雅思阅读实战模拟试题（三）

　　Part II

　　Notes to Reading Passage 1

　　1. low-key:

　　抑制的，受约束的，屈服的

　　2. showman:

　　开展览会的人, 出风头的人物

　　3. unassuming:

　　谦逊的, 不夸耀的, 不装腔作势的

　　4. iPod：

　　(苹果公司出产的)音乐播放器

　　5. iTunes store：

　　(苹果公司出产的)在线音乐商店

　　6. get off person's back:

　　不再找某人的麻烦，摆脱某人的纠缠

　　7. gravitate:

　　受吸引，倾向于

　　8. unfazed:

　　不再担忧，不被打扰

　　Part III

　　Keys and explanations to the Questions 1-13

　　1. TRUE

　　See the second sentence in Paragraph A “… the future of digital music, which Apple dominates with its iPod music-player and iTunes music-store.”

　　2. FALSE

　　See the third sentence in Paragraph A “…At issue is “digital rights management” (DRM)—the technology guarding downloaded music against theft.”

　　3. TRUE

　　See the fourth sentence in Paragraph A “Since there is no common standard for DRM, it also has the side-effect that songs purchased for one type of music-player may not work on another.”

　　4. TRUE

　　See the second sentence in Paragraph B “It has come under fire from European regulators who claim that its refusal to license FairPlay to other firms has “locked in” customers.”

　　5. NOT GIVEN

　　The third sentence in Paragaph B only mentions music from the iTunes store, nothing about that of Sony or Microsoft. “Since music from the iTunes store cannot be played on non-iPod music-players (at least not without a lot of fiddling).”

　　6. FALSE

　　See the last sentence in Paragraph E “So Apple’s dominance evidently depends far more on branding and ease of use than DRM-related “lock in”.

　　7. NOT GIVEN

　　See the fourth sentence in Paragraph F only mentions music generally, no particular information about business prospect of Sony “Indeed, scrapping DRM would probably increase online-music sales by reducing confusion and incompatibility.”

　　8. B

　　See the fourth sentence of Paragraph C “All DRM does is restrict consumer choice and provide a barrier to entry, says Mr Jobs; without it there would be far more stores and players, and far more innovation.”

　　9. C

　　See the third sentence of Paragraph E and the context “Mr Jobs is evidently unfazed by rivals to the iPod. Since only 3% of the music in a typical iTunes library is protected, most of it can already be used on other players today.”

　　10. A

　　See the last four sentences of Paragraph F “Wouldn’t it lead to a surge in piracy? No, because most music is still sold unprotected on CDs, people wishing to steal music already can do so. Indeed, scrapping DRM would probably increase online-music sales by reducing confusion and incompatibility. With the leading online store, Apple would benefit most.”

　　11. the iTunes store

　　See the second sentence of Paragraph C “They would make their music available to the iTunes store only if Apple agreed to protect it using DRM.”

　　12. withdraw their catalogues

　　See the third sentence of Paragraph C “They can still withdraw their catalogues if the DRM system is compromised.”

　　13. produce security fixes

　　See the fourth sentence of Paragraph C “Apple cannot license FairPlay to others, says Mr Jobs, because it would depend on them to produce security fixes promptly.”

　　14. redirect their energies

　　See the second sentence of Paragraph D “Rather than complaining to Apple about its use of DRM, he suggests, “those unhappy with the current situation should redirect their energies towards persuading the music companies to sell their music DRM-free.”

★Next Year Marks the EU's 50th Anniversary of the Treaty

　　A.After a period of introversion and stunned self-disbelief, continental European governments will recover their enthusiasm for pan-European institution-building in 2007.Whether the European public will welcome a return to what voters in two countries had rejected so short a time before is another matter.

　　B.There are several reasons for Europe's recovering self-confidence.For years European economies had been lagging dismally behind America (to say nothing of Asia), but in 2006 the large continental economies had one of their best years for a decade, briefly outstripping America in terms of growth.Since politics often reacts to economic change with a lag, 2006's improvement in economic growth will have its impact in 2007, though the recovery may be ebbing by then.

　　C.The coming year also marks a particular point in a political cycle so regular that it almost seems to amount to a natural law.Every four or five years, European countries take a large stride towards further integration by signing a new treaty: the Maastricht treaty in 1992, the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997, the Treaty of Nice in 2001.And in 2005 they were supposed to ratify a European constitution, laying the ground for yet more integration—until the calm rhythm was rudely shattered by French and Dutch voters.But the political impetus to sign something every four or five years has only been interrupted, not immobilised, by this setback.

　　D.In 2007 the European Union marks the 50th anniversary of another treaty—the Treaty of Rome, its founding charter.Government leaders have already agreed to celebrate it ceremoniously, restating their commitment to “ever closer union” and the basic ideals of European unity.By itself, and in normal circumstances, the EU's 50th-birthday greeting to itself would be fairly meaningless, a routine expression of European good fellowship.But it does not take a Machiavelli to spot that once governments have signed the declaration (and it seems unlikely anyone would be so uncollegiate as to veto it) they will already be halfway towards committing themselves to a new treaty.All that will be necessary will be to incorporate the 50th-anniversary declaration into a new treaty containing a number of institutional and other reforms extracted from the failed attempt at constitution-building and—hey presto—a new quasi-constitution will be ready.

　　E.According to the German government—which holds the EU's agenda-setting presidency during the first half of 2007—there will be a new draft of a slimmed-down constitution ready by the middle of the year, perhaps to put to voters, perhaps not.There would then be a couple of years in which it will be discussed, approved by parliaments and, perhaps, put to voters if that is deemed unavoidable.Then, according to bureaucratic planners in Brussels and Berlin, blithely ignoring the possibility of public rejection, the whole thing will be signed, sealed and a new constitution delivered in 2009-10.Europe will be nicely back on schedule.Its four-to-five-year cycle of integration will have missed only one beat.

　　F.The resurrection of the European constitution will be made more likely in 2007 because of what is happening in national capitals.The European Union is not really an autonomous organisation.If it functions, it is because the leaders of the big continental countries want it to, reckoning that an active European policy will help them get done what they want to do in their own countries.

　　G.That did not happen in 2005-06.Defensive, cynical and self-destructive, the leaders of the three largest euro-zone countries—France, Italy and Germany—were stumbling towards their unlamented ends.They saw no reason to pursue any sort of European policy and the EU, as a result, barely functioned.But by the middle of 2007 all three will have gone, and this fact alone will transform the European political landscape.

　　H.The upshot is that the politics of the three large continental countries, bureaucratic momentum and the economics of recovery will all be aligned to give a push towards integration in 2007.That does not mean the momentum will be irresistible or even popular.The British government, for one, will almost certainly not want to go with the flow, beginning yet another chapter in the long history of confrontation between Britain and the rest of Europe.More important, the voters will want a say.They rejected the constitution in 2005.It would be foolish to assume they will accept it after 2007 just as a result of an artful bit of tinkering.