Cookie-consent (准许) pop-ups are one of the biggest annoyances on the Internet. Almost every site you visit has a notice saying, “This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Do you agree?” Typically, we click “yes” or “agree” without even thinking about it because we’re eager to get to the content. But should we? Not necessarily.
Cookies are essentially information collectors and trackers in the form of small text files stored on your browser by the sites you visit. Some are useful. For example, a cookie saved on your browser makes it so you don’t have to re-enter your log-in information every time you visit one of your favorite websites. Cookies can also remember your shopping preferences so that you get a personalized experience when you visit the website. Others, however, track how you use a website, how often you go there, your IP address, your phone number, what types of things you look at and buy, and other information you may not want to share.
Many companies have you click “yes” to follow current privacy laws. This means that once you click, you’ve given the company permission to use your information as they see fit without the worry of legal objections. Most of the time, cookies are no big deal. There are a few occasions, though, where you should decline cookies. Don’t worry——if you find yourself in a situation where you need to decline or simply want to decline for whatever reason, most websites will work just fine without collecting your information. With that said, here’s when saying no to the cookies is a good idea.
Beware when you’re on an unencrypted (未加密的) website (these websites will have an unlocked lock icon by the web address) while using a public Wi-Fi network. The information collected by cookies can be intercepted (拦截) by hackers because there isn’t any security to stop them. Your best bet when borrowing Wi-Fi from your local coffee shop is to use your browser’s private mode. While in this mode, cookies aren’t collected, no matter where your Internet journeys take you.
1. What is the initial function of cookies on websites?| A．Enhancing the security of user data. | B．Displaying pop-up information to users. |
| C．Tracking website traffic for analytical purposes. | D．Storing information for personalized experiences. |
| A．To provide a convenient browsing experience. |
| B．To ensure they follow privacy laws and regulations. |
| C．To improve the overall browsing experience for users. |
| D．To prevent unauthorized access to users’ personal data. |
| A．Limited access to personalized content. | B．Inefficiency in processing user requests. |
| C．Slower website loading times and limited features. | D．Increased exposure to unauthorized data collection. |
| A．Dos and Don’ts of Online Consents. | B．Cautious about Cookie Pop-ups. |
| C．Protecting Your Privacy Online. | D．The Function of Cookies. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Fear of missing out or FOMO is characterized by “a desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing”.
Researchers have found that FOMO leads us to check social media more frequently, leading to a negative cycle that can be hard to break.
It is common to post on social media to keep a record of the fun things you do.
You may find yourself seeking a greater connection when you are feeling depressed or anxious, and this is healthy. Feelings of loneliness are actually our brain’s way of telling us that we want to seek out greater connections with others and increase our sense of belonging.
| A．You actually can’t miss anything. |
| B．Especially the young are addicted to the social media. |
| C．Rather than focusing on what you lack, try noticing what you have. |
| D．This shift can sometimes help you to get out of the cycle of FOMO. |
| E．As a result, it will lead to feelings of depression, loneliness, and boredom. |
| F．However, you may find yourself noticing too much about people’s opinion on your experiences online. |
| G．Rather than connect with people on social media, why not arrange to meet up with someone in person? |
【推荐2】Educators today are more and more often heard to say that computer literacy is absolutely necessary for college students. Many even argue that each incoming freshman should have his or her own microcomputer. What advantages do computers offer the college students?
Any student who has used a word processor will know one compelling reason to use a computer: to write papers. Although not all students feel comfortable composing on a word processor, most find revising and editing much easier on it. One can alter, insert, or delete just by pressing a few keys, thus ridding students of the need to rewrite or retype. Furthermore, since the revision process is less difficult, students are more likely to revise as often as is necessary to end up with the best paper possible. For these reasons, many freshman English courses require the use of a word processor.
Computers are also useful in the context of language courses, where they are used to drill students in basic skills. Software programs strengthen ESL (English as a Second Language) instruction, as well as instruction in French, German, Spanish, and other languages. By using these programs on a regular basis, students can improve their skills in a language while proceeding at their own pace.
Similarly, business and accounting students find that computer spreadsheet (电子表格) programs are all but important to many aspects of their work, while students pursuing careers in graphic arts, marketing, and public relations find that knowledge of computer graphic (绘图) is important. Education majors learn to develop grading systems using computers, while social science students use computers for analyzing and graphically displacing their research results.
It is no wonder then, that educators support the purchase and use of microcomputers by students. A useful tool, the computer can help students learn. And that is, after all, the reason for going to college.
1. What does the underlined phrase “computer literacy” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．The purchase of computers. | B．The ability to use computers well. |
| C．The computer hardware and software. | D．The computer science and technology. |
| A．revise and edit papers | B．rewrite or retype papers |
| C．complete a freshman’ course | D．improve students’ writing skills |
| A．to learn something | B．to perfect themselves |
| C．to improve computer skills | D．to find one's passions |
| A．Educational experts have developed grading systems. |
| B．The computer has fund its way into social science. |
| C．Rarely do accounting students use computers. |
| D．Computers benefit various majors in college. |
| A．More college students should major in computer science. |
| B．Machine learning and big data is the future of computer application. |
| C．Some computer progams can be employed to aid language learning. |
| D．Educators are reluctant to increase computer use in their own classroom. |
【推荐3】It is now February 7, 2035. The search engine TalkTalk will be open to the public next week and this service will soon be something beyond your imagination. For the first time you can not only talk to the search engine, but you can discuss with it what you are looking for.
For example, if you want to know more about the oil price, TalkTalk asks if you want to know the current oil price, the development of the oil price, or news related to the oil price. You say that you want to read news about it and TalkTalk then directs you to your source, or lets you have the latest news related to the oil price in order from the most respectable sources.
Compared with other search services that use a certain algorithm (程序) to provide data from a search, the artificial intelligence behind TalkTalk is said to easily spot if a certain source is aiming to cheat the searcher. TalkTalk also judges and stores every given reply and discussion, to learn how to give correct answers. TalkTalk is also set to answer questions directly where there is a definite answer. How well this will work in the long run is yet to be seen, but thousands of people have tested TalkTalk and the quality is really good.
The first talking search engine saw the light of day more than 30 years ago and was called Speegle. It could read the results from a written search on the Internet, and was mostly for blind people.
So far, TalkTalk cannot read the information from a certain source to you by phone, if it is not freely available. There are currently talks to find an arrangement for this, but it would most likely be difficult because of copyright (版权).
TalkTalk is available over the Internet and also by phone, even though it only speaks English. There are no plans to add other languages in the near future, most likely because it will cost a lot of money. When you are tired of asking TalkTalk all your questions, just ask, “Where is TalkTalk?” and you will get an answer that will make you leave it with a smile on your lips.
1. The example in Paragraph 2 is given to show ________.| A．how to use the search engine TalkTalk. | B．how to search for news on the Internet. |
| C．the oil price is a very hot issue currently. | D．TalkTalk has a very high intelligence. |
| A．be available wherever you go. | B．tell if a certain source is reliable. |
| C．read the search results for you. | D．offer different kinds of search results. |
| A．TalkTalk can read all the information online. | B．TalkTalk will speak other languages soon. |
| C．TalkTalk may have a bright future. | D．TalkTalk is very expensive. |
| A．Hello, TalkTalk. | B．Where is TalkTalk. |
| C．TalkTalk is improving. | D．Development of search engines. |
【推荐1】In patients with metabolic(新陈代谢的) diseases, elevated(升高的) fat levels in the blood create stress in muscle cells-a reaction to changes outside the cells that could damage their structure and function. Researchers have discovered that these stressed-out cells could give off a kind of signal.
The signals, known as ceramides(神经酰胺), may have a protective benefit in the short term because they are part of a mechanism(机制) designed to reduce stress in the cells. But in metabolic diseases, which are long-term conditions, the signals can kill the cells, make symptoms severer, and worsen the illness.
Increased fat in the blood has long been known to damage tissues and organs, contributing to the development of cardiovascular(心血管的) and metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes(糖尿病). The condition can be caused by obesity(肥胖), rates of which have increased greatly worldwide since 1975. In 2016, there were more than 650 million adults aged 18 and above with obesity.
Rescarch supervisor Lee Roberts said, “Our discovery may form the basis of new approaches to preventing the development of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, such as diabetes in overweight people with elevated blood fat.”
In the lab, the team copied the blood fat levels observed in humans with metabolic diseases by exposing certain muscle cells to a fatty acid. The cells began to pass on the ceramide signal. When these cells were mixed with others that had not been previously exposed to fat, the researchers found that they communicated with each other, transporting the signal in packages called extracellular vesicles. The experiment was reproduced in human volunteers with metabolic diseases and got comparable results.
Professor Roberts said, “The research gives us a novel perspective on how stress develops in the cells of individuals with obesity, and provides new ways to consider when we’re trying to develop new treatments for metabolic diseases. With obesity becoming an increasingly widespread disease, the burden of associated chronic(慢性的) diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, necessitates new treatments. We hope the results of our research open a new avenue for research to help address this growing concern.”
1. What is special about ceramides?| A．They are released by healthy cells. |
| B．They are harmful to cells in the long term. |
| C．They are designed to reduce the fat levels in the blood. |
| D．They are beneficial to the treatment of metabolic diseases. |
| A．The difficulty of dealing with obesity. |
| B．The consequence of chronic diseases. |
| C．The general health condition of young people. |
| D．The increasing rates of obesity around the world. |
| A．It aimed to find the cause of metabolic diseases. |
| B．It identified a new cell in volunteers with obesity. |
| C．It proved stressed-out cells could affect healthy cells. |
| D．It indicated cells’ communication patterns for the first time. |
| A．How cells respond to the stress from high blood fat. |
| B．How our body distinguishes stressed-out cells from others. |
| C．How muscle cells communicate with each other effectively. |
| D．How our body starts the self-protection system to repair cells. |
【推荐2】When it comes to poverty relief efforts in the developing world, small is the new big. Consider juncao, a group of wild grasses that have become one of China’s most significant contributions to the world’s sustainable development, with multiple uses being shared by people in 105 countries to help tackle food issues and desertification (沙漠化).
Juncao, which literally means “the herbal plant for growing edible (食用的) mushrooms”, has worked miracles for Chinese scientists who are cultivating it as a substrate (培养基) for growing edible and medicinal mushrooms or as food for livestock, as well as using it as green barrier to stop sand hills from advancing.
China introduced the grass and its cultivation technology to Papua New Guinea more than 20 years ago to help local formers raise livestock and grow edible mushrooms. “We hope we will help double the agricultural production capacity and farmers’ incomes in Papua New Guinea,” said Lin Zhanxi, a 79-year-old professor with Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University and the chief scientist for grass development.
It’s been 35 years since Lin selected the grass species to replace wood as a substrate for growing mushrooms in East China’s Fujian province, and this has saved a vast coverage of natural forest there. Through the years, Lin has developed 45 varieties of juncao, which can be used to cultivate 55 mushroom species.
Despite his age, Lin has often traveled afar to help people in developing countries learn about the benefits of this agricultural technology. "The first time I went to Papua New Guinea in 1997, I realized how people there were struggling with extreme poverty," Lin said. At that time, a tribe chief knelt down before Lin to thank him for bringing the technique to save them from starvation. To his astonishment, the tribe people celebrated the whole night. Members of the team were so touched that they decided to stay and help the people shake off poverty. In a land without electricity or modern devices, the team members worked there for eight years to teach locals how to cultivate and use the grass.
1. What does Paragraph 2 mainly talk about?| A．The promotion of juncao. | B．The appearance of juncao. |
| C．The application of juncao. | D．The evolution of juncao. |
| A．To feed livestock. | B．To fight against sandstorm. |
| C．To grow mushrooms. | D．To relieve its poverty. |
| A．People cut down trees to use the wood as a substrate. |
| B．People covered mushrooms with leaves. |
| C．People grew mushrooms in the natural forest. |
| D．People relied on wild grass to grow mushrooms. |
| A．A tribe chief knelt down before him. |
| B．Locals celebrated for his technology all night. |
| C．Natives lack electricity and modern devices. |
| D．The team worked there for eight years. |
【推荐3】Last year, 138,000 San Francisco residents used Airbnb, a popular app designed to connect home renters and travelers. It’s a striking number for a city with a population of about 850,000, and it was enough for Airbnb to win a major victory in local elections, as San Francisco voters struck down a debatable rule that would have placed time restrictions and other regulations on short-term rental services.
The company fiercely opposed the rule, Proposition F, with a nearly $10 million advertising campaign. It also contacted its San Franciscan users with messages urging them to vote against Proposition F.
Most people think of Airbnb as a kind of couch-surfing app. The service works for one-night stays on road trips and longer stays in cities, and it often has more competitive pricing than hotels. It’s a textbook example of the “sharing economy”, but not everyone is a fan.
The app has had unintended consequences in San Francisco. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported last year, a significant amount of renting on Airbnb is not in line with the company’s image: middle-class families putting up a spare room to help make ends meet. Some users have taken advantage of the service, using it to turn their multiple properties into vacation rentals or even full-time rentals. Backers of Proposition F argued that this trend takes spaces off the conventional, better-regulated housing market and contributes to rising costs.
“The fact is, widespread abuse of short-term rentals is taking much needed housing off the market and harming our neighborhoods,” said ShareBetter SF, a group that supported Proposition F. Hotel unions have protested the company’s practices in San Francisco and other cities, saying that it creates an illegal hotel system.
San Francisco is in the middle of a long-term, deeply rooted housing crisis that has seen the cost of living explode. Located on a narrow outcropping of land overlooking the bay, San Francisco simply doesn’t have enough space to accommodate the massive inflow of young, high-salaried tech employees flocking to Silicon Valley. Consequently, the average monthly rent for an apartment is around $4,000.
As the Los Angeles Times reported, some San Francisco residents supported the rule simply because it seemed like a way to check a big corporation. Opponents of Proposition F countered that the housing crisis runs much deeper, and that passing the rule would have discouraged a popular service while doing little to solve the city’s existing problems.
1. The intention of Proposition F is to ______.| A．place time limits in local election | B．set limits on short-term rental |
| C．strike down a debatable rule | D．urge users to vote against Airbnb |
| A．It shrinks the living space of middle-class families. |
| B．Users are taken advantage of by the service financially. |
| C．It makes the house market more competitive. |
| D．It indirectly leads to high house rental price. |
| A．Explosion of the living cost. | B．Its historic characteristics. |
| C．Inflow of migrant population. | D．Generosity of local enterprises. |
| A．Objective. | B．Approval. | C．Subjective. | D．Indifferent. |
【推荐1】This year researchers expect the world to take 1. 35 trillion photographs, or about 3. 7 billion per day. All those pixels (像素) take up a lot of room if they are stored on personal computers or phones, which is one reason why many people store their images in the cloud. But unlike a hard drive which can be encrypted (加密) to protect its data, cloud storage users have to trust that a tech platform will keep their private pictures safe. Now a team of Columbia University computer scientists have developed a tool to encrypt images stored on many popular cloud services while allowing authorized users to view and show their photographs as usual.
Getting cloud-based photographs with bad intentions (意图) can leak (泄露) personal information. In November 2019, for example, a bug in the popular photograph storage app Google Photos mistakenly shared some users’ private videos with strangers. Safety experts also worry about employees at cloud storage companies getting users’ images without being allowed.
So the Columbia researchers came up with a system called Easy Secure Photos (ESP), which they presented at a recent meeting. “We wanted to see if we could make it possible to encrypt data while using existing services, ” says a computer scientist Jason Nieh, one of the developers of ESP. “Everyone wants to stay with the storage app and does not have to register on a new encrypted-image cloud storage service.”
To overcome this problem, they created a tool that protects blocks of pixels but moves them around to hide the photography successfully. First, ESP’s algorithm (算法) divides a photograph into three separate parts, each one including the image s red, green or blue color data. Then the system hides the pixel blocks around among these three parts (allowing a block from the red color, for example to hide in the green or blue ones). But the program does nothing within the pixel blocks. As a result, the photograph remains unchanged but ends up looking like unclear black-and-white ones to anyone who gets them without the decryption (解密) key.
1. What’s probably the main purpose for people to store images in the cloud?| A．To save storage room. |
| B．To make photos beautiful. |
| C．To try a new storage way. |
| D．To keep their privacy safe. |
| A．They sell users’ passwords. |
| B．They have invented new tools. |
| C．They often let out personal information. |
| D．They may look at users’ images in secret. |
| A．It can provide clear images. |
| B．It can decrease the upload time. |
| C．It can divide images into different types. |
| D．It can encrypt data on the present platform. |
| A．The method of encryption. |
| B．The image-processing technique. |
| C．The separation of files of images. |
| D．Data analysis of colors. |
【推荐2】As data and identity theft becomes more and more common, the market is growing for biometric(生物测量) technologies—like fingerprint scans—to keep others out of private e-spaces. At present, these technologies are still expensive, though.
Researchers from Georgia Tech say that they have come up with a low-cost device(装置) that gets around this problem: a smart keyboard. This smart keyboard precisely measures the cadence(节奏) with which one types and the pressure fingers apply to each key. The keyboard could offer a strong layer of security by analyzing things like the force of a user’s typing and the time between key presses. These patterns are unique to each person. Thus, the keyboard can determine people’s identities, and by extension, whether they should be given access to the computer it’s connected to — regardless of whether someone gets the password right.
It also doesn’t require a new type of technology that people aren’t already familiar with. Everybody uses a keyboard and everybody types differently.
In a study describing the technology, the researchers had 100 volunteers type the word “touch” four times using the smart keyboard. Data collected from the device could be used to recognize different participants based on how they typed, with very low error rates. The researchers say that the keyboard should be pretty straightforward to commercialize and is mostly made of inexpensive, plastic-like parts. The team hopes to make it to market in the near future.
1. Why do the researchers develop the smart keyboard?| A．To reduce pressure on keys. | B．To improve accuracy in typing |
| C．To replace the password system. | D．To cut the cost of e-space protection. |
| A．Computers are much easier to operate. |
| B．Fingerprint scanning techniques develop fast. |
| C．Typing patterns vary from person to person. |
| D．Data security measures are guaranteed. |
| A．It’ll be environment-friendly. | B．It’ll reach consumers soon. |
| C．It’ll be made of plastics. | D．It’ll help speed up typing. |
【推荐3】Every day, hundreds of thousands of us visit coffee shops. While we drink our coffee, we may connect our smart phone to the shop’s Wi-Fi network, and keep in touch with friends via services such as Facebook.
As well as socializing, we may use the time and free access to a wireless connection to get on top of our finances. Transferring money from your account to others’ accounts is nothing more than a few taps on your screen.
But what coffee drinkers do not realize is that lurking (潜伏) among their fellow coffee-lovers are bank robbers.
Unbeknown to you, this modern form of bank robber is silently collecting all your private data. The only sign of his thievery is perhaps a little smile as your bank log-in details appear on his screen.
You’ll only realize when you later go to a cash machine to withdraw(提取)some money, and discover that every penny in your account has been cleared out.
The more common method for thieves is to use your smart phone’s Wi-Fi connection. They rely on the fact that most of us are not careful about the security of networks we connect to.
For example, when you are in a coffee shop, your smart phone will present you with a list of available Wi-Fi networks that you can use to connect your phone to the Internet. Most of these networks are run by legitimate(合法的) companies, but sometimes they are actually created by a thief sitting nearby with little more than a laptop.
These networks are often given names, such as “Free Public Wi-Fi”, which deceive smart phone users into logging in. On the surface, everything seems normal, and you will be able to connect just as you are with a legitimate Wi-Fi service.
However, because you have connected to a network controlled by a thief, he can monitor (监视) everything you do, enabling him to collect passwords and log-in details about your bank account. In fact, the process is so simple that thieves can steal thousands of pounds in just a few hours while sitting in their local Starbucks.
1. The underlined phrase “get on top of” can be replaced by ________.| A．deal with | B．give up | C．cut off | D．set up |
| A．Near the victim | B．Outside the bank |
| C．At the street | D．In a coffee shop |
| A．The free public Wi-Fi is illegal |
| B．The process of the thief stealing your money is simple |
| C．The thief can’t collect your private information. |
| D．There are only coffee-lovers in the coffee shops. |
| A．Transferring money from your account to others’ is a complex process. |
| B．It’s easy for you to tell bank robbers from other coffee drinkers. |
| C．Online thieves could steal money because people pay little attention to the security of networks. |
| D．All the available networks in a coffee shop are illegal. |
| A．The convenience of free Wi-Fi networks. | B．The thief who withdraws our money. |
| C．Be cautious about free Wi-Fi networks | D．The process of stealing money. |
