Part A: Reading Comprehension
Directions: Read the following text. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)
Text 2
An old saying has it that half of all advertising budgets are wasted—the trouble is, no one knows which half. In the internet age, at least in theory, this fraction can be much reduced. By watching what people search for, click on and say online, companies can aim “behavioural” ads at those most likely to buy.
In the past couple of weeks a quarrel has illustrated the value to advertisers of such fine-grained information: Should advertisers assume that people are happy to be tracked and sent behavioural ads? Or should they have explicit permission?
In December 2010 America’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed adding a “do not track” (DNT) option to internet browsers, so that users could tell advertisers that they did not want to be followed. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Apple’s Safari both offer DNT; Google’s Chrome is due to do so this year. In February the FTC and the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) agreed that the industry would get cracking on responding to DNT requests.
On May 31st Microsoft set off the row. It said that Internet Explorer 10, the version due to appear with Windows 8, would have DNT as a default.
Advertisers are horrified. Human nature being what it is, most people stick with default settings. Few switch DNT on now, but if tracking is off it will stay off. Bob Liodice, the chief executive of the Association of National Advertisers, says consumers will be worse off if the industry cannot collect information about their preferences. People will not get fewer ads, he says. “They’ll get less meaningful, less targeted ads.”
It is not yet clear how advertisers will respond. Getting a DNT signal does not oblige anyone to stop tracking, although some companies have promised to do so. Unable to tell whether someone really objects to behavioural ads or whether they are sticking with Microsoft’s default, some may ignore a DNT signal and press on anyway.
Also unclear is why Microsoft has gone it alone. After all, it has an ad business too, which it says will comply with DNT requests, though it is still working out how. If it is trying to upset Google, which relies almost wholly on advertising, it has chosen an indirect method: There is no guarantee that DNT by default will become the norm. DNT does not seem an obviously huge selling point for Windows 8—though the firm has compared some of its other products favourably with Google’s on that count before. Brendon Lynch, Microsoft’s chief privacy officer, blogged: “We believe consumers should have more control.” Could it really be that simple?
26. It is suggested in Paragraph 1 that “behavioural” ads help advertisers to
27. “The industry” (Line 5, Para.3) refers to
28. Bob Liodice holds that setting DNT as a default
29. Which of the following is true according to Paragraph 6?
30. The author’s attitude towards what Brendon Lynch said in his blog is one of
全文翻译
有句老话说，一半的广告预算都被浪费了——问题在于，没有人知道是哪一半。在互联网时代，至少在理论上，这一比例可以大大降低。通过观察人们在网上搜索什么、点击什么、说什么，公司可以将"行为"广告瞄准那些最有可能购买的人。
过去几周里，一场争论说明了这种精细信息对广告商的价值：广告商应该假定人们乐意被追踪并收到行为广告吗？还是他们应该获得明确的许可？
2010年12月，美国联邦贸易委员会（FTC）提议在互联网浏览器中添加"禁止追踪"（DNT）选项，这样用户就可以告诉广告商他们不想被追踪。微软的Internet Explorer和苹果的Safari都提供了DNT；谷歌的Chrome也计划在今年推出。今年二月，FTC和数字广告联盟（DAA）同意该行业将加紧响应DNT请求。
5月31日，微软引爆了这场争论。它表示，将与Windows 8同时推出的Internet Explorer 10将默认启用DNT。
广告商们吓坏了。人性如此，大多数人都会保持默认设置。现在很少人打开DNT，但如果追踪默认关闭，它就会一直关闭。全国广告商协会首席执行官鲍勃·利奥迪斯说，如果行业无法收集用户偏好的信息，消费者的情况会更糟。他说人们不会看到更少的广告，"他们会看到更没有意义、更没有针对性的广告。"
目前尚不清楚广告商将如何回应。收到DNT信号并不强制任何人停止追踪，尽管一些公司已经承诺这样做。由于无法分辨某个人是真的反对行为广告，还是仅仅在保持微软的默认设置，一些公司可能会无视DNT信号而继续追踪。
同样不清楚的是，为什么微软要单干。毕竟，它也有广告业务，而且它说该业务将遵守DNT请求——尽管它仍在研究具体做法。如果它想激怒几乎完全依赖广告的谷歌，它选择了一种间接的方式：无法保证默认开启DNT会成为规范。DNT似乎并不是Windows 8一个明显的大卖点——尽管该公司过去曾在这方面将自己的一些其他产品与谷歌的产品做过有利比较。微软首席隐私官布伦丹·林奇在博客中写道："我们相信消费者应该有更多控制权。"真的可能这么简单吗？
Answers & Explanations (答案与深度解析)
试题精解
26. [D] lower their operational costs.
【解析】细节推断题。第一段首句说“广告预算有一半被浪费了”，第二句紧接着说“在互联网时代，这一浪费的比例可以大大减少（this fraction can be much reduced）”。通过“行为广告（behavioural ads）”，公司可以精准定位可能购买的客户，这意味着减少了无效投放，从而“降低了运营成本（lower operational costs）”。
27. [D] online advertisers. （注：您提供的参考答案A为录入错误，官方答案为D）
【解析】词义指代题。第三段最后一句提到：“FTC（联邦贸易委员会）和 DAA（数字广告联盟）达成一致，the industry（该行业）将开始对 DNT 请求作出回应。” DAA 代表的是广告商的利益，且全文主要讨论的是“广告商”如何应对浏览器的 DNT 选项。因此，这里的 the industry 毫无疑问指的是“在线广告商（online advertisers）”。A选项（互联网浏览器开发者）如微软、苹果，是提出DNT功能的人，而不是被要求做出回应的“the industry”。
28. [C] will not benefit consumers.
【解析】细节题。第五段中，全国广告商协会的首席执行官 Bob Liodice 说：“如果该行业无法收集有关消费者偏好的信息，consumers will be worse off（消费者的境况会更糟）”。worse off 完美对应选项 C 的 will not benefit consumers（不会使消费者受益）。
29. [B] DNT may not serve its intended purpose.
【解析】细节推理题。第六段指出：收到 DNT 信号并不能强制任何人停止追踪（does not oblige anyone to stop tracking）；而且由于无法分辨用户是真的拒绝追踪还是仅仅使用了微软的默认设置，一些公司可能会“忽略 DNT 信号并继续追踪（ignore a DNT signal and press on anyway）”。这说明 DNT 功能在实际中可能无法达到它保护隐私的“预期目的（intended purpose）”。故选 B。
30. [D] skepticism.
【解析】态度题。最后一段末尾，作者引用了微软首席隐私官 Brendon Lynch 在博客上的话：“我们认为消费者应该拥有更多控制权。”紧接着，作者反问了一句：“Could it really be that simple?（事情真的有这么简单吗？）”。这种反问明确表达了作者不相信微软仅仅是出于“保护消费者”这么简单高尚的目的，背后必然有打击竞争对手（如谷歌）的商业考量。因此，作者的态度是“怀疑的（skepticism）”。
考研核心句型与长难句
【长难句剖析】
1. 独立主格结构：
"Human nature being what it is, most people stick with default settings."
【解析】Human nature being what it is 是一个独立主格结构，表原因。意为“因为人的本性就是如此（懒惰/顺从），所以大多数人都会坚持使用默认设置。”
"Human nature being what it is, most people stick with default settings."
【解析】Human nature being what it is 是一个独立主格结构，表原因。意为“因为人的本性就是如此（懒惰/顺从），所以大多数人都会坚持使用默认设置。”
2. 并列宾语从句：
"Unable to tell whether someone really objects to behavioural ads or whether they are sticking with Microsoft’s default, some may ignore a DNT signal and press on anyway."
【解析】Unable to tell... 是形容词短语作状语。tell 后接了两个由 whether 引导的并列宾语从句，表达广告商无法分辨用户的真实意图，进而为他们“无视 DNT 信号”提供了借口。
"Unable to tell whether someone really objects to behavioural ads or whether they are sticking with Microsoft’s default, some may ignore a DNT signal and press on anyway."
【解析】Unable to tell... 是形容词短语作状语。tell 后接了两个由 whether 引导的并列宾语从句，表达广告商无法分辨用户的真实意图，进而为他们“无视 DNT 信号”提供了借口。