单选题
{{B}}Decide which of the choices given below would best complete the passage if
inserted in the corresponding blanks.{{/B}}
"ZUCKERBERG'S rocket, ready for {{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}" was
the title of our article about Facebook's upcoming initial public offering (IPO)
that ran in last week's {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}of The
Economist. As the first day of trading in its shares, expected to be May 18th,
{{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}, the rocket's payload is getting
bigger. On May 16th the social network revealed it was {{U}} {{U}}
4 {{/U}} {{/U}}the number of shares available by 25%, to 421m, on the
back of increased demand. On May 17th it set the price of its {{U}}
{{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}at $38 each, {{U}} {{U}} 6
{{/U}} {{/U}}the company at $104 billion. The IPO is expected to raise more
than $18 billion, making it one of the biggest in American {{U}} {{U}}
7 {{/U}} {{/U}}history. The fact that Facebook's
{{U}} {{U}} 8 {{/U}} {{/U}}is already said to be heavily
oversubscribed is remarkable for a couple of reasons. One is that it is taking
place {{U}} {{U}} 9 {{/U}} {{/U}}the {{U}} {{U}}
10 {{/U}} {{/U}}of a turbulent global economy, with {{U}} {{U}}
11 {{/U}} {{/U}}in the euro-zone helping to depress stock markets almost
everywhere. The other is that {{U}} {{U}} 12 {{/U}}
{{/U}}continue to be raised about the company's ability to {{U}} {{U}}
13 {{/U}} {{/U}}huge growth in its core online advertising business,
which accounts {{U}} {{U}} 14 {{/U}} {{/U}}more than four-fifths
of its revenues. Yet this will be essential if the firm {{U}} {{U}}
15 {{/U}} {{/U}}its lofty valuation. The {{U}}
{{U}} 16 {{/U}} {{/U}}case for Facebook {{U}} {{U}} 17
{{/U}} {{/U}}on the belief that the company can hit a mother-lode of ad
dollars by finding new advertising {{U}} {{U}} 18 {{/U}}
{{/U}}in the same way that, say, Google has minted money from text ads {{U}}
{{U}} 19 {{/U}} {{/U}}alongside search results. But some companies
are clearly not {{U}} {{U}} 20 {{/U}} {{/U}}by the social
network's efforts so far.