考研英语阅读命题思路透析和真题揭秘(44)

It used to be so straightforward. A team of researchers working together in the laboratory would submit the results of their research to a journal. A journal editor would then remove the authors' names and affiliations from the paper and send it to their peers for review. Depending on the comments received, the editor would accept the paper for publication or decline it. Copyright rested with the journal publisher, and researchers seeking knowledge of the results would have to subscribe to the journal.

No longer. The Internet-and pressure from funding agencies, who are questioning why commercial publishers are making money from government-funded research by restricting access to it- is making access to scientific results a reality. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has just issued a report describing the far-reaching consequences of this. The report, by John Houghton of Victoria University in Australia and Graham Vickery of the OECD, makes heavy reading for publishers who have, so far, made handsome profits. But it goes further than that. It signals a change in what has, until now, been a key element of scientific endeavor.

The value of knowledge and the return on the public investment in research depends, in part, upon wide distribution and ready access. It is big business. In America, the core scientific publishing market is estimated at between $7 billion and $11 billion. The International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers says that there are more than 2,000 publishers worldwide specializing in these subjects. They publish more than 1.2 million articles each year in some 16,000 journals.

This is now changing. According to the OECD report, some 75% of scholarly journals are now online. Entirely new business models are emerging; three main institutional subscribers pay for access to a collection of online journal titles through site-licensing agreements. There is open-access publishing, typically supported by asking the author (or his employer) to pay for the paper to be published. Finally, there are open-access archives, where organizations such as universities or international laboratories support institutional repositories. Other models exist that are hybrids of these three, such as delayed open-access, where journals allow only subscribers to read a paper for the first six months, before making it freely available to everyone who wishes to see it. All this could change the traditional form of the peer-review process, at least for the publication of papers.

28. According to the text, online publication is significant in that
[A] it provides an easier access to scientific results.
[B] it brings huge profits to scientific researchers.
[C] it emphasizes the crucial role of scientific knowledge.
[D] it facilitates public investment in scientific research.

[答案] A

[解题思路]

从全文来看，文章第一段重点地介绍了传统的出版方式，这种方式使科学工作者只有订购了该科学杂志才可以获得科学的结果。文章第二段介绍一种新型的出版方式--网络出版，使得科技人员容易获得科学结果。第三段谈到科学的价值和投资回报取决于杂志的发行量和易获得性。第四段具体介绍了这一新趋势的主要出版模式。因此，文章的中心是关于一种新的出版方式，以及它给科学杂志出版带来的影响--可以更方便的获得科学结果。可以确定正确答案为A选项。

[题目译文]

根据本文，网上出版的重要意义在于
[A] 它使得人们获得科学研究成果更加方便
[B] 它给科学研究者们带来了巨大的利润
[C] 它强调科学知识的重要作用
[D] 它使得对科学研究领域进行公共投资更加方便