看廣告才能用郵件？

雅虎旗下的Yahoo Mail似乎對瀏覽器裝有廣告阻擋外掛的用戶們不怎么友善，國外網站Digiday揭露，有網友至Adblock Plus官方論壇反應，裝有屏蔽廣告外掛的設備近日卻無法正常開啟Yahoo Mail，會先跳出建議停用外掛的提示。

 

測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識：

employ 采用

PageFair 幫廣告商繞過屏蔽軟件的公司

alienate 疏遠

blur 使模糊

mitigate 減緩

 

閱讀馬上開始，建議您計算一下閱讀整篇文章所用的時間，對照下方的參考值就可以評估出您的英文閱讀水平。

Yahoo testing system to lock out users who employ adblockers（450words）

By Hannah Kuchler in San Francisco,Henry Mance in London and Shannon Bond in New York.

 

Yahoo is testing a way to fight back against people who employ adblockers,denying users access to their email if they refuse to disable a tool that damages the technology company's ability to sell advertising.

 

The Silicon Valley group is running a small trial with Yahoo Mail users in the US,showing them a notice when they try to log in to their inboxes that reads: “Uh oh……We are unable to display Yahoo Mail. Please disable Ad Blocker to continue using Yahoo Mail.”

 

There is no technical reason why the email cannot be displayed. The company is trying to protect its advertising revenue by ensuring people who use its free products can be marketed to — something that using an adblocker prevents.

 

Yahoo said it was “continually developing and testing new product experiences” and would not comment on whether the company was considering a similar approach with its other properties,such as its digital magazines or apps such as Yahoo Weather.

 

More than 200m people use adblocking software worldwide,double the number two years ago,according to data from PageFair and Adobe. Estimates of how much damage adblocking could inflict on the industry vary. PageFair and Adobe said it could cost $22bn in 2015 alone,while analysts at UBS said it would cost $1bn.

 

Digital media companies have been searching for ways to protect their ad revenue without completely alienating adblocking audiences.

 

European broadcaster RTL,which has failed in legal challenges against adblockers,has implemented a system in the Netherlands under which adblocking users can stream television programmes only in black and white.

 

Axel Springer's Bild,the German tabloid and Europe's best-selling newspaper,has prevented adblocking users from viewing its website unless they pay a €2.99 per month subscription,leading many to switch off the software.

 

CityAM,a UK business newspaper,is also trialling blurring web pages for Firefox desktop users who have adblockers installed. It said it had seen no rise in the proportion of users leaving the site within one click — suggesting that adblocking users were likely to only visit one webpage anyway.

 

US media companies are also pushing back against blocking. The Washington Post ran a short experiment in September,asking readers to turn off adblocking software in order to read its articles or encouraging them to subscribe.

 

Hulu,the streaming video service,disables the ability to watch episodes of some shows when an adblocker is enabled.

 

On the New York Times's recent third-quarter earnings call,Mark Thompson,chief executive,said the newspaper had yet to see a big impact from blocking,but added: “We are exploring a number of options,including,but not limited to,technical solutions to mitigate the impact of adblockers should the threat increase.”

 

請根據你所讀到的文章內容，完成以下自測題目：

 

1.What kind of business is damaged by adblockers?

A.lending

B.advertising

C.registering

D.searching

[1] 答案

 

2.How much is that to use Yahoo Mail?

A.free in the first year

B.5 dollars

C.free

D.depends on regions

[2] 答案

 

3.Who had estimated the value damaged by adblocking will up to $1bn?

A.UBS

B.PageFair

C.Adobe

D.Eyeo

[3] 答案

 

4.Who can stream television programmes only in black and white while employing adblockers?

A.American

B.Netherlander

C.British

D.German

[4] 答案

 

[1]答案：B.advertising
解釋：插件對于雅虎的廣告業務是一種打擊。

[2]答案：C.free
解釋：文章第三段，因為這是雅虎免費的產品所以廣告收入尤為重要。

[3]答案：A.UBS
解釋：PageFair和Adobe發布的一份報告稱，廣告攔截軟件在今年將造成全廣告行業近220億美元的損失，盡管UBS給出的數據是10億。

[4]答案：B.Netherlander
解釋：文章后6段描述了荷蘭、英國、美國等媒體運營商在打擊adblockers使用方面的措施。