III. 阅读理解
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从文后所给各题的四个选项中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
When you turn on the radio, you hear an advertisement. When you watch television, you hear and see an advertisement. If you turn the pages of a newspaper or magazine, again you find a advertisement. If you walk down the street, you see one advertisement board after another. All day, every day, people who want to sell something compete to catch your attention. As a result, advertisements are almost everywhere.
In the West, advertisements are the fuel that makes mass media（媒体）work. Many TV stations, newspapers, magazines, radio stations are privately（私人）owned. The government does not give them money. So where does the money come from? From advertisements. Without advertisements, there would not be these private businesses.
Have you ever asked yourself what advertising is? Through the years, people have given different answers to the question. For some time it was felt that advertising was a means of “keeping your name before the public.” And some people thought that advertising was “truth well told.” Now more and more people tend to define（定义） it in this way: Advertising is the paid, nonpersonal, and usually persuasive presentation of goods, services and ideas by identified sponsors through various media.
First, advertising is usually paid for. Various sponsors（赞助商） pay for the ads we see, read, and hear over the various media. Second, advertising is nonpersonal. It is not face-to-face communication. Although you may feel that a message in a certain advertisement is aimed directly at you, in reality, it is directed at large groups of people. Third, advertising is usually persuasive. Directly or indirectly it urges people to do something. All advertisements try to convince（说服） people that the product, idea, or service advertised can benefit them. Fourth, the sponsor of the advertisement must be identified. From the advertisement, we can see if the sponsor is a corporation, or a committee, or an individual. Fifth, advertising reaches us through traditional and non-traditional mass media. Included in the traditional media are newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and films. Non-traditional media include the mail, matchbox covers, and billboards.
1. The existence of the privately owned mass media depends financially on the support of ____ .
A. the government   B. their owners’ families    C. advertisements    D. the audience
2. The passage seems to say that different definitions of advertising are given due to __ ____.
A. the change of time             B. the subject of the advertisements
C. people’s age difference         D. people’s different perspectives (角度)
3. According to the passage, who are most probably paying for the advertisements? __ ____.
A. Corporations.    B. Committees.    C. Individuals.     D. All of the above.
4. According to the passage, which of the following statements about the features of advertisements is NOT true? _____.
A. Advertising must be honest and amusing   B. Advertising is meant for large groups of people
C. There is the description of things advertised  D. The sponsors are always mentioned