单选题   Almost every family buys at least one copy of a newspaper every day. Some people subscribe to as many as two or three different newspapers. But why do people read newspapers?
    Five hundred years ago, news of important happenings—battles lost and won, kings or rulers overthrown or killed—took months and even years to travel from one country to another. The news passed by word of mouth and was never accurate. Today we can read in our newspapers of important events that occur in faraway countries on the same day they happen.
    Apart from supplying news from all over the world, newspapers give us a lot of other useful information. There are weather reports, radio, television and film guides, book reviews, stories, and, of course, advertisements. There are all sorts of advertisements. The bigger ones are put in by large companies to bring attention to their products. They pay the newspapers thousands of dollars for their advertising space, but it is worth the money, for news of their products goes into almost every home in the country. For those who produce newspapers, advertisements are also important. Money earned from advertisements makes it possible for them to sell their newspapers at a low price and still make a profit.
单选题     In the past, news was ______.
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】 根据文章第二段“Five hundred years ago, news of important happenings—battles lost and won, kings or rulers overthrown or killed—took months and even years to travel from one country to another.”可知,过去传递信息需要数月甚至数年的时间,而且是“口头传递”的,所以消息是由一个人传到另一个人的,故选C。
单选题     The money spent on advertisements is ______.
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】 根据文章第三段“They pay the newspapers thousands of dollars for their advertising space, but it is worth the money...”可知花钱做广告是值得的,故选C。
单选题     Which of the following statements is NOT true? ______
 
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】 从文章第二段中我们得知,500年前把消息从一个国家传到另一个国家需要花很长的时间。A项不正确,故选A。
单选题     The phrase 'subscribe to' in the second sentence of Para. 1 means ______.
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】 根据文章第一段第一句可知,人们至少买一份报纸。而subscribe to后的内容是“两到三份报纸”,由此可知subscribe to的意思是“订购”,也就是“付钱以获得”的意思,故选C。