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On Open Policy

Selling Digital Music without Copy-protection Makes Sense

A.　It was uncharacteristically low-key for the industry’s greatest showman. But the essay published this week by Steve Jobs, the boss of Apple, on his firm’s website under the unassuming title “Thoughts on Music” has nonetheless provoked a vigorous debate about the future of digital music, which Apple dominates with its iPod music-player and iTunes music-store. At issue is “digital rights management” (DRM)—the technology guarding downloaded music against theft. Since there is no common standard for DRM, it also has the side-effect that songs purchased for one type of music-player may not work on another. Apple’s DRM system, called FairPlay, is the most widespread. So it came as a surprise when Mr. Jobs called for DRM for digital music to be abolished.

B.　This is a change of tack for Apple. It has come under fire from European regulators who claim that its refusal to license FairPlay to other firms has “locked in” customers. Since music from the iTunes store cannot be played on non-iPod music-players (at least not without a lot of fiddling), any iTunes buyer will be deterred from switching to a device made by a rival firm, such as Sony or Microsoft. When French lawmakers drafted a bill last year compelling Apple to open up FairPlay to rivals, the company warned of “state-sponsored piracy”. Only DRM, it implied, could keep the pirates at bay.

C.　This week Mr. Jobs gave another explanation for his former defence of DRM: the record companies made him do it. They would make their music available to the iTunes store only if Apple agreed to protect it using DRM. They can still withdraw their catalogues if the DRM system is compromised. Apple cannot license FairPlay to others, says Mr Jobs, because it would depend on them to produce security fixes promptly. All DRM does is restrict consumer choice and provide a barrier to entry, says Mr Jobs; without it there would be far more stores and players, and far more innovation. So, he suggests, why not do away with DRM and sell music unprotected? “This is clearly the best alternative for consumers,” he declares, “and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat.”

D.　Why the sudden change of heart? Mr Jobs seems chiefly concerned with getting Europe’s regulators off his back. Rather than complaining to Apple about its use of DRM, he suggests, “those unhappy with the current situation should redirect their energies towards persuading the music companies to sell their music DRM-free.” Two and a half of the four big record companies, he helpfully points out, are European-owned. Mr Jobs also hopes to paint himself as a consumer champion. Apple resents accusations that it has become the Microsoft of digital music.

E.　Apple can afford to embrace open competition in music players and online stores. Consumers would gravitate to the best player and the best store, and at the moment that still means Apple’s. Mr Jobs is evidently unfazed by rivals to the iPod. Since only 3% of the music in a typical iTunes library is protected, most of it can already be used on other players today, he notes. (And even the protected tracks can be burned onto a CD and then re-ripped.) So Apple’s dominance evidently depends far more on branding and ease of use than DRM-related “lock in”.

F.　The music giants are trying DRM-free downloads. Lots of smaller labels already sell music that way. Having seen which way the wind is blowing, Mr Jobs now wants to be seen not as DRM’s defender, but as a consumer champion who helped in its downfall. Wouldn’t it lead to a surge in piracy? No, because most music is still sold unprotected on CDs, people wishing to steal music already can do so. Indeed, scrapping DRM would probably increase online-music sales by reducing confusion and incompatibility. With the leading online store, Apple would benefit most. Mr Jobs’s argument, in short, is transparently self-serving. It also happens to be right.

Notes to Reading Passage 1

1. low-key:

抑制的，受约束的，屈服的

2. showman:

开展览会的人, 出风头的人物

3. unassuming:

谦逊的, 不夸耀的, 不装腔作势的

4. iPod：

(苹果公司出产的)音乐播放器

5. iTunes store：

(苹果公司出产的)在线音乐商店

6. get off person’s back:

不再找某人的麻烦，摆脱某人的纠缠

7. gravitate:

受吸引，倾向于

8. unfazed:

不再担忧，不被打扰

Questions 1-7

Do the following statemets reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 1?

Write your answer in Boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

TRUE if the statement reflets the claims of the writer

FALSE if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer

NOT GIVEN if it is impossbile to say what the writer thinks about this

1. Apple enjoys a controlling position in digital music market with its iPod music-player and iTunes music-store.

2. DRM is a government decree issued with a purpose to protect downloaded music from theft by consumers.

3. Lack of standardization in DRM makes songs bought for one kind of music player may not function on another.

4. Apple has been criticized by European regulators since it has refused to grant a license FairPlay to other firms.

5. All music can be easily played on non-iPod music devices from Sony or Microsoft without too much fiddling.

6. Apple depends far more on DRM rather than branding for its dominance of the digital music devices.

7. If DRM was cancelled, Sony would certainly dominate the international digital music market.

Questions 8-10

Choose the appropriate letters A-D and write them in boxes 8-10 on your answe sheet.

8. Which of the following statements about Mr. Jobs’ idea of DRM is NOT TRUE?

A. DRM places restrictions on consumer’ choice of digital music products available.

B. DRM comples iTunes buyers to switch to a device made by Sony or Microsoft.

C. DRM constitutes a barrier for potential consumers to enter digital music markets.

D. DRM hinders development of more stores and players and technical innovation.

9. The word “unfazed” in line 3 of paragraph E, means___________.

A. refused

B. welcomed

C. not bothered

D. not well received

10. Which of the following statements is TRUE if DRM was scapped?

A. Sony would gain the most profit.

B. More customers would be “locked in”.

C. A sudden increase in piracy would occur.

D. Online-music sales would probably decrease.

Questions 11-14

Complete the notes below.

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Reading Passage 1 for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 11-14 on your answer sheet.

Mr. Steve Jobs, the boss of Apple, explains the reason why he used to defend DRM, saying that the company was forced to do so: the record companies would make their music accessible to …11...only if they agreed to protect it using DRM; they can still…12…if the DRM system is compromised. He also provides the reason why Apple did not license FairPlay to others: the company relies on them to …13….But now he changes his mind with a possible expectation that Europe’s regulators would not trouble him any more in the future. He proposes that those who are unsatisfactory with the current situation in digital music market should …14… towards persuade the music companies to sell their music DRM-free.

new weapon to fight cancer

1. British scientists are preparing to launch trials of a radical new way to fight cancer, which kills tumours by infecting them with viruses like the common cold.

2. If successful, virus therapy could eventually form a third pillar alongside radiotherapy and chemotherapy in the standard arsenal against cancer, while avoiding some of the debilitating side-effects.

3. Leonard Seymour, a professor of gene therapy at Oxford University, who has been working on the virus therapy with colleagues in London and the US, will lead the trials later this year. Cancer Research UK said yesterday that it was excited by the potential of Prof Seymour’s pioneering techniques.

4. One of the country’s leading geneticists, Prof Seymour has been working with viruses that kill cancer cells directly, while avoiding harm to healthy tissue. "In principle, you’ve got something which could be many times more effective than regular chemotherapy," he said.

5. Cancer-killing viruses exploit the fact that cancer cells suppress the body’s local immune system. "If a cancer doesn’t do that, the immune system wipes it out. If you can get a virus into a tumour, viruses find them a very good place to be because there’s no immune system to stop them replicating. You can regard it as the cancer’s Achilles’ heel."

6. Only a small amount of the virus needs to get to the cancer. "They replicate, you get a million copies in each cell and the cell bursts and they infect the tumour cells adjacent and repeat the process," said Prof Seymour.

7. Preliminary research on mice shows that the viruses work well on tumours resistant to standard cancer drugs. "It’s an interesting possibility that they may have an advantage in killing drug-resistant tumours, which could be quite different to anything we’ve had before."

8. Researchers have known for some time that viruses can kill tumour cells and some aspects of the work have already been published in scientific journals. American scientists have previously injected viruses directly into tumours but this technique will not work if the cancer is inaccessible or has spread throughout the body.

9. Prof Seymour’s innovative solution is to mask the virus from the body’s immune system, effectively allowing the viruses to do what chemotherapy drugs do - spread through the blood and reach tumours wherever they are. The big hurdle has always been to find a way to deliver viruses to tumours via the bloodstream without the body’s immune system destroying them on the way.

10. "What we’ve done is make chemical modifications to the virus to put a polymer coat around it - it’s a stealth virus when you inject it," he said.

11. After the stealth virus infects the tumour, it replicates, but the copies do not have the chemical modifications. If they escape from the tumour, the copies will be quickly recognised and mopped up by the body’s immune system.

12. The therapy would be especially useful for secondary cancers, called metastases, which sometimes spread around the body after the first tumour appears. "There’s an awful statistic of patients in the west ... with malignant cancers; 75% of them go on to die from metastases," said Prof Seymour.

13. Two viruses are likely to be examined in the first clinical trials: adenovirus, which normally causes a cold-like illness, and vaccinia, which causes cowpox and is also used in the vaccine against smallpox. For safety reasons, both will be disabled to make them less pathogenic in the trial, but Prof Seymour said he eventually hopes to use natural viruses.

14. The first trials will use uncoated adenovirus and vaccinia and will be delivered locally to liver tumours, in order to establish whether the treatment is safe in humans and what dose of virus will be needed. Several more years of trials will be needed, eventually also on the polymer-coated viruses, before the therapy can be considered for use in the NHS. Though the approach will be examined at first for cancers that do not respond to conventional treatments, Prof Seymour hopes that one day it might be applied to all cancers.

Questions 1-6

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage? For questions 1-6 write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage

1.Virus therapy, if successful, has an advantage in eliminating side-effects.

2.Cancer Research UK is quite hopeful about Professor Seymour’s work on the virus therapy.

3.Virus can kill cancer cells and stop them from growing again.

4.Cancer’s Achilles’ heel refers to the fact that virus may stay safely in a tumor and replicate.

5.To infect the cancer cells, a good deal of viruses should be injected into the tumor.

6.Researches on animals indicate that virus could be used as a new way to treat drug-resistant tumors.

Question 7-9

Based on the reading passage, choose the appropriate letter from A-D for each answer.

7.Information about researches on viruses killing tumor cells can be found

(A) on TV

(B) in magazines

(C) on internet

(D) in newspapers

8.To treat tumors spreading out in body, researchers try to

(A) change the body’ immune system

(B) inject chemotherapy drugs into bloodstream.

(C) increase the amount of injection

(D) disguise the viruses on the way to tumors.

9.When the chemical modified virus in tumor replicates, the copies

(A) will soon escape from the tumor and spread out.

(B) will be wiped out by the body’s immune system.

(C) will be immediately recognized by the researchers.

(D) will eventually stop the tumor from spreading out.

Questions 10-13

Complete the sentences below. Choose your answers from the list of words. You can only use each word once.

NB There are more words in the list than spaces so you will not use them all.

In the first clinical trials, scientists will try to ……10…… adenovirus and vaccinia, so both the viruses will be less pathogenic than the ……11…….These uncoated viruses will be applied directly to certain areas to confirm safety on human beings and the right ……12…… needed. The experiments will firstly be ……13……to the treatment of certain cancers