题目内容
Attacking an increasingly popular Internet business practice, a consumer watchdog group Monday filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, asserting that many online search engines are concealing the impact special fees have on search results by Internet users. Commercial Alert, a 3-year-old group founded by consumer activist Ralph Nader, asked the FFC to investigate whether eight of the Web's largest search engines are violating federal laws against deceptive advertising.
The group said that the search engines are abandoning objective formulas to determine the order of their listed results and selling the top spots to the highest bidders without making adequate disclosures to Web surfers. The complaint touches a hot-button issue affecting tens of millions of people who submit search queries each day. With more than 2 billion pages and more than 14 billion hyperlinks on the Web, search requests rank as the second most popular online activity after E-mail.
The eight search engines named in Commercial Alert's complaint are: MSN, owned by Microsoft; Netscape, owned by AOL Time Warner; Directhit, owned by Ask Jeeves; HotBot and Lycos, both owned by Terra Lycos; Altavista, owned by CMGI; LookSmart, owned by LookSmart; and iWon, owned by a privately held company operating under the same name.
Portland, Ore.-based Commercial Alert could have named more search engines in its complaint, but focused on the biggest sites that are auctioning off' spots in their results, said Gary Ruskin, the group's executive director.
"Search engines have become central in the quest for learning and knowledge in our society. The ability to skew (扭曲) the results in favor of hucksters (小贩) without telling consumers is a serious problem." Ruskin said. By late Monday afternoon, three of the search engines had responded to The Associated Press' inquiries about the complaint. Two, LookSmart and AltaVista, denied the charges. Microsoft spokesman Matt Pilla said MSN is delivering" compelling search results that people want."
The FTC had no comment about the complaint Monday. The complaint takes aim at the new business plans embraced by more search engines as they try to cash in on their pivotal (关键) role as Web guides and reverse a steady stream of losses. To boost revenue, search engines in the past year have been accepting payments from businesses interested in receiving a higher ranking in certain categories or ensuring that their sites are reviewed more frequently.
The consumer group complained about ______.
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【C14】
Which of the following statement is NOT true？
Which of the following is NOT the mason for D.H. Lawrence's family settling down in Eastwood？
Hurricanes are violent storms that cause millions of dollars in property damage and take many lives. They can be extremely dangerous, and too often people underestimate their fury.
Hurricanes normally originate as a small area of thunderstorms over the Atlan6c Ocean west of the Cape Verde Islands during August or September. For several days, the area of the storm increases and the air pressure falls slowly. A center of low pressure forms, and winds begin to whirl around it. It is blown westward, increasing in size and strength.
Hurricane hunters then fly out to the storm in order to determine its size and intensity and to track its direction. They drop instruments for recording temperature, air pressure, and humidity (温度), into the storm. They also look at the size of waves on the ocean, the clouds, and the eye of the storm. The eye is a region of relative calm and clear skies in the center of the hurricane. People often lose their lives by leaving shelter when the eye has arrived, only to be caught in tremendous winds again when the eye has passed.
Once the forecasters have determined that it is likely the hurricane will reach shore, they issue a hurricane watch for a large, general area that may be in the path of the storm. Later, when the probable point of landfall is clearer, they will issue a hurricane warning for a somewhat more limited area. People in these areas are wise to stock up on nonperishable foods, flash light and radio batteries, candles, and other items they may need if electricity and water are not available after the storm. They should also try to hurricane-proof their houses by bringing in light-weight furniture and other items from outside and covering windows. People living in low-lying areas are wise to evacuate their houses because of the storm surge, which is a large rush of water that may come ashore with the storm. Hurricanes generally lose power slowly while traveling over land, but many move out to sea, gather up force again, and return to land. As they move toward the north, they generally lose their identity as hurricanes.
The eye of the hurricane is ______.
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