As shocking as this utter failure may be to the nearly 1 billion faithful Facebook users around the world, it's no surprise to anyone who read the initial public offering (IPO) prospectus (首次公開募股說明書). Worse still, all the crises that emerged when the company debuted-overpriced shares, poor corporate governance, huge challenges to the core business, and a damaged brand-remain today. Facebook looks like a prime example of what Wall Street calls a falling knife-that is, one that can cost investors their fingers if they try to catch it.

　　Start with the valuation(估值). To justify a stock price close to the lower end of the projected range in the IPO, say $ 28 a share, Facebook's future growth would have needed to match that of Google seven years earlier. That would have required increasing revenue by some 80 percent annually and maintaining high profit margins all the while.

　　That's not happening. In the first half of 2012, Facebook reported revenue of $ 2.24 billion, up 38 percent from the same period in 2011. At the same time, the company's costs surged to $ 2.6 billion in the six-month period.

　　This so-so performance reflects the Achilles' heel of Facebook's business model, which the company clearly stated in a list of risk factors associated with its IPO: it hasn't yet figured out how to advertise effectively on mobile devices, The number of Facebook users accessing the site on their phones surged by67 percent to 543 million in the last quarter, or more than half its customer base.

　　Numbers are only part of the problem. The mounting pile of failure creates a negative feedback loop that threatens Facebook's future in other ways. Indeed, the more Facebook's disappointment in the market is catalogued, the worse Facebook's image becomes. Not only does that threaten to rub off on users, it's bad for recruitment and retention of talented hackers, who are the lifeblood of Zuckerberg's creation.

　　Yet the brilliant CEO can ignore the sadness and complaints of his shareholders thanks to the super- voting stock he holds. This arrangement also was fully disclosed at the time of the offering. It's a pity so few investors apparently bothered to do their homework.

　　1. What can be inferred about Facebook from the first paragraph?

　　A.Its market meltdown has been easily halted.

　　B.It has increased trade with the newspaper industry.

　　C.It has encountered utter failure since its stock debut.

　　D.Its shareholders have invested $ 50 billion in a social network.

　　2. The crises Facebook is facing_____

　　A.have been disclosed in the IPO prospectus

　　B.are the universal risks Wall Street confronts

　　C.disappoint its faithful users

　　D.have existed for a long time

　　3. To make its stock price reasonable, Facebook has to____

　　A.narrow the IPO price range

　　B.cooperate with Google

　　C.keep enormously profitable

　　D.invest additional $ 2.6 billion

　　4. It can be inferred from the context that the "Achilles' heel" (Line 1, Para. 5) refers to____

　　A.deadly weakness

　　B.problem unsolved

　　C.indisputable fact

　　D.potential risk

　　5. What effect will Facebook's failure in the market have?

　　A.Its users' benefits will be threatened.

　　B.Talented hackers will take down the website.

　　C.The CEO will hold the super-voting stock.

　　D.The company's innovation strength will be damaged.

　　1.C)。定位：由題干定位到原文第一段。

　　詳解：推理判斷題。本題考查第一段的主旨大意。此種題型可以使用排除法，將各選項代入原文來驗證對錯。A)“臉譜網的市場崩潰已被輕而易舉地制止了”，原文開篇指出，說臉譜網的市場崩潰將要結束未免太簡單了.A)與原文不符，故排除;B)“臉譜網增加了與報紙業之間的商務往來”，原文首段末句plus that of… 中的that指的是value，意指臉譜網自登陸納斯達克以來，損失的價值等同于幾個大型互聯網企業加上大部分報業價值的總和，B)與原文不符，故排除;C)“臉譜網自股票上市以來遭遇了巨大失敗”，由第一段中的 burned，lost等詞可以推斷臉譜網上市后遭遇了巨大失敗，故為答案;D)“臉譜網的股東們投資了500億美元給一家社交網”是對第一段第二句話的錯誤理解，故排除。

　　2.D)。定位：由題干中的crises和Facebook定位到原文第二段第二句：Worne still，all the cnses姒emerged when the company debuted--overpriced shares，poor corporate governance，huge challenges to the core business，and a damaged brand--remain today.

　　詳解：事實細節題。D)‘‘已經存在很長時間了”，與定位句中remain today的意思相同，故為答案。 A)“已經顯示在公開募股說明書中”，第二段首句只是提到看過臉譜網公開募股說明書的人對其失敗不會感 到震驚，并未表明臉譜網在其公開募股說明書中公開了所面l臨的危機，屬于推斷過度，故排除;B)“是華爾街所面臨的普遍危機”和C)“使得忠實用戶對其失望”原文均未提及，故排除。

　　3.C)。定位：由題干中的stock price和Facebook定位到原文第三段第二、三句：To justify a stock price close to the lower end of the projected range in the IP0…That would have required increasing revenue by some 80 percent annually and maintaining high profit margins all the while.

　　詳解：事實細節題。本題考查臉譜網如何才能使其制定的股價合理，題干中的reasonable對應原文中的justify。定位句提到，要實現接近其公開募股說明書上的較低股價，比如每股28美元，這就要求臉譜網年收益增長要高達80%，并始終保持高利潤率，故答案為c)。A)“縮小公開募股中的價格范圍，，原文未提及，故排除;B)“和谷歌進行合作”，原文只是提到要實現接近其公開募股說明書上的較低股價，臉譜網未來的發展將必須達到7年前谷歌那樣的增長規模，故排除;D)“再投資26億美元”，文中26億美元是臉譜網上半年的運 營成本而不是投資，故排除。

　　4.A)。定位：由題干定位到原文第五段第一句：This S0—SO performance renects The Achilles，heel of Facebook’s business model…

　　詳解：語義理解題。本段提到，臉譜網現在還未解決如何有效地在移動設備上做廣告這一問題，而用手機登錄其網站的用戶數量卻不斷飆升，且文章通篇語義色彩都是消極的，故可推出此處應指臉譜網商業模式中的致命軟肋，故答案為A)。

　　5.D)。定位：由題于中的Facebook’s failure in the market定位到原文倒數第二段最后兩旬：Indeed, the more Facebook’s disappointment in the market is catalogued…it’s bad for recruitment and reterItion of talented hackers，who are the lifeblood of Zuckerberg’s creation.

　　詳解：推理判斷題。由定位句可知，臉譜網在市場上的失意不僅會影響到用戶，還會影響招募和挽留天才 黑客，而這些人正是扎克伯格創造力的命脈。由此推知，臉譜網的創新力會因其市場失意而受到損害，故答案為D)。A)“會威脅用戶的利益”，定位句中的run off on tlser8意指“影響用戶數量”，故排除;B)“天才黑客們會攻擊其網站”原文未提及，故排除;C)“執行總裁會持有帶超級投票權的股票”是最后一段提到的一個事實，而非臉譜網市場失意帶來的影響，故排除。