单选题 The last-minute victory of the Texas Longhorns in this year"s Rose Bowl— America"s college football championship—was the kind of thing that stays with fans forever. Just as well, because many had paid vast sums to see the game. Rose Bowl tickets officially sold for $175 each. On the Internet, resellers were hawking them for as much as $3,000 a pop. "Nobody knows how to control this," observed Mitch Dorger, the tournament"s chief executive.
Reselling tickets for a profit, known less politely as scalping in America or touting in Britain, is booming. In America alone, the "secondary market" for tickets to sought-after events is worth over $10 billion, reckons Jeffrey Fluhr, the boss of StubHub, an online ticket market. Scalping used to be about burly men lurking outside stadiums with fistfuls of tickets. Cries of "Tickets here, tickets here" still ring out before kick-off. But the Internet has created a larger and more efficient market. Some Internet-based ticket agencies, such as tickco.com and dynamiteticketz.com act as traditional scalpers, buying up tickets and selling them on for a substantial mark-up. But others like StubHub have a new business model—bring together buyers and sellers, and then take a cut. For each transaction, StubHub takes a juicy 25%.
Despite its substantial commission—far higher than those charged by other online intermediaries including eBay or Craigslist—StubHub is flourishing. The firm was set up in 2000 and this year"s Rose Bowl was its biggest event ever. The Super Bowl in early February will bring another nice haul, as have U2 and Rolling Stones concerts. Unlike eBay, which is the largest online trader in tickets, StubHub guarantees each transaction, so buyers need not worry about fraud. The company"s revenues, now around $200 million, are tripling annually (despite its start in the dotcom bust). And there is plenty more room to grow. Mr. Fluhr notes that the market remains "highly fragmented", with tiny operations still flourishing and newspaper classified not yet dead.
But there are risks. Some events are boosting prices to cut the resale margins; others are using special measures to crack down. This summer, tickets to the soccer World Cup in Germany will include the name and passport number of the original purchaser and embedded chips that match the buyer to the tickets.
Then there are legal worries. In America, more than a dozen states have anti-scalping laws of various kinds. New Mexico forbids the reselling of tickets for college games; Mississippi does so for all events on government-owned property. Such laws are often ignored, but can still bite. In Massachusetts, where reselling a ticket for more than $2 above face value is unlawful, one fan brought a lawsuit last autumn against 16 companies (including StubHub) over his pricey Red Sox tickets.

单选题 UK is mentioned in the text with the intention to ______.

单选题 In both the second and the third paragraphs, the author employs which of the following writing device?

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[解析] 这是一道细节分析题，测试考生准确识别和分析原文作者写作手法的能力。本文的答案信息来源在第二段的倒数第二、三句和第三段的第四句。第二段的倒数第二、三句语意内容之间存在着一种“对比”(contrast)关系，例如原文中的“Some... But other...”(一些机构……，但是另外一些机构却……)。第三段的第四句本身也存在一种“对比”(contrast)关系，例如原文中的“Unlike eBay...，StubHub....”(与eBay不同，StubHub……)。由此可以推断在本文的第二、三段作者均使用了“对比”(contrast)这一写作手法。故本题的正确选项应该是B“Contrast”(对比)。考生在阅读时一定要注意原文作者在表达中心主旨时所使用的写作手法。

单选题 The word "juicy" in the last sentence of the second paragraph most probably denotes ______.

单选题 Severe measures to discourage re-selling tickets for profits are illustrated with ______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[解析] 这是一道细节题，测试考生准确识别和理解原文相关信息的能力。本题的答案信息来源在倒数第二段的第二、三句。第二、三句的大意是：“……；其他赛事使用特殊的措施来打击倒卖门票。今年夏天，在德国举办的足球世界杯门票将包含购票人的姓名和护照号码，并且嵌入识别购票人和门票信息是否一致的芯片。”由此可以推断本题的正确选项是D“the soccer World Cup in Germany”(在德国举办的足球世界杯)。考生在阅读时要注意原文上下句之间的关系，例如本题中所涉及的两句话之间的举例说明关系。

单选题 It can be inferred from the last paragraph that ______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[解析] 这是一道细节推导题，测试考生准确理解原文信息并进行推导的能力。本题的答案信息来源在尾段的第二句，该句的大意是：“在美国，十几个州有各种各样的反倒卖门票法”。从本句引申推理可以得知：美国的大部分州还没有反倒卖门票法。故本题的正确选项应该是C“most states in US have yet to show positive response in crackdown on ticket touting”(美国大多数州还没有在打击倒卖门票方面做出积极的反应)。考生在阅读时应注意反推能力的运用。