单选题 The idea that government should regulate intellectual property through copyrights and patents is relatively recent in human history, and the precise details of what intellectual property is protected for how long vary across nations and occasionally change. There are two standard sociological justifications for patents or copyrights: They reward creators for their labor, and they encourage greater creativity. Both of these are empirical claims that can be tested scientifically and could be false in some realms.
Consider music. Star performers existed before the 20th century, such as Franz Liszt and Niccolo Paganini, but mass media produced a celebrity system promoting a few stars whose music was not necessarily the best or most diverse. Copyright provides protection for distribution companies and for a few celebrities, thereby helping to support the industry as currently defined, but it may actually harm the majority of performers. This is comparable to Anatole France's famous irony, "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges." In theory, copyright covers the creations of celebrities and obscurities equally, but only major distribution companies have the resources to defend their property rights in court. In a sense, this is quite fair, because nobody wants to steal unpopular music, but by supporting the property rights of celebrities, copyright strengthens them as a class in contrast to anonymous musicians.
Internet music file sharing has become a significant factor in the social lives of children, who download bootleg music tracks for their own use and to give as gifts to friends. If we are to believe one recent poll done by a marketing firm rather than social scientists, 48 of American Internet users aged 12 to 17 had downloaded music files in the past month. In so doing, they violate copyright laws, and criminologists would hypothesize they thereby learn contempt for laws in general. A poll by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that two-thirds of an estimated 35 million Americans who download music files do not care whether they are copyrighted. Thus, on the level of families, ending copyright could be morally as well as economically advantageous. On a much higher level, however, the culture-exporting nations (notably the United States) could stand to lose, although we cannot really predict the net balance of costs and benefits in the absence of proper research. We do not presently have good cross national data on file sharing or a well-developed theoretical framework to guide research on whether copyright protection supports cultural imperialism versus enhancing the positions of diverse cultures in the global marketplace.
It will not be easy to test such hypotheses, and extensive economic research has not conclusively answered the question of whether the patent system really promotes innovation. We will need many careful, sharp-focus studies of well-formed hypotheses in specific industries and sectors of life. For example, observational and interview research can uncover the factors that really promote cultural innovation among artists of various kinds and determine the actual consequences for children of Internet peer-to-peer file sharing.

单选题 Which of the following statements about intellectual property is NOT true?
[A] Countries may differ in their efforts to protect it.
[B] The author considers its protection well-grounded.
[C] People believe its protection may benefit creators.
[D] The history of its protection has not been long.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】细节题。由题干中的intellectual property定位至首段。末句指出：前面提到的保护知识产权的原因是经验之谈，科学上也可以得到证实，但是在某些领域也可能是不适用的。[B]与文意不符，故为答案。
单选题 Copyright of music may harm the majority of performers in that it
[A] in fact protects a few celebrities.
[B] covers the creations of most people.
[C] forbids the rich as well as the poor.
[D] doesn't allow the mass to steal music.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】细节题。由题干中的music定位至第二段。最后两句就其原因进行分析：只有大的发行公司才有资源上法院以保护自己的版权。末句中的“by supporting the property rights of celebrities, copyright strengthens them as a class in contrast to anonymous musicians”表明事实上受到保护的就是那些少数出名的音乐家而已，故[A]为答案。句中引用Anatole France的话是为了说明“看似公平的法律会带来不公平的结果”，引出下文，[C]并非原因，排除。
单选题 The word "obscurities" in the second paragraph most probably means
[A] misunderstanding, [B] small potatoes.
[C] well-known people, [D] unclearness.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】语义理解题。第二段倒数第二句提到In theory, copyright covers the creations of celebrities and obscurities equally，既然前面提到的celebrity是人，后面的obscurity此处也是指人，排除[A]和[D]。末句中解释版权理论和实际相脱离之处：保护了名人，但是却让他们成为一个阶层，与之对应的是那些无名的音乐家们。可见这里的anonymous musicians就是上句提到的obscurities，故[B]为答案。
单选题 Free Internet music file sharing may bring about all of the following consequences EXCEPT
[A] losses to culture-importing nations.
[B] the dominance of one culture.
[C] people's disrespect for laws.
[D] the degradation of one's morality.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】细节题。由题干中的Internet music file sharing定位至第三段。第六句提到the culture-exporting nations (notably the United States) could stand to lose，这里是指文化出口国，非[A]中的culture-importing nations，故为答案。末句copyright protection supports cultural imperialism，[B]符合文意。第三句指出criminologists would hypothesize they thereby learn contempt for laws in general，[C]符合文意。第五句指出： Thus, on the level of families, ending copyright could be morally as well as economically advantageous. 此句表明如果不对这种现象加以重视，慢慢地人们会认为不尊重版权就像经济富裕一样值得提倡，[D]符合文意。
单选题 According to the passage, studies on the results of copyright protection
[A] lag behind the research in other fields.
[B] need to be done in a practical way.
[C] should be carried out immediately.
[D] will promote cultural innovation.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】细节题。末段第二句提到我们需要在特定行业、特定领域对预定假设进行认真研究。接着第三句给出具体解释，句中的“观察和采访”都是一些实用的研究方法，可见对于版权保护方面的研究要采用这些实用方法，故[B]为答案。这里没有将该研究与其他领域的研究进行对比，[A]不符合文意，排除。第三句指出“观察和采访等方法会揭示真正推动文化革新的因素”，这里并不是说有关版权保护结果的研究会推动文化革新，排除[D]。