阅读理解

Directions: There are three passages in (his section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice and then blacken the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet. 


Passage One 

In the first year or so of Web business, most of the action revolved around efforts to tap the consumer market. More recently, as the Web proved to be more than a fashion, companies have started to buy and sell products and services with one another. Such business-to-business sales make sense because business people typically know what product they’re looking for. 

Nonetheless, many companies still hesitate to use the Web because of doubts about its reliability. “Businesses need to feel they can trust the pathway between them and the supplier, ” says senior analyst Blanc Erwin of Forrester Research. Some companies are limiting the risk by conducting online transactions only with established business partners who are given access to the company’ s private intranet. 

Another major shift in the model for Internet commerce concerns the technology available for marketing. Until recently, internet marketing activities have focused on strategies to “pull” customers into sites. In the past year, however, software companies have developed tools that allow companies to “push” information directly out to consumers, transmitting marketing messages directly to targeted customers. Most notably, the Pointcast Network uses a screen saver to deliver a continually updated stream of news and advertisements to subscribers’ computer monitors. Subscribers can customize the information they want to receive and proceed directly to a company’ s Web site. Companies such as Virtual Vineyards are already starting to use similar technologies to push messages to customers about special sales, product offering, or other events, But push technology has earned the contempt of many Web users, online culture thinks highly of the notion that the information flowing onto the screen comes there by specific request. Once commercial promotion begins to fill the screen uninvited, the distinction between the Web and television fades. That’ s a prospect that horrifies Net purists. 

But it is hardly inevitable that companies on the Web will need to resort to push strategies to make money. The examples of Virtual Vineyards, Amazon. com, and other pioneers show that a Web site selling the right kind of products with the right mix of interactivity, hospitality, and security will attract online customers. And the cost of computing power continues to free fall, which is a good sign for any enterprise setting up shop in silicon. People looking back 5 or 10 years from now may well wonder why so few companies took the online plunge. 

单选题 What do we learn about the present Web business?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】文章第一段第二句提到“More recently, as the Web proved to be more than a fashion, companies have started to buy and sell products and services with one another” ，最近，在网 络证明其不只是一种时尚 之后，许多公司之间开始在网上交易产品和服务。因此现在网 络交易市场正蓬勃发展，答案选C。
单选题 Established business partners are preferred in Webbusiness because _____.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】文章第二段第二句话提到“Businesses need to feel they can trust the pathway between them and the supplier” ，商家需要认识到他们可以信赖销售商和供应商之间的这种途径。下文还提到： 有些公司为了降低风险，只与那些已经熟识的贸易伙伴进行网 上交易，只有这些伙伴才被允许进入本公司的局域网 。由此可知那些已经熟识的贸易伙伴更值得信任。
单选题 Pointcast Network is most probably _____.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】文章第三段提到： 在过去的一年间，软件公司已经开发出工具，使得公司可以直接将信息“推出” 给顾客，直接把营销资讯传递给目标顾客。下文则说“最突出的例子是Pointcast网 络，该网 络使用一种屏幕保护系统，将大量最新的信息和广告不断地传送到用户的计算机显示器上” 。由此可以推断出Pointcast网 络是促进公司网 上销售的一种工具，答案是B。
单选题 Net purists are most worried that_____.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】文章第三段最后两句提到“Once commercial promotion begins to fill the screen uninvited, the distinction between the Web and television fades. That’ s a prospect that horrifies Net purists” ，一旦商业促销不请自来地充斥电脑屏幕，那么网 络和电视就没多大差别了，这种前景让网 络净化者感到不安。由此可知网 络进化者担心的网 络和电视之间的区别将会消失。
单选题 What does the author intend to express by mentioningAmazon. com?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】文章最后一段第一句提到“But it is hardly inevitable that companies on the Web will need to resort to push strategies to make money” ，网 络公司不可避免的需要采取推销政策来赚钱。下文列举Virtual Vineyards, Amazon. com等网 站的例子就是为了说明推销策略带来的成功影响，所以答案选A。