1 . My first year living in Los Angeles, I was a birthday-party clown. I struggled a lot with my identity because, though I viewed myself as a filmmaker, everyone in my life viewed me as this ridiculous day job.
Once I was told, “Tomorrow you’re going to be Batman.” Now, keep in mind that at the time I had a giant mustache. I know a clown with a mustache is a huge red flag for parents. But I hadn’t wanted to alter my physical appearance for that job, because that would have been me subconsciously admitting I was more of a clown than an artist.
The next day, I went to the party in a huge public park, and I left my car parked far enough away so that the kids couldn’t see Batman pulling up in a PT Cruiser. Walking to the party, I started to regret my choice not to shave. “Gosh, this party is not going to go well.” Sure enough, once I got close enough for them to actually start making out the features of my face, the entire party broke out in laughter. I was so embarrassed that I wanted to turn around and run back to my Batmobile. But then the laughter kind of changed into cheering and applause. Feeling kind of warm and fuzzy inside, I wondered, “Is this what encouragement and support feel like? It’s so new.”
Then I decided to make an entrance for these kids. I was still about 20 yards away from the party when I started running. My cape was billowing in the wind, and mustache or not, in that moment, I was Batman. I ran into the party, and the kids were all high-fiving me. The dad was saying, “I told you, son. I told you Batman has a mustache.” Then he took me over to this huge birthday cake with a frosting Batman drawn on it, and the Batman has a mustache. I just stared at it in disbelief and learnt that instead of just admitting that the cake was messed up, the parents said, “Batman has a mustache. He just shaves it for his movies.”
That year, I struggled a lot with my identity; was I a filmmaker, or was I a clown? But that day, at least, there was no doubt in my mind what I was. I may not have been the hero that they ordered, and I certainly was not the hero they expected. But that day, I was the hero that they needed.
1. Why did “I” keep my mustache?| A．I struggled a lot for being a filmmaker. |
| B．I wanted to be a Batman in a birthday party. |
| C．I knew that a clown should wear a mustache. |
| D．I hadn’t wanted to change my appearance for the job. |
| A．I ran fast. | B．I high-fived. |
| C．I drove the car. | D．I walked slowly. |
| A．Satisfied. | B．Astonished. |
| C．Disappointed. | D．Ashamed. |
2 . Our electronic devices today store an awful lot of personal information. We use the devices to read and send e-mails, check bank balances, and even pay our bills over the internet. We want to be assured that if our devices are stolen. our personal information stored inside them will remain safe from the thief who physically possesses the device.
To deal with this problem. Apple has come out with a new iPhone that uses biometric(生物识别的)information to lock itself up. The phone has a fingerprint scanner that will lock or unlock the phone. Your fingerprint becomes the key, and this makes it nearly impossible for others to use your phone without your immediate permission- or does it?
At first look, one would think that this type of security would be welcome in the high-tech community where privacy is valued. Instead, some people are even more worried about their privacy. According to revealed documents, the US National Security Agency is able to slip into smartphones, while the agency can also legally force companies to turn over customers' personal information. If this is true, the fingerprint scanner on your smartphone might become a tool for the authorities to collect your fingerprint data.
Another problem with using biometrics to secure devices is that people don't know how secure the systems actually are. Germany's Chaos Computer Club claimed to have slipped into a biometrically secured iPhone within days of the device's release to the public. If this is the case, people who are using this type of security are much more vulnerable than they are led to believe. Although most security systems are hacked by someone eventually, the speed at which biometric security was hacked was very upset to some.
Regardless of how a device is secured, the debate is still attributes to the trade-off between privacy and security. Governments sometimes need to look at large amounts of information in order to defeat terrorist secret plans, and necessarily, some of the data come from you and me. When we use iPhones and other devices, we lose the ability to safeguard information that we would rather keep private, and we are forced to put trust in others.
It will always be difficult to strike a balance between privacy and security with growing changing technology. Nevertheless, one thing is crystal clear: we all have to sacrifice some of our privacy in order to have security for the public.
1. Why do people want to be assured that their electronic devices won’t be stolen?| A．Because people depend too much on it . |
| B．Because electronic devices are necessary in the workplace . |
| C．Because electronic devices are getting more and more expensive. |
| D．Because there is too much personal information in their electronic devices. |
| A．The biometric devices are fully safe. |
| B．Companies keep users’ personal information safe. |
| C．The biometric devices will be the popular way to ensure our privacy. |
| D．The authorities may drive companies to turn in users’ fingerprint data. |
| A．stable. | B．insecure. | C．reliable. | D．difficult. |
| A．the government will eventually know everything about us. |
| B．It is impossible to know who can be trusted in this technological world. |
| C．It is necessary to give up a certain amount of privacy for the sake of security. |
| D．Very few people are willing to use fingerprint security on their new phones. |
Technological change is everywhere and affects every aspect of life, mostly for the better. However, social changes are brought about by new technology are often mistaken for a change in attitudes.
An example at hand is the involvement of parents in the lives of their children who are attending college. Surveys (调查) on this topic suggests that parents today continue to be “very” or “somewhat” overly-protective even after their children move into college dormitories. The same surveys also indicate that the rate of parental involvement is greater today than it was a generation ago. This is usually interpreted as a sign that today’s parents are trying to manage their children’s lives past the point where this behavior is appropriate.
However, greater parental involvement does not necessarily indicate that parents are failing to let go of their “adult” children.
In the context (背景) of this discussion, it seems valuable to first find out the cause of change in the case of parents’ involvement with their grown children. If parents of earlier generations had wanted to be in touch with their college-age children frequently, would this have been possible? Probably not. On the other hand, does the possibility of frequent communication today mean that the urge to do so wasn’t present a generation ago? Many studies show that older parents — today’s grandparents — would have called their children more often if the means and cost of doing so had not been a barrier.
Furthermore, studies show that finances are the most frequent subject of communication between parents and their college children. The fact that college students are financially dependent on their parents is nothing new; nor are requests for more money to be sent from home. This phenomenon is neither good nor bad; it is a fact of college life, today and in the past.
Thanks to the advanced technology, we live in an age of bettered communication. This has many implications well beyondthe role that parents seem to play in the lives of their children who have left for college. But it is useful to bear in mind that all such changes come from the technology and not some imagined desire by parents to keep their children under their wings.
1. The surveys inform us of ______.| A．the development of technology |
| B．the changes of adult children’s behavior |
| C．the parents’ over-protection of their college children |
| D．the means and expenses of students’ communication |
| A．parents today are more protective than those in the past |
| B．the disadvantages of new technology outweigh its advantages |
| C．technology explains greater parental involvement with their children |
| D．parents’ changed attitudes lead to college children’s delayed independence |
| A．Technology or Attitude |
| B．Dependence or Independence |
| C．Family Influence or Social Changes |
| D．College Management or Communication Advancement |
I:Introduction
P:Point
Sp:Sub-point
C:Conclusion
A． | B． | C． | D． |
