A) decrease

B) increase

C) reach

D) keep

4. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that ______.

A) the deal was a welcome development

B) the transaction was the biggest deal in more than three decades

C) it would be the biggest deal so far

D) the transaction features in historic significance

5. From the text we can see that the writer seems ______.

A) positive

B) negative

C) uncertain

D) neutral





篇章剖析


本文是一篇说明文，主要介绍日本软银进军美国手机市场的情况。文章第一段首先讲述了日本风险投资公司做了最大的赌注：进入美国手机市场；第二段说明了软银带给Sprint的诸多益处；第三段介绍了软银股票下跌致使股东不满；最后一段总结软银购买Sprint股票对美国来说意义非凡。





词汇注释


overhaul /ˌəuvəˈhɔːl/ n. 全面修改v. 彻底检修

wager /ˈweɪdʒə(r)/ n. 赌博 v. 打赌

duopoly /djuːˈɒpəli/ n. 两强垄断市场

incumbent /ɪnˈkʌmbənt/ adj. 现任的，在职的

blunt /blʌnt/ adj. 直率的；不锋利的，生硬的

tumble /ˈtʌmbl/ v. 暴跌；跌倒，摔倒

infuse /ɪnˈfjuːz/ v. 灌输；使获得

hefty /ˈhefti/ adj. 大量的；强壮的，肌肉发达的





难句突破


But SoftBank, an Internet and communications company, is making a risky wager that it can break the dominance of Verizon and AT&T in the United States the way it did a similar duopoly that long reigned over the Japanese market.

主体句式：But SoftBank is making a wager...

结构分析：这个长句看上去结构复杂，其实主句非常短。an Internet and communications company作同位语补充说明SoftBank，后接一个包含两个that的长句。前一个that是一个典型的同位语从句的引导词，用来具体说明日本软银正在进行什么样的赌博，it代替句首的SoftBank；后一个that则是定语从句的引导词，先行词是duopoly。

句子译文：但对于软银这样一家网络通讯公司而言，试图打破威瑞森电信和AT&T在美国通讯市场上两强垄断的局面如同一次危险的赌博，这种两强垄断的局面正如它们过去长期对日本无线通讯市场的垄断一样。





题目分析


1. C 推断题。作者在第一段中开门见山地说SoftBank of Japan is making its biggest gamble yet: entering the American cellphone market. 还有后面的But SoftBank...is making a risky wager that...从这两处可以得知，软银进入美国市场是存在很多不确定性的，是在冒险下赌注，只有C项符合原文。其余三项并未在文中体现。

2. D 细节题。A、B和C选项皆在文中有直接体现，而D选项则是软银在美国市场的战略目标，与题意不符。

3. A 语义题。根据原文Sprint’s shares closed down slightly...while...可知此句中while是个关键词，表示对比，前面说的是Sprint股价稍有下降，以5.69美元收盘，而软银的股价却…2268日元，以此可以推断出股价是降低了，跌了。

4. D 推断题。A、B和C均是说这笔交易的重大意义，由这三方面作为论据推断出这笔交易有历史重要性，故本题选D。

5. D 情感态度题。本文是一篇经济类文章，旨在陈述经济现象，因此作者持中立态度。





参考译文


日本风险投资公司——软银集团正在进行一场迄今为止最大的赌博：进入美国手机市场。软银以201亿的价格购买了美国无线运营商Sprint Nextel的大部分股权，这项举措成为日本发展最快的手机服务供应商和美国问题最多的运营商的一次联姻。这样做是想使Sprint获得一个财力更加雄厚的合作伙伴，资助其进行一次彻底的网络检修并最终寻得另外的合并公司。但对于软银这样一家网络通讯公司而言，试图打破威瑞森电信和AT&T在美国通讯市场上两强垄断的局面如同一次危险的赌博，这种两强垄断的局面正如它们过去长期对日本无线通讯市场的垄断一样。

“软银带给Sprint的远不止资金。”Sprint的CEO丹尼尔·R.赫西在一次分析电话中称：“这项投资还使Sprint有机会从一个电话网络技术领头羊身上学到专业知识，而这一电话网络领头羊曾成功地挑战了比自己更大的运营商。”Sprint和软银在扣除利息和税费之前总共会有800亿美元的销售总额和180亿美元的收入。它们几乎使Sprint的消费者基数翻倍至9600万，同时赋予Sprint更强的购买力。软银的创始人兼CEO孙正义对其目的直言不讳：在美国建立最大、最快速的无线网络。这是他的公司在日本一直追求的战略目标，旨在吸引最新智能手机的用户首选其移动网络。Sprint只是刚开始推广它的新一代长期演进网络，紧跟威瑞森电信和AT&T的步伐。孙先生在分析电话中说：“美国公民还从未体验过这么高速的网络，我们将会把它引进美国。”

然而Sprint和软银的股东对这一事态似乎并不那么满意。周一，Sprint清盘时的股价稍有下降，以5.69美元收盘，而软银的股价却跌至2268日元，约合28.92美元，下跌了5.3%。软银在注资Sprint的同时，降低了自身偿还高额债款的能力，6月30日，软银还欠约130亿美元的外债。孙先生说，他其实已经还了2006年购买沃达丰日本分支时所欠下的绝大部分债务了，并且这部分债务的偿还比原计划早很多。

这笔周一进行的交易（软银购买Sprint股票）对于牵涉其中的财务顾问们来说再好不过了，他们已经期盼这类交易一年了。根据汤姆森路透社的资料，这笔交易如果能够完成，将是三十多年来日资企业在美国进行的最大一次投资，同时也是今年为止美国公司融得的最大一笔外资。





Unit 39


The United Nations, notorious for endless deliberations, ①is trying a technological quick fix. Its Global Compact Office, which promotes corporate responsibility, has embraced a once marginal social technology—the wiki—in the hope that it will help staff in 80 countries share information and reach consensus with less deliberation and more speed. The office has done this by enlisting the public in its review of progress reports from more than 2,000 companies—an effort to make sure each is complying with established social and environmental guidelines. It’s debatable whether encouraging public input is a good way to increase efficiency, but the move is the latest example of a quickly growing trend.

②Wiki software—easy-to-use programs that let anyone with Internet access create, remove and edit content on a Web page—first gained popularity thanks to Wikipedia, the user-generated encyclopedia that has come to be praised as one of the Web’s greatest resources. Now the technology is increasingly spreading outside the world of bizarre tech people and into the mainstream, being adopted by workplaces, corporations and even governments. In what’s been called the “wiki workplace,” a growing number of organizations have begun shifting from traditional hierarchical structures to self-organized and collaborative networks, using wiki software—a basket of technologies that include wikis, blogs and other tools—to foster innovation across organizational and geographic boundaries. Executives say the new tools make it easier for teams to collaborate and share information, and to get projects up and running on the fly. “Collaborative software has become a very important part of how businesses will invent and innovate,” says Ken Bisconti, IBM’s vice president of messaging and collaboration software.

That the United Nations is embracing wikis is an indication that organizations are beginning to get over their fear that this technology could introduce chaos into their operations. As Wikipedia has demonstrated, Web sites that are open to the public are vulnerable to deliberate injury, bias, inconsistency and other problems. But most corporate wikis are closed to the public, limiting access to employees inside the company firewall. These quasi-closed systems, say technology experts, impose accountability simply by keeping a record of every change and who made it.

IBM has used internal wikis since 2005, with an eye to selling the concept to its clients. One of its first applications was a wiki that employees could use to collaborate on writing a blogging manifesto: a set of policies for appropriate use of blogs in and out of the office. Thousands of employees contributed and edited that manifesto, which after receiving corporate approval—became the company’s official policy.

注（1）：本文选自Newsweek；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象：第1~3题分别模仿2001年真题Text 3第1~3题，第4、5题模仿2004年真题Text 1第4、5题。



1. What is the passage mainly about?

A) It is about how the United Nations is forced to adopt the wiki software to improve efficiency.

B) It is an introduction to the wiki technology and its growing trend.

C) It reviews the advantages and disadvantages of wiki technology.

D) It is about the immaturity of the wiki technology and its future development.

2. The application of the wiki technology turns out to be _______.

A) very reliable

B) rather superficial

C) somewhat contradictory

D) quite encouraging

3. The basic problem of applying wiki technology lies in that _______.

A) some people doubt it is a communist plot

B) the technology is still not mature enough to be used widely

C) there might be purposeful injury and damage from the public

D) the technology can only be used internally

4. Which of the following is NOT the advantage of wiki technology?

A) It is a safe technology when being applied both externally and internally.

B) The public can participate in the creation of web contents.

C) It can enhance communication at least within an organization.

D) It helps promote innovation and improve work efficiency.

5. Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?

A) UN has gained positive results by using wiki technology.

B) IBM’s adoption of wikis turns out to be a failure.

C) Wiki software is changing some corporate network structure.

D) Wiki websites will replace conventional websites.





篇章剖析


本文是一篇介绍维客技术的说明文。第一段先通过一个实例——联合国采用了一项新技术——来引出话题。第二段具体介绍了什么是维客技术，该技术的优势及发展趋势等。第三、四段则进一步通过组织机构和公司对于维客技术的使用来说明该技术的实用性。





词汇注释


marginal /ˈmɑːdʒɪnəl/ adj. 边缘的，边际的

consensus /kənˈsensəs/ n. 一致同意

enlist /ɪnˈlɪst/ v. 征召；谋取（支持、赞助等）

comply /kəmˈplai/ vi. 遵守，答应，顺从

bizarre /bɪˈzɑː/ adj. 奇异的，古怪的

hierarchical /ˌhaɪəˈrɑːkɪkəl/ adj. 分等级的

foster /ˈfɒstə/ vt. 培养，鼓励；养育，抚育

chaos /ˈkeɪɔs/ n. 混乱，混沌

vulnerable /ˈvʌlnərəbl/ adj. 易受攻击的

quasi- /ˈkwɑːzi/ 类似；准；半

impose /ɪmˈpəuz/ vt. 强加；以…欺骗





难句突破


① Its Global Compact Office, which promotes corporate responsibility, has embraced a once marginal social technology—the wiki—in the hope that it will help staff in 80 countries share information and reach consensus with less deliberation and more speed.

主体句式：Its Global Compact Office has embraced a technology.

结构分析：该长句结构比较复杂。首先，which引导的定语从句用来补充说明Global Compact Office，两个破折号中间的内容则是具体说明前面提到的这项技术，而后面的that引导的从句则是对于hope的说明。

句子译文：旨在增进组织机构责任的全球微缩办公室，利用了一种曾经是边缘化的技术——维客——以帮助分布在80个国家的员工分享信息，减少达成决议前的各种讨论并加快速度。

② Wiki software—easy-to-use programs that let anyone with Internet access create, remove and edit content on a Web page—first gained popularity thanks to Wikipedia, the user-generated encyclopedia that has come to be praised as one of the Web’s greatest resources.

主体句式：Wiki software first gained popularity thanks to Wikipedia.

结构分析：这个句子结构比较简单，但是由于附加了很多内容使得句子结构看上去有一些复杂。两个破折号中间的内容是对wiki software的定义，而第二个逗号后面的内容是对什么是Wikipedia的说明。

句子译文：维客软件——让任何能够上网的人可以轻松地创造、删除和编辑一个网页上的内容——由于维基百科的广泛使用而变得流行，而维基百科由于让网民来编写百科全书的内容而被誉为网上最伟大的资源。





题目分析


1. B 主旨题。纵观全篇文章，主要是在介绍wiki这项技术及其发展趋势。A选项的错误原因在于联合国采用维客技术只是一个引出文章的例子。C选项的错误原因在于文章的主旨并不是评论维客技术的优缺点。D选项的错误原因在于维客技术尚不成熟这一点同样不是文章的主题。

2. D 细节题。从全文来看，现在联合国和其他一些大的公司和组织机构都已经开始采用维客技术，文章第二段第二句话也说明了维客技术现在不仅仅属于那些bizarre tech people，而是变得越来越普遍，说明其应用前景是令人看好的。

3. C 细节题。文章第三段中提到“As Wikipedia has demonstrated, Web sites that are open to the public are vulnerable to deliberate injury, bias, inconsistency and other problems”，而这个问题尚未得到解决，因此C为正确答案。

4. A 细节题。该题的B、C、D选项都可以在文章第二段中找到答案，但是全文没有任何关于维客技术安全性的明确表述。文章第三段指出了对外使用维客技术存在的弱点和问题，而内部由于责任明确而相对比较安全。

5. C 细节题。C选项的原文对应信息为“a growing number of organizations have begun shifting from traditional hierarchical structures to self-organized and collaborative networks, using wiki software”。A选项中，关于联合国这项新措施的结果我们尚未得知。B选项表述错误。D选项的表述并没有在文章中出现。





参考译文


联合国一向以冗长拖沓的审议而闻名，现在该机构正在尝试使用一种新的技术手段来迅速改善这种状况。旨在增进组织机构责任的全球微缩办公室，利用了一种曾经是边缘化的技术——维客——以帮助分布在80个国家的员工分享信息，减少达成决议前的各种讨论并加快速度。全球微缩办公室通过使公众参与到对2000余家公司的进展报告进行审查来实现这一点——这一努力的目的在于每一家公司都充分遵守已建立起来的社会和环境方针纲要。鼓励公众的参与是否能够增进效率还有待证实，但是联合国的这一行动是一种迅速发展的趋势的最新例证。

维客软件——让任何能够上网的人可以轻松地创造、删除和编辑一个网页上的内容——由于维基百科的广泛使用而变得流行，而维基百科由于让网民来编写百科全书的内容而被誉为网上最伟大的资源。现在这种技术正在大规模地传播，并已冲破那些技术怪人的世界而进入了主流世界，应用于工作场所、公司甚至是政府。在所谓的“维客工作场”中，越来越多的组织已经通过使用维客软件开始从传统的等级架构转变为一种自我组织和合作的网络——维客软件是一组技术组合，包括维客、博客以及其他工具——从而进行跨组织和跨地域的创新。管理人员们称这些新工具使得团队之间更容易合作和分享信息，并使得各个项目高效地进行。IBM 的信息和合作软件部门副总裁肯·比斯康蒂称“合作软件在公司如何创造和创新的过程中起到了非常重要的作用”。

联合国采用维客这一事件证明了一些组织正在开始克服维客技术会给操作带来混乱的恐惧。正如维基百科证明的那样，对于公众开放的网站非常容易引来各种伤害、偏见、矛盾和其他问题。但是大多数企业维客都是不对公众开放的，只允许在公司的防火墙内部的员工访问。技术专家称这些准封闭系统通过记录每一个改动以及改动者来使人们做到负责任。

IBM从2005年开始使用内部维客，并在考虑将这种概念卖给客户。其中的第一个用途就是雇员们通过维客来合作撰写一个博客宣言：一组如何在办公室内外合理使用博客的政策。成千上万的员工参与了宣言的撰写和修订，该宣言最后得到了公司的批准，成为了公司的官方政策。





Unit 40


Older people in particular are often surprised by the speed with which the Internet’s “next big thing” can cease being that. It even happens to Rupert Murdoch, a seventy-year-old media mogul. Two years ago he bought MySpace, a social-networking site that has become the world’s largest. The other day, however, Mr. Murdoch was heard lamenting that MySpace appears already to be last year’s news, because everybody is now going to Facebook, the second-largest social network on the web, with 31m registered users at the last count.

Facebook was started in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, a student at Harvard and not even 20 at the time, along with two of his friends. The site requires users to provide their real names and e-mail addresses for registration, and it then links them up with current and former friends and colleagues with amazing ease. Each Facebook “profile” becomes both a repository of each user’s information and photos, and a social place where friends gossip, exchange messages and “poke” one another.

Facebook is generating so much excitement this summer that bloggers are comparing Mr. Zuckerberg to Steve Jobs, the charismaticboss of Apple, and calling his company “the next Google” on the assumption that a stockmarket listing must be soon. It may be. Mr. Zuckerberg has rejected big offers from new- and old-media giants such as Yahoo! and Viacom. One of his three sisters, who also works for Facebook, has posted a silly video online that makes fun of Yahoo!’s takeover bid and sings about “going for IPO”. And Facebook has advertised for a “stock administration manager” with expertise in share regulations.

And yet Mr. Zuckerberg insists that he is “a little bit surprised about how focused everybody is on the ‘exit’.” The truth is that he is sick of talking about it. The venture capitalists backing Facebook may want to cash out, but Mr. Zuckerberg is only 23 and doesn’t need the money. He also happens to believe—rather as Google’s young founders do—that he can, and should, change the world.

Facebook is distinctive in several ways. First, it is currently considered classier than, say, MySpace. One academic researcher argues that Facebook is for “good kids”, whereas MySpace is for blue-collar kids and “gangstas”. Facebook’s roots are indeed college students. Mr. Zuckerberg started Facebook at Harvard, after all. From there it spread to other elite universities, and it only opened up to the general population last September.

Mr. Zuckerberg, however, thinks that the bigger difference is that Facebook is now becoming a “platform”. By this he means that it is evolving into a technology on top of which others can build new software tools and businesses. In May Mr. Zuckerberg opened Facebook up for outsiders to do just that, promising that any advertising revenues that third parties collect within Facebook are theirs to keep. Already, thousands of little tools have been created that allow Facebook users to share and discover music, play Sudoku, lend each other money, and so on.

注（1）：本文选自Economist；

注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象为2004年真题Text 1。



1. What is Rupert Murdoch’s attitude towards the popularity of Facebook?

A) Reserved consent.