
[A] free themes [B] casual style [C] elaborate layout [D] radical viewpoints.
23. Which of the following would Shaw and Newman most probably agree on?
[A] It is writers' duty to fulfill journalistic goals.
[B] It is contemptible for writers to be journalists.
[C] Writers are likely to be tempted into journalism.
[D] Not all writers are capable of journalistic writing.
24. What can be learned about Cardus according to the last two paragraphs?
[A] His music criticism may not appeal to readers today.
[B] His reputation as a music critic has long been in dispute.
[C] His style caters largely to modern specialists.
[D] His writings fail to follow the amateur tradition.
25. What would be the best title for the text?
[A] Newspapers of the Good Old Days
[B] The Lost Horizon in Newspapers
[C] Mournful Decline of Journalism
[D] Prominent Critics in Memory
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 its 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 rights to specific types of online transactions. Later, more 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 firms 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 Court 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-patient
trend at the Supreme Court”, says Harold C. Wegner, a patent attorney and professor at George Washington University
Law School.
26. Business-method patents have recently aroused concern because of _______.