Court rules Rain pay $8M

       The agents for South Korean star Rain said they are discussing with their lawyers after a US court ordered him to pay more than $ 8 million for calling off a concert in Honolulu in 2007, AFP reported Friday. "This is a result we would never have expected," Jung Wook of JYP Entertainment said. "We will decide our future course of legal action with lawyers in a few days."

Sony freezes staff pay

       Japanese electronics firm Sony Corp. said Thursday it has decided to freeze its workers' salaries(薪金) for the year starting from April 1 to improve profitability, Reuters reported. The workers' bonuses(獎(jiǎng)金) will also be lowered to 4 months' pay from 6 months, and managers' yearly bonuses will be dropped by 10-20%.

Newspaper goes Web-only

       The New York-based Hearst Corp. declared Monday it would publish its last print edition of the 146-year-old newspaper the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Tuesday and move its operation completely online. The newspaper said delivery would be stopped to about 118,000 weekday readers. Hearst had put the Seattle P-I up for sale since January, but there was no buyer. It is not clear how many of the paper's 150 employees will lose their jobs.

EU has high hopes for US message to Iran

       In a videotaped message marking Nowruz—the Persian New Year, Mr. Obama said US seeks a future with Iran that includes renewed exchanges and greater opportunities for partnership and economy.

       The European Union is hopeful that U.S. President Barack Obama’s message to Iran can help improve relations between Teheran and much of the world.

       EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in Brussels Friday that the broadcast could help open “a new chapter” for relations with Iran. He also talked about U.S.’s relations with Japan and Korea.

1．Who was fined for not doing things as promised?

       A．Rain.                                                  B．The Seattle Post- Intelligencer.

       C．Sony Corp.                                         D．The New York-based Hearst corp.

2．The Japanese electronics firm has decided to           .

       A．drop the workers’ bonuses by 20% at most

       B．lower the workers’ bonuses to 4 months’ pay

       C．freeze its managers’ salaries starting from April 1

       D．reduce the managers’ yearly bonuses to 6 months’ pay

3．The Seattle Post- Intelligencer Probably will        .

       A．try to sell itself at a lower price

       B．cut the number of its employees

       C．increase the price of its print edition

       D．stop its online edition next Tuesday

4．From Mr. Obama’s message we know        .

       A．relations between Japan and US will be strengthened

       B．US will open “a new chapter” for relations with Korea

       C．US will improve its relations with Iran in economy

       D．Iran has good relations with the rest of the world