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. (40 points)

Text 2

Over the past decade, thousands of patents have been granted for what are called business methods. Amazon.com received one for its “one-click” online payment system. Merrill Lynch got legal protection for an asset allocation strategy. One inventor patented a technique for lifting a box.

Now the nation’s top patent court appears completely ready to scale back on business-method patents, which have been controversial ever since they were first authorized 10 years ago. In a move that has intellectual-property lawyers abuzz the U.S. court of Appeals for the federal circuit said it would use a particular case to conduct a broad review of business-method patents. In re Bilski , as the case is known , is “a very big deal”, says Dennis’D. Crouch of the University of Missouri School of law. It “has the potential to eliminate an entire class of patents.”

Curbs on business-method claims would be a dramatic about-face, because it was the federal circuit itself that introduced such patents with is 1998 decision in the so-called state Street Bank case, approving a patent on a way of pooling mutual-fund assets. That ruling produced an explosion in business-method patent filings, initially by emerging internet companies trying to stake out exclusive pinhts to specific types of online transactions. Later, move established companies raced to add such patents to their files, if only as a defensive move against rivals that might beat them to the punch. In 2005, IBM noted in a court filing that it had been issued more than 300 business-method patents despite the fact that it questioned the legal basis for granting them. Similarly, some Wall Street investment films armed themselves with patents for financial products, even as they took positions in court cases opposing the practice.

The Bilski case involves a claimed patent on a method for hedging risk in the energy market. The Federal circuit issued an unusual order stating that the case would be heard by all 12 of the court’s judges, rather than a typical panel of three, and that one issue it wants to evaluate is whether it should” reconsider” its state street Bank ruling.

The Federal Circuit’s action comes in the wake of a series of recent decisions by the supreme Count that has narrowed the scope of protections for patent holders. Last April, for example the justices signaled that too many patents were being upheld for “inventions” that are obvious. The judges on the Federal circuit are “reacting to the anti_ patent trend at the supreme court” ,says Harole C.wegner, a partend attorney and professor at aeorge Washington University Law School.

26. Business-method patents have recently aroused concern because of

[A] their limited value to business

[B] their connection with asset allocation

[C] the possible restriction on their granting

[D] the controversy over authorization

27. Which of the following is true of the Bilski case?

[A] Its ruling complies with the court decisions

[B] It involves a very big business transaction

[C] It has been dismissed by the Federal Circuit

[D] It may change the legal practices in the U.S.

28. The word “about-face” (Line 1, Paro 3) most probably means

[A] loss of good will

[B] increase of hostility

[C] change of attitude

[D] enhancement of dignity

29. We learn from the last two paragraphs that business-method patents

[A] are immune to legal challenges

[B] are often unnecessarily issued

[C] lower the esteem for patent holders

[D] increase the incidence of risks

30. Which of the following would be the subject of the text?

[A] A looming threat to business-method patents

[B] Protection for business-method patent holders

[C] A legal case regarding business-method patents

[D] A prevailing trend against business-method patents

Text 3

In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Aladuell argues that social epidemics are driven in large part by the acting of a tiny minority of special individuals, often called influentials, who are unusually informed, persuasive, or well-connected. The idea is intuitively compelling, but it doesn’t explain how ideas actually spread.

The supposed importance of influentials derives from a plausible sounding but largely untested theory called the “two step flow of communication”: Information flows from the media to the influentials and from them to everyone else. Marketers have embraced the two-step flow because it suggests that if they can just find and influence the influentials, those selected people will do most of the work for them. The theory also seems to explain the sudden and unexpected popularity of certain looks, brands, or neighborhoods. In many such cases, a cursory search for causes finds that some small group of people was wearing, promoting, or developing whatever it is before anyone else paid attention. Anecdotal evidence of this kind fits nicely with the idea that only certain special people can drive trends

In their recent work, however, some researchers have come up with the finding that influentials have far less impact on social epidemics than is generally supposed. In fact, they don’t seem to be required of all.

The researchers’ argument stems from a simple observing about social influence, with the exception of a few celebrities like Oprah Winfrey-whose outsize presence is primarily a function of media, not interpersonal, influence-even the most influential members of a population simply don’t interact with that many others. Yet it is precisely these non-celebrity influentials who, according to the two-step-flow theory, are supposed to drive social epidemics by influencing their friends and colleagues directly. For a social epidemic to occur, however, each person so affected, must then influence his or her own acquaintances, who must in turn influence theirs, and so on; and just how many others pay attention to each of these people has little to do with the initial influential. If people in the network just two degrees removed from the initial influential prove resistant, for example from the initial influential prove resistant, for example the cascade of change won’t propagate very far or affect many people.

Building on the basic truth about interpersonal influence, the researchers studied the dynamics of populations manipulating a number of variables relating of populations, manipulating a number of variables relating to people’s ability to influence others and their tendency to be influenced. Our work shows that the principal requirement for what we call “global cascades”- the widespread propagation of influence through networks - is the presence not of a few influentials but, rather, of a critical mass of easily influenced people, each of whom adopts, say, a look or a brand after being exposed to a single adopting neighbor. Regardless of how influential an individual is locally, he or she can exert global influence only if this critical mass is available to propagate a chain reaction.

31.By citing the book The Tipping Point, the author intends to

[A]analyze the consequences of social epidemics

[B]discuss influentials’ function in spreading ideas

[C]exemplify people’s intuitive response to social epidemics

[D]describe the essential characteristics of influentials.

32.The author suggests that the “two-step-flow theory”

[A]serves as a solution to marketing problems

[B]has helped explain certain prevalent trends

[C]has won support from influentials

[D]requires solid evidence for its validity

33.what the researchers have observed recently shows that

[A] the power of influence goes with social interactions

[B] interpersonal links can be enhanced through the media

[C] influentials have more channels to reach the public

[D] most celebrities enjoy wide media attention

34.The underlined phrase “these people” in paragraph 4 refers to the ones who

[A] stay outside the network of social influence

[B] have little contact with the source of influence

[C] are influenced and then influence others

[D] are influenced by the initial influential

35.what is the essential element in the dynamics of social influence?

[A]The eagerness to be accepted

[B]The impulse to influence others

[C]The readiness to be influenced

[D]The inclination to rely on others