CET6

Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)

Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. 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 mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre. 

Passage 1

Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage: 

According to Forrester Research, 8.6 million online shoppers access the Internet via a high-speed connection, compared to 12 million using dial-up. Taken alone, those findings are hardly groundbreaking. What’s noteworthy is the rest of the picture that emerges from that study: Those broadband users are younger, richer , and better informed than their narrowband counterparts. They spend more time and money online and are more likely to buy customized products and services. 

So why hasn’t the Internet become the focus for broadband companies seeking to establish relationships with a demographic that has demonstrated a preference for their product? Simply put, until recently, their attempts fell flat. Just over a year ago, our agency launched an online performance-based e-marketing campaign to promote a broadband service. Despite engaging creative and a compelling offer, it met with resounding silence. Six months later, the response was only marginally better. So we were only cautiously optimistic two months later when we launched another campaign for the same advertiser, using the same offer. This time, it was a success. Response rates tripled and the customer acquisition cost dropped from $300 to under $100. 

Clearly, the floodgates have opened and the most sought-after consumers are rushing through to broadband. And while the surge in response wasn’t a complete surprise given the emphasis placed on marketing broadband services, it was enough to make us curious about what other factors were at play. What we discovered was a scenario where so many people have experienced broadband’s superiority at work, school, and even in friends’ homes that they know what they’re missing. 

According to U.S. News & World Report, some 20 million households nationwide now have broadband, with another 100,000 signing up each week. That saturation has created a market of increasingly discontent dial-up subscribers for broadband companies to reach. Imagine the impact when -- as dial-up users impatiently wait for Web pages to load -- an ad pops up promising lightning-fast access. Their response starts an on going relationship managed through newsletters and other e-mail communications designed to keep them informed about value-added services, special promotions, etc. Not only is it a demographic pre-disposed to online CRM, it is also one that is far from oversold. In fact, less than one-third of U.S. households will subscribe to a broadband service by 2006. And as services designed specifically for broadband increase and support for dial-up declines, the 42 percent of Internet users who said they didn’t need broadband will become receptive to a well-focused CRM program. But it won’t last forever. While the window of opportunity to reach broadband buyers online is open, it’s not likely to stay that way. Broadband may be the current heir apparent for connectivity, but wireless has given every indication it will be a sleeper hit, emerging from nowhere to take the top spot.

In short, the time for broadband companies to establish online customer relationships is now -- before the window slams shut. 

21. What is NOT mentioned as the result of Forrester Research in the first paragraph? 

A) A lot of online shoppers access the Internet by broadband.

B) Broadband users get more information than the dial-up users.

C) It is probable for broadband users to buy the products specially made for them.

D) It is the first time for people to find out the number of broadband and narrowband users. 

22. What did the online performance-based e-marketing campaign bring at first?

A) The promotion of a broadband service.

B) Cautious responses.

C) No response at all.

D) Some marginal responses. 

23. Why did another campaign become a success later? 

A) Because the agency has used a compelling offer.

B) Because people have enjoyed the broadband’s advantages in their daily life.

C) Because the agency has spent a lot of money on the advertisements.

D) Because people become curious about the broadband. 

24. It can be inferred from the passage that____. 

A) Few is likely to use dial-up in the future.

B) Broadband companies should establish online customer relationships now.

C) About 20 million households nationwide now have broadband.

D) People design more services specially for broadband. 

25. What is the main idea of this passage? 

A) How Forrester Research got the valuable information.

B) Why people want to use broadband.

C) How broadband services find success in online CRM.

D) Broadband services have great influence on people. 

Passage 2

Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage: 

The following passage is an opening speech by Lord Weidenfeld, founder of the Europaeum and Chairman, Weidenfeld and Nicolson PublishersI am very privileged and gratified to talk to you today. I think it is most appropriate to have this meeting at the Humboldt University, Berlin, because of the impulse to the creation to the European network, to the sequence of events, and that great turning point of history, which is symbolised by the fall of the Berlin wall. It was that particular impulse that started an enterprise to bring together teachers and students in, first of all, Western European Universities to offer resources to those universities which had only recently emerged in other parts of Europe. So we started the Europaeum network. Six universities joined us initially. We then approached the University of Prague to join us for the beginning of an enlargement, which would also to include universities previously behind the Iron Curtain. The group that we assembled around the Europaeum logo is by no means exclusive and we would very much like to enlarge it. The term ’variable geometry’ is very fashionable in international politics, but I think it also applies to our intentions, we want it to expand and include other universities either as full members or associates so free standing research institutes. 

Thanks to the generosity of our German sponsor DaimlerChrysler, particularly the Davies Group of the organization, Dr Klaus Mangold and Dr Bensel, we are now engaging in a study of the roles of the universities in the future. We have a number of ideas regarding how to set about answering these three major questions: What is the future role of the university? If we have established what it is, how do we equip it to produce the resources and do its job and what role does it play in our society? We hope to have a number of ongoing conferences and exchanges of views on the subject thanks to the friendly and co-operation of Humboldt University. 

We are now in a new era since 11 September. I think that one day we will regard that approximate decade from the fall of the wall in Berlin and the destruction of the World Trade Centre in New York. Here it is important that we play our role. In what we now see in the plateau of Central Southeast Asia, a holy alliance of barbarism, fanaticism and high tech product of the information society. The University, by having as a component an important dosage of humanism, makes all the difference between a Robespierre like revolution or a continuation of the human spirit with the new resources and tools, carefully husbanded, monitored and controlled. 

Thanks to President of Humboldt University, Professor Michael Kreile, Professor Pera, Paul Flather and colleagues.

26. What is the attitude of the speaker toward the development of Europaeum? 

A) Europaeum is open to almost all universities.

B) Europaeum is exclusive to some enterprises.

C) Europaeum is open only to research institutes.

D) Europaeum is exclusive to any other universities. 

27. What can be concluded about the Europaeum logo from the first paragraph? 

A) Being no exclusive.

B) Bringing together teachers and students in Western European Universities.

C) Enlarging Europaeum.

D) Having variable geometry. 

28. What is the subject of this conference? 

A) How to equip a university to produce the resources.

B) How to enlarge a university to some extent.

C) How to cooperate with other universities.

D) A study of the roles of the universities in the future. 

29. What kind of organization does the speaker hope to have? 

A) An organization in which they play an important role.

B) An organization full of humanism.

C) An organization of revolution.

D) An organization full of information. 

30. What is the purpose of the organization? 

A) To continue and develop human spirit with new resources and tools. 

B) To exchange views with different universities.

C) To unite universities and enterprises.

D) To create the European network to continue humanism.

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