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An old saying has it that half of all advertising budgets are wasted—the trouble is, no one knows which half. In the internet age, at least in theory, this fraction can be much reduced. By watching what people search for, click on and say online, companies can aim “behavioral” ads at those most likely to buy.

In the past couple of weeks a quarrel has illustrated the value to advertisers of such fine-grained information: Should advertisers assume that people are happy to be tracked and sent behavioral ads? Or should they have explicit permission?

In December 2010 America’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed adding a “do not track” (DNT) option to internet browsers, so that users could tell advertisers that they did not want to be followed. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Apple’s Safari both offer DNT; Google’s Chrome is due to do so this year. In February the FTC and Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) agreed that the industry would get cracking on responding to DNT requests.

On May 31st Microsoft set off the row: It said that InternetExplorer 10, the version due to appear Windows 8, would have DNT as a default.

Advertisers are horrified. Human nature being what it is, most people stick with default settings. Few switch DNT on now, but if tracking is off it will stay off. Bob Liodice, the chief executive of the Association of National Advertisers, says consumers will be worse off if the industry cannot collect information about their preferences. People will not get fewer ads, he says, “they’ll get less meaningful, less targeted ads.”

It is not yet clear how advertisers will respond. Getting a DNT signal does not oblige anyone to stop tracking, although some companies have promised to do so. Unable to tell whether someone really objects to behavioral ads or whether they are sticking with Microsoft’s default, some may ignore a DNT signal and press on anyway.

Also unclear is why Microsoft has gone it alone. After all, it has an ad business too, which it says will comply with DNT requests, though it is still working out how. If it is trying to upset Google, which relies almost wholly on advertising, it has chosen an indirect method: There is no guarantee that DNT by default will become the norm.DNT does not seem an obviously huge selling point for Windows 8—though the firm has compared some of its other products favorably with Google’s on that count before. Brendon Lynch, Microsoft’s chief privacy officer, blogged: “we believe consumers should have more control.” Could it really be that simple?

26. It is suggested in paragraph 1 that “behavioral” ads help advertisers to _______.

[A] lower their operational costs                                      [B] ease competition among themselves

[C] avoid complaints from consumers                               [D] provide better online services

27. “The industry” (Line 5, Para.3) refers to_______.

[A] online advertisers                                                     [B] e-commerce conductors

[C] digital information analysis                                        [D] internet browser developers

28. Bob Liodice holds that setting DNT as a default _______.

[A] goes against human nature                                         [B] fails to affect the ad industry

[C] will not benefit consumers                                         [D] many cut the number of junk ads

29. Which of the following is true according to Paragraph 6?

[A] Advertisers are obliged to offer behavioral ads            [B] DNT may not serve its intended purpose

[C] DNT is losing its popularity among consumers             [D] Advertisers are willing to implement DNT

30. The author’s attitude towards what Brendon Lynch said in his blog is one of_______.

[A] appreciation      [B] understanding      [C] indulgence       [D] skepticism
 

26.【答案】C

【解析】

reneging 的原形是renege，本议是"食言""否认"之意，为反向意义词。而四个选项中A 中的condemning 意为"谴责""处刑"B中的reaffirming 意为"重申""再肯定，再断言"，C中的dishonoring的意为"拒付，不兑付"，在意思和方向上都符合，D中securing 意为"保证，使保险"的含义。本文主要在说Entergy这个公司不兑现自己的诺言，所以应选C项。

27.【答案】D

【解析】

本题答案定位在文中第三段每二句话，As a condition of receiving state approval for the sale , the company agreed to seek permission from state regulators to operate past 2012. "as a condition of"可以理解为"为了"，D 项中的"purchase "一词就是对文中"sale"的替换。

28.【答案】A

【解析】

题干："根据第四段Entergy公司似乎在它的••••上存在着问题"，题目中已清晰把答案范围确定在第四段，通过阅读第四段我们可以看到Entergy公司出现了一系列的事故"a string of accidents",而后面的这句"raised serious questions about both Vermont Yankee's safety and Entergy's management"就是本题的答案所在了。其中 "managerial" "management"仍是同一单词的变形。

29.【答案】D

【解析】

首先从题干知道考查的是作者的观点。 "佛蒙特州事件"和will test在文章中的定位是在第5段第5句话，"Vermont case will offer a precedent-setting test of how far those powers extend"意思是"佛蒙特州事件将会检验是这些权利延伸多远的先例"。这句话是legal scholars的观点。重点是理解certainly和but后面的意思。虽然作者承认担忧如果每个周各行其是的后果是合理的，但是But后面是个虚拟语气，与事实相反。所以作者的真正态度是支持legal scholars的观点，即佛蒙特州事件是对州法规的权限的考验。How far those power extended与D选项的the limits of states' power与选项D"各州在核问题上的权限"是相匹配的，因此正确答案为D。其他选项与"佛蒙特州事件"带来的检验，文中并未直接提及。

30.【答案】A

【解析】

最后一段主要讲的是"Entergy公司的名誉已严重受创。该公司向联邦申请：许可Pilgrim核电站获得另外20年的开放权。但是作者认为，核管理委员会在审核该公司的申请的时候，务必要考虑下该公司的信誉问题。"A选项"Entergy公司在其它地方的生意将会受到影响"由最后一段的第一句话"Entergy公司的名誉已严重受创"就可以推断出来;B"核管理委员会的权威将会被藐视"最后一段没给出任何要藐视核管理委员会的暗含信息，因此B选项错误;C "Entergy公司将会撤回关于Pilgrim核电站的申请"，最后一段同样没给出类似的暗含信息;D "Vermont的名声将会受到破坏" 同样，从最后一段，根本无法推断出。因此，最佳答案是A。