单选题 Has America gone insane? Season six for American Idol has caused us to ask some fundamental questions about the reality television phenomenon. Show judge Simon Cowell repeatedly chides(斥责) contestants," This is a singing competition. But is it really? When talented singers such as Gina Glocksen are voted off in favor of a tone-deaf Sanjaya Malakar, with his trainwreck performances, the question is whether Idol is really a singing competition, or something altogether different.
Although Sanjaya was only in the middle of the pack for last week's vote, on the Web he was the most searched for Idol contestant of the season, garnering(获得) more than twice the volume of searches than his nearest rival (not counting the continuing quests for racy photos of Antonella Barba, who is no longer in the competition).
Theories abound as to Sanjaya's staying power on the show, from suggestions of a flood of offshore voting to the texting power of pre-pubescent girls. There is one theory that can actually be quantified by Internet data: shock-jock Howard Stern's campaigning for show-spoiler site Vote for the Worst" to support voting for the entertaining contestants who the producers would hate to see win on American Idol, according to site creator Dave Della Terza, who teaches a course in reality television at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Ill.
While Votefortheworst.com is small compared to the official American Idol site, the fact that it gets nearly a fifth as many online visits gives it the strength to sway a vote. Vote for the Worst is gaining strength, with over a 50% growth since last season, which can be attributed largely to the self-proclaimed "King of All Media."
But what does the American public think of the unlikely Idol star? Of all of the searches for Sanjaya over the last four weeks, 41% were searching on variations of his name," Sanjaya, or" Sanjaya Malakar, and various misspellings. At least 2.9% searched for information on Sanjaya's sister, who didn't make the cut on the show. The next most popular search topic regarded questions about Sanjaya's sexual orientation, with searches such as "Sanjaya Malakar gay", "Sanjaya gay" and" is Sanjaya gay? What's missing are searches related to Sanjaya's musical selection or talent.
The Sanjaya phenomenon, while amusing, highlights the biggest challenge to reality shows that depend on a public vote for show outcome. It's not a singing contest, or even a popularity contest; it's become a race to see who can make the biggest spectacle. In that context, Sanjaya has the advantage.

单选题 It can be inferred from the opening paragraph that American Idol is the name of ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】本题为推理判断题。文章第一段提到“Season six”;“television phenomenon”和“Show judge”,因此可以判断出American Idol是娱乐电视节目。D项歌唱竞赛的说法仅来自于裁判,但第一段明显对这种说法提出质疑。A,B两项说的分别是电视连续剧和情景喜剧,由文章判断,它们都是不合理的,应排除。
单选题 According to the author, in essence American Idol reflects ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】本题为细节理解题。文中第一段第二句提到,“American Idol caused questions about the reality television phenomenon”,意思是这个节目让我们对电视真人秀现象产生质疑,其中“reality”意为真人秀,不是“现实”的意思。文中可以看出真人秀是美国的电视节目,因此B项正确。
单选题 What can be inferred about Votefortheworst.com from the text?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】本题为细解理解题。A项不恰当在网站创始人不是Howard Stern而是Dave Della Terza。第三段第四行说明了网站的观点和Producer的相反,排除B项。第四段第一句最后“sway a vote”说明C项正确。从“它的点击率是美国偶像官方网站的五分之一”推断出D项不恰当。
单选题 In last but one paragraph, the author intends to ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】本题为篇章结构题。作者写这段话的最终目的是要通过介绍人们对Sanjaya的网上搜索情况揭示 Saniaya现象的本质——人们持娱乐的态度。A项只是作者的手段。
单选题 We can conclude from the text that the public attitude toward American Idol is ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】本题为观点态度题。倒数第二段介绍说,美国民众在网上搜索Sanjaya,名字拼写错误百出;关注他的性取向,打听他的家庭生活,而不是他的歌唱天赋。这些都说明了民众对这一节目持消遣娱乐的态度。