单选题 "A good newspaper is a nation talking to itself," mused Arthur Miller in 1961. A decade later, two reporters from the Washington Post wrote a series of articles that brought down President Nixon and the status of print journalism soared. At their best, newspapers hold governments and companies to account. They usually set the news agenda for the rest of the media. But in the rich world newspapers are now an endangered species.
Of all the old media, newspapers have the most to lose from the Internet. Circulation has been falling in the U. S., Western Europe and Latin America for decades. But in the past few years the web has hastened the decline. In his book The Vanishing Newspaper, Philip Meyer calculates that the first quarter of 2043 will be the moment when newsprint dies in the U. S. as the last exhausted reader tosses aside the last crumpled edition.
Newspapers have not yet started to shut down in large numbers, but it is only a matter of time. Over the next few decades half the rich world's general papers may fold. Jobs are already disappearing. According to the Newspaper Association of America, the number of people employed in the industry fell by 18% between 1990 and 2004.
Having ignored reality for years, newspapers are at last doing something. In order to cut costs, they are already spending less on journalism. Many are also trying to attract younger readers by shifting the mix of their stories towards entertainment, lifestyle and subjects that may seem more relevant to people's daily lives than international affairs and politics are. They are trying to create new businesses on-and offline. And they are investing in free dally papers. So far, this fit of activity looks unlikely to save many of them. Even if it doest, it bodes ill for the public role of the Fourth Estate.
Nobody should relish the demise of once-great titles. But the decline of newspapers will not be as harmful to society as some fear. Democracy, remember, has already survived the huge television-led decline in circulation since the 1950s. It has survived as readers have shunned papers and papers have shunned what was in stuffier times thought of as serious news. And it will surely survive the decline to come.
The usefulness of the press goes much wider than investigating abuses or even spreading general news; it lies in holding governments to account -- trying them in the court of public opinion. The Internet has expanded this court. Anyone looking for information has never been better equipped. People no longer have to trust a handful of national papers or, worse, their local city paper.
In future, some high-quality journalism will be backed by non-profit organizations. Already, a few respected news organizations sustain themselves that way. An elite group of serious newspapers available everywhere online, independent journalism backed by charities, thousands of fired-up bloggers and well-informed citizen journalists: there is every sign that Arthur Miller's national conversation will be louder than ever.

单选题 Which of the following is NOT the author's idea?
A. The most useful bit of the media is disappearing.
B. This is a cause for concern, but not for panic.
C. Newspapers have the whole lot to lose from the Internet.
D. Newspapers hold Governments and companies to accounts.

单选题 At the beginning of the passage, which use of newspapers did the author NOT mention?
A. A good newspaper is like a national conversation.
B. They do the business of selling words to readers and selling readers to advertisers.
C. They hold governments and companies responsible for what they have done.
D. They usually set the news agenda for the rest of the media.

单选题 The author cites all the following EXCEPT that ______ to show that newspapers are not killed.
A. newspapers have the most to lose from the Internet
B. the web has hastened the decline of the circulation
C. newspapers won't die out in the U. S. until 2043
D. ever more young people are getting their news online

单选题 Newspapers are trying to save themselves by doing the following EXCEPT ______.
A. shifting the mix of the reports towards lifestyle and entertainment
B. planning more subjects relevant to daily lives and politics
C. creating new programs on-and offiine
D. investing in daily papers free of charge

单选题 All the measures taken are ______ to save many of the newspapers.
A. improbable B. probable
C. ineffective D. effective

单选题 "The Fourth Estate" in Paragraph 4 refers to ______.
A. newspapers
B. the political influence
C. the people working for the media
D. the people writing news reports

单选题 According to Paragraph 5, democracy has survived all of the following EXCEPT ______.
A. the TV-led decline of newspapers in circulation since the 1950s
B. the decline of newspaper readers
C. the shifting of serious news away from newspapers
D. the emergence up of new online models

单选题 The author puts stress on the survival of democracy to show that ______.
A. democracy has great vitality to survive
B. people should not take pleasure in the decline of newspapers
C. the decline of newspapers won't be so harmful to society
D. democracy might not survive the coming decline of newspapers

单选题 Paragraph 6 doesn't claim the Internet to be the killer of newspapers in that the Internet ______.
A. helps spread general news
B. involves itself in investigating abuses
C. expands the court of public opinion to hold governments to account
D. makes people trust a handful of national papers

单选题 To make the "national conversation" louder, the author fails to mention that ______.
A. news-aggregation sites should draw together sources from around the world
B. non-profit organizations should back the high-quality journalism
C. the elite and serious newspapers should be available online in the world
D. thousands of bloggers and citizen journalists should support independent journalism