The New York Times announced Wednesday that it intended to charge frequent readers for access to its website, a step being debated across the industry that nearly every major newspaper has so far feared to take.

Starting in early 2011, visitors to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being asked to pay a standard and fixed fee for unlimited access. Subscribers to the newspaper’s print edition will receive full access to the site.

But executives of The New York Times Company said they could not yet answer fundamental questions about the plan, like how much it would cost or what the limit would be on free reading. They stressed that the amount of free access could change with time, in response to economic conditions and reader demand. Still, publishers fear that money from digital subscriptions would not make up for the resulting loss of audience and advertising income.

NYTimes.com is by far the most popular newspaper site in the country, with more than 17 million readers a month in the United States, according to Nielsen Online, and analysts say it is the leader in advertising income, as well. That may make it better positioned than other general-interest papers to charge—and also gives The Times more to lose if the move produces an opposed result.

The Times Company has been studying the matter for almost a year, searching for common ground between pro-and-anti pay campaigns—a debate mirrored in dozens of media-watching blogs-- and the system will not go into effect until January 2011. Executives said they were not bothered by the possibility of absorbing barbs(挖苦) for moving cautiously.

 “There’s no prize for getting it quick,” said Janet L. Robinson, the company’s president and chief executive. “There’s more of a prize for getting it right.”

What’s the function of the first paragraph?

       A. It servers as a comment.

       B. It serves as a background

       C. It serves as a lead-in

       D. It serves as a conclusion.

Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

       A. Non-paying subscribers will get no access to NYTimes.com.

       B. Readers will be charged more to read articles on NYTimes.com.

       C. Readers will get more free online articles to log on NYTimes. com more often.

       D. Subscribers to the paper’s print edition will also enjoy full access to the site.

Which of the words can best describe The Time Company’s attitude towards its announcement?

A. Unwilling.       

B. Serious.                  

C. Hasty               

D. Doubtful

What is the main idea about the passage?

       A. The Times to offer free access to its web site.

       B. The Times to increase audience to its web site.

       C. The Times to attract advertisement to its web site

       D. The Times to charge for frequent access to its web site.

Getting kids to share their toys is a never-ending battle, and forcing them to do so never seems to help. New research suggests that allowing children to make a choice to sacrifice their own toys in order to share with someone else makes them share more in the future. The new findings are published in Psychological Science.

These experiments were conducted by psychological scientists, Nadia Chernyak and Tamar Kushnir of Cornell University. They found that sharing things with others when they are given a difficult choice leads children to think of themselves as people who like to share. It also makes them more likely to act in a pro-social （亲社会的）manner in the future.

Previous research has explained why rewarding children for sharing can backfire. Children come to think of themselves as people who don't like to share since they had to be rewarded for doing so. Because they don't view themselves as "sharers", they are less likely to share in the future.

Chernyak and Kushnir were interested in finding out whether freely chosen sacrifice might have the opposite effect on kids' willingness to share. To test this, the researchers introduced five-year-old children to Doggie, a sad puppet. Some of the children were given a difficult choice: Share a precious sticker（贴纸） with Doggie, or keep it for themselves. Other children were given an easy choice between sharing and putting the sticker away, while children in a third group were required by the researcher to share.

Later on, all the children were introduced to Ellie, another sad puppet. They were given the option of how many stickers to share (up to three). The kids who earlier made the difficult choice to help Doggie shared more stickers with Ellie. The children who were initially faced with an easy choice or who were required to give their sticker to Doggie, on the other hand, shared fewer stickers with Ellie. Therefore, children did not benefit from simply giving something up, but rather from willingly choosing to give something up of value.

“You might imagine that making difficult, costly choices is demanding for young children or even that once children share, they don’t feel the need to do so again,” Chernyak says. “But this wasn't the case: once children made a difficult decision to give up something for someone else, they were more generous, not less, later on.” Chernyak concludes.

1._______ helps children to share more in the future.

A. Rewarding children for sharing                      

B. Forcing children to share

C. Allowing children to share precious things willingly

D. Allowing children to share what they don’t need

2.The underlined word “backfire” means _______.

A. have an opposite effect                                              B. serve as a push

C. cause anger                                                                   D. avoid taking things back

3.Those who were required to share give fewer stickers to Ellie because _______.

A. they regret what they did                                           B. it’s not their own choice        

C. Ellie is not as sad as Doggie                                D. they like to share with a real person

4.We can conclude from the passage that _______.

A. parents will never find a way to get children to share toys

B. a gift should be given to make up for children’s sacrifice

C. children pretend to be generous when they are being observed

D. making difficult choices may influence sharing behavior

Researchers at the University of Bedforshire have developed a new technique for powering electronic device（装置）. The system, developed by Professor Ben Allen at the Centre for Wireless Research, uses radio（无线电） waves as power.

Believed to be a world first, the team claims it could eventually eliminate (or get rid of )the need for conventional batteries. The university has now filed a patent application to secure the only rights to the technique.

Professor Allen and his team have created a system to use medium wave frequencies to replace batteries in small everyday devices like clocks and remote controls.

The new technique uses the “waste” energy of radio waves and has been developed as part of the university’s research into “power harvesting”. Professor Allen said that as radio waves have energy―like light waves, sound waves or wind waves―then, in theory, these waves could be used to create power.

“The emerging（新兴的）area of power harvesting technology promises to reduce our reliance on conventional batteries,” he said. “It’s really exciting way of taking power from sources other than what we would normally think of.”

The team is now waiting for the results of the patent application to secure recognition of the technique. Professor Allen said that the team’s achievements had all been done in their “spare time”. “Our next stage is to try and raise some real funds so that we can take this work forward and make a working prototype（模型）and maybe partner up with the right people and take this to a full product in due course,” he said.

“Power harvesting has a really important part in our future, because, just in this country, we dispose of somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 tonnes of batteries in landfill（垃圾填理）sites every single year－that is toxic chemicals going into the ground.”

He added that development of the product could also be “commercially beneficial”. “The market for this is several billion pounds. We’ve seen market predictions for 2020 which have these kinds of figures, so there’s a lot of commercial potential in this area,” he said.

Pro-Vice Chancellor at the University of Bedfordshire, Professor Carsten Maple, said, “This type of work is a reflection of the university’s growing reputation and experience in conducting innovative（创新的）research.”

1.From the text we know the new technique for powering electronic devices_____.

2.According to Professor Allen, power harvesting technology______.

3.What can we learn about Professor Allen and his team from the text?

4.What is Professor Carsten Maple’s attitude toward the new technique?

5.What is the text mainly about?

There is no doubt that Apple is well aware of the increased competition in the market and could be in a hurry to put another product out there, said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst at IDC Mobile Devices Technology and Trends. Given its history with product launches and business policy, though, Apple probably isn’t going to rush an iPhone release simply to put it on shelves, he said.

“If you’re Tim Cook (CEO of Apple), you’re thinking if you want to pay more attention to how to keep growing that bottom line and keep investors(投资人) happy, or continue with the same approach from Apple, which is do what we can do and manage products and releases in the best way they can work for us. Apple usually does things in their own time, and I’m having a hard time buying this May or June timeline.” Llamas told Mac News World.

While it’s probable that Apple is surely in a testing stage for its next smartphone, consumers likely have a standard wait for the finished product, said Colin Gibbs, analyst at GigaOm Pro.

“It typically takes a year or longer to create a state-of-the-art smartphone, so no one should be surprised Apple is in the testing stages with the next iPhone. And while it’s possible that Apple could launch the next iPhone this spring or summer, I’m not expecting to see it until a little later in the year,” he told Mac News World.

When it does launch, though, it could be in a variety of colors, said Gibbs. “Apple has already tested the waters with releasing colored products when it revamped (更新，翻新）its iPod line last fall, so it is understood that it would want the new change with its smartphone, as well”.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the new iPhone becomes available in some new colors,’’ he said. “That could be done pretty cheaply, and it would give Apple a new marketing angle.”

1.According to Ramon Llamas, Apple always ______.

A. tries to please its investors

B. rushes to put new products to market

C. ignores the fierce market competition

D. does things as planned

2.As for the next iPhone, Colin Gibbs didn’t mention ______.

A. the stage of its being tested

B. the rough time of its being released

C. the function to be improved

D. the wide variety of its color

3.What’s Colin Gibbs’ attitude towards the next iPhone?

A. Disapproving.    B. Indifferent (漠不关心的).      C. Doubtful.     D. Objective.

4.This passage is presented in the form of ______.

A. stories            B. comments           C. advertisements         D. debates

There is no doubt that Apple is well aware of the increased competition in the market and could be in a hurry to put another device out there, said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst at IDC Mobile Devices Technology and Trends. Given its history with product launches and business policy, though, Apple probably isn’t going to rush an iPhone release simply to put it on shelves, he said.

“If you’re Tim Cook (CEO of Apple), you’re thinking if you want to pay more attention to how to keep growing that bottom line and keep investors happy, or continue with the same approach from Apple, which is do what we can do and manage products and releases in the best way they can work for us. Apple usually does things in their own time ，and I’m having a hard time buying this May or June timeline.” Llamas told Mac News World.

While it，s probable that Apple is definitely in a testing stage for its next smartphone , consumers likely have a standard wait for the finished product, said Colin Gibbs, analyst at GigaOm Pro.

“It typically takes a year or longer to create a state-of-the-art smartphone, so no one should be surprised Apple is in the testing stages with the next iPhone. And while it’s possible that Apple could launch the next iPhone this spring or summer, I’m not expecting to see it until a little later in the year,” he told Mac News World.

When it does launch, though, it could be in a variety of colors, said Gibbs. “Apple has already tested the waters with releasing colored devices when it revamped(更新，翻新）its iPod line last fall, so it’s not too much of a stretch to believe it would want the new twist with its smartphone, as well”.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the new iPhone becomes available in some new colors，’’ he said. “That could be done pretty cheaply ，and it would give Apple a new marketing angle.”

1.According to Ramon Llamas, Apple always______.

A.tries to pleases its investors

B. does things as planned

C.ignores the fierce market competition

D. rushes to put new products to market

2.As for the next iPhone, Colin Gibbs didn’t mention______    

A.the stage of its being tested

B.the rough time of its being released

C.the wide variety of its color

D.the function to be improved

3.What’s Colin Gibbs ，attitude towards the next iPhone?

A. Disapproving. B. Casual

C. Objective.     D. Doubtful.

4.This passage is presented in the form of______.

A.stories   B.comments      C.advertisements D.debates