【推荐2】The networked computer is an amazing device. It is the first media machine that serves as   the mode of production (you can make stuff), means of distribution (you can upload stuff to the network), site of _____ (you can download stuff and interact with it), and place of praise        and criticism (you can comment on the stuff you have downloaded or uploaded). _____, the computer is the 21st century’s culture machine.

But for all the reasons there are to _____ the computer, we must also act with caution.   This is because the networked computer has started a secret war between downloading and uploading—between passive consumption and active   _____—whose outcome will shape     our collective future in ways we can only begin to imagine.

All animals download, but only a few upload anything besides faces and their own bodies. Humans are _____ in their capacity to not only make tools but then turn around and use them to create superfluous( 过 剩 的 ) material goods (paintings, sculpture and architecture) and superfluous experiences (music, literature, religion and philosophy). _____, it is precisely       these superfluous things that define human culture and ultimately what it is to be human. Downloading and consuming culture requires great   skills, but _____ to   move   beyond downloading is to rob oneself of a defining ingredient of humanity.

Despite the possibilities of our new culture   machines, most people are   still _____ download mode, brought about by television watching. Even after the _____ of widespread social media, a pyramid of production remains, with a small number of people uploading material, a slightly larger group commenting on or modifying that content, and a huge percentage   remaining satisfied to just _____.

The networked computer offers the first chance in 50 years to _____ the flow caused       by TV viewing, to encourage thoughtful downloading and, even more importantly, meaningful uploading. The computer offers the opportunity to bring about a complete _____ from the     culture of television and a shift from a consumption model to a production model. This is   a historic opportunity. Fifty years of television dominance has given birth to an unhealthy culture. The _____ is now in our collective grasp. It involves controlling our intake, or downloading, and _____ our levels of activity—uploading.

Of course people will still download. Nobody uploads more than a tiny percentage of the culture they consume. But using the networked computer as a download-only device, or even a download-mainly device, is a _____ opportunity that history affords us. Therefore, the goal must be to establish a balance between consumption and production.

【推荐3】Clearly if we are to participate in the society in which we live, we must communicate with other people. A great deal of_________is performed on a person-to-person basis by the simple___________of speech. If we travel in buses, buy things in shops, or eat in restaurants, we are likely to have___________where we give information or opinions, receive news or comment, and very___________to have our views challenged by other members of society.

Face to face___________is by no means the only form of communication and during the last two hundred years the art of mass communication has become one of the___________factors of contemporary society. Two things, above others, have caused the enormous___________growth of the communication industry. Firstly, inventiveness has_________advanced imprinting, telecommunications photography, radio and television. Secondly, speed has revolutionized the transmission (传输) and reception of communications so that local news often takes a back seat to national news, which itself is often almost eclipsed(侵蚀) by international news.

No longer is the possession of information___________toa privileged minority. In the last century the wealthy man with his own library was indeed______________, but today there are public libraries. For years ago people used to flock to the cinema, but now far more people sit at home and turn on the TV to watch a programme that is being______________into millions of homes.

Communication is no longer merely concerned with the transmission of information. The modern communication industry______________the way people live in society and broadens their horizons by allowing____________to information, education and entertainment. The printing, broadcasting and advertising industries are all involved with informing, educating and entertaining.

Although a great deal of the material communicated by the mass media is very______________to the individual and to the society of which he is part, the vast modern network of communications is open to abuse(滥用).______________, the mass media are with us for better, for worse, and there is no turning back.

【推荐1】Concerns about the harm caused by “too much” screen time—particularly when it is spent on social media—are widespread. But working out what a “healthy” ___ might be is far from easy.

Some negative experiences on social media—like ____ how your appearance compares to others—do affect some children. However, this does not mean that technology use in ____ is harmful and it is difficult to make claims about how it will affect different people.

Consider the picture painted by a UNICEF review of existing research into the effects of digital technology on children’s ____ comfort, including happiness, mental health and social life. Rather than stating that social media was harmful, it suggested a more ____ effect.

The UNICEF report highlighted a 2017 study that examined 120,000 UK 15-year-olds. Among those teenagers who were the lightest users, it was found that increasing the time spent using technology was linked to ____ comfort—possibly because it was important for keeping up friendships. ____, among the heaviest users of technology, any increase in time was linked to lower levels of comfort. Overall, the UNICEF study suggested that some screen time could be good for children’s mental health.

A broader look at evidence provided by some other high quality studies again suggests the story is not ____. An early study in 2013 looked at how the television and video game habits of 11,000 UK five-year-olds affected them two years later. It is one of few studies actually ____ the effects of technology over time. It suggested that, compared with children who watched one hour of television or less on a weekday, a small increase in conduct problems was seen among those who watched more than three hours each day. Playing electronic games, however, was not seen as leading to a greater ____ of friendship or emotional problems.

So how much time should our children spend looking at screens? It is difficult to be ____ as different people spend time online in such different ways. A useful comparison might be with sugar. Broadly speaking, people ____ that too much sugar can be bad for your health. But the effect it might have can depend on many factors, from the type of sugar to the person and the amount. We would not ____ trust anyone who claims to predict how someone is affected by consuming one gram of sugar. The same could be said for ____ usage: the outcomes depend on so many factors that only very ___ predictions are possible.

【推荐3】President Obama’s second Inaugural Address used soaring language to stress America’s commitment to the dream of equality of opportunity: ‘We are true to our belief that a little girl born into _______ knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American’.

The gap between ideal and reality could hardly be _______ . Today, the United States has less equality of opportunity than almost any other advanced industrial country. Study after study has _______ the myth that America is a land of opportunity. A way of looking at equality of opportunity is to as to what extent the life chances of a child are _______ the education and income of his parents. Is it just as likely that a child of poor or poorly educated parents gets a good education and rises to the middle class as someone born to middle-class parents with college degrees? Even in a more democratic society. the answer would be no.

How do we explain this? Some of it has to do with discrimination （歧视）. Latinos and African-Americans still get paid less than whites, and women still get paid less than men, _______ they recently surpassed （超越）men in the number of advanced degrees they obtain. Discrimination, however, is only a small part of the _______. Probably the most important reason for _______ of equality of opportunity is education. After World WarⅡ, we made a major effort to _______ higher education to Americans across the country. But then we changed, in several ways. While racial segregation（种族隔离）decreased, economic segregation increased. After 1980, the poor grew poorer, the middle stagnated（停滞不前）, and the top did better and better. A result was a widening gap in educational performance – the _______ gap between rich and poor kids born in 2001 was 30 to 40 percent larger than it was for those born 25 years earlier, a Stanford sociologist found. Of course, there are other forces ______ . Children in rich families get more exposure to reading. Their families can afford enriching experiences like music lessons and summer camp. They get better nutrition and health care, which enhance their learning, directly and indirectly.

Now Americans are coming to realize that without extensive policy changes, their long cherished belief is only a myth. It is unreasonable that a rich country like the United States has made _______ to higher education so difficult for those at the bottom and middle. There are many _______ ways of providing chances for more to receive higher education, from Australia’s income-contingent loan program to the near-free system of universities in Europe. A more educated population produces greater innovation, and a booming economy. Those benefits are why we’ve long been ______ to free public education through 12^th grade. But while a 12^th-grade education might have been enough a century ago, it isn’t today. Yet we haven’t _______ our system to contemporary realities.

The steps I’ve outlined are not just affordable but necessary. Even more important, though, is that we cannot afford to let our country drift farther from _______ that the vast majority of Americans share. We will never fully succeed in achieving Mr. Obama’s vision of a poor girl’s having exactly the same opportunities as a wealthy girl. But we could do much, much better, and must not rest until we do.

【推荐1】When my wife, Jane, and I were 16, we were in the same class. About a week before Thanksgiving Day, we found out that our teacher Edward was having some ___challenges. We wanted to do something to help, so as a class we ___to gather food, clothing and gifts to ___his family had a good Thanksgiving Day.

When Jane told her family about our plan, her mother was ___. Together they searched their house for things they could ___. Her mother went to the kitchen, ___ a big turkey and saying, “Thanksgiving Day won’t be ___without a turkey dinner.” To this day, Jane remembers how moved she was by her mother’s ___.

Before making our ____, we said a prayer of appreciation for the wonderful ___ to help others. I will never forget the surprised ___ of our teacher and his wife when they ____ the door; their four children gathered around them as we handed out the gifts. It was a cold night; we all felt warm inside, ___.

Last month while I was in a meeting, my secretary informed me, “Your high school teacher Mr. Edward is wondering if you could ___ him a few minutes. He’s sitting in your office right now!”

I left my meeting and went to my office ___. My teacher and I hugged and began to ___ the last 42 years. He told me he ___ remembered that cold winter night when we brought the ___of Thanksgiving Day to his family. The food and gifts were certainly appreciated, ___what warmed his heart that night was to see a group of teenagers who understood the ___of Thanksgiving Day.

【推荐2】On March 25, 2010, Kate and David Ogg were heartbroken to hear that their newborn wasn't going to make it. Their twins,a girl named Emily and a boy named Jamie, were born 14 weeks premature. Doctors had ________ to save the boy for 20 minutes but saw no ________ .

"I saw him gasp(喘息), but the doctor said it was no _______ ," Kate told the Daily Mail. "I know it sounds _______ ,but if he was still gasping, that was a sign of _______ . I wasn't going to give up easily."   _______ , the couple knew this was likely goodbye. In an effort to _______ her last minute with the _______ boy, Kate asked to hold him.

Kate _______ the boy from his hospital blanket and ordered David to ___________ his shirt and join them in bed. The first-time parents wanted their son to be as ___________ as possible and hoped the skin-to-skin contact would     ____________ his condition. "We were trying to make him ____________ ." Kate said. "We explained his name and that he had a ____________ that he had to look out for and how hard we had tried to help him."

A ____________ showed itself eventually, Jamie gasped again-and then he started ____________ . "We were the ____________ people in the world," David told Today.

Now, the twins are happy and healthy. The Oggs only recently told the kids the story of their ____________ . "Emily burst into ____________ ." Kate said. "She was really upset, and she kept ____________ Jamie. This whole experience makes you cherish them more."

【推荐3】I was walking around in a store _______ I saw a Cashier talking to a boy less than 5 or 6 years old. The Cashier said, “I’m sorry, but you don’t have enough money to buy this doll.” Then the little boy _______ me and asked, “Uncle, are you sure I don’t have enough money?”

I counted his cash and nodded. The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand. Out of _______, I asked him who he presented the doll to. “It’s the doll that my sister loved most and longed for it so much. I wanted to _______ her for her Birthday. I have to give the doll to my mommy _______she can give it to my sister when she goes there.” His eyes were so _______ while saying this.

“My Sister _______ to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could give it to my sister.” My heart _______ stopped. Then he showed me a very nice photo _______ him, where he was laughing. He looked up at me, ________: “I want mommy to take my picture with her so my sister won’t ________ me, I love my mommy and I wish she doesn’t have to leave me, but daddy says that she ________ my little sister.”

Then he looked again at the doll with grieved eyes, very quietly. I quickly ________ for my wallet and said to the boy. “ ________ we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll?” He stared at me ________. I added some of my money to his without his ________ . There was enough for the doll and even some ________ money.

With eyes wide open, the little boy said excitedly, “Thank you God for giving me enough money! I prayed to God to ________ I had enough money to buy this doll. He heard me! I also wished to have some to buy a white rose for mommy, but I didn’t dare to ask ________ . But he gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. My mommy loves white roses.”

Two days later, I read in the news paper that the young woman had passed away. But the ________ that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine.