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Many businesses offer membership cards to clients, promising that they will enjoy discounts, and the more they use the cards, the bigger the discounts will be. This is a common practice to attract and keep regular customers. By providing quality products or services at reasonable prices, businesses can indeed achieve this goal.
However, in recent years, consumers trying to book flights or hotels on certain websites have discovered that prices were actually higher for frequent users than for newcomers. They found that they could pay less by opening up a new account rather than using an old one. Unfortunately, these businesses are using information gathered through big data on clients’ preferences and purchasing habits to take advantage of them, which amounts to targeted price discrimination.
There have been numerous cases of overcharging based on big data on various shopping platforms in recent years. However, since it’s difficult to collect sufficient evidence to accuse these businesses, only a small number of consumers have chosen to take them on. Thus, big data, which is supposed to benefit the public, is helping some businesses cheat consumers. Big data itself is not a bad thing, since it is playing an increasingly important role in social life and economic growth. It can serve as a basic resource and tool. But since it is being used to overcharge frequent clients, the public has expressed anger. It’s a short-sighted behavior that will eventually drive away customers. Instead, big data should be used to improve businesses’ services and products by strengthening supervision (监督)and punishment so that this new technology can play its due role in Internet commerce.
It’s urgent to stop the misuse of big data by stepping up supervision. Market and network supervisory authorities need to join hands in this effort. The illegal use of big data should be severely punished. Advanced technology should be more widely used to supervise big data use.
It’s all right for businesses to employ certain methods to make big money, but to charge regular clients more than newcomers by taking advantage of information collected through big data analysis is violating regular clients’ rights as well as their trust in these businesses. The Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests clearly states that consumers have the right to know the truth about the commodities and services they buy. Thus, to overcharge regular clients is not only betraying the principle of fairness and sincerity, but also relevant laws. In the long run, it’s the businesses that will suffer most.
How Do We Make Good Use of Big Data in Commerce
Passage outline | Supporting details |
A common practice | Businesses, which promise quality products with lower costs, offer membership cards with the1. of appealing to regular customers. |
A reality 2. to expectations | • Newcomers can enjoy a 3. discount than frequent clients by registering a new account. • Personal information gathered; clients have fallen 4. to targeted price discrimination. |
The role of big data in social and economic life | • Despite 5.of hard evidence, there have been lots of cases where companies overcharge customers with the help of big data. • Playing its due role, big data can 6.both businesses and the public. |
7.to discouraging misuse of big data | • Market and network supervisory authorities should make 8.efforts. • Severe 9.is necessary to fight against the illegal use of big data with the wide application of advanced technology. |
Conclusion | Overcharging regular clients violates the principle of fairness and relevant laws, which, in the long run, will be most 10. to businesses. |
At the end of the 19th century, one in seven people around the world had died of tuberculosis or TB for short (肺结核)，and the disease ranked as the third leading cause of death in the United States. While physicians had begun to accept that TB was caused by bacteria, this understanding was slow to catch on among the general public, and most people gave little attention to the behaviors that contributed to disease transmission. They didn’t understand that things they did could make them sick. It was common for family members, or even strangers, to share a drinking cup.
In the 1890s the New York City Health Department launched a massive campaign to educate the public and reduce transmission. The “War on Tuberculosis” public health campaign discouraged cup-sharing and urged states to ban spitting inside public buildings and on sidewalks and in other outdoor spaces. Changes in public behavior helped successfully reduce the spread of TB.
Disease can permanently change society, and often for the best by creating better practices and habits. Crisis sets off action and response. Many infrastructure improvements and healthy behaviors we consider normal today are the result of past health campaigns that responded to serious outbreaks.
In the 19th century, city streets in the U.S. overflowed with dirt. People threw their unwanted newspapers, food scraps, and other trash out of their windows onto the streets below. The plentiful horses pulling streetcars and delivery carts dropped urine and waste every day. Human waste was a problem, too. Those in tenement (租户)housing did not have their own facilities, but had 25 to 30 people sharing a single outhouse. These toilets frequently overflowed until workers known as “night soil men” arrived to deal with waste, only to dump it into the nearby harbor.
As city and health leaders began to understand that the frequent outbreaks of TB that swept across their cities were connected to the garbage, cities began setting up organized systems for handling human waste. Indoor toilets were slow to catch on, due to the cost and need of a plumbing system. Improvements in technology helped the process along. Following Thomas Clapper’s improved model in 1891, water closets became popular, first among the wealthy, and then among the middle-class. Plumbing systems, paired with tenement house reform, helped remove waste from the public streets.
Disease greatly improved aspects of American culture, too. As physicians came to believe that good ventilation(通风))and fresh air could help fight illness, builders started adding porches and windows to houses. Real estate investors used the trend to market migration to the West, encouraging Eastern physicians to convince TB patients and their families to move thousands of miles from crowded, dirty Eastern cities to the dry air and sunshine in places like Los Angeles and Colorado Springs.
Some of this influence continues today. While we know that sunshine doesn’t kill bacteria, good ventilation and time spent outside does benefit children and adults by promoting physical activity and improving spirits. This fresh-air “cure” also eventually transformed the study of climate into a formal science, as people began to chart temperature, barometric pressure and other weather patterns in hopes of identifying the “ideal” conditions for treating disease.
Public health emergencies have inspired innovations in education. Starting in 1910, Thomas Edison’s lab, which had invented one of the first motion picture devices in the 1890s, cooperated with anti-tuberculosis activists to produce short films on TB prevention and transmission-some of the first educational movies. Screened in public places in rural areas, the TB movies were also the first films that viewers had ever seen.
As we are seeing with the coronavirus today, disease can impact a community--changing routines and shaking nerves as it spreads from person to person. But the effects of epidemics extend beyond the moments in which they occur.
1.According to Paragraph 1, what might have led to the outbreak of TB in the US?
A.Limited access to treatment B.Incompetence of the physicians.
C.Unhealthy living habits. D.Poor governmental administration.
2.What result did the “War on Tuberculosis” achieve?
A.The gap between the rich and the poor widened.
B.It contributed to changes in public behavior.
C.Tuberculosis totally disappeared in New York.
D.Citizens finally found a cure for tuberculosis.
3.If you had been in a US city street then, you would have probably seen .
A.more horses traveling on roads than pedestrians
B.lifeless patients infected with TB on every street
C.dirty surroundings where bacteria were easy to spread
D.unfair discrimination from the rich against the poor
4.Why was it slow for water closets to become popular?
A.They were too expensive for the poor to obtain.
B.There were many drawbacks of the early models.
C.They often overflowed and caused inconvenience.
D.People in tenement houses resisted such a device.
5.What was the change in American population migration then?
A.The vast majority of urban citizens moved to the West.
B.More people lived in the West than those in the East.
C.Many fled to rural areas with good ventilation and fresh air.
D.Patients and their family were encouraged to move westwards.
6.Which of the following effects TB brought remains nowadays?
A.The benefits of outdoor activities are widely acknowledged.
B.People adopt the habit of regular temperature-taking.
C.Films have become the primary way to educate people.
D.Ideal conditions for treating disease have been defined.
There are times when I set off for my running-group sessions with little enthusiasm. It might be because I’m tired, or stressed, or have had to unwillingly tear myself away from something else. I’m the coach, so I can’t choose to give it a miss.
It was yet another cold, dark, wet evening and I wasn’t feeling the love as I gathered all the necessary outfits-head torch, reflective waterproof jacket, hat and gloves. No one in their right mind will come out in this weather, I thought. But when I turned into the car park, my headlights picked out runners making a dash through the rain to our meeting point, where others were already working out to stay warm, with chat, laughter and hugs. They, too, I realized, might be tired, stressed or busy. But, unlike me, they had a choice about whether to come running or stay at home. And that makes their decision to come--and to keep on coming-all the more uplifting. As on so many other occasions, I went home from the run feeling better than when I’d arrived.
I believe one of the strongest motivations behind these runners’ decisions to come along is being part of a group. Belonging to a running community makes running greater than the sum of its parts. It’s no longer just a workout; it’s a catch-up with friends, a laugh and a shared experience. It provides a space to share your running triumphs and disappointments, to be congratulated and comforted, and, just as important, to congratulate and comfort others.
Research has long shown the likelihood of staying motivated is higher when exercise takes place in a group. The reasons are many. A study at the University of Southern California found people enjoy physical activity more when they are with others and are more likely to keep it up over the long term. There’s also an element of social facilitation-an “I’m not going to let XX beat me” attitude that drives you to push harder and produces a greater sense of achievement. And research by Strava in 2017 found running in a group made runners go faster and further. Using data from 90 million runs taking place all over the world, Strava found that the average pace of runs taking place in a group was seven seconds per mile quicker than solo runs, and the distance covered was an average of 1.3 miles further.
I joke about people being more motivated to come to my running sessions by the tea and biscuits afterwards than by the running itself. There’s probably some truth in that, but it doesn’t matter. Those laughter- and chatter-filled minutes are every bit as important as the running in between.
1.The author sometimes feels to go coaching the running group.
A.reluctant B.content C.excited D.frustrated
2.Why is being part of a group most motivational?
A.It involves a coach offering assistance.
B.It creates space to socialize with others.
C.It inspires members to beat their records.
D.It frees runners from boring daily routines.
3.That being in a group promotes performance is proven by .
A.citing a typical example B.listing accurate statistics
C.performing an experiment D.sharing his own experiences
4.Tea and biscuits in running sessions are meant to .
A.attract more runners from other groups
B.build up some strength before running
C.make his running group stand out of all
D.add more life to their running experience
Since the end of its own space shuttle program in 2011, the US has used Russian Soyuz spacecraft every time it wants to transport humans to and from space. While NASA is busy working on its own solution, the agency has increasingly turned to US private companies, such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX, to meet its off-planet transportation needs. Although SpaceX has successfully flown cargo (货物)flights for NASA since 2012 via the reusable Dragon spacecraft, the company has yet to launch humans in its so-called Crew Dragon capsule. Originally scheduled to launch in 2017, the program has seen multiple delays. After all, it is rocket science and the path has not been easy.
But 2019 seemed different. NASA’s pre-purchased Soyuz flights had run out by the end of 2019, and SpaceX, along with Boeing, had scheduled all its final tests to achieve certification in time to pick up where Soyuz left off. On March 2, the Crew Dragon capsule was launched on a run without crew toward the International Space Station (ISS). The flight, known as Demo-1, went successfully.
The next major milestone scheduled was the in-flight abort test (飞行中止测试)，another dry mission meant to test the reliability of the abort system that would save the crew in case of any accident during launch. The plan was to use the same capsule from the Demo-1 flight. But SpaceX never got the chance.
In April 2019, the company ran what was supposed to be a routine test, firing certain rockets with the capsule anchored firmly to the ground. Some 100 milliseconds before the engines fired, a leak of oxidizer caused an explosion that completely destroyed the capsule.
SpaceX spent the rest of spring and early summer figuring out what had gone wrong and pushing preparations for a replacement capsule. While the problem is now solved and the Crew Dragon spacecraft for Demo-2 has arrived at the launch site, NASA and SpaceX haven’t set an exact date for the first test flight with astronauts to the ISS.
1.What can we learn from Paragraph 1?
A.US tends to continue reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecrafts.
B.SpaceX can cover all NASA’s off-planet transportation needs.
C.NASA has not ceased developing its space travel technology.
D.Russia and SpaceX are competing for US space transportation.
2.The underlined word “dry” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to .
A.without crew B.without cargo C.without a capsule. D.without fuels
3.Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
A.A Ray of Hope for Space Exploration
B.The Rough Road to Launching A Dragon
C.Opportunities for Elon Musk’s SpaceX
D.Doubts about Off-planet Transportation
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It was Christmastime, and I had promised my son a bicycle. But life’s little catastrophes had __ my bike savings again and again. I stood at the bicycle display and my heart __ .
But, ___, there must be one that I could afford. I walked back and forth in front of the ___, as if I could will one into _____. “Please God,” I prayed silently. “I promised him a bicycle.”
I stopped and stared as the truth became __: there was not a single bike within my _____ .
A man walked up beside me and was excited about making his __. He wanted to know which one I was getting. I pointed to a green one, my son’s favorite color and explained to him the promise and my __ .
He stared at it for a moment and then said to me, “I’ll carry this to the __ for you.”
“I can’t!” I said. “I don’t have enough money.”
“I know,” he said, “I’m _____ it for you.”
“What? You can5t get this for me.”
He __ me and walked to the checkout line and paid.
“Now which way to your car?” he asked, walking out of store.
A million concerns as to his motives _____through my head, but I walked to my car, full of ____ and gratitude.
He ____ the big box into the trunk. Then he turned to me, said, “Merry Christmas!” and quickly disappeared in the parking lot.
I ____ the generosity of that man’s deed in my heart, and over the years tried to be ___ to what I could do for others.
Fifteen years later, in that same store I heard a __ woman in the next line whispering that she couldn’t ____ what she needed for her unborn baby. I __ and said to myself “I’m on it, God!”
1.A.lost B.claimed C.deposited D.wasted
2.A.failed B.hammered C.beat D.sank
3.A.surely B.fortunately C.surprisingly D.eventually
4.A.car B.counter C.display D.store
5.A.existence B.life C.practice D.power
6.A.specific B.obvious C.complex D.unbelievable
7.A.budget B.sight C.income D.authority
8.A.collection B.selection C.achievement D.movement
9.A.dream B.schedule C.dilemma D.option
10.A.garage B.exit C.entrance D.register
11.A.fetching B.getting C.carrying D.wrapping
12.A.observed B.escaped C.ignored D.teased
13.A.raced B.lived C.jumped D.saw
14.A.regret B.panic C.disbelief D.sympathy
15.A.threw B.folded C.separated D.slid
16.A.planted B.showed C.rewarded D.measured
17.A.reduced B.allergic C.superior D.sensitive
18.A.working B.pregnant C.wealthy D.greedy
19.A.charge B.choose C.afford D.move
20.A.sighed B.hesitated C.waited D.smiled
