¡¡¡¡Text 3

¡¡¡¡Media mogul Ted Turner yesterday sold more than half of his AOL Time Warner Inc. holdings for about $780 million, a move that reflects his efforts to slash his financial stake in the media giant.

¡¡¡¡After the close of regular trading yesterday, Turner sold a block of 60 million shares to Goldman Sachs & Co. for $13ª±07 per share, or 31 cents below the stock¡¯s closing price yesterday. Goldman was said by Wall Street sources to be offering the stock to major investors for $13.15.

¡¡¡¡An outspoken critic of the corporation, Turner remains AOL Time Warner¡¯s largest individual shareholder, with 45 million shares, and a member of its board of directors. A spokeswoman for Turner referred questions to AOL Time Warner.

¡¡¡¡At his peak Turner owned about 130 million shares, but he lost billions of dollars in wealth and grew bitter after the stock plunged following the merger of America Online and Time Warner in January 2001.

¡¡¡¡Turner, who initially supported the merger, later expressed outrage over revelations that America Online had manipulated its financial results. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating AOL, and the corporation has acknowledged discovering tens of millions of dollars of overstated revenue.

¡¡¡¡Turner resigned as vice chairman earlier this year and has been spending less of his time on AOL Time Warner matters. He stepped down after achieving his goal of pressuring America Online founder Steve Case to resign as the corporation¡¯s chairman. Case said he was giving up the post to avoid a bruising public battle for reelection at next week¡¯s annual meeting.

¡¡¡¡In the effort to oust Case, Turner teamed up with Gordon Crawford, the senior media portfolio manager at Capital Research & Management, the largest institutional shareholder in AOL Time Warner. Capital Research has indicated it will vote against Case¡¯s election to remain on the board of directors next week¡ªa position that analysts said should not affect the outcome. Turner, meanwhile, has said he will support the management slate that includes Case and will make Richard D. Parsons the company¡¯s chairman and chief executive.

¡¡¡¡Turner, a visionary who started Cable News Network, is in the midst of rolling out a new chain of restaurants, Ted¡¯s Montana Grill, featuring bison burgers. He recently moved his residence from Georgia to Florida for estate-planning purposes and is spending time and money on his independent film company, which lost millions of dollars on a lengthy movie about the Civil War.

¡¡¡¡31. From the first three paragraphs, we learn that        .

¡¡¡¡A. Goldman has made a profit from this transaction of shares with Turner

¡¡¡¡B. Turner always expresses his dissatisfaction with the corporation openly

¡¡¡¡C. Goldman bought the block of shares in order to become a member of the board

¡¡¡¡D. Turner sold a large portion of his shares to retreat from the media business

¡¡¡¡32. Turner became extremely angry because         .

¡¡¡¡A. he had to sell a large portion of his shares to Goldman at a loss

¡¡¡¡B. the merger covered the dissatisfactory financial results of AOL

¡¡¡¡C. American Online was found to have exaggerated its revenue

¡¡¡¡D. he lost billions of dollars in wealth due to the stock¡¯s going low

¡¡¡¡33. All of the following about Case are true EXCEPT         .

¡¡¡¡A. he stepped down from the post of the founder of AOL

¡¡¡¡B. he used to be the chairman of AOL Time Warner

¡¡¡¡C. he had to resign from his post under pressure from Turner and Crawford

¡¡¡¡D. he will meet with opposition from Capital Research to remain on the board

¡¡¡¡34. The last paragraph shows that         .

¡¡¡¡A. Turner¡¯s interest is presently centered on chain restaurants

¡¡¡¡B. Turner is such a changeable person on business matters

¡¡¡¡C. Turner will never give up his independent film company

¡¡¡¡D. Turner is a businessman full of imagination

¡¡¡¡35. The best title for this passage could be         .

¡¡¡¡A. Turner makes a series of new decisions

¡¡¡¡B. Turner shows his anger at AOL Time Warner

¡¡¡¡C. Turner comes down from his peak in business

¡¡¡¡D. Turner slashes his financial stake in AOL Time Warner

¡¡¡¡Text 4

¡¡¡¡The U.S. Supreme Court¡¯s decision Monday to let stand a ruling in an online defamation case will make it more difficult to determine correct legal jurisdictions in other Internet cases, legal experts said.

¡¡¡¡By opting not to take the case, the high court effectively endorsed a lower court¡¯s decision that a Colorado company that posts ratings of health plans on the Internet could be sued for defamation in a Washington court. The lower court ruling is one of several that makes it easier for plaintiffs to sue Web site operators in their own jurisdictions, rather than where the operators maintain a physical presence.

¡¡¡¡The case involved a defamation suit filed by Chehalis, Wash.ª²based Northwest Healthcare Alliance against Lakewood, Colo.£­based Healthgrades.com. The Alliance sued in Washington federal court after Healthgrades.com posted a negative ranking of Northwest Healthcare¡¯s home health services on the Internet. Healthgrades.com argued that it should not be subject to the jurisdiction of a court in Washington because its publishing operation is in Colorado.

¡¡¡¡Observers said the fact that the Supreme Court opted not to hear the case only clouds the legal situation for Web site operators.

¡¡¡¡Geoff Stewart, a partner at Jones Day in Washington, D.C., said that the Supreme Court eventually must act on the issue, as Internet sites that rate everything from automobile dealerships to credit offers could scale back their offerings to avoid lawsuits originating numerous jurisdictions.

¡¡¡¡Online publishers also might have to worry about being dragged into lawsuits in foreign courts, said Dow Lohnes & Albertson attorney Jon Hart, who has represented the Online News Association.

¡¡¡¡¡°The much more difficult problems for U.S. media companies arise when claims are brought in foreign countries over content published in the United States,¡± Hart said. Hart cited a recent case in which an Australian court ruled that Dow Jones must appear in a Victoria, Australia court to defend its publication of an article on the U.S.ª²based Wall Street Journal Web site.

¡¡¡¡According to Hart, the potential chilling effect of those sorts of jurisdictional decisions is substantial. ¡°I have not yet seen publishers holding back on what they otherwise publish because they¡¯re afraid they¡¯re going to get sued in another country, but that doesn¡¯t mean it won¡¯t happen if we see a rash of U.S. libel cases against U.S. media companies being brought in foreign countries,¡± he said.

¡¡¡¡Until the high court decides to weigh in directly on this issue, Web site operators that offer information and services to users located outside of their home states must deal with a thorny legal landscape, said John Morgan, a partner at Perkins Coie LLP and an expert in Internet law.

¡¡¡¡36. The author seems to believe that the Supreme Court¡¯s decision         .

¡¡¡¡A. puts Web site operators at a legal disadvantage

¡¡¡¡B. renders correct legal decisions in other cases impossible

¡¡¡¡C. brings about a series of incorrect legal rulings

¡¡¡¡D. causes operators to issue balanced health plans

¡¡¡¡37. Healthgrades.com claimed that it shouldn¡¯t be sued in Washington because         .

¡¡¡¡A. its headquarters are in Colorado

¡¡¡¡B. it doesn¡¯t have a physical presence in Washington

¡¡¡¡C. its rating didn¡¯t have a harmful effect on the company

¡¡¡¡D. its operation was carried out in Washington area

¡¡¡¡38. According to Geoff Stewart, the high court¡¯s decision will         .

¡¡¡¡A. make further acts on this issue difficult

¡¡¡¡B. originate numerous offerings of jurisdictions

¡¡¡¡C. cause Internet sites to be more cautious in their offerings

¡¡¡¡D. make providers of information go crazy

¡¡¡¡39. Hart cited a case in an Australian court to indicate that         .

¡¡¡¡A. the high court should weigh in immediately on the issue

¡¡¡¡B. problems for American media companies are getting more difficult

¡¡¡¡C. the jurisdictional decision will have a chilling effect on companies

¡¡¡¡D. American online publishers might be sued in foreign courts

¡¡¡¡40. The author writes this passage mainly to show that         .

¡¡¡¡A. the Supreme Court¡¯s ruling is incorrect

¡¡¡¡B. legal problems are far from over

¡¡¡¡C. Internet legal borders are still not clear

¡¡¡¡D. uncertainties exist about validity of Web sites