The New York Times announced Wednesday that it intended to charge frequent readers for access to its website, a step being debated across the industry that nearly every major newspaper has so far feared to take.
Starting in early 2011, visitors to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being asked to pay a standard and fixed fee for unlimited access. Subscribers to the newspaper’s print edition will receive full access to the site.
But executives of The New York Times Company said they could not yet answer fundamental questions about the plan, like how much it would cost or what the limit would be on free reading. They stressed that the amount of free access could change with time, in response to economic conditions and reader demand. Still, publishers fear that money from digital subscriptions would not make up for the resulting loss of audience and advertising income.
NYTimes.com is by far the most popular newspaper site in the country, with more than 17 million readers a month in the United States, according to Nielsen Online, and analysts say it is the leader in advertising income, as well. That may make it better positioned than other general-interest papers to charge—and also gives The Times more to lose if the move produces an opposed result.
The Times Company has been studying the matter for almost a year, searching for common ground between pro-and-anti pay campaigns—a debate mirrored in dozens of media-watching blogs-- and the system will not go into effect until January 2011. Executives said they were not bothered by the possibility of absorbing barbs(挖苦) for moving cautiously.
“There’s no prize for getting it quick,” said Janet L. Robinson, the company’s president and chief executive. “There’s more of a prize for getting it right.”
【小题1】 What’s the function of the first paragraph?

       The New York Times announced Wednesday that it intended to charge frequent readers for access to its website, a step being debated across the industry that nearly every major newspaper has so far feared to take．

       Starting in early 2011, visitors to NYTimes．com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being asked to pay a standard and fixed fee for unlimited access．Subscribers to the newspaper’s print edition will receive full access to the site．

       But executives of The New York Times Company said they could not yet answer fundamental questions about the plan, like how much it would cost or what the limit would be on free reading．They stressed that the amount of free access could change with time, in response to economic conditions and reader demand．Still, publishers fear that money from digital subscriptions would not make up for the resulting loss of audience and advertising income．

       NYTimes．com is by far the most popular newspaper site in the country, with more than 17 million readers a month in the United States, according to Nielsen Online, and analysts say it is the leader in advertising income, as well．That may make it better positioned than other general-interest papers to charge—and also gives The Times more to lose if the move produces an opposed result．

       The Times Company has been studying the matter for almost a year, searching for common ground between pro-and-anti pay campaigns—a debate mirrored in dozens of media-watching blogs-- and the system will not go into effect until January 2011．Executives said they were not bothered by the possibility of absorbing barbs（挖苦） for moving cautiously．

       “There’s no prize for getting it quick,” said Janet L．Robinson, the company’s president and chief executive．“There’s more of a prize for getting it right．”

1.What’s the function of the first paragraph?

       A．It servers as a comment．                    B．It serves as a background

       C．It serves as a lead-in                            D．It serves as a conclusion．

2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

       A．Non-paying subscribers will get no access to NYTimes．com．

       B．Readers will be charged more to read articles on NYTimes．com．

       C．Readers will get more free online articles to log on NYTimes．com more often．

       D．Subscribers to the paper’s print edition will also enjoy full access to the site．

3.Which of the words can best describe The Time Company’s attitude towards its announcement?

       A．Unwilling．                                         B．Serious．

       C．Hasty                                                  D．Doubtful

4.What is the main idea about the passage?

       A．The Times to offer free access to its web site．

       B．The Times to increase audience to its web site．

       C．The Times to attract advertisement to its web site

       D．The Times to charge for frequent access to its web site．

PART THREE READING COMPREHENSION（30 points）
Directions: Read the following three passages．Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements．For each of them there are 4 choices marked A,B,C and D．Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage．
Next time you find yourself drenched (湿透) in an unexpected heavy rain, look on the bright side – it will be a memorable experience. While wet weather may make us feel gloomy, it sharpens the memory and improves our recall. But those who feel in a good mood because it’s a sunny day are able to remember less well, according to memory tests carried by Australian researchers.
Professor Joe Forgas, who led the research, said: “It seems strange but a little bit of sadness is a good thing. People performed much better on our memory test when the weather was unpleasant and they wee in a slightly negative mood. On bright sunny days, when they were more likely to be happy, the flunked it.”
The tests were carried out on shoppers at a store in Sydney, where researchers randomly placed ten small objects on the check – out counter. On rainy days, sad music was played in the store. When it was bright and sunny, customers heard cheery music. This was done to further influence them towards negative or positive moods. After shopping, customers were asked how many of the objects they could remember. Their scores were three times higher when the weather was had and they were feeling angry, compared with those tested on sunny days. The results were published in Journal of Experimental Psychology. A report on the findings said: “They point to a growing body of evidence that the way people think, the quality of their judgments and the accuracy of their memory are all significantly influenced by positive and negative moods.”
Professor Forgas said, “We found that weather – inducted negative mood improved memory accuracy. Shoppers in a negative mood showed better memory and higher discrimination ability.”
A worse mood helped to focus people’s attention on their surroundings and led to a more thorough and careful thinking style, while happiness increased confidence and forgetfulness.
Being happy tends to promote a thinking style that is less focused on our surroundings. In a positive mood we are less likely to make more snap (匆忙的) judgments about people we meet. Mild negative mood, in turn, tends to increase attention to our surroundings and produce a more careful, thorough thinking style.
Accurately remembering everyday scenes is a difficult task, yet such memories can be on importance in everyday life. Surprisingly, the influence of mood states on the accuracy of real-life memories is still poorly understood.
56．What’s the major function of Paragraph 1?
A．To attract readers’ interest.     
B．To introduce the theme of the whole passage.
C．To generalize the whole passage.   
D．To describe a memorable experience.
57．The underlined word “flunked” in Paragraph2 may mean “       ”.
A．conducted B．failed       C．passed      D．understood
58．In the research, researchers play different music to         .
A．make customers become sadder or happier
B．help customers choose what they want
C．promote customers to buy more goods
D．get customers to make a quick choice
59．According to Joe Forgas, on sunny days, people         .
A．will make careful judgments on others
B．tend to pay more attention to their surroundings
C．will have more confidence
D．will have a better recall
60．What can we know from the research?
A．Forgetfulness is rather troublesome.
B．It’s important to feel in a good mood.
C．It’s memorable to experience a rainy day.
D．Gloomy days are good for memorizing things.

PART THREE READING COMPREHENSION（30 points）

Directions: Read the following three passages．Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements．For each of them there are 4 choices marked A,B,C and D．Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage．

Next time you find yourself drenched (湿透) in an unexpected heavy rain, look on the bright side – it will be a memorable experience. While wet weather may make us feel gloomy, it sharpens the memory and improves our recall. But those who feel in a good mood because it’s a sunny day are able to remember less well, according to memory tests carried by Australian researchers.

Professor Joe Forgas, who led the research, said: “It seems strange but a little bit of sadness is a good thing. People performed much better on our memory test when the weather was unpleasant and they wee in a slightly negative mood. On bright sunny days, when they were more likely to be happy, the flunked it.”

The tests were carried out on shoppers at a store in Sydney, where researchers randomly placed ten small objects on the check – out counter. On rainy days, sad music was played in the store. When it was bright and sunny, customers heard cheery music. This was done to further influence them towards negative or positive moods. After shopping, customers were asked how many of the objects they could remember. Their scores were three times higher when the weather was had and they were feeling angry, compared with those tested on sunny days. The results were published in Journal of Experimental Psychology. A report on the findings said: “They point to a growing body of evidence that the way people think, the quality of their judgments and the accuracy of their memory are all significantly influenced by positive and negative moods.”

Professor Forgas said, “We found that weather – inducted negative mood improved memory accuracy. Shoppers in a negative mood showed better memory and higher discrimination ability.”

A worse mood helped to focus people’s attention on their surroundings and led to a more thorough and careful thinking style, while happiness increased confidence and forgetfulness.

Being happy tends to promote a thinking style that is less focused on our surroundings. In a positive mood we are less likely to make more snap (匆忙的) judgments about people we meet. Mild negative mood, in turn, tends to increase attention to our surroundings and produce a more careful, thorough thinking style.

Accurately remembering everyday scenes is a difficult task, yet such memories can be on importance in everyday life. Surprisingly, the influence of mood states on the accuracy of real-life memories is still poorly understood.

56．What’s the major function of Paragraph 1?

A．To attract readers’ interest.     

B．To introduce the theme of the whole passage.

C．To generalize the whole passage.   

D．To describe a memorable experience.

57．The underlined word “flunked” in Paragraph2 may mean “       ”.

A．conducted B．failed       C．passed      D．understood

58．In the research, researchers play different music to         .

A．make customers become sadder or happier

B．help customers choose what they want

C．promote customers to buy more goods

D．get customers to make a quick choice

59．According to Joe Forgas, on sunny days, people         .

A．will make careful judgments on others

B．tend to pay more attention to their surroundings

C．will have more confidence

D．will have a better recall

60．What can we know from the research?

A．Forgetfulness is rather troublesome.

B．It’s important to feel in a good mood.

C．It’s memorable to experience a rainy day.

D．Gloomy days are good for memorizing things.