单选题 Old stereotypes die hard. Picture a video-game player and you will likely imagine a teenage boy, by himself, compulsively hammering away at a game involving rayguns and aliens that splatter when blasted. Today a gamer is as likely to be a middle-aged commuter playing 'Angry Birds' on her smartphone. In America, the biggest market, the average game-player is 37 years old. Two-fifths are female. Even teenagers with imaginary rayguns are more likely to be playing 'Halo' with their friends than playing alone
Over the past ten years the video-game industry has grown from a small niche business to a huge, mainstream one. With global sales of $56 billion in 2010, it is more than twice the size of the recorded-music industry. Despite the downturn, it is growing by almost 9% a year.
Is this success due to luck or skill? The answer matters, because the rest of the entertainment industry has tended to treat gaming as being a lucky beneficiary of broader technological changes. Video gaming, unlike music, film or television, had the luck to be born digital: it never faced the struggle to convert from analogue. In fact, there is plenty for old media to learn.
Video games have certainly been swept along by two forces: demography and technology. The first gaming generation—the children of the 1970s and early 1980s—is now over 30. Many still love gaming, and can afford to spend far more on it now. As gaming establishes itself as a pastime for adults, the social stigma and the worries about moral corruption that have historically greeted all new media, from novels to pop music, have dissipated. Meanwhile rapid improvements in computing power have allowed game designers to offer experiences that are now often more cinematic than the cinema.
The industry has excelled in two particular areas: pricing and piracy. In an era when people are disinclined to pay for content on the web, games publishers were quick to develop 'freemium' models, where you rely on non-paying customers to build an audience and then extract cash only from a fanatical few. In China, where piracy is rampant, many games can be played online for nothing. Finns instead make money by selling in-game perks and 'virtual goods' to dedicated players. China is now the second-biggest gaming market, but does not even rank in the top 20 markets for the music business.
As gaming comes to be seen as just another medium, its tech-savvy approach could provide a welcome shot in the arm for existing media groups. Time Warner and Disney have bought games firms; big-budget games, meanwhile, now have Hollywood-style launches.

单选题 We can learn from the passage that the most of today's game-players are ______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】细节题。本题考查的是当今玩家的成分，可以定位到第一段中的Today a gamer is as likely to be a middle-aged commuter playing 'Angry Birds' on her smartphone. In America, the biggest market, the average game-player is 37 years old. Two-fifths are female从这里可以看出，现在的玩家大多是成年人，其中五分之二是女性。因此，D项符合文意。A项讲的是青少年是之前的情况，B项讲的不准确，文中只是提到这个游戏，没有说所有玩家都热衷。C项也不正确，女性只占五分之二，不到半数。因此，正确答案是D。

单选题 How does technology promote the development of video games?

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】细节题。根据题干中的video games可以定位到第四段，从文中Meanwhile rapid improvements in computing power have allowed game designers to offer experiences that are now often more cinematic than the cinema，从中可以看出科技使游戏设计者可以制造出超越电影院的体验。A项中的awesome experiences是对原文中的同义转述，符合原文。B、C在原文没有直接提及。D是画面逼真，这是完美体验的一部分。因此，正确答案是A。

单选题 How do 'freemium' models work?

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】细节题。根据题干中的'freemium' models可以定位到文中的In an era when people are disinclined to pay for content on the web, games publishers were quick to develop 'freemium' models, where you rely on non-paying customers to build an audience and then extract cash only from a fanatical few。由此可知这个模式主要是通过免费玩来创造巨大的玩家群体，而只从少数狂热玩家身上获取利润。C项的内容与此相对应。A、B项只是这个模式的一部分，不全面。D项讲的不是原文的意思。因此，正确答案是C。