Question

    In the summer of 2016, I gave a talk at a small conference in northern Virginia. I began by admitting that I’d never had a social-media account; I then outlined arguments for why other people should consider removing social media from their lives. The event organizers uploaded the video of my talk to YouTube. Then it was shared repeatedly on Facebook and Instagram and, eventually, viewed more than five million times. I was both pleased and annoyed by the fact that my anti-social-media talk had found such a large audience on social media.

I think of this event as typical of the conflicted relationships many of us have with Facebook, Instagram, and other social-media platforms. On the one hand, we’ve grown wary of the so-called attention economy, which, in the name of corporate profits, destroys social life gradually and offends privacy. But we also benefit from social media and hesitate to break away from it completely. Not long ago, I met a partner at a large law firm in Washington, D.C., who told me that she keeps Instagram on her phone because she misses her kids when she travels; looking through pictures of them makes her feel better.

In recent months, some of the biggest social-media companies, Facebook and Twitter, in particular, have promised various reforms. In March, Mark Zuckerberg announced a plan to move his platform toward private communication protected by end-to-end encryption (端对端加密); later that month, he put forward the establishment of a third-party group to set standards for acceptable content.

All of these approaches assume that the reformation of social media will be a complex, lengthy, and gradual process. But not everyone sees it that way. Alongside these official responses, a loose collective of developers that calls itself the IndieWeb has been creating another alternative. They are developing their own social-media platforms, which they say will preserve what’s good about social media while getting rid of what’s bad. They hope to rebuild social media according to principles that are less corporate and more humane.

1.Why did the author feel annoyed when his video was spread online?

A.His video caused many arguments.

B.His video was shared without his permission.

C.His talk was opposed by a large amount of people.

D.His video’s popularity on social media is against his talk.

2.Why does the author mention the story of his partner?

A.To prove that social media has some benefits.

B.To advise people to break away from social media.

C.To tell the negative effects social media may produce.

D.To describe people’s conflicted relationships with social media.

3.What is the purpose of the reform made by some social-media companies?

A.To attract more users.

B.To make more profits.

C.To improve network environment.

D.To provide more convenient service.

4.What does the IndieWeb intend to do?

A.Develop new social-media platforms.

B.Set up principles of the use of social media.

C.Improve the existing social-media platforms.

D.Help social-media companies to make reformation.

Answer

1.D

2.A

3.C

4.A

【解析】

这是一篇议论文。社交媒体在人们带来便利的同时，也侵犯着人们的隐私。为了这一情况，一些大的社交媒体公司，如Facebook and Twitter也在进行改革，努力改善社交网络环境。

1.细节理解题。根据第一段中I was both pleased and annoyed by the fact that my anti-social-media talk had found such a large audience on social media. (我的反社交媒体演讲在社交媒体上吸引了如此多的听众，这让我既高兴又恼火)可知，前文作者在演讲中说自己没有社交账号，还希望别人不要使用社交媒体。结果他的演讲在社交媒体上的点击量超过500万次，所以他感到又喜又怒。D. His video’s popularity on social media is against his talk. (他的视频在社交媒体上的受欢迎程度与他的言论相悖) 符合题意。故选D项。

2.推理判断题。根据第二段中But we also benefit from social media and hesitate to break away from it completely.(但我们也从社交媒体中受益，所以不愿完全脱离它)，作者在这一句话后，用他朋友的例子来进行论证，就是为了说明我们可以从社交媒体中获益。A. To prove that social media has some benefits. (为了证明社交媒体有一些好处) 符合题意。故选A项。

3.推理判断题。根据第三段中In March, Mark Zuckerberg announced a plan to move his platform toward private communication protected by end-to-end encryption (端对端加密); later that month, he put forward the establishment of a third-party group to set standards for acceptable content.可知，今年3月, Mark Zuckerberg宣布了一项计划,他要对私人交流的平台移动端到端进行加密保护；当月晚些时候，他提出成立第三方，为可接受的内容设定标准。再根据前文可知，社交媒体有些不安全的因素，因此可推断出，改革的目的就是为了改善社交网络环境。C. To improve network environment. (改善网络环境) 符合题意。故选C项。

4.细节理解题。根据最后一段中Alongside these official responses, a loose collective of developers that calls itself the IndieWeb has been creating another alternative. They are developing their own social-media platforms (除了这些官方的回应，一个自称IndieWeb松散的开发者团体正在创造另一种选择。他们正在开发自己的社交媒体平台)可知，IndieWeb正在开发自己的社交网络平台。A. Develop new social-media platforms. (开发新的社交媒体平台) 符合题意。故选A项。