2. 外语
  3. Go to iTunes or Rhapsody and search for "Beatles" and where do you wind up? Nowhere, man. The greatest rock group ever doesn’t s

Go to iTunes or Rhapsody and search for "Beatles" and where do you wind up? Nowhere, man. The greatest rock group ever doesn’t s

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问题     Go to iTunes or Rhapsody and search for "Beatles" and where do you wind up? Nowhere, man. The greatest rock group ever doesn’t sell its songs online. That’s why the managing director of the Beatles’ record label, Neil Aspinall, made a stir recently when he revealed that the Fab Four were finally planning to sell their songs on Internet stores --but only after a long-term project of remastering the songs was completed.
    During their heyday, the mop tops could get away with anything (like selling watered-down versions of their U.K. albums in America, or "Revolution No. 9"). But the Beatles today (the living members and heirs of George and John) don’ t seem to understand that even they can’ t control the Internet. A glimpse of their thinking came in 2004, when the group considered going online with a service other than iTunes. Microsoft was building an Internet store to compete with iTunes, and the Fab Four’s people actually discussed terms with the Softies. According to a source close to the negotiations (who would not be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue), the Beatles wanted $15 million for starters -- not as an advance against royalties, but a cash payout-- for a window of exclusivity that would end after 90 days. After that the Beatles would be free to sell their songs everywhere else on the Net. Even worse, the Beatles demanded that their tunes be treated differently from any other songs in the store. "It would be a walled garden, a Beatles store within the store," the source told me. "If you bought a Beatles song, you’d go immediately to checkout and wouldn’t be able to add anyone else’s songs to the purchase." This approach is antithetical to what makes an online music store successful -- it must be so convenient and delightful that people pay for what is available on the file-sharing services free of charge. Microsoft walked away.
    The Beatles’ stance only hurts the band. Their obstinacy has not deterred millions of fans from loading Beatles music on computers and MP3 players -- it just means that no one pays for the songs. Even George W. Bush has figured out how to get Beatles songs on his iPod. People simply rip the CDs they already own into iTunes or other jukebox software. Or they use their friends’ CDs. Or they grab the songs online; according to the market-research firm NPD Group, the Beatles are the fifth most popular band among illegal downloaders.
    During the mania years of the 1960s, John Lennon once described the Beatles as being bigger than Jesus. But in 2006, the Internet is bigger than the Beatles. Instead of fighting the Net, the Beatles can use it to reinvigorate their glory. What happened to "We can work it out"?  
Among the following statements, ______ best sums up the main idea of the passage.
选项 A、Beatles finally realized that in order to sell their music well, they have to go to the Internet
B、the example of Beatles illustrates that even they cannot control the Internet
C、there is fierce competition between iTunes and Microsoft in online music store
D、Beatles are fighting hard to sell their music online
答案B
解析 大意理解概括。文章主要通过披头士乐队的例子来说明一个道理，网络提供给人们的是一种便利的自由的选择，即使是披头士也无法控制网络。文章通过具体描述Beatles上网的经历说明了这样一个现象。
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