The Internet has changed the world,
Whether paid or free, these services provide educational opportunities to those who would never have had the chance
2 . Many of you may have used Siri, a voice assistant of US tech company Apple. You only have to say “hey Siri” and it will answer to your command. However, we may be sacrificing our privacy to enjoy this convenience.
According to a recent report by the Guardian, Siri can be accidentally triggered and start recording private conversations, such as discussions between doctors and patients. Some of these recordings are then given to workers outside the company to review.
Apple claimed the data was used to help Siri improve, but users were not informed of this measure in the first place.
Apple’s Siri is not the only voice assistant to come under fire.
In 2018, Alexa, a voice assistant developed by US tech company Amazon, recorded a private conversation between a couple and sent it to a stranger without their permission.
These issues deepened concerns that tech companies are infringing users’ rights of privacy.
Many people have long feared that tech companies are listening and collecting data from private conversations, reported Forbes. Using this data, third party companies could then paint an accurate picture of users’ habits and preferences in order to serve them more targeted advertisements, or even worse, sell this private data.
Despite this risk, the popularity of voice assistant seems to be unstoppable.
“In the near future, everything from your lighting to your air-conditioning to your refrigerator, your coffee maker, and even your toilet could be wired to a system controlled by voice,” commented The Atlantic.
Colin Horgan wrote on the blog site Medium that he believed people’s daily lives will soon become a source of data.
“The sounds of our homes, the symphony of life — laughing, crying, talking, shouting, sitting in silence — will no longer be considered memories, but data,” he wrote.
To deal with the issue, Blake Morgan, reporter for The Atlantic, believed that the answer is transparency.
“All companies need to have messaging ready to explain to customers what they do with private data,” she wrote on The Atlantic.
1. What does the underlined sentence mean?A.There are other fire-proof voice assistants. |
B.Other voice assistants are also being developed. |
C.There are other voice assistants being criticized. |
D.Other voice assistants also need improvements. |
A.Invading their privacy. | B.Sending their message. |
C.Making no improvements. | D.Serving them targeted advertisements. |
A.To stop collecting data through voice assistant. |
B.To explain their use of the data to customers. |
C.To make their data more transparent. |
D.To slow down the pace of technology advancement. |
A.To show visions of a data world in the future. |
B.To inform people of what tech companies are really up to. |
C.To draw attention to the privacy issue voice assistants bring about. |
D.To criticize companies’ invading customers’ privacy by collecting data. |
3 . The world food safety could be in danger because of a number of food production shocks (冲击), according to an Australian study.
The researchers from the University of Tasmania found that there were 226 shocks in the area of food production across 134 nations and the frequency has been increasing over the past 50 years.
According to Cottrell, a researcher from the University of Tasmania, the main causes behind the shocks are different. For crops, extreme weather events such as floods and no rain for a long time play the biggest part. Weather also plays a role in livestock(家畜)production, but disease plays a bigger role. Disease also leads to aquaculture(水产业)shocks, while in the ocean most of the food shocks are caused by overfishing.
“When we look at the food production systems, covering crops, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture,” Cottrell said, “we find that crops and livestock are more easily affected than aquaculture. And some countries in South Asia are more frequently affected than others.”
The effects of production shocks reached far away from where they happened. When one means of food production is greatly reduced, it will cause unexpected results. “The India got a lot of food production shocks in crops and livestock, largely because of floods,” Cottrell explained. “If countries like India are shocked and the rice production is much smaller, they’ll probably send less goods to another country. And that shock suddenly starts to affect all the trade partners of the major producers as well.”
According to what Cottrell said, while the international community faces a great challenge to these problems, steps taken now can help fight against unexpected shocks in the future. “This can be done through measures such as food store systems so that they are better able to deal with the effect which is caused by problems such as climate change.” said Cottrell.
1. What do we know about food production shocks?A.Their causes are different in different production areas. |
B.Some diseases are the main cause. |
C.Extreme weather is the biggest shock. |
D.Overfishing is the main cause. |
A.Livestock in Australia. | B.Crops in Australian. |
C.Fisheries in India. | D.Livestock in South Asia. |
A.To show India sells a lot of crops to other countries. |
B.To show the shocks can cause unexpected results. |
C.To show Indian shocks are more often. |
D.To show India has a lot of flood. |
A.Results Caused by the Problem of Global Food Safety |
B.Measures Solving the Problem of Global Food Safety |
C.Production Shocks Threatening Global Food Safety |
D.The Importance of Global Food Safety |
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