B) Enthusiastic support.

C) Strongly alarmed.

D) Slight contempt.

2. Which of the following is NOT a good reason to use Facebook?

A) It is a safe online community because everyone has to register with their real names.

B) It is a platform full of fun with the assistance of diversified software tools.

C) One might be able to find their primary school classmates whom they have lost contact with for years.

D) One can share pictures, songs, etc., with friends as well as starting their own businesses.

3. The expression “Mr. Zuckerberg is only 23 and doesn’t need the money”（Line 3, Paragraph 4） most probably indicates _______.

A) Mr. Zuckerberg does not need money since he is still a young student

B) Mr. Zuckerberg is too young to manage too much money

C) Mr. Zuckerberg does not need money for maintaining Facebook since it is a non-profit website

D) Mr. Zuckerberg is young enough to afford any failure and start again

4. What can we learn from Paragraph 5?

A) MySpace is more welcomed by lower class people because it is less classic than Facebook.

B) Facebook first became popular among those who received higher education since it was only confined to a bunch of universities.

C) Facebook’s popularity in universities is merely due to the fact that its creator is an elite student.

D) Facebook is reluctant but forced to open to the public.

5. What is the author’s attitude towards the development of Facebook?

A) Negative.

B) Supportive.

C) Objective.

D) Apprehensive.





篇章剖析


本文是一篇说明文，主要介绍一个流行的网络交友社区Facebook。第一段引出了话题；第二段主要介绍什么是Facebook；第三、四段说明了关于该网站发展的一些近况；第五、六段则介绍了Facebook的一些特点。





词汇注释


mogul /ˈməʊgl/ n. 显要人物；有权势的人

lament /ləˈment/ vt. 悲叹，悔恨，痛惜

registration /redʒɪsˈtreɪʃən/ n. 注册

repository /rɪˈpɒzɪtəri/ n. 贮藏室，仓库

poke /pəʊk/ vt. 戳，刺，捅；〈美俚〉激励

charismatic /ˌkærɪzˈmætɪk/ adj. 超凡魅力的

takeover /ˈteɪkˌəʊvə/ n. 接收；接管

gangsta /ˈgæŋstə/ n. 暴徒，黑社会成员

elite /eɪˈliːt/ n. 中坚分子，精英

revenue /ˈrevɪnjuː/ n. 收入





难句突破


Facebook is generating so much excitement this summer that bloggers are comparing Mr. Zuckerberg to Steve Jobs, the charismatic boss of Apple, and calling his company “the next Google” on the assumption that a stockmarket listing must be soon.

主体句式：Facebook is generating so much excitement that...

结构分析：该句是一个长句，其复杂的结构主要在that引导的从句中。从句分为并列的两个部分，以and连接，其中后半部分中又嵌套了一个由that引导的同位语从句。

句子译文：今年夏天Facebook变得更加炙手可热，博客写手们将扎克伯格先生和富有魅力的苹果公司总裁史蒂夫·乔布斯相提并论，并把前者的公司称作“下一个谷歌”——如果公司股票很快就能上市的话。





题目分析


1. C 情感态度题。文章第一段中可以看出默多克先生称Facebook已经快超过了MySpace，因此不由哀叹，可见他对Facebook的崛起感到了警觉。A和B选项分别因为content和support两个词就可以将该选项排除，D选项错误是因为默多克先生并没有表现出任何蔑视的态度。

2. A 细节题。文章第二段指出，Facebook用户必须要用自己的真实姓名和电子邮件地址进行注册，但是这并不意味着网站就因此而更加安全，至少文章中没有提到这一点，因此该选项不正确。

3. D 语义题。文章第四段说一些投资者想要抽回他们的资金，但是“扎克伯格先生只有23岁，他并不需要钱”。根据上下文的意思，扎克伯格现在并不需要用那么多钱来做任何事情，而且他非常年轻，即使现在经历任何的失败，都随时有可能东山再起、卷土重来，因此可以推断D选项总结了该句子的意思。

4. B 推理题。从文章第五段中可以看出，Facebook的创始人来自于哈佛大学，因此Facebook一开始是在精英大学的校园里传播的，早期并没有向公众开放。而且有研究者认为Facebook的使用者都是一些“好孩子”。需要注意的是该选项中用了was一词，表明Facebook是以前仅限于精英大学。A选项中将因果关系倒置了，因此是错误的。C错误的原因在于Facebook流行的原因并不仅仅因为其创立者是一个大学生，主要还是因为它的经营模式和理念。D选项的表述显然是错误的。

5. C 情感态度题。纵观全文，作者在阐述Facebook的发展历程时，态度是非常客观的，并没有直接加入任何个人的感情色彩。





参考译文


老人们经常惊讶于网络更新速度之快，今天还是“网络之最”的一个东西也许很快就不再占据第一的位置。同样的事情也发生在70岁的传媒巨头罗伯特·默多克身上。两年前他收购了社交网站MySpace，现在已经成为了全球最大的网上交友社区。但是不久前我们却听说默多克先生在哀叹MySpace已经变成了明日黄花，因为现在所有的人都在用Facebook，全球第二大交友网站，最新统计数据表明已有3100万人注册使用。

Facebook始于2004年，由当时未满20岁的哈佛大学学生马克·扎克伯格和他的两个朋友创立。该网站要求用户使用他们的真实姓名和电子邮件地址进行注册，此后用户就能极其轻松地找到他们现在和以前的朋友及同事。每一个Facebook账号都是个人信息和照片的陈列室，在这里朋友之间可以尽情八卦、交换信息、甚至是“捅一下”对方。

今年夏天Facebook变得更加炙手可热，博客写手们将扎克伯格先生和富有魅力的苹果公司总裁史蒂夫·乔布斯相提并论，并把前者的公司称作“下一个谷歌”——如果公司股票很快就能上市的话。这是有可能的。扎克伯格先生已经拒绝了一些新老媒体巨头慷慨的收购计划，其中包括雅虎和Viacom。他三个姐姐中的一个也在Facebook工作，不久前她在网上放了一个视频嘲笑雅虎的收购申请，并且大力支持公司的“首次公开募股”。现在Facebook正在打广告招募一个熟知股票发行规则的“股票管理经理”。

不过扎克伯格坚持说他自己对于“所有的人的‘出路’都如此关注感到惊讶”。事实上他现在对讨论这个问题已经感到厌烦。一些资助Facebook的投机资本家想要抽出资金，但是扎克伯格先生只有23岁，他并不需要钱。他碰巧也信奉——就像年轻的谷歌创始人一样——他能够，也应该改变这个世界。

Facebook有以下一些特点。首先，目前人们认为它比MySpace等交友社区档次更高。一个学者称Facebook是给“好孩子”用的，而MySpace的用户群都是蓝领工人的孩子和黑社会成员。Facebook的根基在于广大大学生。毕竟，扎克伯格先生是在哈佛创立的Facebook，并从那里散播到了其他的精英大学。该网站仅在去年9月才向公众开放。

但是，扎克伯格先生认为最大的不同点在于Facebook正在变成一个“平台”。他的意思是Facebook正在转变为一项新技术，在此之上可以建立新的软件工具和业务。五月的时候扎克伯格先生对外开放了这一功能，承诺任何第三方可以全部保留他们在Facebook上取得的广告收入。现在已经有成千上万的小工具被创造出来，使得Facebook用户能够分享和发现音乐、玩益智游戏，还可以相互借钱以及使用其他各种功能。





Unit 41


As he lays out his vision for the future of open-source software, Mark Shuttleworth is enthusiastic, but he looks tired. He has been up late negotiating yet another deal as part of his mission to bring open source to a wider audience. A successful South African entrepreneur during the dotcom era, he wants open-source advocates to lose their religion and concentrate on ease-of-use instead. And he is putting his money where his mouth is. Since 2004, he has been using his fortune to fund the Ubuntu project, which makes a user-friendly version of Linux, the open-source operating system. Ubuntu is a Zulu and Xhosa term that roughly means “universal bond of sharing between humans”. Ubuntu’s slogan is “Linux for human beings”, and it is aimed at mainstream computer users. For although Linux is popular on servers, it is not, so far, used on many desktops.

In part that is because open-source software tends to polarise opinion. It has many critics who suspect that software written by idealistic guys, and made available free to anyone who wants to download it, must be some kind of communist plot. Zealous believers, meanwhile, long for open source to triumph over the evil empires of commercial software. This clash is often depicted as an epic struggle between Linux and Microsoft’s proprietary Windows operating system. But the truth is that most computer users do not know or care about the politics of open-source software. Mr Shuttleworth says most people simply want to read their e-mail, browse the web and so on.

“It’s very easy to declare victory,” says Mr Shuttleworth, describing the conceited attitude of some open-source supporters. “There are big chunks of the software world that depend on free software.” But Ubuntu’s aim is not to conquer the software establishment and replace its products. Rather than seeing open-source software as one of two competing ideologies and focusing on the struggle, Ubuntu thinks about the user. Ubuntu is a complete bundle of software, from operating system to applications and programming tools, that is updated every six months and, says Mr Shuttleworth, will always be free. Taking the debate out of open source is intended to move adoption beyond politically motivated enthusiasts and encourage mass adoption of the software on its merits.

It is a bold scheme, but Mr Shuttleworth is not a man to think small. He was raised in a suburb of Cape Town, an unlikely place from which to join the internet revolution. Yet that was his goal from the day he first used a web browser. When he saw that the internet was switching from a text-based to a graphical medium, “I sensed that everything was going to change,” he says. He spent a couple of years looking for the right way to get involved, given his situation. “I had to find something to do that was cutting-edge, without requiring much bandwidth or venture capital,” he says. He succeeded handsomely by setting up a company, Thawte, that made digital certificates and security software to support internet commerce. He sold the firm for over $500m to VeriSign in 1999, near the peak of the dotcom boom.

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 3。



1. By the word “religion”（Line 4, Paragraph 1）, the author means _______.

A) Christianity

B) religious advocation

C) mysterious thoughts

D) crazy belief

2. How does the author feel about the Ubuntu project?

A) Objective.

B) Optimistic.

C) Discouraged.

D) Confused.

3. When mentioning “Mr Shuttleworth is not a man to think small” （Line 1, Paragraph 4） the author means _______.

A) Mr Shuttleworth does not look small

B) Mr Shuttleworth is very ambitious

C) Mr Shuttleworth does not like to think about small projects

D) Mr Shuttleworth only cares about important and great things

4. What is the difference between Mr Shuttleworth and some zealous open-source advocates?

A) Mr Shuttleworth focuses on the popularity and mass applicability of the open-source software.

B) Mr Shuttleworth intends to arouse the public awareness of the political controversy on open-source.

C) Zealous advocates only care about the political fight against Microsoft’s commercial operating systems.

D) Zealous advocates are not aware of the open-source merits in terms of everyday use.

5. Which of the following is NOT the characteristic of the Ubuntu software?

A) It is free to download from Internet and is updated regularly.

B) It is user-oriented and can therefore be used with ease.

C) It tends to replace the current commericial software.

D) It can be used by anyone who has access to Internet.





篇章剖析


本文是一篇说明文，主要讲述了南非富商马克·沙特尔沃思在普及开源软件的努力。第一段简要介绍了沙特尔沃思希望普及开源软件的想法和他的Ubuntu项目；第二段笔锋一转，讨论了对于开源软件的两种截然不同的观点；第三段中沙特尔沃思辨析和阐述了他坚持自己信念和项目的理由；第四段简要介绍了沙特尔沃思产生支持开源软件想法的原因。





词汇注释


advocate /ˈædvəkɪt/ n. 提倡者，鼓吹者

bond /bɒnd/ n. 结合，联结

polarise /ˈpəuləraɪz/ v. 使两极分化

zealous /ˈzeləs/ adj. 热心的，狂热的

triumph /ˈtraɪəmf/ v. 获得胜利

clash /klæʃ/ n. 冲突

conceited /kɒnˈsiːtɪd/ adj. 自以为是的，傲慢的

chunk /tʃʌŋk/ n. 相当大的数量

bundle /ˈbʌndl/ n. 捆，束，包

adoption /əˈdɒpʃən/ n. 采用

bold /bəʊld/ adj. 大胆的

scheme /skiːm/ n. 安排，配置，计划

cutting-edge /ˈkʌtiŋˌedʒ/ adj. 前沿的

bandwidth /ˈbændwɪdθ/ n. 精力





难句突破


Since 2004, he has been using his fortune to fund the Ubuntu project, which makes a user-friendly version of Linux, the open-source operating system.

主体句式：He has been using his fortune to fund the Ubuntu project.

结构分析：本句中which引导的定语从句，用来修饰前面提到的Ubuntu project。最后的短语是一个同位语，用来解释说明什么是Linux。

句子译文：自从2004年以来，他一直以个人财产资助Ubuntu项目，该项目致力于为开源操作系统Linux开发一个更加便于用户使用的版本。





题目分析


1. D 语义题。这篇文章与宗教无关，所以此处的religion是一种引申义和比喻义，即有一些开源软件的支持者们对于开源软件有一种宗教般地疯狂崇拜，而他们并不关心怎么样把开源软件简单化，从而使得大众都能够使用。因此答案为D。

2. A 情感态度题。作者在本文中的分析态度是相当客观的，既阐述了反对者的想法，也摆出了支持者沙特尔沃思的辩解，而作者本人并没有发表个人见解。

3. B 语义题。从上下文来看，尽管Ubuntu项目的整体计划看上去非常大胆，但是显然沙特尔沃思是信心十足的，他并不是那种轻易认输的人，也就是说他是非常雄心勃勃的。

4. A 细节题。文章全篇的重点都在谈论的一个重要话题就是，开源软件的支持者们痴迷的是这种软件本身以及与商用软件的斗争，而沙特尔沃思的关注点则是在于如何让更多的大众方便地使用这款软件。

5. C 细节题。文章第三段谈到了Ubuntu软件包的一些特点，它可以免费下载、面向公众，而且每六个月更新一次。更重要的是，它不像Linux一样只是在服务器上非常流行，而是把目标放在广大普通用户上，因而A、B和D选项是正确的。C错误的原因在于沙特尔沃思从来不打算要用Ubuntu替代商业软件。





参考译文


当展望开源软件的未来时，马克·沙特尔沃思热情十足，但是他看起来非常疲惫。他最近正在为另一桩生意谈判，这也是他立志要把开源带给更多人的使命的一部分。作为一名在信息时代成功的南非企业家，他希望开源倡导者们能放弃他们的盲目崇拜，而把精力集中到如何使开源软件更加方便地为人们使用上来。他自己也把钱都投在他说的这些事情上。自从2004年以来，他一直以个人财产资助Ubuntu项目，该项目致力于为开源操作系统Linux开发一个更加便于用户使用的版本。Ubuntu是一个祖鲁语和科萨语的术语，大意就是“在人类之间分享的广泛联系”。Ubuntu项目的口号是“为全人类服务的Linux”，其目标人群是主流电脑使用者。这是因为尽管Linux在服务器上非常流行，但到目前为止却很少为台式机所使用。

这部分是因为开源软件会使人们的观点分为两个极端。许多批评家怀疑这种由理想主义者设计、任何人都可以下载使用的软件一定是一种共产主义的阴谋。同时，那些开源软件的狂热支持者却渴盼开源能够最终战胜商业软件的邪恶帝国。人们经常把这一冲突描绘成Linux和微软拥有版权的视窗操作系统之间史诗般的斗争。但是事实上，大部分电脑使用者都不知道或者不关心关于开源软件的政治斗争。沙特尔沃思说，大部分人在电脑上想做的事情只不过是收发电子邮件、浏览网页等等。

“我们很容易就可以宣布胜利，”沙特尔沃思先生在谈及一些开源支持者的偏见时说道，“软件世界的很大一部分都取决于免费软件。”但是Ubuntu项目的目的不是征服已有的软件世界并以其他产品取而代之。Ubuntu并不把开源软件看成是两种计算机理念的一种，也不关注其中的斗争，Ubuntu只是在为客户考虑。沙特尔沃思先生介绍道，Ubuntu是一组完整的软件包，包括操作系统和各种应用及编程工具，每六个月更新一次，而且永远都是免费的。让开源远离斗争，让开源不仅仅是一些有政治目的的狂热者的话题，而把重点放在鼓励大众都充分利用这种软件的价值。

这是一个大胆的计划，但是我们不可以小看沙特尔沃思先生。他成长于开普敦的郊区，那是一个并不像是能够参与到互联网革命的地方。但是从他使用网页浏览器的第一天开始，他就给自己立了这个目标。当他看到原先基于文本的互联网向图像媒体转移的时候，“我感到事情将要开始变化了，”他说。在那种情形下，他花了几年的时间寻找如何介入这一领域的最佳方式。“我想找一些最前沿的东西来做，而不用花很多的精力或投机资本，”他说道。他成功地成立了一家名为Thawte的公司，致力于制作数码证书和安全软件，从而支持网络商务。1999年，信息泡沫时代发展接近高峰的时期，他以5亿美元的价格将该公司卖给了VeriSign。





Unit 42


Music fans have often viewed Microsoft as something like a bad cover band, one that pumped out uninviting facsimiles of Apple’s iPod and iTunes with its Zune music players and service. Now that the Zune brand is dead, Microsoft is once again in search of a hit in digital music. But this time, to improve its odds of success, it is marshaling some of its most powerful brands as never before: Windows and the Xbox.

On Monday, the company plans to announce a service called Xbox Music that will offer access to a global catalog of about 30 million songs. The service will let consumers listen free to any song on computers and tablets running the latest version of its Windows software, as well as on the Xbox console. Microsoft will not initially limit how much music can be streamed, though that could change over time. The service is part of a broad set of bets Microsoft is making this fall to help regain ground it has lost to competitors, especially Apple and Google. In addition to Windows 8, a major new version of its flagship operating system that will start shipping on Oct. 26, the company is close to releasing a new version of its Windows Phone operating system for mobile phones and its first Microsoft-designed computer, a tablet device called Surface.

In an aggressive push to persuade lots of people to use the service, Microsoft will package the software for Xbox Music with Windows 8. The arrangement could awaken antitrust concerns about Microsoft’s use of Windows to gain toeholds in new markets. Microsoft’s do-over in the market is a sign of how a strong music service has come to be seen as a prerequisite for any serious player in the gadget business. Apple first showed the way with that strategy by making it simple to buy songs from the iTunes Store, helping it sell more iPods. Google and Amazon have also gotten in on the act, adding music stores to their Android and Kindle devices. In addition to competing with those big companies, Xbox Music is entering a landscape thick with independent music services that offer their own variations on the listening experience. Spotify, for example, provides on-demand listening to a large library of music, while Pandora programs radio stations tailored to its listeners’ individual tastes.