The richest man in America stepped to the podium and declared war on the nation"s school systems. High schools had become "obsolete" and were "limiting—even ruining—the lives of millions of Americans every year." The situation had become "almost shameful." Bill Gates, prep-school grad and college dropout, had come before the National Governors Association seeking converts to his plan to do something about it—a plan he would back with $2 billion of his own cash.Gates"s speech, in February 2005, was a signature moment in what has become a decade-long campaign to improve test scores and graduation rates, waged by a loose alliance of wealthy CEOs who arrived with no particular background in education policy—a fact that has led critics to dismiss them as "the billionaire boys" club." Their bets on poor urban schools have been as big as their egos and their bank accounts.Has this big money made the big impact that they—as well as teachers, administrators, parents, and students—hoped for The results, though mixed, are dispiriting proof that money alone can"t repair the desperate state of urban education. For all the millions spent on reforms, nine of the 10 school districts studied substantially trailed their state"s proficiency and graduation rates—often by 10 points or more. That"s not to say that the urban districts didn"t make gains.The good news is many did improve and at a rate faster than their states" 60 percent of the time—proof that the billionaires made some solid bets. But those spikes up weren"t enough to erase the deep gulf between poor, inner-city schools, where the big givers focused, and their suburban and rural counterparts.The confidence that marked Gates"s landmark speech to the governors" association in 2005 has given way to humility. The billionaires have not retreated. But they have improved their approach, and learned a valuable lesson about their limitations. "It"s so hard in this country to spread good practice. When we started funding, we hoped it would spread more readily," acknowledges Vicki Phillips, the director of K-12 education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "What we learned is that the only things that spread well in school are kids" viruses."The business titans entered the education arena convinced that America"s schools would benefit greatly from the tools of the boardroom. They sought to boost incentives for improving performance, deploy new technologies, and back innovators willing to shatter old orthodoxies. They pressed to close schools that were failing, and sought to launch new, smaller ones. They sent principals to boot camp. Battling the long-term worry that the best and brightest passed up the classroom for more lucrative professions, they opened their checkbooks to boost teacher pay. It was an impressive amount of industry. And in some places, it has worked out—but with unanticipated complications. One of the important purposes of Bill Gates" speech was to ______
A. call on the rich people to sign contracts with schools
B. enlist the rich people"s effort to save failing schools
C. call on the governors to make proper education policies
D. call attention to the nation"s low test scores and graduation rates
The simple act of surrendering a telephone number to a store clerk may seem innocuous—so much so that many consumers do it with no questions asked. Yet that one action can set in motion a cascade of silent events, as that data point is acquired, analyzed, categorized, stored and sold over and over again. Future attacks on your privacy may come from anywhere, from anyone with money to purchase that phone number you surrendered. If you doubt the multiplier effect, consider your e-mail inbox. If it"s loaded with spam, it"s undoubtedly because at some point in time you unknowingly surrendered your e-mail to the wrong Web site.Do you think your telephone number or address is handled differently A cottage industry of small companies with names you"ve probably never heard of—like Acxiom or Merlin—buy and sell your personal information the way other commodities like corn or cattle futures are bartered. You may think your cell phone is unlisted, but if you"ve ever ordered a pizza, it might not be. Merlin is one of many commercial data brokers that advertises sale of unlisted phone numbers compiled from various sources—including pizza delivery companies. These unintended, unpredictable consequences that flow from simple actions make privacy issues difficult to grasp, and grapple with.In a larger sense, privacy also is often cast as a tale of "Big Brother" —the government is watching you or a big corporation is watching you. But privacy issues don"t necessarily involve large faceless institutions. A spouse takes a casual glance at her husband"s Blackberry, a co-worker looks at e-mail over your shoulder or a friend glances at a cell phone text message from the next seat on the bus. While very little of this is news to anyone—people are now well aware there are video cameras and Internet cookies everywhere—there is abundant evidence that people live their lives ignorant of the monitoring, assuming a mythical level of privacy. People write e-mails and type instant messages they never expect anyone to see. Just ask Mark Foley or even Bill Gates, whose e-mails were a cornerstone of the Justice Department"s antitrust case against Microsoft.And polls and studies have repeatedly shown that Americans are indifferent to privacy concerns. The general defense for such indifference is summed up a single phrase. "I have nothing to hide." If you have nothing to hide, why shouldn"t the government be able to peek at your phone records, your wife see your e-mail or a company send you junk mail It"s a powerful argument, one that privacy advocates spend considerable time discussing and strategizing over.It is hard to deny, however, that people behave different when they"re being watched. And it is also impossible to deny that Americans are now being watched more than at any time in history. Companies like Acxiom or Merlin ______
A. make a profit by acquiring and selling personal information
B. compile telephone directories for local business transaction
C. are law firms specializing in dealing with privacy issues
D. are agencies whose major mission is to protect privacy
Massive changes in all of the world"s deeply cherished sporting habits are underway. Whether it"s one of London"s parks full of people playing softball, and Russians taking up rugby, or the Superbowl rivaling the British Football Cup Final as a televised spectator event in Britain, the patterns of players and spectators are changing beyond recognition. We are witnessing a globalization of our sporting culture.That annual bicycle race, the Tour de France, much loved by the French is a good case in point. Just a few years back it was a strictly continental affair with France, Belgium and Holland, Spain and Italy taking part. But in recent years it has been dominated by Colombian mountain climbers, and American and Irish riders. The people who really matter welcome the shift toward globalization. Peugeot, Michelin and Panasonic are multi-national corporations that want worldwide returns for the millions they invest in teams. So it does them literally a world of good to see this unofficial world championship become just that.This is undoubtedly an economic-based revolution we are witnessing here, one made possible by communications technology, but made to happen because of marketing considerations. Sell the game and you can sell Coca Cola or Budweiser as well.The skilful way in which American football has been sold to Europe is a good example of how all sports will develop. The aim of course is not really to spread the sport for its own sake, but to increase the number of people interested in the major money-making events. The economics of the Superbowl are already astronomical. With seats at US $125, gate receipts alone were a staggering $10,000,000. The most important statistic of the day, however, was the $100,000,000 in TV advertising fees. Imagine how much that becomes when the eyes of the world are watching.So it came as a terrible shock, but not really as a surprise, to learn that some people are now suggesting that soccer change from being a game of two 45-minute halves, to one of four 25-minute quarters. The idea is unashamedly to capture more advertising revenue, without giving any thought for the integrity of a sport which relies for its essence on the flowing nature of the action.Moreover, as sports expand into world markets, and as our choice of sports as consumers also grows, so we will demand to see them played at a higher and higher level. In boxing we have already seen numerous, dubious world title categories because people will not pay to see anything less than a "World Title" fight, and this means that the. title fights have to be held in different countries around the world! Which of the following is NOT related to the massive changes
A. Good economic returns.
B. Revival of traditional games.
Communications technology.
D. Marketing strategies.
《中华人民共和国刑法》第72条第1款规定:“对于被判处拘役、3年以下有期徒刑的犯罪分子,根据犯罪分子的犯罪情节和悔罪表现,适用缓刑确实不致再危害社会的,可以宣告缓刑。”试分析该款法律规定。