“This is a really exciting time — a new era is starting,” says Peter Bazalgette, the chief creative officer of Endemol. He is referring to the upsurge of interest in mobile television, a nascent industry at the intersection of telecoms and media which offers new opportunities to device-makers, content producers and mobile-network operators. And he is far from alone in his enthusiasm.Already, many mobile operators offer a selection of television channels or individual shows, which are “streamed” across their third-generation (3G) networks. 41. ______.Meanwhile, Apple Computer, which launched a video-capable version of its iPod portable music-player in October, is striking deals with television networks to expand the range of shows that can be purchased for viewing on the device, including “Lost”, “Desperate Housewives” and “Law & Order”.42. ______. For a start, nobody really knows if consumers will pay for it, though surveys suggest they like the idea. Informa, a consultancy, says there will be 125m mobile-TV users by 2010. But many other mobile technologies inspired high hopes and then failed to live up to expectations. And even if people do want TV on the move, there is further uncertainty in two areas: technology and business models.At the moment, mobile TV is mostly streamed over 3G networks. But sending an individual data stream to each viewer is inefficient and will be unsustainable in the long run if mobile TV takes off. 43. ______.44. ______. That suggests that some shows (such as drama) better suit the download model, while others (such as live news, sports or reality shows) are better suited to real-time transmission. The two approaches will probably co-exist.Just as there are several competing mobile-TV technologies, there are also many possible business models. Mobile operators might choose to build their own mobile-TV broadcast networks; or they could form a consortium and build a shared network; or existing broadcasters could build such networks.The big question is whether the broadcasters and mobile operators can agree how to divide the spoils, assuming there are any. Broadcasters own the content, but mobile operators generally control the handsets, and they do not always see eye to eye. 45.Then there is the question of who will fund the production of mobile-TV content: broadcasters, operators or advertisers Again, the answer is probably “all of the above”.[A] So the general consensus is that 3G streaming is a prelude to the construction of dedicated mobile-TV broadcast networks, which transmit digital TV signals on entirely different frequencies to those used for voice and data. There are three main standards: DVB-H, favoured in Europe; DMB, which has been adopted in South Korea and Japan; and MediaFLO, which is being rolled out in America. Watching TV using any of these technologies requires a TV-capable handset, of course.[B] In contrast, watching downloaded TV programmes on an iPod or other portable video player is already possible today. And unlike a programme streamed over 3G or broadcast via a dedicated mobile-TV network, shows stored on an iPod can be watched on. an underground train or in regions with patchy network coverage.[C] In South Korea, television is also sent to mobile phones via satellite and terrestrial broadcast networks, which is far more efficient than sending video across mobile networks. In Europe, the Italian arm of 3, a mobile operator, recently acquired Channel 7, a television channel, with a view to launching mobile-TV broadcasts in Italy in the second half of 2006.[D] Despite all this activity, however, the prospects for mobile TV are unclear.[E] Assuming the technology and the business models can be sorted out, there is still the tricky matter of content.[F] In South Korea, a consortium of broadcasters launched a free-to-air DMB network last month, but the country’s mobile operators were reluctant to provide their users with handsets able to receive the broadcasts, since they were unwilling to undermine the prospects for their own subscription-based mobile-TV services.[G] The potential for mobile TV is vast, in short — but so is the degree of uncertainty over how it should actually be put into practice. 41
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In 1999, the price of oil hovered around $16 a barrel. By 2008, it had (1) the $100 a barrel mark. The reasons for the surge (2) from the dramatic growth of the economies of China and India to widespread (3) in oil-producing regions, including Iraq and Nigeria’s delta region. Triple-digit oil prices have (4) the economic and political map of the world, (5) some old notions of power. Oil-rich nations are enjoying historic gains and opportunities, (6) major importers — including China and India, home to a third of the world’s population — (7) rising economic and social costs.Managing this new order is fast becoming a central (8) of global politics. Countries that need oil are clawing at each other to (9) scarce supplies, and are willing to deal with any government, (10) how unpleasant, to do it.In many poor nations with oil, the profits are being, lost to corruption, (11) these countries of their best hope for development. And oil is fueling enormous investment funds run by foreign governments, (12) some in the west see as a new threat.Countries like Russia, Venezuela and Iran are well supplied with rising oil (13) , a change reflected in newly aggressive foreign policies. But some unexpected countries are reaping benefits, (14) costs, from higher prices. Consider Germany. (15) it imports virtually all its oil, it has prospered from extensive trade with a booming Russia and the Middle East. German exports to Russia (16) 128 percent from 2001 to 2006.In the United States, as already high gas prices rose (17) higher in the spring of 2008, the issue cropped up in the presidential campaign, with Senators McCain and Obama (18) for a federal gas tax holiday during the peak summer driving months. And driving habits began to (19) , as sales of small cars jumped and mass transport systems (20) the country reported a sharp increase in riders. Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1.4()
A. drawn
B. redrawn
C. retained
D. reviewed
Many people consider the wider use of biofuels a promising way of reducing the amount of surplus carbon dioxide (CO2) being pumped into the air by the world’s mechanized transport. The theory is that plants such as sugar cane, maize (corn, to Americans), oilseed rape and wheat take up CO2 during their growth, so burning fuels made from them should have no net effect on the amount of that gas in the atmosphere.Theory, though, does not always translate into practice, and just as governments have committed themselves to the greater use of biofuels, questions are being raised about how green this form of energy really is. The latest comes from the International Council for Science (ICSU) based in Paris.The ICSU report concludes that, so far, the production of biofuels has aggravated rather than ameliorated global warming. In particular, it supports some controversial findings published in 2007 by Paul Crutzen of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany. Dr. Crutzen concluded that most analyses had underestimated the importance to global warming of a gas called nitrous oxide (N2O). The amount of this gas released by farming biofuel crops such as maize and rape probably negates by itself any advantage offered by reduced emissions of CO2.Although N2O is not common in the Earth’s atmosphere, it is a more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 and it hangs around longer. The result is that, over the course of a century, its ability to warm the planet is almost 300 times that of an equivalent mass of CO2.N2O is made by bacteria that live in soil and water and, these days, their raw material is often the nitrogen-rich fertiliser that modern farming requires. Since the 1960s the amount of fertiliser used by farmers has increased sixfold, and not all of that extra nitrogen ends up in their crops. Maize, in particular, is described by experts in the field as a “nitrogen-leaky” plant because it has shallow roots and takes up nitrogen for only a few months of the year. This would make maize (which is one of the main sources of biofuel) a particularly bad contributor to global N2O emissions.But it is not just biofuels that are to blame. The ICSU report suggests N2O emissions in general are probably more important than had been realised. Previous studies, including those by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations-appointed body of experts, may have miscalculated their significance — and according to Adrian Williams of Cranfield University, in Britain, even the IPCC’s approach suggests that the global-warming potential of most of Britain’s annual crops is dominated by N2O emissions. Scientists realize that maize()
A. contributes little to global N2O emissions.
B. absorbs nitrogen very efficiently in crops.
C. is largely responsible for the surplus N2O.
D. may experience a bad harvest for bacteria.
甲开发公司于2005年7月委托乙建筑公司建造一幢20层五星级酒店。至2006年12月止,甲方共支付乙方工程款14000万元,全楼结构封顶,工程到此停工。此后甲、乙双方为工程款发生纠纷,甲方认为工程款实际发生13000万元,乙方应返还1000万元;乙方则认为工程款实际发生14500万元,甲方尚应再支付500万元。双方争执不下,至2007年3月甲方向法院起诉,法院委托某房地产估价机构对甲方实际应支付给乙方的工程款进行了评估。 如果该开发公司拥有全部合法开发手续,欲将整体项目转让,则估价时点应为( )。
A. 2006年12月
B. 2007年3月
C. 项目转让之日
D. 项目建成之日
赵某2000年10月按房改政策以4万元的成本价购买了一套1998年10月建成的砖混结构公房,房屋的经济寿命为50年,残值率为1.96%,建筑面积为100m2,1998年建筑物的重置价为500元/m2,2000年建筑物重置价格为540元/m2,2006年10月的重置价格为750元/m2,结构相同、楼层相同、装修相同、建筑面积、建成年月相同的商品房的正常转让价格为10万元,请问: 赵某的房屋从1998年10月起至2006年10月止,建筑物在估价上的累计折旧额为( )元(在计算建筑物折旧时,不考虑土地使用期限对建筑物经济寿命的影响)。
A. 8471
B. 11765
C. 7843
D. 10524