1 . Improve Cloud Security
Sensitive customer data has constantly been found exposed on cloud servers without password protection. To ease the problem, database software makers have been trying to make security easier for cloud database managers. At the Enigma Conference in San Francisco, Kenn White, a security manager at database software maker MongoDB, will describe a new technique, called field level encryption, to make data safer on the cloud.
Field level encryption works by scrambling data before it’s sent to a cloud database and rearranging it in order when the data is needed for use. The promise of the product is to protect the contents of a cloud database, even if bad guys access it.
MongoDB’s new feature comes as more and more companies move user data to cloud servers, rather than run their own costly data centers. It was predicted that cloud computing would be a $214 billion industry by the end of 2019. That would be up more than 17% from 2018, when it was $182 billion.
Companies have rushed to the cloud without understanding all of the possible security consequences. Many companies have left countless databases exposed, revealing personal data. A database containing details about who lives in 80 million US households was left unprotected in 2019, just like the data on Facebook users.
Database managers want to store their data in an unreadable form, but they also want to be able to find specific pieces of information in the database with a simple search term. For example, someone might want to look up health care patients by their Social Security numbers, even if those numbers are stored as random characters. To make this possible, field level encryption lets database managers encrypt a search term on their machine and send it to the database as a query. The database matches the encrypted version of the search term with the record it’s storing and then sends it back to you.
This approach only works with specific kinds of data. For example, field level encryption isn’t useful for long text entries, like notes in a patient’s medical chart, because you can’t search for individual words.
Still, for data like account numbers, passwords and government ID numbers, field level encryption protects data and maintains a usable database.
Most importantly, White said, it’s simple to set up. Database managers turn it on with a one-time configuration change when they set up the database. “That’s really powerful,” he said in an interview.
1. The underlined word “scrambling” in paragraph 2 probably means________.| A．mixing | B．collecting | C．hiding | D．storing |
| A．Secure the safety of Internet pages. | B．Protect files with a unique style of storage. |
| C．Stop bad guys from accessing the database. | D．Enable companies to store files on the cloud. |
| A．Companies should move user data to cloud servers. |
| B．Cloud computing achieved a 17% increase in 2019. |
| C．Companies may be unaware of the risks of the cloud. |
| D．No companies were willing to run their own data centers. |
| A．present some facts | B．offer security advice |
| C．introduce a technique | D．recommend a product |
2 . If all goes well, a balloonwill soon rise from Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden. It will float highinto the upper atmosphere and then return to Earth. However, environmentalists have arrived to stop this from happening.
The campaigners are against the balloon because of what occurs in flight. The balloon will shoot dust into the Earths upper atmosphere, causing more sunlight to reflect back into space. The dust, known as stratospheric aerosolinjection(SAI), is part of a solar geoengineering (地球工程) program named SCoPex which is being conducted by Harvard University. The aim of the program is to purposely change the Earth's atmosphere to fight climate change.
Those who oppose worry about two things. Firstly, the moral risk-if solar geoengineering works, talks on reducing greenhouse gases will be challenged. The second concern is the amount of SAI in the atmosphere. To keep temperatures low, the need of the reflective dust tobel released high above Earth will be endless, and a sudden stop could result in rapid warming. Raymond Pierrehumbert, a physicist at Oxford University, says solar geoengineering is even tool risky to research beyond computer models.
Not all environmentalists are opposed to it. Since the world is unlikely to achieve the 1. 5 ℃ global warming target set in the Paris Agreement, some green organizations favour small-sized geoengineering research.
Regardless of the criticism, the research continues. Geoengineering is increasingly gaining international attention. A recent report about climate change suggested that SAI could help keep warming below 1. 5℃. The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in the USA has developed a research plan for solar geoengineering and received governmental funding totaling $9 million. Both China and India have also launched research programmes of their own. Activists may oppose the experiments, but balloons will likely fly anyway.
1. What is the function of SAI?| A．To attract dust. | B．To throw sunlight back. |
| C．To absorb heat. | D．To fight against pollution. |
| A．It may change computer models. |
| B．It may produce too much dust. |
| C．It may release greenhouse gases. |
| D．It may worsen global warming. |
| A．To a limited degree. |
| B．At a lower temperature. |
| C．By green organizations. |
| D．Without international attention. |
| A．Voices of environmentalists are ignored. |
| B．More support is going to geoengineering. |
| C．Global warming is getting worse in Sweden. |
| D．Geoengineering has proved effective in India. |
3 . Jack Andraka was 15 when he came up with an idea for a new way to test for pancreatic (胰腺) cancer. When Andraka was 14, a family friend died of the disease, and this affected him deeply. This kind of cancer is particularly serious because there is no test you can have done to find it in the early stages. By the time standard tests determine you have the disease, it is often too late. Realizing that this was the case, Andraka decided to try to develop a test that might catch problems at the earliest stages.
The road ahead looked difficult for Andraka. He was still a high school student, and he wanted to create something that no one else had done. But Andraka read endlessly about the disease, wrote a proposal for his idea, and sent it out to 200 cancer researchers. Only one professor, Dr.Anirban Maitra, responded positively. Dr.Maitra agreed to work with Andraka on his idea, giving him guidance and access to a laboratory.
The next big reward for Andraka’s perseverance was winning the grand prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. This great award is given to young innovators who have developed a world-changing idea. Developing the test is likely to take many years, but Andraka hopes the test will eventually improve people’s lives and maybe save them.
Jack Andraka is not alone as a young innovator. After all, there were 1,499 other contestants for the Intel award, and all of them had ground-breaking ideas. For Andraka, having a family that loves science and encourages creative thinking gave him an advantage. But the key for Andraka is that reading, research, and discovery are just plain fun, and the chance to improve the world around him in the process makes it even better.
1. Why did Andraka decide to develop a test for pancreatic cancer?| A．His friend’s encouragement. | B．An upsetting experience. |
| C．His extensive reading. | D．An important test. |
| A．Lack of positive replies from experts. | B．Heavy pressure from his schoolwork. |
| C．Little access to research equipment. | D．Great need of money to develop a test. |
| A．The competition with other contestants. | B．His determination to improve the world. |
| C．The support from his family. | D．His passion for discovery. |
| A．Practice makes perfect. | B．Hard work leads to success. |
| C．One good turn deserves another. | D．Failure is the mother of success. |
