Can you imagine a stranger will read your e-mails without your permission or scan the website you’ve visited or perhaps someone will casually glance through your credit card purchases or cell phones bills? All of the things may happen to you one day.
In fact, it’s likely that some of these things have already happened to you. Who would watch you without your permission? It might be a spouse, a girlfriend, a marketing company, a boss, a cop or a criminal. Whoever it is, they will see you in a way you never intended to be seen or even do something that may bring a disaster to you.
Psychologists tell us boundaries are healthy, and that it’s important to reveal to friends, family and lovers at appropriate times. But few boundaries remain nowadays. The digital bread crumbs you leave everywhere make it easy for strangers to know who you are, where you are and what you like. In some cases, a simple Google search can leak the deepest thought in your mind. Like it or not, increasingly we live in a world where you simply cannot keep a secret.
The key question is: Does that matter? For many Americans, the answer apparently is “No”.
When opinion polls ask Americans about privacy, most of them say they are really concerned about losing it. And 60 percent of the respondents say they feel their privacy is “slipping away, and that bothers me”.
But people say one thing and do another. Only a small of Americans change any behaviors in an effort to preserve their privacy. Few people turn down a discount at tollbooths(收费站) to avoid using the EZ-Pass system that track automobile movements. Privacy economist Acquisti has run a series of tests that reveal people will give up personal information such as telephone number, address, or social security numbers just to get their hands on a pitiful 50-cent-off coupon(优惠券). But privacy does matter—at least sometimes. It’s like health; when you have it, you don’t notice it. Only when it’s gone do you wish you’d done more to protect it. Without privacy, one will be naked in front of others.
1.What would psychologists advise on the relationships between friends?
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A．Friends should open their hearts to each other. |
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B．Friends should always be faithful to each other. |
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C．There should be a distance even between friends. |
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D．There should be fewer quarrels between friends. |
2.Why does the author say “we live in a world where you simply cannot keep a secret”?
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A．Modern society has finally developed into an open society. |
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B．People leave traces around when using modern technology. |
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C．There are always people who are curious about others’ affairs. |
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D．Many search engines profit by revealing people’s identities. |
3.What should be the best title for the text?
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A．No Privacy, No Health |
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B．Treasure Your Privacy |
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C．Boundaries are Important between Friends |
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D．The information Age Has Its Own Shortcomings |
It is common for older people to forget things. Now an American study has found that memory starts to fail when we are young adults. People younger than thirty years of age usually do not know that they are starting to forget information. But scientists from the University of Michigan say the loss of memory has usually already started.
Researchers say people do not observe this slow reduction in mental ability until the loss affects their everyday activities.
Denise Park led the new study. She directs the Centre for Aging and Cognition at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. Her team studied more than 350 men and women between the ages of twenty and ninety years. The study identified people in their middle twenties with memory problems.
She says young adults do not know they are forgetting things because their brains have more information than they need.
But she says that people in their twenties and thirties are losing memory at the same rate as people in their sixties and seventies.
Ms. Park says people between the ages of sixty and seventy may note the decrease in their mental abilities. They begin to observe that they are having more trouble remembering and learning new information.
The study found that older adults are more likely to remember false information as being true. For example, they remembered false medical claims as being true. Younger people remembered hearing the information. But they were more likely to remember that it was false.
Ms. Park is now using modern imaging equipment to study what happens in the brains of people of different ages. She is studying what parts of the brain older adults use for different activities compared to younger adults. Ms. Park says mental performance is a direct result of brain activity and brain structure. She says keeping the brain active is important. She hopes future studies will identify ways to improve the operation of our aging minds.
1.The passage is meant to _____________.
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A．emphasize the importance of exercising the brain |
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B．analyze the difference between different age groups on the loss of memory |
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C．reveal the decrease in mental ability of young adults as well as older adults |
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D．introduce effective ways to improve memory |
2. According to the passage, young adults differ from older adults in that ________.
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A．they lose their memory at a slower rate |
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B．they rarely realize they have memory problems |
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C．their brains can store much more information |
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D．all of the above |
3. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?
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A．Not until the loss of memory affects their daily activities, do people notice the decrease in their mental abilities. |
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B．People begin to lose memory in their twenties. |
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C．Older people tend to remember false information as being true. |
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D．Younger people find it easier to remember the information that is proven false. |
4.It can be inferred from what Denis Park says that ______.
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A．mental performance can be improved |
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B．mental ability is determined entirely by brain structure |
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C．people of different ages use different parts of the brain for memorizing |
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D．different parts of the brain are responsible for different mental activities |
5.Which of the following is a suitable title for the passage?
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A．The Mysterious Brain |
B．The Ability to Forget |
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C．Memory Reduction |
D．Mental Performance |
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The hat borrowed from the drama company was so dirty that it required ________ thoroughly.
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A．washing |
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C．to wash |
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I felt very strange __________________.
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A．when the first time I skied |
B．for the first time I skied |
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C．the first time when I skied |
D．when I skied for the first time |
________ had been done, the working efficiency of the employees still remained low.
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A．Though |
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C．Despite |
D．Despite what |
