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

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

47. 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.

46. 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.

45. People who suffer from astigmatism have　　 .

　 A. one eye bigger than the other

　 B. eyes that are not exactly the right shape

　 C. a difficulty that can be corrected by an operation

　 D. an eye difficulty that cannot be corrected by glasses

B

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 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.

44. Having two eyes instead of one is particularly useful for　　 .

　 A. seeing at night　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　 　B. seeing objects far away

　 C. looking over a wide area　　　　 　 　　　D. judging distances

43. The underlined word blurry in the second paragraph probably means　　 .

　 A. obvious　　　　 B. possible　　 C. clear　　　　　　　 D. unclear

42.When things far away seem indistinct(模糊不清) , one is probably　　 .

　 A. near-sighted　　 B. far-sighted 　C. astigmatic　　　　　 D. suffering from cataracts

41. We should take good care of our eyes　　 .

　 　A. only when we can see well

　 B. only when we cannot see perfectly

　 C. even if we can see well

　 D. only when we realize how important our eyes are

29. A. possibility　　　　　　 B. feasibility　　　　　　　　　 C. hope　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. result