Advertisers now place "banners", links to commercial web sites decorated with attractive pictures designed to catch our eyes while browsing the webs, on key web sites with heavy traffic. They pay top dollar for the right, thus creating profits for the hosting web site as well. These actions are performed in the hopes that during the course of our casual and leisurely web surfing, we'll click on that banner that sparks our interest and thus, in theory, buy the products advertised.
Initial results have been positive. Web sites report a huge inflow of cash, both from the advertisers who tempt customers in with the banners and the hosting web sites, which are paid for allowing the banners to be put in place. As trust and confidence in Internet buying increases and information security is heightened with new technology, the volume of buying is increasing, leading to even greater profits.
The current situation, however, is not quite as optimistic. Just as magazine readers tend to unconsciously ignore advertisements in their favorite periodicals, web browsers are beginning to allow banners to slip their notice as well. Internet users respond to the flood of banners by viewing them as annoyances, a negative image that is hurting sales, since users are now less reluctant to click on those banners, preferring not to support the system that puts them in place. If Internet advertising is to continue to be a viable and profitable business practice, new methods will need to be considered to reinvigorate the industry.
With the recent depression in the technology sector and slowing economy, even new practices may not do the trick. As consumers are saving more and frequenting traditional real estate businesses over their Internet counterparts, the fate of Internet business is called into question. The coming years will be the only reliable indication of whether shopping on the World Wide Web is the wave of the future or simply an impulse activity whose whim has passed.
Notes:
on a whim 心血来潮。surf v.冲浪。in theory在理论上,顺理成章。hosting 访问率高的。call...into question 质疑,对…提出疑问。
It can be learned from the first paragraph that Internet advertising _____.
A. has taken the place of more traditional methods of advertising.
B. is one of the most effective ways to make profits on the web.
C. is paralleling advertising methods in traditional business settings.
D. seeks to tempt customers through impulse shopping methods.
Part A
Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)
We have known for a long time that the organization of any particular society is influenced by the definition of the sexes and the distinction drawn between them. But we have realized only recently that the identity of each sex is not so easy to pin down, arid that definitions evolve in accordance with different types of culture known to us, that is, scientific discoveries and ideological revolutions. Our nature is not considered as immutable, either socially or biologically. As we approach the beginning of the 21st century, the substantial progress made in biology and genetics is radically challenging the roles, responsibilities and specific characteristics attributed to each sex, and yet, scarcely twenty years ago, these were thought to be "beyond dispute".
We can safely say, with a few minor exceptions, that the definition of the sexes and their respective functions remained unchanged in the West from the beginning of the 19th century to the 1960s. The role distinction, raised in some cases to the status of uncompromising dualism on a strongly hierarchical model, lasted throughout this period, appealing for its justification to nature, religion and customs alleged to have existed since the dawn of time. The woman bore children and took care of the home. The man set out to conquer the world and was responsible for the survival of his family, by satisfying their needs in peacetime and going to war when necessary.
The entire world order rested on the divergence of the sexes. Any overlapping or confusion between the roles was seen as a threat to the time-honored order of things. It was felt to be against nature, a deviation from the norm.
Sex roles were determined according to the "place" appropriate to each. Women's place was, first and foremost, in the home. The outside world, i.e. workshops, factories and business firms, belonged to men. This sex-based division of the world (private and public) gave rise to a strict dichotomy between the attitudes, which conferred on each its special identity. The woman, sequestered at home, "cared, nurtured and conserved". To do this, she had no need to be daring, ambitious, tough or competitive. The man, on the other hand, competing with his fellow men, was caught up every day in the struggle for survival, and hence developed those characteristics which were thought natural in a man.
Today, many women go out to work, and their reasons for doing so have changed considerably. Besides the traditional financial incentives, we find ambition and personal fulfillment motivating those in the most favorable circumstances, and the wish to have a social life and to get out of their domestic isolation influencing others. Above all, for all women, work is invariably connected with the desire for independence.
Notes:
immutable 不可改变的。dualism 双重论。divergence 分歧,偏离。overlapping 部分重合、一致。time-honored 由来已久的。dichotomy 一分为二,对立。sequester 使隔离。be caught up in 被缠住于,如:He is caught up in the trivia (琐事) of everyday things, unduly 过度地,不恰当地。
It is only in recent years that we have recognized that _____.
A. there is almost no clue to the identity of both sexes.
B. the role distinction between different sexes is conspicuous.
C. the different definitions of sexes bear on the development of culture.
D. the progress of civilization greatly influences the role definitions of sexes.
According to the fourth paragraph, the author seems to think that _____.
A. female Passivity is natural.
B. men and women are physically identical.
C. men are born competitive and aggressive.
D. some different sex identity is acquired.