单选题 Lord Leveson's inquiry into the British press yesterday tackled one of the most pressing mysteries facing government and the media: how on earth does Rupert Murdoch ever get anything done?
By his own, often amusing, account, the 81-year-old head of News Corporation never asks for favours from politicians, does not give orders to his editors and has very little charisma. Given this, it is a puzzle how, over 43 years, he has managed to build the UK's most powerful media company and break his way into US newspapers, television and film.
The polite way to describe Mr Murdoch's evidence—on the heels of his son James's disclosures about private communications with the office of Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary—is implausible. It was belied by his presence—droll, dismissive and impatient, he was not the "deaf, doddery, proud old man" observed by Tom Watson, the Labour MR in parliament last July.
It is now obvious, despite Mr Murdoch's modesty, that News Corp has exercised an unholy grip over British politicians, who helped it to avoid anti-trust barriers as it bought The Times and the Sunday Times in 1981, and British Sky Broadcasting in 1990. Those politicians were so in awe of Mr Murdoch that they leapt to accommodate him without him needing to ask out loud.
It is also clear that cabinet ministers can be trusted to adjudicate impartially on media mergers about as much as they could be trusted before 1997 to set interest rates for the good of the economy, as opposed to their parties. After the {{U}}fiasco{{/U}} of Vince Cable, the business secretary, "declaring war" on the Murdochs over their attempted full acquisition 0fBSkyB comes Mr Hunt's humiliation.
The long-term question is how to prevent another baron—perhaps a rich émigré such as Evgeny Lebedev, chairman of the Evening Standard and The Independent—from pulling off the trick again. In a fluid and troubled market, roiled by the internet and loss-making papers, there will be opportunities similar to the ones Mr Murdoch seized.
One way for any company to rise rapidly to dominance in a foreign market is to pay bribes to local officials, as Walmart is accused of having done in Mexico. The New York Times reported last weekend that Walmart paid out more than $24m in "envelopes of cash" to mayors and city council members to be allowed to build stores.
The other is to wield influence on elections. Humbert Wolfe's observation that: "You cannot hope to bribe or twist the British journalist. But, seeing what the man will do, there's no occasion to" applies equally to a politician facing a media mogul.

单选题 What is the main idea of this article?

A. How Mr Murdoch survived the crisis of his company.
B. The reason for Mr Murdoch's success.
C. The relationship between politics and media.
D. The prosperity of Mr Murdoch's media conglomerate.

单选题 Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. Politicians admire Mr Murdoch.
B. Mr Murdoch asks rewards from politicians.
C. The present market bears great opportunity for would-be Murdochs.
D. The cabinet ministers have their own bias toward media mergers.

单选题 What is the meaning of "fiasco" in Paragraph 5?

A. Catastrophe.
B. Success.
C. Story.
D. Ownership.

单选题 Which of the following is NOT listed as useful for a company to thrive in a foreign market?

A. Paying bribes to local officials.
B. Wielding influence on the local elections.
C. The leaders' charisma.
D. Taking advantage of digital media while strengthening monopoly of traditional media.

单选题 Why is it important to prevent another Mr Murdoch?

A. It would be dangerous to the press freedom.
B. It would unbalance the relationship between government and media.
C. It would give too much power to citizens.
D. It brings potential problems of monopoly.