单选题 {{B}}Passage Three{{/B}}
By the time the Olympics begin in Atlanta this summer, the business world will have spent more than $1 billion to link their names and products to the Olympic Games. There are 10 Worldwide Sponsors, 10 Centennial Olympic Partners, about 20 regular sponsors and more than a hundred licensees (领有执照者). The Atlanta Games will boast an "official" timepiece (clock), two official game shows, and two official vehicles: a family car, and a luxury sedan (轿车). But what exactly do these companies reap for their huge investment? At the very least, they command tickets to the most popular events, invitations to the best parties and prime hotel rooms. But most of all, according to US Postal Service, it is purchasing the right to spend money.
And the right to spend money is expensive. The biggest backers, Olympic sponsors like Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Xerox, commit up to $40 million. But, getting the rights to the Olympic rings is only half the battle. The other half is the challenge to sort of wrap their product brands around that image. Often that means TV time. And at roughly $ 400,000 per 30-second slot, some of the biggest sponsors have already locked up every commercial slot in their product categories that NBC has to sell.
Not everyone is convinced that the Games are worth the price of business admission. The biggest and most conspicuous naysayer (反对者) is Nike. Its spokesman says: "If I see a Reebok official who may not be in the best shape firing the starting pistol and Carl Lewis wearing Nike shoes, I'm going to go with Carl because that's the authentic link. Nike's strategy is hard to argue with-instead of sponsoring the Olympics, it sponsors Olympians.
Yet even Nike wants a piece of the Atlantic action. Along with some other non-sponsors, Nike is trying to dot downtown Atlanta with billboards. Advertisement, it's another Olympic event.
单选题 The phrase "official vehicles" ( Line 5, Para. 1 ) refers to ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 本题是推理题。文中第一段提到亚特兰大奥运会的赞助者时说There are 10 Worldwide Sponsors…，接着又说，The Atlanta Games will boast an“official”timepiece (clock)，two official game shows，and two official vehicles…因此这里的official vehicles指的是赞助商提供给奥运会使用的车子，这种车子不只是给官员使用，运动员和其他工作人员也能使用，故排除A选项。使用车子的场合也不一定是正式的官方场合，故排除B选项。C选项不合理。而这种车子作为奥运会的专用车子，都会贴上奥运会的标志，所以D选项是正确答案。
单选题 According to the passage all the following are Olympic sponsors except ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 本题是细节题。文中第三段说耐克反对赞助奥运会，并说Nike's strategy is hard to argue with—instead of sponsoring the Olympics，it sponsors Olympians，即耐克的策略是赞助运动员而不是运动会本身。所以B选项是正确答案。A选项是强干扰项，但是文中第一段就提到according to US Postal Service，it is purchasing the right to spend money。而purchasing the right to spend money也就是赞助奥运会，因此US Postal Service也是奥运会的赞助商之一。
单选题 The last sentence of this passage indicates that ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 本题是推理题。文中最后一句说Advertisement，it's another Olympic event。another Olympic event说明广告的竞争就像奥运会一样非常激烈，而做广告的是各商家，因此这句话说明各个商家也努力想从奥运会中挣钱，就像在进行奥运会比赛一样。A选项只是手段，各商家的最终目标是赢利。
单选题 All the following are implied in the passage but ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 本题是细节题。文中第二段说the challenge to sort of wrap their product brands around that image，说明公司是用奥运会赞助商的名义来提高他们产品的形象，从而提高产品的销售，所以A选项是正确答案。B选项是耐克公司的观点。文中提到电视广告价格昂贵(at roughly $400，000 per 30 seconds)，但是一些大的赞助商已经把NBC(National Broadcasting Company)的每一个广告时间都占去了(locked up)，由此可见NBC是赚了大钱了。故C选项符合原文。原文只说Nike反对赞助奥运会，并且Nike赞助运动员，可见Nike并没有看不起奥运会，故选项D符合题目要求。
单选题 What is the passage mainly about?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 本题是主旨题。文章阐述的是亚特兰大奥运会赞助商的情况，说明这些公司和商家也在为赢利而进行着一场激烈的竞赛，四个选项中能准确概括文章大意的是A选项。文章讨论的重点不是奥运会的赞助问题而是赞助者们的行为和目的，故C选项不正确。