Cheating is nothing new． But it's becoming a lot more sophisticated． Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin was caught out once． A photo taken after the speech she'd given on a "return to conservative principles" showed her left hand covered with crib notes． These included the words "energy， budget cuts， tax" and "lift Americans" spirits"． The word "budget" had been crossed out． Video footage also showed her reading from her hand when asked what top three things a conservative-led congress should do． Writing notes on your hand is one way to cheat in an exam． But these days， it's a lot easier …especially with the Internet．
Anyone who wants to cheat in an exam can probably find the answers online． There are hundreds of sites offering solutions to all sorts of tests． And it's a lucrative business． One operator in Oregon made ﹩700，000 in about nine months before his arrest． The owner of a website in Ohio pocketed more than ﹩300，000． And a famous overseas site is estimated to sell about 146，000 sets of answers and take in about ﹩10 million per year． Actually， getting hold of the exam answers isn't that hard． Some do the exam themselves and use button cameras or document-scanning pens to copy the tests． Others organize for a group to take tests repeatedly until they can memorize the entire exam between them． Others simply bribe exam administrators．
At the moment， such business is booming． More and more companies now require their employees to take professional exams． And hundreds of businesses and trade organizations have introduced formal certification programs to measure employee skills． In the US alone， at least 2 million exams are taken every year for information technology certification． But employees also have to take exams for all sorts of professions from crane operators to court reporters to school bus drivers and financial planners． Test officials estimate that hundreds of thousands of test-takers have used the Internet to buy answers for professional tests． And a recent survey found that 28 percent of test centres had at least one cheating incident over the last five years． In one incident， tens of thousands of soldiers obtained answers to tests in a range of military skills．
Many see this as a cause for concern． Many tests are for work in sensitive areas such as defence installations and hospitals． Now， how would you feel if you knew that the people in charge of the computers controlling nuclear weapons might have cheated in their tests， and may not really know what they're doing？



Why does the author mention Sarah Palin in the first paragraph？ ______

A. To exhibit the fact that cheating is common in various fields．
B. To discourage average people from writing notes on their hands．
C. To show much disagreement as to cheating among political leaders．
D. To introduce the negative influences of cheating in front of the public．

The underlined word "lucrative" in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to ______ ．

A. ripe
B. stable
C. profitable
D. fresh

What is the main cause of more cases of cheating？ ______

A. The formation of employee skills．
B. The availability of information technology．
C. The popularity of the cheating industry．
D. The requirement of taking professional exams．