1 . What is the future of newspapers as the industry has faced increasing newsprint prices, falling sales and the great drops in circulation (发行量)? In recent years the number of newspapers being closed down has risen, especially in the United States and the United Kingdom. Income has dropped while competition from the Internet has pressed older print publishers a lot.

To live on, newspapers are considering uniting and other choices though the result hasn’t been agreed.

Since the beginning of 2009, the United Sates has seen a number of major newspapers closed after no buyers appeared, including The Rocky Mountain News, closed in February, and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, reduced to a complete Internet operation. In Detroit, both newspapers, The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News, cut down home delivery to three days a week, while inviting readers to visit the newspapers’ Internet sites on other days. In Tucson, Arizona, the state’s oldest newspaper, The Tucson Citizen, would stop publishing on March 21, 2009, when parent Gannett Company failed to find a buyer.

A number of other large, financially troubled newspapers are trying to get buyers. One of the few large dailies finding a buyer is The San Diego Union-tribune. It agreed to be sold to a private firm for what The Wall Street Journal called the rock-bottom price over of less than $50 million considered to have been worth about $1 billion in 2004.

In the United Kingdom, newspaper publishers have been similarly hit. In late 2008 The Independent announced job cuts. In January the chain Associated Newspapers sold a controlling stake (股金) in the London Evening Standard as it announced a 24% decline in 2008 as income. In March 2009 parent company Daily Mail and General Trust said job cuts would be deeper than expected.

1. How does the author feel about the future of newspapers?

A．Concerned.

B．Uncaring.

C．Hopeful.

D．Satisfied.

2. Which of the following newspapers is operated entirely online?

A．The Detroit News.	B．The Detroit Free Press.
C．The Rocky Mountain News.	D．The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

3. What does the underlined word “rock-bottom” in paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Increasing.

B．Common.

C．Reasonable.

D．Lowest.

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．More newspapers in the UK and the USA are closing down.

B．Newspaper publishers try to control their employees.

C．Newspapers are developing fast in the UK and the USA.

D．British newspapers have been losing money.