Section Ⅲ 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 1

　　Wild Bill Donovan would have loved the Internet. The American spymaster who built the Office of Strategic Services in the World War II and later laid the roots for the CIA was fascinated with information. Donovan believed in using whatever tools came to hand in the “great game ” of espionage—spying as a “profession.” These days the Net, which has already re�瞞ade pastimes as buying books and sending mail, is reshaping Donovan’s vocation as well.

　　The latest revolution isn’t simply a matter of gentlemen reading other gentlemen’s E�瞞ail. That kind of electronic spying has been going on for decades. In the past three or four years, the World Wide Web has given birth to a whole industry of point�瞐nd�瞔lick spying. The spooks call it “open source intelligence” and as the Net grows, it is becoming increasingly influential. In 1995 the CIA held a contest to see who could compile the most data about Burundi. The winner, by a large margin, was a tiny Virginia company called Open�睸ource Solutions，whose clear advantage was its mastery of the electronic world.

　　Among the firms making the biggest splash in the new world is Straitford, Inc., a private intelligence�瞐nalysis firm based in Austin, Texas. Straitford makes money by selling the results of spying (covering nations from Chile to Russia) to corporations like energy�瞫ervices firm McDermott International. Many of its predictions are available online at www.straitford.com.

　　Straifford president George Friedman says he sees the online world as a kind of mutually reinforcing tool for both information collection and distribution, a spymaster’s dream. Last week his firm was busy vacuuming up data bits from the far corners of the world and predicting a crisis in Ukraine.“ As soon as that report runs, we’ll suddenly get 500 new internet sign�瞮ps from Ukraine,” says Friedman, a former political science professor. “And we’ll hear back from some of them.” Open�瞫ource spying does have its risks, of course, since it can be difficult to tell good information from bad. That’s where Straitford earns its keep.

　　Friedman relies on a lean staff in Austin. Several of his staff members have military�瞚ntelligence backgrounds. He sees the firm’s outsider status as the key to its success. Straitford’s briefs don’t sound like the usual Washington back�瞐nd�瞗orthing, whereby agencies avoid dramatic declarations on the chance they might be wrong. Straitford, says Friedman, takes pride in its independent voice.

　　王爾德·比爾·多諾萬肯定會喜歡網絡，這位美國間諜首腦曾經在第二次世界大戰期間建立了戰略事務辦公室，后來又為中央情報局的成立打下了基礎，他對情報情有獨鐘。多諾萬相信，在諜報職業這個“大型游戲”中可以利用任何手段。如今，互聯網已經改變了諸如買書、發郵件這樣的日常消遣，同樣它也正在重塑著多諾汶所從事的這個職業。

　　最近的這次變革不僅限于閱讀他人的電子郵件，那種電子間諜活動已經持續了數十年。在過去的三、四年中，國際互聯網產生出了一種叫做點擊諜報的新行當。間諜們稱之為“公開渠道情報”。隨著互聯網的發展，該行業的影響也日漸壯大。1995年，美國中央情報局舉辦了一場競賽，看誰能夠搜集到關于“布隆迪”的最多情報。以極大優勢勝出的是弗吉尼亞的一家名為“公開來源解決方案”的小公司，它的明顯優勢就在于對電子世界的全面把握。

　　在這個新領域中最引人注目的是斯特福德公司，它是一家位于德克薩斯州奧斯汀市的私人情報分析公司。該公司的業務是將(覆蓋從智利到俄羅斯等國家的)情報銷售給“麥克德莫國際”之類的能源公司。它的許多分析預測都可以從網站www.straitford.com上查閱。

　　該公司的總裁喬治·弗萊德曼說，網絡世界是一個收集情報和發送情報的工具，兩者之間還能相互強化，是間諜頭子夢寐以求的場所。上周，他的公司正在忙于整理從遙遠的世界另一角收集的零散信息，并預測在烏克蘭將發生一場危機。“一旦這個報告發布，我們將收到500個來自烏克蘭用戶的申請，”一位前政治科學教授弗萊德曼說，“我們將聽到其中一些人的回應”。當然這種公開渠道的諜報活動也有其風險，因為很難區分信息的真偽，而這正是斯特福德公司謀生之所在。

　　弗萊德曼在奧斯汀市僅雇用20個雇員，其中幾人具有軍事情報工作背景。他把公司的“局外人”地位視為其成功的關鍵。斯特福德公司的簡報聽上去不像華盛頓當局的簡報那樣含糊其辭，政府機構避免發布引人注目的言論，以防出錯。弗萊德曼說，斯特福德公司為其獨立的聲音而感到自豪。