Several years ago, when someone used camera covers to protect against possible monitoring, it was not popular to talk about it. Today, people use various types of tapes to cover the web cameras and microphones.
There are many types of spyware that can dive into our devices and secretly spy on them, recording everything they do. Such programs may infect not only computers but also smartphones. Your data may be used by hackers who will try to request money for not exposing your private information or by companies like NSO Group who created the Pegasus spyware to “provide authorized governments with technology that helps struggle against terror and crime”.
In my opinion, the described protection technique is highly overestimated. Users tape cameras and microphones due to the lack of understanding of how their devices work and how malware(恶意软件)works. Hackers and even secret services do not have enough resources to monitor all victims using cameras or microphones. If they need to yet any information, they get it by sending a targeted malware to your device, which will not be stopped by the tapes. Such a virus will find what to steal -from personal photos and videos to passwords from social networks, browser history, bank accounts and much more.
It is unwise to believe that attackers will not be able to find a way to spy on you, even if the device, discharged to zero, can still deliver data about your location, using the smartphones of the surrounding people as signal repeaters. Let us face it. we live in an era when it is extremely difficult to hide something and a piece of tape is clearly not the most useful tool in the struggle for your privacy.
Again, to be able to spy on you, attackers need to plant malware in your device. To prevent malware from entering your device, do not click suspected links and email attachments. Use strong passwords for email, social media and online banking accounts.
1. What does the underlined word “them” in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Cameras. |
| B．Types. |
| C．Programs. |
| D．Devices. |
| A．group of hackers. |
| B．A company developing spyware. |
| C．A group of terrorists and criminals. |
| D．A company fighting against crime. |
| A．People know little about their devices. |
| B．Hackers have no access to others. |
| C．It hardly prevents malware from getting privacy. |
| D．It can't cover the cameras completely. |
| A．Protecting privacy on devices. |
| B．Rising trend of using tapes. |
| C．Monitoring devices via cameras. |
| D．Avoiding clicking distrustful links. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】The Google Brain team has been working on computing systems called “neural networks”—systems that were designed based on how neurons work in the human brain.
This time, they gave a mission to three of the neural networks, which they named Alice, Bob and Eve. Each of the networks had its own job—Alice sent messages to Bob, Eve tried to “eavesdrop”(偷听) and find out the messages, and Alice and Bob had to figure out a way to hide the messages from Eve. All the help that Alice and Bob got from the researchers before the mission began was made up of a set of numbers, which Eve didn’t have access to.
At first, Alice was not very good at sending secret messages. But slowly it worked on a way to encrypt(加密) them—putting information into a special code so that others could not understand it if they got the information—using he numbers given by researchers. And after practice, Bob also came to be able to decrypt(解密) Alice’s messages. Without the numbers or keys, Eve failed to understand Alice’s “speech” most of the time.
This test is considered a big step in the development of computers’ learning skills. “Computing with neural networks on this scale has only become possible in the last few years, so we truly are at the beginning of what’s possible, ” Joe Sturonas of US encryption company PKWARE told New Scientist magazine.
Unfortunately, the test happened only one week after UK physicist Stephen Hawking, While speaking at Cambridge University, warned how AI(artificial intelligence)could develop a will of its own. This could be “either the best or the worst thing ever to happen to human being”, he said.
But just as Sturonas pointed out, no matter what the possibilities of computers are in the future, they are just starting out. We still have plenty of time to work out a solution before they get anywhere near becoming a threat to humanity.
1. For what purpose was the test conducted?| A．To study how neurons work in the human brain. |
| B．To study how computing systems work and learn. |
| C．To find out a more effective way to keep secrets. |
| D．To find out a more powerful way to break the codes. |
| A．encrypting—messages—code—messages—decrypting |
| B．messages—encrypting—code—decrypting—messages |
| C．code—messages—encrypt—decrypting—messages |
| D．messages—code—decrypting—encrypting—messages |
| A．AI must be a blessing. | B．AI should be forbidden. |
| C．AI is sure to be a failure. | D．AI is a double-edged sword. |
| A．Hopeful. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Puzzled. | D．Panicked. |
【推荐2】A poll of 2,000 UK adults found more than one third (36%) admit to rarely, or never, reading cookies or terms and conditions online before accepting them. And of those who do, 38% spend a mere 30 seconds or less scanning through. About 31% simply can’t be bothered to read the small print, while about one quarter (26%) claim they do not have the time.
It also emerged that 85% have accepted cookies on a website without reading the policies or making any changes, and that 62% will accept despite not knowing what they are agreeing to.
The research was commissioned (委托) by Avast, which has teamed up with baking star Prue Leith to help educate Internet users about digital cookies. She has created a limited run of her chocolate chip cookies, which are free for people to order online and come with tips and tricks on how to scan the digital kind of cookies.
Prue Leith said, “While recent times have highlighted the importance of being connected online, it’s also never been more important for people to feel safe while doing so. Many people of all ages, but particularly of my generation, aren’t as familiar with certain aspects of the Internet, and this of course includes digital cookies. This can prove to be a barrier to learning about everything that being online has to offer, so I am absolutely delighted to be working with Avast to help people understand what cookies are and how they work.”
The survey also found half of adults are “fed up” with being asked to accept cookies when landing on a web page, although 30% find it helpful that cookies remember information such as passwords and preferences. But 29% are confused by cookie policies, and 70% even believe websites intentionally try to confuse them with the language they use. However, over two thirds (68%) feel they could be risking their online privacy when accepting a “cookie policy” without reading it. As a result, three quarters (75%) think Internet users need to be better educated on what is included in cookie policies.
1. Prue Leith baked a limited run of cookies to ________.| A．promote her baked products online. | B．offer free cookies to people in need. |
| C．maintain the cooperation with Avast. | D．spread the knowledge on digital cookies. |
| A．By conducting polls. | B．By listing statistics. |
| C．By exploring phenomenon and nature. | D．By analyzing causes and effects. |
| A．The side effects of leaking personal privacy. |
| B．The gravity of fully accepting digital cookies. |
| C．The drawbacks of overlooking digital cookies |
| D．The specific tips on how to read digital cookies. |
| A．To remind netizens to pay more attention to digital cookies. |
| B．To appeal to consumers to be concerned about the online tricks. |
| C．To advocate caring for the generation unfamiliar with the Internet. |
| D．To advise the Internet companies to revise digital cookies policies. |
【推荐3】The first time I heard about my classmates engaging with social media was in the fourth grade. A lot of my friends and classmates had excitedly jumped onto platforms like Instagram at such a young age. On the other hand, I hesitated. I only knew the basics, but was foreign to some words on social media.
All throughout middle school, I stuck with the same thinking. And now, as a freshman in college, I am looking back and wondering why I, unlike my classmates, have never been naturally interested in social media.
Scanning Instagram, you ought to find dozens of pictures of people in beautiful countries, taking part in exciting activities, and spending time with friends and family, among many other things. The thought of doing this has never related to me. I respect and understand those who do believe using social media allows them to express themselves and share aspects of their lives with others. However, I have never had any interest in doing the same. In my eyes, when not shared with others, family gatherings and friend get-togethers are just as meaningful, if not more so.
Most people have experienced feeling insecure (不安全) and unconfident on social media. Images that are changed represent unrealistic beauty standards that can only be obtained through dangerous ways. Even without using social media, I knew that using apps like Instagram and Facebook would make me embarrassed about all the aspects that make me a unique individual. I’ve never wanted to look at a post on social media and immediately compare myself and my life.
I constantly observe my classmates getting easily distracted (使分心) by social media.While trying to complete their homework, they have a powerful urge to open up Instagram or Facebook to see if there are any new messages. With homework and after-class activities consuming the majority of my day, I cannot wait to finish every task on my to-do list, so I can finally spend time with my family or have some time for myself to relax from my busy day.
1. What can we know from the first two paragraphs?| A．Social media are popular in schools. |
| B．Young pupils suffer from social media. |
| C．The author has no access to social media. |
| D．Social media contribute to students’ study. |
| A．students get easily distracted by social media |
| B．pictures of people taking part in exciting activities are not real |
| C．family gatherings are not meaningful if not shared with others |
| D．the author never shares aspects of his lives with others on social media |
| A．They post their images on social media. |
| B．They follow other people’s beauty standards totally. |
| C．Social media change the way they look at themselves. |
| D．Social media encourage them to be a unique individual. |
| A．A to-do list can stop people using social media. |
| B．Social media can waste people’s valuable time. |
| C．Spending time with family always enjoys first priority. |
| D．Students pay more attention to social media than to study. |
【推荐1】As race season approaches, many runners have the same goal: go faster. But in a study published in the journal Current Biology, researchers show that speeding up might require us to resist our natural biology. By combining data from runners monitored in a lab along with 37,000 runs recorded on wearable fitness trackers, scientists have found that humans’ natural tendency is to run at a speed that conserves caloric loss—something that racers seeking to shave time off their miles will have to get over.
The research group have been studying the mechanics of running in labs for 15 years but hadn’t gotten a chance to study running in the wild before. “We joined the two datasets to gain new insights and combine the more messy wearable data with the gold standard lab experiments to learn about how people run out,” says co-author Jennifer Hicks.
What surprised the team was the consistency they found across the combined datasets. “We had assumed earlier that people ran faster for shorter distances and then would slow their pace for longer distances,” says first author Jessica Selinger. But this wasn’t the case. Most of the runners analyzed stuck with the same speed, whether they were going for a short run or a long one over ten kilometers.
From an evolutionary (进化) standpoint, it makes sense that people would run at the speed that uses the least amount of energy. This caloric conservation is something that has been observed across the animal kingdom. But humans’ reasons for running have changed, and if the goal is speed, there are some tricks runners can use.
Listening to music with a faster pace has been shown to help speed up stride (步伐) frequency, which increases running speed. In addition, picking faster running partners can give you a boost.
Hicks hopes that having large pools of fitness data from wearables will help researchers gain insights about populations. “You can look at connections with the built environment and access to leisure resources and start to layer all of that data to really understand how to improve physical activity and health more broadly,” says Hicks.
1. What do the racers have to overcome during the race?| A．Energy consumption. | B．Muscle loss. |
| C．Weakness of humanity. | D．Lack of nutrients. |
| A．People would run in the wild rather than in labs. |
| B．People adjust their speeds to different distances. |
| C．People run at a constant speed regardless of distance. |
| D．People possess enormous potential for running faster. |
| A．To offer tips on speed increase. |
| B．To evaluate the advantages of running. |
| C．To explain the importance of fast running. |
| D．To reveal the change in human running goals. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Critical. | C．Doubtful. | D．Favorable. |
【推荐2】A growing office trend that allows parents to bring their newborns to work expanded recently with a new policy at two Washington state agencies. The Washington state Department of Health and the Washington state Safety Commission are allowing parents to bring their babies to work until they turn six months old, following a new “Infant-at-Work” policy.
Communications consultant for Washington Traffic Safety Commission Erica Stineman says the arrangement has been ideal for her 50 far. Stineman brings her four-month-old daughter, Lydia, into the office three days a week. “It was really exciting know that I wasn’t going to have to be bringing her to day care after eight weeks of being on maternity leave.” Stineman told ABC News. “Having this extra time with her just meant the world to me.”
While many companies have set up child Care facilities at work for many years now, bringing a baby into the office is an emerging trend that raises concerns about employee productivity and distractions for colleagues.
However, companies that allow babies in the office have enjoyed many benefits. “In a lot of ways it’s helped predictivity.” Chris Madill, the Washington Traffic Safety Commission deputy director said. “Morale is high. And it’s been a good thing for our office.”
While this trend is mainly intended for parental well-being and critical bonding between mother and, infant, companies point out mutual benefits for the employer and employee.
The Washington state Department of Health said, “the agency expects the Infant-at-Work policy to help increase employee enthusiasm, lower turnover coasts due to higher retention rates, and reduce overall health care costs for babies due to easy-access breastfeeding.”
The Neyada State Health Division first conducted their “bring your infant to work” in 2009 and reaped benefits from the program, including, “greater employer appreciation and loyalty lower health care costs, higher breastfeeding rates, and families reporting greater financial stability.”
1. What can be learned about the “Infant-at-Work” policy according to the passage?| A．It was started by two Washington state agencies. |
| B．Only mothers can bring their babies to their officers |
| C．Parents can bring their babies under six months to work three days a week |
| D．Not all people support the policy as it may cause people to be less productive |
| A．Employees are very enthusiastic about work |
| B．Companies have to pay high costs for the policy |
| C．Productivity has been much worse than ever before |
| D．A big part of the parents will bring their babies to the office |
| A．Disturbed | B．Interested |
| C．Frustrated | D．Satisfied |
【推荐3】“Is data the new oil?” asked advocates of big data back in 2012 in Forbes magazine. By 2016, with the rise of big data’s fast-growing cousin deep learning, we had become more certain: “Data is the new oil,” stated Fortune magazine.
Amazon’s Neil Lawrence has a slightly different comparison: Data is coal. Not coal today, though, but coal in the early days of the 18th century, when Thomas Newcomen invented the steam engine. Newcomen built his device to pump water out of the southwest’s rich tin (锡) mines.
The problem, as Lawrence said, was that the pump was rather more useful to those who had a lot of coal than those who didn’t: it was good, but not good enough to be able to buy enough coal in to run it. That was so true that the first of Newcomen’s steam engines wasn’t built in a tin mine, but in coal works near Dudley.
So why is data coal? The problem is similar: there are a lot of Newcomen in the world of deep learning. New companies are coming up with revolutionary new ways to train machines to do impressive tasks, from reconstructing facial data from images to learning the writing style of an individual user to better predict which word they are going to type in a sentence. And yet, like Newcomen, their innovations are so much more useful to the people who actually have large amounts of raw material to work from.
But there is an ending to the story: 69 years later, James Watt made a nice change to the Newcomen steam engine, adding a condenser (冷凝器) to the design. That change, Lawrence said, “made the steam engine much more efficient, and that’s what triggered the industrial revolution.”
Whether data is oil or coal, then, there’s another way the comparison holds up: a lot of work is going into trying to make sure we can do more, with less.
“If you look at all the areas where deep learning is successful, they’re all areas where there’s lots of data,” points out Lawrence. That’s great if you want to classify images of cats, but less helpful if you want to use deep learning to diagnose rare illnesses. “It’s generally considered unacceptable to force people to become sick in order to acquire data.”
It’s not as impressive as teaching a computer to play a game better than any human alive, but “data efficiency” is a vital step if deep learning is to move away from simply taking in large amounts of data and giving out the best correlations (关联) possible.
1. The first of Newcomen’s steam engines wasn’t built in a tin mine because________.| A．its operation required a lot of coal | B．it would lose its function in a tin mine |
| C．it was in greater demand in coal works | D．the rich mines required more advanced aids |
| A．Reconstructing facial data. | B．Predicting a word in a sentence. |
| C．Classifying images of cats. | D．Diagnosing rare diseases. |
| A．Watt’s condenser helped the steam engine consume less coal. |
| B．Data involving patients is often collected through immoral ways. |
| C．Teaching machines to learn is a vital step towards data efficiency. |
| D．Thomas Newcomen’s steam engine had revolutionary applications. |
| A．acquiring data is as complex as mining for coal |
| B．a change is required to make more out of less data |
| C．data is the new fuel to start an information revolution |
| D．a larger amount of data is needed to accomplish something |
【推荐1】There are two basic ways to see growth: one as a product, the other as a process. People have generally viewed personal growth as an external result or product that can easily be identified and measured. The worker who gets a promotion, the student whose grades improve, the foreigner who learns a new language -- all these are examples of people who have measurable results to show for their efforts.
By contrast, the process of personal growth is much more difficult to determine, since by definition it is a journey and not the specific signposts or landmarks along the way. The process is not the road itself, but rather the attitudes and feelings people have, their caution or courage, as they encounter new experiences and unexpected obstacles. In this process, the journey never really ends; there are always new ways to experience the world, new ideas to try, new challenges to accept.
In order to grow, to travel new roads, people need to have a willingness to take risks, to confront the unknown, and to accept the possibility that they may “fail” at first. How we see ourselves as we try a new way of being is essential to our ability to grow. Do we perceive ourselves as quick and curious? If so, then we tend to take more chances and to be more open to unfamiliar experiences. Do we think we’re shy and indecisive? Then our sense of timidity can cause us to hesitate, to move slowly, and not to take a step until we know the ground is safe. Do we think we’re slow to adapt to change or that we’re not smart enough to cope with a new challenge? Then we are likely to take a more passive role or not try at all.
These feelings of insecurity and self-doubt are both unavoidable and necessary if we are to change and grow. If we do not confront and overcome these internal fears and doubts, if we protect ourselves too much, then we cease to grow. We become trapped inside a shell of our own making.
1. A person is generally believed to achieve personal growth when _____.| A．he has abandoned the habit of idleness |
| B．he has made great efforts in his work |
| C．he is keen on learning anything new |
| D．he has tried to determine where he is on his urgent journey |
| A．succeed in getting a high position in society |
| B．judge his ability to grow from his own achievements |
| C．face difficulties and take up challenges |
| D．aim high and reach his goal each time |
| A．a new approach to experiencing the world |
| B．a new way of taking risks |
| C．a new method of holding our ground |
| D．a new attitude towards our failure |
| A．curiosity about more chances |
| B．quick adaptation to new conditions |
| C．open-mindedness to new experiences |
| D．avoidance of internal fears and doubts |
【推荐2】We know that the pandemic(流行病)has had a far-reaching impact on our minds — so much so that it may have changed the very fabric of our society altogether. Mental health professionals think that those with social anxiety will not emerge from the pandemic unaffected.Counselling Directory member Beverley Blackman says, “For people with social anxiety, lockdown will make them deeply anxious in one way, and yet a relief in another.” He added, “On one hand, a person with social anxiety may feel relieved that they no longer have to socialize in person, but they may also feel that they have lost the opportunity to socialize with the people they feel safe and secure spending time with, meaning that they feel a new level of isolation and a different level of anxiety about socializing in any form.Without the security of those they feel safe with, self-confidence may very well decrease rapidly.Lockdown may have had a negative impact on those with social anxiety.”
Dr Daria J.Kuss, associate professor in psychology at Nottingham Trent University, says: “Following the lockdown, people in this country were allowed to meet up again, which for individuals with social anxiety may have led to stress and worry.They may not be comfortable being expected to be ‘social’ again, especially when in larger groups, and may worry about saying the wrong things and asking the wrong questions as they are reintegrating into their offline social lives.” Furthermore, Beverley says our even bigger reliance on social media and digital communication in the midst of lockdown could also have a negative impact on people with social anxiety.She says “For some people with social anxiety, communication by media can be even harder than communication in person.We know that words form only roughly 7-10% of the way in which we communicate and that we rely on body language, facial expression, tone of voice, and unconscious signals behind words to convey our thoughts and feelings.”
When it comes to what people with social anxiety can do to feel better as the lockdown situation continues to shift, Dr.Kuss says “I recommend being open and honest with their social environments. Friends and family will empathize when the concerns are voiced openly.Engaging in focused breathing and relaxation may also help alleviate feelings of worry and discomfort.Finally, negative thinking (e.g., “I don’t know what to say”) may be replaced with positive ones (e.g., “I am good enough” and “My friends want to see me”).”
1. Why do people with social anxiety feel relieved during the lockdown?| A．There is no one disturbing their life. |
| B．There is no need for them to socialize. |
| C．They have increased their self-confidence. |
| D．People can no longer communicate with each other. |
| A．Stimulate. | B．Relieve. | C．Begin. | D．Develop. |
| A．Stay at home alone. | B．Communicate online. |
| C．Open heart to strangers. | D．Take a positive attitude. |
| A．Stay with safe people can bring more confidence. |
| B．Lockdown can help people overcome the feeling of anxiety. |
| C．For people with social anxiety, lockdown is a double-edged sword. |
| D．It is a suitable way for people of social anxiety to communicate by media. |
【推荐3】An Indian spacecraft's first attempt to make a soft, controlled landing in the moon's south polar region has ended in painful silence: Shortly before touchdown (降落), the robotic lander - part of the Chandrayaan-2 mission - fell out of contact with mission control(航天地面指挥中心). The Indian Space Research Organization says that the spacecraft stopped communicating with Earth when it was within 1.3 miles of the lunar surface. ''The Vikram descent (下降)was as planned, and normal performance was observed, up to an altitude of 2.1 kilometers, '' said Kailasavadivoo Sivan, ISRO's chairman, in a statement roughly half an hour after signal loss. ''The data is being analyzed.''
A successful landing would have made India just the fourth country to touch down anywhere on the lunar (月球的)surface, and only the third nation to operate a robotic rover (巡视器) there. Nevertheless, the Chandrayaan-2 mission's orbiter(航天器) remains safely in lunar orbit, with a year-long scientific mission ahead of it. Like any voyage to a world beyond Earth, Vikram's flight was a risky endeavor, requiring the lander to slow itself down to a near standstill(停止), scan for surface obstacles (障碍物) by itself, and then take steps to avoid them during touchdown. The majority of attempts to land robots on the moon have ended in failure, either during launch or on the way to the surface.
Following its launch on July 22, Chandrayaan-2 spent the last several weeks inching its way to the moon, ultimately entering lunar orbit on August 20. On September 2, Vikram separated from the mission's orbiter, and the newly freed lander began a series of braking maneuvers (刹车操作)to lower its orbit and ready itself for landing. Had things proceeded without a fault, Vikram and Pragyaan - the small solar-powered rover it carried - would have set down on the moon at a latitude of about 70 degrees South, on a highland between Manzinus C and Simpelius N.
This landing site was ''somewhere new that we haven't seen before, so that makes it another area for ground-truthing remote sensing data,'' Clive Neal, a lunar geologist, said in an interview before the landing attempt, ''It was going to certainly enhance our knowledge of what the moon is like in those areas, so it was going to be another very good place for science and exploration.''
1. What happened to the lunar lander according to paragraph 1?| A．It made a soft landing. | B．It got data from the lunar surface. |
| C．It lost contact with Earth. | D．It lowered itself at a wrong altitude. |
| A．It demanded higher technique. |
| B．There were not enough funds to support it. |
| C．Few Indian scientists agreed with the voyage. |
| D．No country has succeeded in landing robots on the moon. |
| A．It entered lunar orbit four weeks after its launch. |
| B．It landed on the moon at an altitude of about 70 degrees South. |
| C．It separated from the mission's orbiter before entering the lunar orbit. |
| D．It lowered its orbit by starting the braking maneuvers to prepare for its landing. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Positive. | C．Neutral. | D．Negative. |
【推荐1】For many, scientific innovations tend to be welcome advancements that improve our lives. For some, however, new technologies bring risk of uselessness, in turn leading to great resistance.
With the climate crisis unfolding before our eyes, the race is on to find alternatives that will help humanity leave a smaller footprint on our planet. Because of animal agriculture's leading role as a greenhouse gas emitter, the search for more sustainable protein sources could be one such alternative.
As food tech companies use science to unlock the potential of plant proteins, they're producing increasingly better plant-based meats and milks that look and taste like the real thing, but with a much lower carbon footprint. Some in the meat industry are supporting the new and investing in these alt-protein companies.
For some lawmakers, however, these innovative products don't deserve support; they deserve restriction. Missouri State, for example, recently passed a bill making it a crime punishable by imprisonment for companies to call their products ''meat'' if they don’t come from an animal.
So why the mania (狂热) over meat and milk all of a sudden? Was there a consumer who brought home some pies labeled ''plant-based meat'' only to realize he was tricked? Did confused milk-drinkers file complaints with the Department of Agriculture when they found out their soymilk didn't contain actual milk?
There really are some consumers who are truly confused. Surveys show, however, that number is remarkably small. If anything, consumers are choosing these plant-based products specifically because they think they're better for them than the original products. And they have good reason to believe that plant-based milks and meats usually have less fat and more fiber than comparable animal-based foods.
So, consumers aren't confusing ''veggie bacon'' for real bacon; and if they don't think chicken nuggets have the same nutritional value as ''chicken-free nuggets'', then why do some meat and milk groups want a monopoly (垄断) over the M-words? Could it have to do with the fact that the increasing popularity of these foods, which are more sustainable and better for you, is threatening the profits of their constituents?
And with the future of our civilization hanging in the balance as climate change becomes more severe, it's time for policy makers to stop trying to prevent innovation, and instead to celebrate all the ways science can save us, including with sustainable proteins that can and do produce new kinds of meat.
1. What can be learned about the M-word applied to plant-based substitutes?| A．They are environmentally friendly. |
| B．They are innovative and widely accepted. |
| C．They have been restricted across America. |
| D．They have been produced in large quantities. |
| A．have sufficient faith in new science and technology |
| B．prefer the original products to the plant-based products |
| C．buy the plant-based products for their great benefit to health |
| D．often get confused by the composition of the new kind of meat |
| A．it contains no real meat |
| B．it brings risks to society |
| C．it plays a trick on customers |
| D．it poses a threat to their profits |
| A．Supportive. | B．Cautious. |
| C．Ambiguous. | D．Disapproving |
【推荐2】We pick the upbeat tunes for parties and workouts, and save the low-key songs for romantic or sad moments. It’s hardly a new idea that music is mixed with our emotions. But how have our favorites changed over the decades, and what do these changes say about America’s shifting emotional landscape (景象)?
Researcher E. Glenn Schellenberg set out to examine songs popular in America during the last five decades, using a selection from Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100 charts, hoping to learn how emotional cues (提示) in music, such as tempo (slow to fast) and mode (major or minor key), have changed since 1960.
The most striking finding is the change in key. Songs written in a major key tend to sound warm and high-spirited, while songs in a minor key can sound darker and more melancholic (忧郁的). Over the last few decades, popular songs have switched from major to minor keys. Broadly speaking, the sound has shifted from bright and happy to something more complex. The study also finds America’s popular songs have become slower and longer. Even more interesting, is that our current favorites are more likely to be emotionally ambiguous, such as sad-sounding songs being fast or happy-sounding songs being slow.
A possible explanation for the changes is that the more contemporary music reflects the hardships that our society has gone through. However, Schellenberg believes that the steady increase in length and decrease in tempo doesn’t support the idea of growing difficulties fully because it would mean our problems have increased steadily over the last fifty years. He suggests that popular songs have become more complex over time because Americans are becoming more diverse and individualized in their musical tastes.
Though we can only guess about the specific causes of this evolution in music, Schellenberg’s initial observations have helped to open the door to research on the link between emotion and music consumption. Perhaps someday we’ll learn more of the secrets behind the music we love and the times we live in.
1. Why did Schellenberg start the study?| A．To change music styles. | B．To explore changes in music. |
| C．To select America’s favorite music. | D．To examine the creation of music. |
| A．Older songs were often more sad-sounding. |
| B．Popular songs have become warmer and shorter. |
| C．Recent hits are likely to be longer and more complex. |
| D．Current favorites tend to be composed in a major key. |
| A．The influences of the study. | B．The diversity of musical tastes. |
| C．The causes of the music changes. | D．The features of America’s society. |
| A．Positive. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Disapproving. | D．Ambiguous. |
【推荐3】People have speculated (思索) for centuries about a future without work. Some imagine that the coming work-free world will be defined by inequality: A few wealthy people will own all the capital, and the masses will struggle in a wasteland. A different prediction holds that without jobs to give their lives meaning, future people will simply become lazy and depressed.
But it doesn’t necessarily follow from findings like these that a world without work would be filled with dissatisfaction. Such visions are based on the downsides of being unemployed in a society built on the concept of employment. In the absence of work, a society designed with other ends in mind could provide strikingly different circumstances for the future of labor and leisure.
These days, spare time is relatively rare for most workers. “When I come home from a hard day's work, I often feel tired,” says John Danaher, a lecturer at the National University of Ireland, adding, “In a world in which I don’t have to work, I might feel rather different — perhaps different enough to throw himself into a hobby with the enthusiasm usually reserved for professional matters.”
Daniel Everett, an anthropologist (人类学家) at Bentley University studied a group of hunter-gathers in the Amazon called the Piraha for years. According to Everett, while some might consider hunting and gathering work, hunter-gatherers don’t. “They think of it as fun,” he says. “They don’t have a concept of work the way we do.”
Everett described a typical clay for the Piraha: A man might get up, spend a few hours fishing, have a barbecue, and play until the evening. Does this relaxing life lead to the depression and purposelessness seen among so many of today’s unemployed? “I’ve never seen anything like depression there, except people who are physically ill,” Everett says. While many may consider work necessary for human life, work as it exists today is a relatively new invention in the course of human culture. “We think it’s bad to just sit around with nothing to do,” says Everett. “For the Piraha, it’s quite a desirable state.”
1. What might be some people’s attitude towards the work-free world?| A．Objective. | B．Negative. |
| C．Skeptical. | D．Cautious. |
| A．Risks. | B．Losses. |
| C．Challenges. | D．Disadvantages. |
| A．work plays an important role in our future life |
| B．people don’t know how to balance work and life |
| C．people’s work-free future life will be full of charm |
| D．higher unemployment makes life tougher for workers |
| A．To justify John Danaher’s opinion. | B．To show a future life without work. |
| C．To compare different views on work. | D．To introduce the Piraha in the Amazon. |
