【正文】 　　英語專業(yè)八級閱讀歷年真題匯編　　2013真題　　TEXT A　　Three hundred years ago news travelled by word of mouth or 1etter, and circulated in taverns and coffee houses in the form of pamphlets and newsletters．“The coffee houses particularly are．very roomy for a free conversation，and for reading at an easier rate all manner of printed news，”noted one observer．Everything changed in 1833 when the first massaudience newspaper, The New York Sun，pioneered the use of advertising to reduce the cost of news，thus giving advertisers access to a wider audience．The penny press，followed by radio and television，turned news from a twoway conversation into a one—way broadcast，with a relatively small number of firms controlling the media．　　Now, the news industry is returning to something closer to the coffee house．The internet is making news more participatory，social and diverse，reviving the discursive characteristics of the era before the mass media．That will have profound effects on society and politics．In much of the world．the mass media are flourishing．Newspaper circulation rose globally by 6% between 2005 and 2009．But those global figures mask a sharp decline in readership in rich countries．　　Over the past decade，throughout the Western world，people have been giving up newspapers and TV news and keeping up with events in profoundly different ways．Most strikingly, ordinary people are increasingly involved in piling，sharing，filtering，discussing and distributing news．Twitter lets people anywhere report what they are seeing．Classified documents are published in their thousands online．Mobilephone footage of Arab uprisings and American tornadoes is posted on socialnetworking sites and shown on television newscasts．Socialnetworking sites help people find，discuss and share news with their friends．　　And it is not just readers who are challenging the media elite．Technology firms including Google，F(xiàn)acebook and Twitter have bee important conduits of news．Celebrities and world leaders publish updates directly via social networks；many countries now make raw data available through“open government”initiatives．The internet lets people read newspapers or watch television channels from around the world．The web has allowed new providers of news，from individual bloggers to sites，to rise to prominence in a very short space of time．And it has made possible entirely new approaches to journalism，such as that practiced by WikiLeaks，which provides an anonymous way for whistleblowers to publish documents．The news agenda is no longer controlled by a few press barons and state outlets．　　In principle，every liberal should celebrate this．A more participatory and social news environment，with a remarkable diversity and range of news sources，is a good thing．The transformation of the news business is unstoppable，and attempts to reverse it are doomed to failure．As producers of new journalism，individuals can be scrupulous with facts and transparent with their sources．As consumers，they can be general in their tastes and demanding in their standards．And although this transformation does raise concerns，there is much to celebrate in the noisy, diverse，vociferous，argumentative and stridently alive environment of the news business in the ages of the internet．The coffee house is back．Enjoy it．　　11．According to the passage，what initiated the transformation of coffeehouse news to massmedia news?　　A．The emergence of big mass media firms．　　B．The popularity of radio and television．　　C．The appearance of advertising in newspapers．　　D．The increasing number of newspaper readers．　　12．Which of the following statements best supports“Now, the Hews industry is returning to something closer to the coffee house”?　　A Newspaper circulation rose globally by 6％between 2005 and 2009．　　B．People in the Western world are giving up newspapers and TV news．　　C．Classified documents are published in their thousands online．　　D．More people are involved in finding，discussing and distributing news．　　13．According to the passage，which is NOT a role played by information technology?　　A．Challenging the traditional media．　　B．Planning the return to coffeehouse news．　　C．Providing people with access to classified files．　　D．Giving ordinary people the chance to provide news．　　14．The author’S tone in the last paragraph towards new journalism is　　A．optimistic and cautious． B．supportive and skeptical．　　C．doubtful and reserved． D．a(chǎn)mbiguous and cautious．　　15．In“The coffee house is back”，coffee house best symbolizes　　A．the changing characteristics of news audience．　　B．the more diversified means of news distribution．　　C．the participatory nature of news．　　D. the more varied sources of news．　　TEXT B　　Paris is like pornography．You respond even if you don’t want to．You turn a corner and see a vista，and your imagination bolts away。Suddenly you are thinking about what it would be like to live in Paris，and then you think about all the lives you have not lived．Sometimes，though, when you are lucky, you only think about how many pleasures the day ahead holds．Then, you feel privileged．　　The lobby of the hotel is decorated in red and gold．It gives off a whiff of 1 9m．century decadence．Probably as much as any hotel in Paris，this hotel is sexy．1 was standing facing the revolving doors and the driveway beyond．A car with a woman in the back seat—a woman in a short skirt and black—leather jacket—pulled up before the hotel door．She swung off and she was wearing high heels．Normally, my mind would have leaped and imagined a story for this woman．Now it didn39。t I stood there and told myself．Cheer up．You’re in Paris．　　In many ways，Paris is best visited in winter．The tourist crowds are at a minimum，and one is not being jammed off the narrow sidewalks along the Rue Dauphine．More than this．Paris is like many other European cities in that the season of blockbuster cultural events tends to begin in midto late fall and so，by the time of winter, most of the cultural tre