In the Second World War a "blockbuster" was a bomb that could eliminate whole streets. Today it is the kind of hit creation that every media executive prays for. Popular films, books, music albums and sports teams that bring in huge audiences—and vast profits—can determine whether a year is profitable or loss-making, and break a boss"s career. The entertainment industry"s search for the golden release is the focus of " Blockbusters" by Anita Elberse, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. Conventional corporate wisdom maintains that spreading resources across many smaller properties is sounder than pushing money into a few big, concentrated bets. Ms Elberse uses case studies from the film, television , music and sporting worlds to argue that, counterintuitively, " the idea of smaller bets being " safer" is a myth. " Nurturing a few choice works and helps firms create superstars and super products , and is the key to far higher profits. Ms Elberse cites Grand Central Publishing as one example: the top 10% of its titles account for 64% of the publisher"s costs, but 126% of its profits. The thesis that popular products earn more money might seem as obvious as the plot of the latest Hollywood film you saw. But it is not what business experts predicted would happen. In 2006 Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired and a former journalist at The Economist, wrote "The Long Tail; Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More" , in which he argued that the internet would change the demand curve for entertainment products. With unlimited " shelf" space available online and more refined search algorithms to direct people to songs and books they might be interested in, niche products would attract more attention and a greater share of spending. Ms Elberse originally disagreed on Mr Anderson"s work in a 2008 article for the Harvard Business Review, which is the basis for her book. The tail has become longer, but the internet has helped bestsellers become even bigger, because people follow the recommendations of friends and casual consumers choose known quantities. In 2011 just 102 of the 8m digital musical tracks sold generated nearly a sixth of all sales. Blockbusters tend to be self-reinforcing, because firms spend more to promote products they think stand a better chance of becoming popular.

单选题 " Blockbuster" was mentioned in the first paragraph to______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】解析：这是一个篇章结构题，问的是文章某一段在全文中的作用，一般这种题型喜欢针对第一段进行提问。该段前两句指出：In the Second World War a“blockbuster”was a bomb thatcould eliminate whole streets．Today it is the kind of hit creation that every media executive praysfor．可见第一句提到“blockbuster”的目的是为了引出第二句，也是为了引出文章讨论的话题，因此选项[A]为答案。

单选题 Traditional enterprises believe that______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：根据题干中的traditional enterprises定位到第二段第二句的conventional corporatewisdom，其中traditional对应conventional；enterprises对应corporate。故可以确定答案应该在本句。该句提到：Conventional corporate wisdom maintains that spreading resources across many smaller properties is sounder than pushing money into a few big，concentrated bets．其中spreading re—sources across many smaller properties is sounder对应it’s safer to put small amount of money intodifferent areas，因此选项[D]正确。

单选题 Ms Elberse holds the view that______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】解析：根据Ms Elberse定位到第二段中间部分：Ms Elberse…argue that，counterintuitively，“the idea of smaller bets being‘safer’is a myth．”Nurturing a few choice works and helpsfirms create superstars and super products，and is the key to far higher profits．可见选项[C]是正确的。其中creating superstars and super products原文中出现了，而helps acquire more profits=is the key to far higher profits，故该题答案为选项[C]。

单选题 Anderson argues that the Internet______.

单选题 The Internet will make bestsellers become more popular because______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：根据题干的Intemet，bestsellers等词定位到最后一段第二句：but the internet hashelped bestsellers become even bigger，because people follow the recommendations of friends andcasual consumers choose known quantities．而该句出现的because一词与题干对应，即该题答案来自原文because之后的信息。选项[A]casual consumers choose the products they like与原文casual consumers choose known quantities不符，故错误。选项[B]与原文people follow the recommendations of friends相符，故正确。选项[C]的表述在原文最后一句有提到，但非该题所问答案。选项[D]与原文follow the recommendations of friends不符，friends被替换成了Internet，属于偷换概念，故错误。综上所述，本题答案为选项[B]。