of aliens whose entry he deems to be detrimental to the interests of the United States. This little-used power could be deployed to exclude all aliens from affected areas, a policy Taiwan has recently implemented.

Under the Public Health Service Act, any individual (citizens included) may be quarantined at an international port of entry if they are reasonably believed to be carrying a designated communicable disease. As of an April 4 Executive Order by President Bush, SARS is now a designated disease.

Thus, in tandem with airline screening, federal health authorities are carefully monitoring travelers from affected areas in Asia for SARS symptoms. With an estimated 25,000 individuals entering the country legally from Asia on a daily basis, that is a tall order. A single SARS- infected person getting through the net could bring down the border strategy.
The U.S. government might also frontend the border strategy through restrictions on travel by American citizens to affected areas. In a series of Cold War era decisions, the Supreme Court upheld international travel restrictions for national security reasons, and one can imagine the same rationale applying to a public health emergency. How practical it would be to prohibit—and police—a travel ban to countries such as China is another question.

The initial SARS defense, then, hinges on effective border control. But U.S. borders are far from under control. There are an estimated 8～9 million undocumented aliens now in the United States, a figure growing by as many as 500,000 per year. Asia is the largest contributor to undocumented immigration outside the western hemisphere, funneling illegal aliens into the United States through elaborate smuggling networks. SARS could just as easily make serious inroads into the U.S. through this backdoor rather than the front.
26. From the first three paragraphs, we learn that .
A. American officials dont see any chance of escaping an immediate SARS hit
B. noncitizens with a disease will be quarantined at the international airport
C. foreigners with a communicable disease may legally be denied entry into the U.S.
D. immigration officers are empowered to keep aliens out of the U.S.

27. Which of the following statements is true according to the text?
A. The President rarely declares a rejection of noncitizens from infected areas.
B. The U.S. is the only lucky country to have kept safe from a SARS attack.
C. The interests of the U.S. are given more legal protection than public health.
D. The Public Health Service Act has been brought into effect since April 4.

28. The phrase “a tall order” most probably means .
A. an ambitious plan B. a difficult task
C. a careful arrangement D. an illegal decision

29. The author would probably agree that .
A. a SARS hit could be escaped by means of strict monitoring of international travel
B. undocumented immigrants poses a serious threat to national security of U.S.
C. illegal aliens come into the U.S. with the help of complicated smuggling networks
D. American border strategy may fail to attain its goal of avoiding a SARS epidemic

30. The passage is primarily concerned with .
A. the threat of SARS to the national security of U.S.
B. the U.S. border strategy against SARS
C. the problems in U.S. national security
D. the crisis of a public health emergency

【分析题】：

第8题：Text 1

St. Paul didn’t like it. Moses warned his people against it. Hesiod declared it “ mischievious” and “ hard to get rid of it,” but Oscar Wilder said, “ Gossip is charming.”

“ History is merely gossip,” he wrote in one of his famous plays. “ But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.”

In times past, under Jewish law, gossipmongers might be fined or flogged. The Puritans put them in stocks or ducking stools, but no punishment seemed to have the desired effect of preventing gossip, which has continued uninterrupted across the back fences of the centuries.

Today, however, the much-maligned human foible is being looked at in a different light. Psychologists, sociologists, philosophers, even evolutionary biologists are concluding that gossip may not be so bad after all.

Gossip is “ an intrinsically valuable activity,” philosophy professor Aaron Ben-Ze’ev states in a book he has edited, entitled Good Gossip. For one thing, gossip helps us acquire information that we need to know that doesn’t come through ordinary channels, such as: “ What was the real reason so-and-so was fired from the office?” Gossip also is a form of social bonding, Dr. Ben-Ze’ev says. It is “ a kind of sharing” that also “ satisfies the tribal need---namely, the need to belong to and be accepted by a unique group.” What’s more, the professor notes, “ Gossip is enjoyable.”

Another gossip groupie, Dr. Ronald De Sousa, a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, describes gossip basically as a form of indiscretion and a “saintly virtue”, by which he means that the knowledge spread by gossip will usually end up being slightly beneficial. “ It seems likely that a world in which all information were universally available would be preferable to a world where immense power resides in the control of secrets,” he writes.

Still, everybody knows that gossip can have its ill effects, especially on the poor wretch being gossiped about. And people should refrain from certain kinds of gossip that might be harmful, even though the ducking stool is long out of fashion.

By the way, there is also an interesting strain of gossip called medical gossip, which in its best form, according to researchers Jerry M. Suls and Franklin Goodkin, can motivate people with symptoms of serious illness, but who are unaware of it, to seek medical help.

So go ahead and gossip. But remember, if ( as often is the case among gossipers) you should suddenly become one of the gossipees instead, it is best to employ the foolproof defense recommended by Plato, who may have learned the lesson from Socrates, who as you know was the victim of gossip spread that he was corrupting the youth of Athens: When men speak ill of thee, so live that nobody will believe them. Or, as Will Rogers said, “ Live so that you wouldn’t be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.” (500 words )
21. Persons’ remarks are mentioned at the beginning of the text to ____.
[ A ] show the general disapproval of gossip
[ B ] introduce the topic of gossip
[ C ] examine gossip from a historical perspective
[ D ] prove the real value of gossip
22. By “Gossip also is a form of social bonding” (Para. 5), Professor Aaron Ben-Ze’ev means gossip ____.
[ A ] is a valuable source of social information
[ B ] produces a joy that most people in society need
[ C ] brings people the feel of being part of a group
[ D ] satisfies people’s need of being unusual
23. Which of the following statements is true according to the text?
[ A ] everyone involved will not benefit from gossip
[ B ] philosophers may hold different attitudes toward gossip
[ C ] Dr. Ronald De Sousa regards gossips as perfectly advantageous
[ D ] people are generally not conscious of the value of medical gossip
24. We learn from the last paragraph that ____.
[ A ] gossipers will surely become gossipees someday
[ B ] Socrates was a typical example of a gossiper becoming a gossipee
[ C ] Plato escaped being a victim of gossip by no gossiping
[ D ] an easy way to confront gossip when subjected to it is to live as usual
25. The author’s attitude toward “ gossip” can be best described as ____.
[ A ] neutral [ B ] positive
[ C ] negative [ D ] indifferent

【分析题】：

第9题：The BBC, Britain’s mammoth public-service broadcaster, has long been a cause for complaint among its competitors in television, radio and educational and magazine publishers. Newspapers, meanwhile, have been protected from it because they published in a different medium. That’s no longer the case. The internet has brought the BBC and newspapers in direct competition—and the BBC looks like coming off best.
The improbable success online of Britain’s lumbering giant of a public service broadcaster is largely down to John Birt, a former director general who “got” the internet before any of the other big men of British media. He launched the corporation’s online operations in 1998, saying that the BBC would be a trusted guide for people bewildered by the variety of online services. The BBC now has 525 sites. It spends ￡15m ($27m) a year on its news website and another
￡51m on others ranging from society and culture to science, nature and entertainment. But behind the websites are the vast newsgathering and programme making resources, including over 5,000 journalists, funded by its annual ￡2.8 billion public subsidy.
For this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, for instance, the BBC’s gardening micro site made it possible to zoom around each competing garden, watch an interview with the designer and click on “leaf hotspots” about individual plants. For this year’s election, the news website offered a wealth of easy-to-use statistical detail on constituencies, voting patterns and polls. This week the BBC announced free downloads of several Beethoven symphonies performed by one of its five in-house orchestras. That particularly annoys newspapers, whose online sites sometimes offer free music downloads—but they have to pay the music industry for them.
It is the success of the BBC’s news website that most troubles newspapers. Its audience has increased from 1.6m unique weekly users in 2000 to 7.8m in 2005; and its content has a breadth and depth that newspapers struggle to match. Newspapers need to build up their online businesses because their offline businesses are flagging. Total newspaper readership has fallen by about 30% since 1990 and readers are getting older as young people increasingly get their news from other sources—principally the internet. In 1990, 38% of newspaper readers were under 35. By 2002, the figure had dropped to 31%. Just this week, Dominic Lawson, the editor of the Sunday Telegraph, was sacked for failing to stem its decline. Some papers are having some success in building audiences online—the Guardian, which has by far the most successful newspaper site, gets nearly half as many weekly users as the BBC—but the problem is turning them into money.
36. What does “John Birt … ‘got’ the internet before any of the other big men of British media” mean?
[A] John Birt was connected to the internet before his competitors.
[B] John Birt launched the BBC website before his competitors launched theirs.
[C] John Birt understood how the internet could be used by news media before his competitors did.
[D] John Birt understood how the internet worked before his competitors did.
37. Why does the text state that the BBC’s success in the field of internet news was “improbable”?
[A] Because the BBC is a large organisation.
[B] Because the BBC is not a private company.
[C] Because the BBC is not a successful media organisation.
[D] Because the BBC doesn’t make a profit.
38. The author cites the examples in paragraph 3 in order to demonstrate that
[A] the BBC’s websites are innovative and comprehensive.
[B] the BBC’s websites are free and wide-ranging.
[C] the BBC spends its money well.
[D] the BBC uses modern technology.
39. The BBC needn’t to pay the music industry to provide classical music downloads for users of its websites because
[A] the BBC is Britain’s state-owned media organisation.
[B] the BBC has a special copyright agreement with the big music industry companies.
[C] the BBC produces classical music itself.
[D] the BBC lets the music industry use its orchestras for free.
40. According to the final paragraph, the main advantage that the BBC has over newspapers is that
[A] more people use the BBC website.
[B] the BBC doesn’t need to make a profit.
[C] the BBC has more competent managers.
[D] young people are turning to the internet for news coverage.

【分析题】：

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