Text 1
When executives at Google went looking for Wall Street investment bankers to underwrite the company’s massive initial public offering, they laid down strict terms of engagement: bring us new ideas on how to sell the deal to investors and save the usual political gamesmanship. But with such a huge payday at stake--an estimated $100 million in fees for handling the offering--would you expect all the big firms to play by the Google rules Of course not. Just ask Goldman Sachs.
To win a chunk of the Google business, Goldman, the nation’s premier investment bank, set free its CEO, Hank Paulson, to pull some strings. Paulson is one of Wall Street’s best "call men", who can wave a Palm PDA full of connections when it’s crunch time to bring home a deal. But News week has learned that Paulson tried to sidestep Google’s orders by reaching out to one of Google’s largest investors, Kleiner Perkins, the powerful venture-capital firm that was an early Google backer. The move helped doom Goldman’s efforts to win the lead underwriting spot, which went instead to Credit Suisse First Boston and Morgan Stanley.
Paulson thought his best shot was John Doerr, one of Kleiner’s top partners. Bad move. When word of Paulson’s misstep got back to Google’s top executives, Goldman was quickly bumped from the top of the short list. "The people at Google were such enthusiasts about the rules," said one executive who works at a rival Wall Street firm. "When they heard about this, they went ape." None of the parties involved--Google, Goldman Sachs or Doerr--would comment.
The two winners, CSFB and Morgan Stanley, managed to keep a low profile. John Mack, CSFB’s famously well-connected chief executive, purposely stayed out of the bidding process for fear that he might tip the scales to another player, people with knowledge of the matter say. Meanwhile, new rules for Wall Street research analysts appear to have prevented Mary Meeker, Morgan Stanley’s top Internet analyst, from playing a direct role, even though she and Doerr have done business together for years.
Goldman, meanwhile, can’t blame its loss just on Paulson. People close to the deal say bankers for the firm bragged to Google about the Goldman name, and didn’t generate enough ideas about how to sell shares to investors through an auction. "Their lack of marketing wit may have hurt them more than Paulson," said the executive from a rival firm. Sometimes, it really does pay to play by the rules.
A:they should not unleashed its CEO to pull some strings. B:they should always play by the rules. C:Paulson is not the right person to lead the bank. D:it's vital to have good perception in marketing.
Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension Part A Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing [A], [B], [C] or [D]. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. Text 1 When executives at Google went looking for Wall Street investment bankers to underwrite the company’s massive initial public offering, they laid down strict terms of engagement: bring us new ideas on how to sell the deal to investors and save the usual political gamesmanship. But with such a huge payday at stake--an estimated $100 million in fees for handling the offering--would you expect all the big firms to play by the Google rules Of course not. Just ask Goldman Sachs. To win a chunk of the Google business, Goldman, the nation’s premier investment bank, set free its CEO, Hank Paulson, to pull some strings. Paulson is one of Wall Street’s best "call men", who can wave a Palm PDA full of connections when it’s crunch time to bring home a deal. But News week has learned that Paulson tried to sidestep Google’s orders by reaching out to one of Google’s largest investors, Kleiner Perkins, the powerful venture-capital firm that was an early Google backer. The move helped doom Goldman’s efforts to win the lead underwriting spot, which went instead to Credit Suisse First Boston and Morgan Stanley. Paulson thought his best shot was John Doerr, one of Kleiner’s top partners. Bad move. When word of Paulson’s misstep got back to Google’s top executives, Goldman was quickly bumped from the top of the short list. "The people at Google were such enthusiasts about the rules," said one executive who works at a rival Wall Street firm. "When they heard about this, they went ape." None of the parties involved--Google, Goldman Sachs or Doerr--would comment. The two winners, CSFB and Morgan Stanley, managed to keep a low profile. John Mack, CSFB’s famously well-connected chief executive, purposely stayed out of the bidding process for fear that he might tip the scales to another player, people with knowledge of the matter say. Meanwhile, new rules for Wall Street research analysts appear to have prevented Mary Meeker, Morgan Stanley’s top Internet analyst, from playing a direct role, even though she and Doerr have done business together for years. Goldman, meanwhile, can’t blame its loss just on Paulson. People close to the deal say bankers for the firm bragged to Google about the Goldman name, and didn’t generate enough ideas about how to sell shares to investors through an auction. "Their lack of marketing wit may have hurt them more than Paulson," said the executive from a rival firm. Sometimes, it really does pay to play by the rules.
Goldman might learn a lesson from Google's deal that()A:they should not unleashed its CEO to pull some strings. B:they should always play by the rules. C:Paulson is not the right person to lead the bank. D:it's vital to have good perception in marketing.
How many things can you see in the night sky A lot! On a clear night you might see the Moon, some planets, and thousands of sparkling stars. You can see even more with a telescope.
But scientists believe there are some things in the sky that we will never see. We won’t see them with the biggest telescope in the world, on the clearest night of the year. That’s because they’re invisible. They’re the mysterious dead stars called black holes.
As a star’s gases burn, they give off light and heat. But when the gas runs out, the star stops burning and begins to die.
As the star cools, the outer layers of the star pull in toward the center. The star squashes (挤压) into a smaller and smaller ball. If the star was very small, the star ends up as a cold, dark ball called a black dwarf. If the star was very big, it keeps squashing inward until it’s packed together tighter than anything in the universe.
Imagine if the Earth were crushed until it was the size of a tiny marble. That’s how tightly this dead star, a black hole, is packed. What pulls the star in toward its center with such power It’s the same force that pulls you down when you jump—the force called gravity. A black hole is so tightly packed that its gravity sucks in everything—even light. The light from a black hole can never come back to your eyes. That’s why you see nothing but blackness.
So remember: Scattered in the silent darkness are black holes—the great mystery of space.
A:Because most black holes are so far away. B:Because the gravity of a black hole is so strong that it sucks the light inward. C:Because as the star’s gases burn, it stops giving off heat and light. D:Because as a star cools, its outer layers pull in toward its center.
How many things can you see in the night sky A lot! On a clear night you might see the Moon, some planets, and thousands of sparkling stars. You can see even more with a telescope.
But scientists believe there are some things in the sky that we will never see. We won’t see them with the biggest telescope in the world, on the clearest night of the year. That’s because they’re invisible. They’re the mysterious dead stars called black holes.
As a star’s gases burn, they give off light and heat. But when the gas runs out, the star stops burning and begins to die.
As the star cools, the outer layers of the star pull in toward the center. The star squashes (挤压) into a smaller and smaller ball. If the star was very small, the star ends up as a cold, dark ball called a black dwarf. If the star was very big, it keeps squashing inward until it’s packed together tighter than anything in the universe.
Imagine if the Earth were crushed until it was the size of a tiny marble. That’s how tightly this dead star, a black hole, is packed. What pulls the star in toward its center with such power It’s the same force that pulls you down when you jump--the force called gravity. A black hole is so tightly packed that its gravity sucks in everything--even light. The light from a black hole can never come back to your eyes. That’s why you see nothing but blackness.
So remember: Scattered in the silent darkness are black holes--the great mystery of space.
A:Because most black holes are so far away. B:Because the gravity of a black hole is so strong that it sucks the light inward. C:Because as the star’s gases burn, it stops giving off heat and light. D:Because as a star cools, its outer layers pull in toward its center.
How many things can you see in the night sky A lot! On a clear night you might see the Moon, some planets, and thousands of sparkling stars. You can see even more with a telescope.
But scientists believe there are some things in the sky that we will never see. We won’t see them with the biggest telescope in the world, on the clearest night of the year. That’s because they’re invisible. They’re the mysterious dead stars called black holes.
As a star’s gases burn, they give off light and heat. But when the gas runs out, the star stops burning and begins to die.
As the star cools, the outer layers of the star pull in toward the center. The star squashes (挤压) into a smaller and smaller ball. If the star was very small, the star ends up as a cold, dark ball called a black dwarf. If the star was very big, it keeps squashing inward until it’s packed together tighter than anything in the universe.
Imagine if the Earth were crushed until it was the size of a tiny marble. That’s how tightly this dead star, a black hole, is packed. What pulls the star in toward its center with such power It’s the same force that pulls you down when you jump--the force called gravity. A black hole is so tightly packed that its gravity sucks in everything--even light. The light from a black hole can never come back to your eyes. That’s why you see nothing but blackness.
So remember: Scattered in the silent darkness are black holes--the great mystery of space.
Why can’t you see light when you look at a black hole
A:Because most black holes are so far away. B:Because the gravity of a black hole is so strong that it sucks the light inward. C:Because as the star’s gases burn, it stops giving off heat and light. D:Because as a star cools, its outer layers pull in toward its center.
Passage Two
It seems to shine unchangingly, pouring
out a constant light year after year. But the sun may not be nearly so stable as
we suppose, It is now thought to move quickly and irregularly and change in
long-term cycles, growing dimmer and then brighter with each passing year. Some
even fear that its frequent changing behavior would have a great influence on
the Earth’s climate. The source of the sun’s inconstancy is magnetism. Professor William Livingston has developed new theories about its magnetic nature. "We don’t yet know what causes sun spots, "he says, "but we now think they’re areas of high-level magnetism that come up from the sun’s interior. So strong is their magnetic pull that the highly ionized gas nearby is not able to transmit energy out." As a result these areas send out less heat and light and thus appear from Earth to be almost dark irregular surface patches. Sun spot activity generally fluctuates in steady, 11-year cycled. Scientists have long formed the opinion that as the size and number of sun spots increased, the overall energy sent out by the sun would decrease. Indeed, recent studies confirmed it, revealing that during peak periods of sun spot activity, the Earth experiences a small drop that can be seen clearly in received solar energy. Could such a small drop in energy have an effect here on earth Perhaps some scientists think the world temperature could fall by as much as 0.2 during periods of high solar magnetism... enough to cause significant fluctuations in weather patterns. |
A:The sun shines constantly and gives out the same amount of energy every year. B:The cause of the sun’s fluctuations is its loss of energy with each passing year. C:It is sure that the energy sent out by the sun will drop when more sun spots appear. D:Fluctuations in weather patterns are the results of the pull of gravity.
How many things can you see in the night sky A lot! On a clear night you might see the Moon, some planets, and thousands of sparkling stars. You can see even more with a telescope.
But scientists believe there are some things in the sky that we will never see. We won’t see them with the biggest telescope in the world, on the clearest night of the year. That’s because they’re invisible. They’re the mysterious dead stars called black holes.
As a star’s gases burn, they give off light and heat. But when the gas runs out, the star stops burning and begins to die.
As the star cools, the outer layers of the star pull in toward the center. The star squashes (挤压) into a smaller and smaller ball. If the star was very small, the star ends up as a cold, dark ball called a black dwarf. If the star was very big, it keeps squashing inward until it’s packed together tighter than anything in the universe.
Imagine if the Earth were crushed until it was the size of a tiny marble. That’s how tightly this dead star, a black hole, is packed. What pulls the star in toward its center with such power It’s the same force that pulls you down when you jump--the force called gravity. A black hole is so tightly packed that its gravity sucks in everything--even light. The light from a black hole can never come back to your eyes. That’s why you see nothing but blackness.
So remember: Scattered in the silent darkness are black holes--the great mystery of space.
A:Because most black holes are so far away. B:Because the gravity of a black hole is so strong that it sucks the light inward. C:Because as the star’s gases burn, it stops giving off heat and light. D:Because as a star cools, its outer layers pull in toward its center.
We are so used to our life on the surface of the earth that it can be quite an effort for our mind to break free of all the ideas that we take for granted. Because we can feel that things are heavy, we think of "weight" as being a fixed quality in an object, but it is not really fixed at all. If you could take a one-pound packet of butter 4,000 miles out from the earth, it would weigh only a quarter of a pound.
Why would things weigh only a quarter as much as they do at the surface of the earth if we took them 4,000 miles out into space The reason is this: All objects have a natural attraction for all other objects; this is called gravitational attraction. But this power of attraction between two objects gets weaker as they get farther apart. When the butter was at the surface of the earth, it was 4,000 miles from the center. When we took the butter 4,000 miles out, it was 8,000 from the center, which is twice the distance. If you double the distance between two objects, their gravitational attraction decreases four times (two times two). If you treble the distance, it gets nine times weaker (three times three) and so on.
So this is one of the first things we need to remember: that the weight of an object in space is not the same as its weight on the surface of the earth.
What about the weight of our pound of butter on the surface of the moon At the distance the pull of the earth is about 4,000 times smaller than it is here on the surface, so we can forget all about the earth-pull on our butter.
On the other hand, on the moon there will be an attraction between the butter and the moon, but the butter will weigh only about one-sixth as much as it does on the earth. This is because the moon is so much smaller than the earth. The amount of gravitational pull that a body produces depends on the amount of material in it. A packet of butter has a gravitational pull of its own; but this is very small in relation to the pull of something as large as the moon, or the earth, or the sun.
A:it is too small to have a gravitational pull of its own B:its pull is so small that we tend to ignore it C:its pull disappears in the presence of the earth’s gravitation D:it tends to melt and loses its gravitational pull
We do not feel the gravitational pull of a packet of butter because
A:it is too small to have a gravitational pull of its own. B:its pull is so small that we tend to ignore it. C:its pull disappears in the presence of the earth's gravitation. D:it tends to melt and loses its gravitational pull.
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