Throughout history, music spread among people of different cultures. In today's technological advanced society, however, people spread music online, sometimes without an artist's permission. This can lead to many problems, and music companies are now cracking down on this practice. Sharing music online without permission is theft.
Sharing music online prevents recording companies from making money from their efforts. They say that sharing music online has resulted in a huge drop in profits and sales over the past 10 years. People who find music for free online are not paying for CDs or every MP3 downloaded. To truly understand the influence of music piracy on creators, one must understand how many people are involved in the recording process. For the sale of each album, profits must be shared between musicians, sound engineers, music producers, managers, advertisers, and the company selling the product. Many people believe sharing music only affects the recording artist, but the reality is that sharing hurts business for all companies involved.
There are many people who don't see the harm in sharing music online and even think they have the right to do it. One online blogger states that he originally paid for an entire CD and that he should be able to do with the material whatever he wants. While he may have legally paid for the music, he does not have the right to provide permission, which means people like the blogger are thieves.
Although we don't spread today's music the same way we did before, there's no doubt that people around the world love to share music. However, internet piracy would prevent musicians from continuing producing albums for fear of theft. Therefore, if people want to continue listening to their favorite artists, they need to buy their music so that artists will make enough profit to continue their music careers.
8．The underlined phrase “cracking down on” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.
A．bringing up carefully B．speaking highly of
C．dealing seriously with D．destroying completely
9．We can learn from the text that ________.
A．sharing music files online affects a lot of people
B．artists are taking action to protect their right
C．online music sharing increases sales of music CD
D．a person who bought a CD has the right to share it online with others
10．How is the text organized?
A．Topic-Argument-Explanation.
B．Introduction-Supporting statements-Conclusion.
C．Main idea-Comparison-Supporting statements.
D．Opinion-Discussion-Description.
11．What is the author’s attitude toward music piracy?
A．Indifferent. B．Favorable. C．Disapproval. D．Skeptical.
 
CABC