黑暗版阅读真题解析

Wild Bill Donovan would have loved the Internet. TheAmerican spymaster who built the Office of Strategic Services inthe World War Ⅱand later laid the roots for the CIA was fascinated withinformation. Donovan believed in using whatever toolscame to hand in the "great game" of espionage — spying as a"profession". These days the Net, which has already re-made sucheveryday pastimes as buying books and sending mail, is reshaping Donovan'svocation as well.

The latest revolution isn't simply a matter of gentlemenreading other gentlemen's e-mail. That kind of electronic spying has been goingon for decades. In the past three or four years, the World Wide Web has givenbirth to a whole industry of point-and-click spying. The spookscall it "open-source intelligence", and as the Net grows, itis becoming increasingly influential. In 1995 the CIA held a contest to see whocould compile the most data aboutBurundi. The winner, by a largemargin, was a tinyVirginiacompany called Open Source Solutions, whose clear advantage was its mastery ofthe electronic world.

Among the firms making the biggest splash in this new world is Straitford,Inc., a private intelligence-analysis firm based inAustin,itford makes money by selling the results of spying (covering nations fromChiletoRussia) to corporations likeenergy-services firm McDermott International. Many of its predictionsare available online at.

Straiford president George Friedman says he sees the online worldas a kind of mutually reinforcing tool for both informationcollection and distribution, a spymaster's dream. Last week his firm wasbusy vacuuming up data bits from the far corners of the world and predictinga crisis inUkraine."As soon as that report runs, we'll suddenly get 500 new Internet sign-upsfromUkraine,"says Friedman, a former political science professor. "And we'll hear backfrom some of them." Open-source spying does have its risks, of course,since it can be difficult to tell good information from bad. That's whereStraitford earns its keep.

Friedman relies on a lean staff of20 ral of his staff members have military-intelligence backgrounds. He seesthe firm's outsider status as the key to its success. Straitford's briefs don'tsound like the usualWashingtonback-and-forthing, whereby agencies avoid dramatic declarations on thechance they might be wrong. Straitford, says Friedman, takes pride inits independent voice.

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41. The emergenceof the Net has ________.

[A] received support from fans like Donovan

[B] remolded the intelligence services

[C] restored many common pastimes

[D] revived spying as a profession

42. Donovan's storyis mentioned in the text to ________.

[A] introduce the topic of online spying

[B] show how he fought for the US

[C] give an episode of the information war

[D] honor his unique services to the CIA

43. The phrase"making the biggest splash" (line 1, paragraph 3) most probably means________.

[A] causing the biggest trouble

[B] exerting the greatest effort

[C] achieving the greatest success

[D] enjoying the widest popularity

44. It can belearned from paragraph 4 that ________.

[A] Straitford's prediction about Ukraine has proved true

[B] Straitford guarantees the truthfulness of its information

[C] Straitford's business is characterized by unpredictability

[D] Straitford is able to provide fairly reliable information

45. Straitford ismost proud of its ________.

[A] official status

[B] nonconformist image

[C] efficient staff

[D] military background