Have you ever used Facebook? Many people are being lured (引诱) onto it with the promise of a fun, free service without realizing they’re paying for it by giving up large amounts of personal information. Facebook then attempts to make money by selling their data to advertisers that want to send targeted messages.
Most Facebook users don’t realize this is happening. Even if they know what the company is up to, they still have no idea what they’re paying for Facebook because people don’t really know what their personal data is worth.
The biggest problem, however, is that the company keeps changing the rules. Early on, you keep everything private. That was the great thing about Facebook — you could create your own little private network. Last year, the company changed its privacy rules so that many things — your city, your photo, your friends' names—were set, by default (默认) to be shared with everyone on the Internet.
According to Facebook’s vice-president Elliot Schrage, the company is simply making changes to improve its service, and if people don’t share information, they have a “less satisfying experience”.
Some critics think this is more about Facebook looking to make more money. Its original business model, which involved selling ads and putting them at the side of the page, totally failed. Who wants to look at ads when they’re online connecting with their friends?
The privacy issue has already landed Facebook in hot water in Washington. In April, Senator (议员) Charles Schumer called on Facebook to change its privacy policy. He also urged the Federal Trade Commission to set guidelines for social-networking sites. “I think the senator rightly communicated that we had not been clear about what the new products were and how people could choose to use them or not to use them,” Schrage admits.
I suspect that whatever Facebook has done so far to invade our privacy is only the beginning, which is why I’m considering deactivating (撤销) my account. Facebook is a handy site, but I’m upset by the idea that my information is in the hands of people I don’t know. That’s too high a price to pay.What do we learn about Facebook from the first paragraph?
| A．It is a website that sends messages to targeted users. |
| B．It makes money by putting on advertisements. |
| C．It profits by selling its users’ personal data. |
| D．It provides loads of information to its users. |
What does the author say about most Facebook users?
| A．They are reluctant to give up their personal information. |
| B．They don’t know their personal data enriches Facebook. |
| C．They don’t identify themselves when using the website. |
| D．They care very little about their personal information. |
Why does Facebook make changes to its rules according to Elliot Schrage?
| A．To provide better service to its users. |
| B．To follow the Federal guidelines. |
| C．To improve its users’ connectivity. |
| D．To expand its scope of business. |
Why does the author plan to cancel his Facebook account?
| A．He is dissatisfied with its current service. |
| B．He finds many of its users untrustworthy. |
| C．He doesn’t want his personal data abused. |
| D．He is upset by its frequent rule changes. |
Art robbery and art forgery (仿造) are both major themes in crime movies and literature.In the 2012 comedy movie Gambit, British actor Colin Firth plays an art curator who cheats his abusive boss into buying a fake Monet. In reality, art crimes are no less interesting and exciting.
According to The New York Times, over the past 15 years, Glafira Rosales fooled two local commercial art galleries into buying 63 false works of art for more than $30 million.She passed off fake paintings as works by 20th century modernist masters such as American artists Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock.But in fact, these so called “newly discovered works” were all produced by a single man, a Chinese immigrant named Qian Peishen.
The art world was shocked by Rosales' deception.But to the public, it was amusing and most satisfying to see wealthy people get tricked.
So what decides the value of a piece of art? Is it beauty? Is it the artist's talent and craftsmanship? Or is it just because the artist is famous?
We should take beauty out. If the buyers were buying paintings only for their beauty, they'll be content displaying good fakes on their walls. They wouldn't be so upset when a forgery is exposed.
The art market claims that great artists are inimitable, and that this inimitability justifies the absurd price of their works. We can't deny that most famous artists are good at what they do, but forgers like Qian show that their works are imitable.Otherwise, the difference between the original and the copycats would be obvious and Rosales would not be able to fool anyone.
According to an article in the Economist, expensive paintings are what economists call positional goods. They are valuable because other people can't have them. With other goods, a higher price reduces demand.But art turns down the laws of economics. “When the goods that is really being purchased is evidence that the buyer has paid a lot, price increases cause demand to boom，” explained the article.
That's why scarcity and authenticity are so important in the art market. Artists sometimes forget this.Demien Hirst, the British pop artist, is famous for his spot paintings. But they dropped in value when it became clear that they had been produced in quantities so vast that nobody knew how many were out there.The art market lost faith in these paintings because no one could be sure which of them were authentic and which were fake.The first paragraph is meant to tell the readers that ________.
| A．movies and literature will be popular with art involved in them |
| B．art crimes are as interesting and exciting in reality as in movies |
| C．Gambit is a good movie with art forgery as the major theme |
| D．real art crime in reality can be adapted into popular films |
Who is amused and satisfied to see the rich buy forged works of art?
| A．The public. |
| B．Glafira Rosales. |
| C．Qian Peishen. |
| D．Mark Rothlo and Jackson Pollock. |
What kind of art buyers should not be unhappy with its high prices when a forgery is exposed according to the author?
| A．Those who buy only for its beauty. |
| B．Those who buy for its inimitability. |
| C．Those who 'buy for its authenticity. |
| D．Those who buy for its scarcity. |
What is the law of economics theory behind art goods according to the economists?
| A．They are valuable goods. |
| B．High prices reduce the demand of art goods. |
| C．High prices increase the demand of art goods. |
| D．They are produced in quantities to satisfy people. |
While the presence of rats in homes may cause anxiety and annoyance, they rarely result in driving out the residents. But that is exactly what happened to the inhabitants of the 10squaremile Hawadax Island off the coast of Alaska, almost 230 years ago. Now thanks to a fiveyear effort by scientists, the terribly silent “Rat Island” as it had been called for many years has been returned to its rightful owners ——birds!
Hawadax Island is part of a chain of volcanic islands in the Bering Sea called the Aleutian Islands. The rats that arrived there in 1780, when a Japanese ship carrying them broke down nearby, completely destroyed the native population because the environment of the island was not built to defend its animals from these predators. There isn't any tree on the Island, which meant that the birds were accustomed to building their nests low in the ground, giving the rodents(啮齿动物) easy access to both eggs and baby chicks. As years passed, the birds that had called the island home for thousands of years became endangered and eventually, disappeared completely.
In 2007, the U．S. FWS (Fish and Wildlife Service) started a serious plan to rid the island of the rats and try bringing back the beautiful birds that had once called it home. Given that there were an estimated 10,000 rodents inhabiting “Rat Island” and the fact that they reproduce rapidly, it was not an easy task. But by 2009, the Island was officially declared rat free!
Then slowly but surely, the birds began to return. Unfortunately, some of the pioneers were unintentionally killed from the leavings of the raticide, a poison that had been used to wipe out the rodents. But now it seems things are becoming more stable and the Island is starting to increasingly look like its former self. Before the transformation, “Hawadax”， also known as “Rat Island”， was a silent and ghostly place with bird bones, snail remains and rocks covered in rat feces(粪便)．
Today, birds' singing and flying in and out is a common sight. Tufted puffins and song sparrows, which had long disappeared, are gradually making their way back. Scientists have also been observing an increase in ground nesting and shorebirds. Though the Island is still not back to its full glory, the signs are encouraging and things can only get better, as time passes.The underlined word “that”in Para.1 probably refers to ________.
| A．the presence of rats |
| B．birds' being driven out |
| C．birds' returning to the island |
| D．residents' worrying about rats |
Birds on Hawadax Island became an easy target because ________.
| A．this island was treeless |
| B．they nested randomly |
| C．they reproduced too rapidly |
| D．their chicks were extremely weak |
From the passage, we can know the plan of US FWS ______.
| A．has helped the island fully recovered |
| B．cost little but benefited greatly |
| C．involved poisoning the rats on a large scale |
| D．accomplished its goal after exactly 24 months |
Which would be the best title for the passage?
| A．FWS Help Get Rare Birds Back to Alaska Island |
| B．Japanese Changed a Bird Paradise into Rat Island |
| C．FWS Plan to Drive Rats Out Of Rat Island |
| D．Alaska's Rat Island Returns to a Bird Paradise |
More than half a century ago, there were 4, 000 drivein movie theaters in the United States, and watching a movie from your car was a popular way to spend an evening. But with the number of driveins reduced to just a few hundred, outdoor movie has been popping up across the nation. Going to an openair theater has become a modern summer pastime for an increasing number of movie fans.
In recent years, outdoor movie screenings have come up in parks, vacant lots and shopping malls around the nation. On average, about 1,000 people attend each movie night. It attracts a lot of young professionals, young workers and residents nearby. For some, the outdoor movies bring back the memories of the drivein theaters of their youths. But for the majorities, they think it is comparable to the atmosphere of driveins, as they can bring friends, food, good wine, and watch the movie together.
The returning of Americans' love affair with outdoor movies makes Stephen Bastas ever busier. His sevenmember crew sets up screens in various locations mostly in the Washington area every day throughout the summer. They are doing pretty well and they hope to continue the trend. And it looks like they are going to. That's because many fans say there is nothing like watching a movie on a breezy summer evening under the stars.In the first paragraph, the author tries to tell us ________.
| A．outdoor movies attracts more movielovers |
| B．summer brings back more drivein movie fans |
| C．drivein movie theaters have already disappeared |
| D．watching a movie from your car is becoming more popular |
Most people choose to go to an outdoor movie mainly because they can ________.
| A．have snacks before the movie |
| B．cheer up with young friends |
| C．bring back good old days |
| D．enjoy the casual atmosphere |
From the text, we can learn that Stephen Bastas is most probably ________.
| A．a movie maker |
| B．an outdoor movie fan |
| C．a movie director |
| D．an openair theater operator |
How does stephen Bastas feel about the future of outdoor movies？________.
| A．Optimistic | B．Amazed |
| C．Worried | D．Disappointed |
Password (密码) strength has been a topic about the Internet lately. I have seen lots of clever methods for generating and remembering strong passwords. Some are better than others, but in my opinion, none are adequate. Here's the problem: It doesn't matter how strong your passwords are if you use the same one on multiple sites. All it takes is for a site to get hacked(侵入), like Gawker media, or even Sony did, and now your superstrong password has been stolen, and every site on which you used that password has been accessed.
So, the bottom line is that no matter how strong your passwords are, and no matter what clever tricks you use to help you remember them, if you surf internet often, the only truly secure password system is what you need.
Enter LastPass. It's not the only password manager out there, but I like it the best. You create ONE strong password that you have to memorize and use it to access your LastPass database. The LastPass database is stored online, on LastPass's servers. LastPass recognizes the site you're on and automatically logs you in (after, optionally, asking you to reenter your master password). LastPass also has automatic form fill and automatic password generation. This means that you can have a different, unique, very strong password for every site you log into, but you only have to remember one master password. It's the best of both worlds.
One argument against LastPass is that if their database is attacked, then all of your sites are in danger, and that's true, but given that their entire line of work is keeping that information safe, I'm willing to take that chance. The alternative is rolling dice(掷骰子) or picking phrases to create passwords, writing all of them down on a piece of paper or something, and then having to manually type them in when I go to a site. A terrible mess.
There is a free version of LastPass, with some additional features unlocked if you pay a $12 a year subscription.
Joshua BardwellThe writer thinks using the same password everywhere is ________.
| A．dangerous | B．convenient |
| C．appropriate | D．adequate |
When using Lastpass, users have to remember ________.
| A．all passwords used |
| B．the last password |
| C．unique password each time |
| D．the master password only |
Critics are against Lastpass because ________.
| A．they have better ways to create password |
| B．they think rolling dice is more convenient |
| C．they have no faith in Lastpass database's safety |
| D．Gawker media and Lastpass were hacked once |
Joshua Bardwell writes the passage to ________.
| A．share his experience |
| B．introduce a product of good quality |
| C．advertise his product |
| D．teach how to use a new product |
The Great Barn Adventure
One morning when I was 11, I explored the town's abandoned round grain barn(谷仓). I found a chained sliding door that was wide enough for me to pass through.
Inside, there was a heavy smell of dead mice in the dark. After my eyes adjusted, I noticed a shaft (升降机井) that rose all the way to the top of the barn. On one side was a oneman elevator with a long rope and roller.
I stepped onto the platform and gave the rope a drag and the elevator began sliding up the shaft, but stopped halfway. After a brief panic attack, I noticed holes in the wall at regular intervals, forming a ladder. For reasons known only to an 11yearold, I decided it would be better to go up than down. So, with shaking hands, I began climbing the wall.
After what seemed like forever, I reached the top of the shaft. I stood up, dusted myself off and found…absolutely nothing of interest. It was just an empty room with a ladder leading up to the roof. I climbed all the way up here for this? Then I noticed a fire extinguisher(灭火器)，which I'd always wanted to shoot off. So this was the chance of a lifetime. I tried it, and, much to my surprise, the thing worked! It shot out a thick cloud of powder that instantly filled the room. I couldn't breathe. I was going to choke to death, and they'd probably never even find my body.
Luckily, I remembered the ladder to the roof. I climbed up, popped the straw roof and saw a bright blue sky.
I suddenly realized the dust and powder pouring out of the top could draw attention. So when the dust had settled, I climbed down and slipped out of the chained door. I'm not sure if I was more excited about being alive or about not being caught, but I ran all the way back home. When the author got inside the barn, he ________.
| A．noticed a man on the elevator |
| B．opened the chained sliding door |
| C．saw many dead mice in the dark |
| D．found a shaft leading to the top |
Which of the following is the right order of the author's adventure?
a. The elevator stopped halfway.
b. He entered the round grain barn.
c. He climbed to the top of the shaft.
d. He found a fire extinguisher and shot it off.
| A．b－a－c－d | B．a－c－b－d |
| C．c－a－d－b | D．b－c－a－d |
After getting out of the chained door, the author might feel ________.
| A．inspired | B．relieved |
| C．surprised | D．disappointed |