单选题 Publicity offers several benefits. There are not costs for message time or space. An ad in prime-time television may cost ＄250,000 to ＄5,000,000 or more per minute, whereas a fiveminute report on a network newscast would not cost anything. However, there are costs for news releases, a publicity department, and other items. As with advertising, publicity reaches a mass audience. Within a short time, new products or company policies are widely known.
Credibility about messages is high, because they are reported in independent media. A newspaper review of a movie has more believability than an ad in the same paper, because the reader associates independence with objectivity. Similarly, people are more likely to pay attention to news reports than to ads. For example, Women's Wear Daily has both fashion reports and advertisements. Readers spend time reading the stories, but they flip through the ads. Furthermore, there may be 10 commercials during a half-hour television program or hundreds of ads in a magazine. Feature stories are much fewer in number and stand out clearly.
Publicity also has some significant limitations. A firm has little control over messages, their timing, their placement, or their coverage by a given medium. It may issue detailed news releases and find only portions cited by the media, and media have the ability to be much more critical than a company would like.
A firm may want publicity during certain periods, such as when a new product is introduced or new store opened, but the media may not cover the introduction or opening until after the time it would aid the firm. Similarly, media determine the placement of a story; it may follow a report on crime or sports. Finally, the media ascertain whether to cover a story at all and the amount of coverage to be devoted to it.

单选题 An advertisement in prime-time television ______.

A. may cost nothing
B. is less expensive than a five-minute report on a network newscast
C. can make only a few people know the new products or company policies within a short time
D. may cost ＄250,000 or more each minute

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】本题为直接信息，答案在第一段第三句，An ad in prime-time television may cost＄250,000 to ＄5000,000 or more per minute，…．因此答案为D。

单选题 According to the second paragraph, people are more likely to believe stories ______.

A. in a newspaper than in a women's daily
B. in a newspaper than in a magazine
C. in an independent newspaper than in a dependent newspaper
D. in a magazine than in a local newspaper

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】本题为间接信息，答案在第二段第一句和第二句，需要理解第二句中的“associates independence with objectivity”它相当于in an independent newspapers，因此，答案为 C。

单选题 Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Credibility about messages is high.
B. People are more likely to pay attention to news reports than to ads.
C. Readers would like to read the ads first with great interest.
D. Media have the ability to be much more critical than a company would like.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】本题为直接信息，答案在第二段倒数第二句，flip through相当于答案C中 readers read ads without great interests，故答案为C。

单选题 Which of the following is an appropriate title for this passage?

A. Characteristics of Publicity.
B. Characteristics of Advertisements.
C. The Company and the Media.
D. The Effect of the Media.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】本题需要对本文有个全面的理解由于本文主要阐述Publicity的特点，因此， Characteristics of Publicity作为本文标题最合适。答案为A。

单选题 The passage implies that ______.

A. the placement of a story is not quite important
B. the report of a crime may not be true
C. local newspapers are not interested in company-sponsored programs
D. publicity is not always necessary

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】本题为间接信息题，答案出处在第四段第一句，may want publicity during certain periods，换言之，就是not always necessary，故答案为D。