题目内容:
Passage TwoQuestions are based on the following passage.
AOL Time Warner is ramping up its bid for digital domination at a dicey: moment. For one thing,the company's mammoth competitors are hardly ceding the field and some of them are backing rival technologies. Last week News Corp's Rupert Murdock reportedly moved closer to adding Hughes Electronics and its Direct TV service to his global satellite-television operation - a development that, if successful, will
represent a formidable challenge to AOL Time Warner.
Also, as the economy weakens, consumers may not be willing to take on a jumbo cable bill. And the demand for the sexy new entertainment offerings is uncertain. Chatting and e-mail - not watching film clips or online shopping - remain the killer for most wired warriors. Finally, after countless false starts by the media industry, consumers are skeptical about yet one more promise of a seamless interactive service. In fact, Time Warner lost tens of millions in 1994 by launching its much-hyped "full service network" in Orlando.
But AOL Time Warner argues that the world is vastly different from what it once was. The technology gets continuously proven, with the rebuilt cable system being able to easily handle rivers of data. Also, the price of the computer chips that power the set-top boxes has plunged. (In orlando, Time Warner had to pay thousands of dollars for each set-top box; now the cost is $300.) The company's early results are encouraging.
Since the spring 1999, more than 1.7 million customers have signed up for its digital-cable, without which Time Warner can't market video on demand. Road Runner, meanwhile, has attracted about more than I million customers since 1996 and now the signing up is more than 20,000 a week.
Now the company is plotting to use the cable pipes to storm the multibillion-dollar phone business. Time Warner Cable has tapped the Portland operation for a test of its so-called internet telephone services. As a user surfs the Net over Road Runner and watches digital television, he may call a buddy across town, all over a single cable line.
After waiting a whole year for the mega merger to be approved, AOL Time Warner executives are exhilarated to finally implement their grand plans. "This is the fun part," says Joe Collins, the chief of Time Warner Cable, of the forthcoming blizzard of digital offerings. With a $116 billion merger on the line, this cable guy had better hope that the fun will last out.
注意:此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
The word "dicey" in Paragraph one means _____. A.just the right and thrilling
B.rather awkward and bewildering
C.slightly dangerous and uncertain
D.fairly dramatic and critical
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