Four American college students learned last week that free music downloads can carry a hidden price tag --- US $ 12,000 to $ 17,500, to be exact.

Major record companies accused the students of fueling music piracy(盗版) by running file-sharing networks on campus allowing hundreds of songs to be downloaded for free.

Last Thursday, the four promised not to violate the companies’ copyrights. Although they did not admit any wrongdoing, they each agreed to pay thousands of dollars to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

“I don’t believe that I did anything wrong,” said Daniel Peng at Princeton University, one of the four. “I hope that for the sake of artists, the larger issues can soon be resolved.” None appears to have made any money off the file-sharing systems they operated, which were confined to their campus’s computer networks.

The payments mark the first time record companies have recovered money from individuals in the US accused of piracy on file-sharing networks. This may be a sign of things to come, as the industry starts taking its battle against online piracy directly to users.

Many record-company executives(主管) blame the long slump in CD sales on file-sharing networks, which let users copy songs from each other’s computers for free.

Matt Oppenheim, senior vice president of business and legal affairs for the RIAA, said the settlements, although well below what the companies could have asked for, were “the right amount” given the situation.

He also noted that since the four lawsuits were filed, at least 18 campus file-sharing networks have been taken down by their operators.

59．What does “a hidden price tag” (Paragraph 1) mean?

     A. Record companies intentionally hide the high price of the music.

     B. It happens that the music price tag isn’t obvious.

     C. One has to pay for having downloaded music freely at last.

     D. One has to pay for the music in the future even if it’s allowed to be downloaded freely now.

60．Which of the following is true?

     A. The four students planned to violate the company’s copyright.

     B. They realized they had done a wrong thing.

     C. They refused to pay money to RIAA.

     D. They didn’t make any money on file-sharing networks.

61．What’s the probable meaning of “slump” (Paragraph 6)?

     A. Decline.        B. Increase.          C. Keeping the same.        D. Jump.

62．What’s the main idea of the whole passage?

     A. The students should be responsible for their behavior.

     B. It’s too late for record companies to protect their rights.

     C. Record companies have taken action to protect their copyrights by accusing individuals of piracy on file-sharing networks.

     D. Some record companies wanted to earn money by accusing people of pirating music.

Four American college students learned last week that free music downloads can carry a hidden price tag(标价) --- US $ 12,000 to $ 17,500, to be exact.

Major record companies accused the students of fueling music piracy(盗版) by running file-sharing networks on campus allowing hundreds of songs to be downloaded for free.

Last Thursday, the four promised not to violate（侵犯）the companies’ copyrights. Although they did not admit any wrongdoing, they each agreed to pay thousands of dollars to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

“I don’t believe that I did anything wrong,” said Daniel Peng at Princeton University, one of the four. “I hope that for the sake of artists, the larger issues can soon be resolved.  ” None appears to have made any money off the file-sharing systems they operated.  

The payments mark the first time record companies have recovered money from individuals in the US accused of piracy on file-sharing networks. This may be a sign of things to come, as the industry starts taking its battle against online piracy directly to users.

Many record-company blame the long decrease in CD sales on file-sharing networks, which let many users copy songs from each other’s computers for free.

Matt Oppenheim, senior vice president of business and legal affairs for the RIAA, said the settlements, although well below what the companies could have asked for, were “the right amount” given the situation.

He also noted that since the four lawsuits were filed, at least 18 campus file-sharing networks have been taken down by their operators.

1．What does “a hidden price tag” (Paragraph 1) mean?

     A．Record companies hide the high price of the music on purpose.

     B．It happens that the music price tag isn’t obvious.

     C．One has to fined for illegal music downloads.

     D．One has to pay for the music he downloads.

2．Which of the following is true?

     A．The four students planned to violate the company’s copyright.

     B．They realized they had done a wrong thing.

     C．They refused to pay money to RIAA．

     D．They didn’t make any money on file-sharing networks.

3．What’s the probable meaning of “fuel” （Paragraph 2）?

     A．encourage.     B．challenge.           C．weaken.          D．sell

4．What can we conclude from paragraph 6?

     A．Many record-company should be blamed for the decrease in CD sales.

     B．Decease in CD sales is caused because of certain file-sharing networks.

     C．People don’t have any desire to buy any CD．

     D．Nowadays CDs are not as popular as before.

5．What’s the main idea of the whole passage?

     A．The students should be responsible for their behavior.

     B．It’s too late for record companies to protect their rights.

     C．Action had been taken by record companies to protect their copyrights.

  D．Some record companies wanted to earn money by accusing people of pirating music．

    The case for college has been accepted without question for more than a generation. All high school graduates ought to go, because college will help them earn more money, become “better” people, and learn to be more responsible citizens than those who don’t go.

    But college has never been able to work its magic for everyone. And now that close to half our high school graduates are attending, those who don’t fit the pattern are becoming more and more, and more obvious. College graduates are selling shoes and driving taxis; college students get in the way of each other’s experiments and write false letters of recommendation in the competition for admission to graduate school. Others find no interest in their studies, and drop out often encouraged by college administrators. Some observers say the fault is with the young people themselves―they are spoiled and they are expecting too much.

    But that is a condemnation(谴责)of the students as a whole, and does not explain all campus unhappiness. Others blame the state of the world, and they are partly right. We’ve been told that young people have to go to college because our economy cannot take in an army of untrained 18 year-olds. But disappointed graduates are learning that it can no longer take in an army of trained 22-year-olds, either.

    Some adventuresome educators and campus watchers have openly begun to suggest that college may not be the best, the proper, the only place for every young person after the completion of high school. We may have been looking at all those surveys upside down, it seems, and thinking of the rosy glow of our own remembered college experiences. Perhaps college does not make people intelligent(clever), ambitious, happy, liberal, or quick to learn things―maybe it is just the other way round, and intelligent, ambitious, happy, liberal, quick-learning people are only the ones who have been attracted to college in the first place. And perhaps all those successful college graduates would have been successful whether they had gone to college or not. This is heresy (异端邪说) to those of us who have been brought up to believe that if little schooling is good, more has to be much better. But opposite evidence is beginning to mount up.

56. According to the passage all of the following statements are true EXCEPT_______.

A. about half of the high school graduates continue their studies at school

B. college graduates are believed to be able to earn more money

C. administrators often encourage college students to drop out

D. more and more young people are found unfit for college.

57. Which of the following is one of some observers’ opinions?

A. The students expect so much that they are not satisfied with the hard college life.

B. The economic situation is so discouraging that the youth have to attend college.

C. College should improve because of so much campus unhappiness.

D. Colleges provide more chances of good jobs than anywhere else.

58. What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 mean?

A. Our college experience proves that those surveys are incorrect.

B. The surveys may remind us of our beautiful college experiences.

C. The surveys should all be re-examined according to our college experiences.

D. Our college experiences may make us misunderstand the results of the surveys.

59. What is the main purpose of this passage?

A. To argue against the idea that college is the best place for all young people.

B. To put forward an idea that college should not be the first choice.

C. To value young people’s further education in colleges.

D. To persuade young people into working after the completion of high school.

The case for college has been accepted without question for more than a generation. All high school graduates ought to go, because college will help them earn more money, become “better” people, and learn to be more responsible citizens than those who don’t go.

    But college has never been able to work its magic for everyone. And now that close to half our high school graduates are attending, those who don’t fit the pattern are becoming more and more, and more obvious. College graduates are selling shoes and driving taxis; college students get in the way of each other’s experiments and write false letters of recommendation in the competition for admission to graduate school. Others find no interest in their studies, and drop out –often encouraged by college administrators. Some observers say the fault is with the young people themselves—they are spoiled and they are expecting too much.

    But that is a condemnation（谴责）of the students as a whole, and does not explain all campus unhappiness. Others blame the state of the world, and they are partly right. We’ve been told that young people have to go to college because our economy cannot take in an army of untrained 18 year-olds. But disappointed graduates are learning that it can no longer take in an army of trained 22-year-olds, either.

    Some adventuresome educators and campus watchers have openly begun to suggest that college may not be the best, the proper, the only place for every young person after the completion of high school. We may have been looking at all those surveys upside down, it seems, and thinking of the rosy glow of our own remembered college experiences. Perhaps college does not make people intelligent（clever）, ambitious, happy, liberal, or quick to learn things—maybe it is just the other way round, and intelligent, ambitious, happy, liberal, quick-learning people are only the ones who have been attracted to college in the first place. And perhaps all those successful college graduates would have been successful whether they had gone to college or not. This is heresy （异端邪说） to those of us who have been brought up to believe that if little schooling is good, more has to be much better. But opposite evidence is beginning to mount up.

1．According to the passage all of the following statements are true EXCEPT_______.

A．about half of the high school graduates continue their studies at school

B．college graduates are believed to be able to earn more money

C．administrators often encourage college students to drop out

D．more and more young people are found unfit for college.

2．Which of the following is one of some observers’ opinions?

A．The students expect so much that they are not satisfied with the hard college life.

B．The economic situation is so discouraging that the youth have to attend college.

C．College should improve because of so much campus unhappiness.

D．Colleges provide more chances of good jobs than anywhere else.

3．What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Our college experience proves that those surveys are incorrect.

B．The surveys may remind us of our beautiful college experiences.

C．The surveys should all be re-examined according to our college experiences.

D．Our college experiences may make us misunderstand the results of the surveys.

4．What is the main purpose of this passage?

A．To argue against the idea that college is the best place for all young people.

B．To put forward an idea that college should not be the first choice.

C．To value young people’s further education in colleges.

D．To persuade young people into working after the completion of high school.