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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 the 1. of appealing to regular customers.
|
A reality2. to expectations | ●Newcomers can enjoy a 3. discount than frequent clients by registering a new account. ●Personal information gathered, clients have fallen4. 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 make8. efforts. ● Severe9.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 business. |
August 1990, Boston
Dear Maya Shao-ming,
To me, June 6, 1990 is a special day. My long-awaited dream came true the minute your father cried, “A girl!” You are more than just a second child, more than just a girl to match our boy. You, little daughter, are the link to our female line, the legacy of another woman’s pain and sacrifice 31 years ago.
Let me tell you about your Chinese grandmother. Somewhere in Hong Kong, in the late fifties, a young waitress found herself pregnant (怀孕) by a cook, probably a co-worker at her restaurant. She carried the baby to term, suffered to give it birth, and kept the little girl for the first three months of her life. I like to think that my mother—your grandmother—loved me and fought to raise me on her own, but that the daily struggle was too hard. Worn down by the demands of the new baby and perhaps the constant threat of starvation, she made the painful decision to give away her girl so that both of us might have a chance for a better life.
More likely, I was dropped at the orphanage (孤儿院) steps or somewhere else. I will probably never know the truth. Having a baby in her unmarried state would have brought shame on the family in China, so she probably kept my existence a secret. Once I was out of her life, it was as if I had never been born. And so you and your brother and I are the missing leaves on a family tree.
Do they ever wonder if we exist?
Before I was two, I was adopted by an Anglo couple. Fed three square meals a day, I grew like a wild weed and grasped all the opportunities they had to offer—books, music, education, church life and community activities. In a family of blue-eyed blonds, though, I stood out like a sore thumb. Whether from jealousy or fear of someone who looked so different, my older brothers sometimes teased me about my unpleasing skin, or made fun of my clumsy walk. Moody and impatient, burdened by fears that none of us realized resulted from my early years of need, I was not an easy child to love. My mother and I conflicted countless times over the years, but gradually came to see one another as real human beings with faults and talents, and as women of strength in our own right. Lacking a mirror image in the mother who raised me, I had to seek my identity as a woman on my own. The Asian American community has helped me regain my double identity.
But part of me will always be missing: my beginnings, my personal history, all the delicate details that give a person her origin. Nevertheless, someone gave me a lucky name “Siu Wai”. “Siu” means “little”, and “Wai” means “clever”. Therefore, my baby name was “Clever little one.” Who chose those words? Who cared enough to note my arrival in the world?
I lost my Chinese name for 18 years. It was Americanized for convenience to “Sue”. But like an ill-fitting coat, it made me uncomfortable. I hated the name. But even more, I hated being Chinese. It took many years to become proud of my Asian origin and work up the courage to take back my birth-name. That, plus a little knowledge of classroom Cantonese is all the Chinese culture I have to offer you. Not white, certainly, but not really Asian, I try to pave the way between the two worlds and bridge the gap for you. Your name, “Shao-ming”, is very much like mine—“Shao” means “little”. And “ming” is “bright”, as in a shining sun or moon. Whose lives will you brighten, little Maya? Your past is more complete than mine, and each day I cradle you in your babyhood, generously giving you the loving care I lacked for my first two years. When I pat you, I comfort the lost baby inside me who still cries for her mother.
Sweet Maya, it doesn’t matter what you “become” later on. You have already fulfilled my wildest dreams.
I love you.
Mammy
1.Why is June 6, 1990 a special day for Mommy?
A.Her dream of being a mother came true. B.She found her origin from her Chinese mother.
C.She wrote the letter to her daughter. D.Her female line was well linked.
2.How does Mommy feel about her being given away?
A.It is bitter and disappointing. B.It is painful but understandable.
C.She feels sorry but sympathetic. D.She feels hurt and angry.
3.What does “I stood out like a sore thumb” in Paragraph 5 mean?
A.I walked clumsily out of pains. B.I was not easy to love due to jealousy.
C.I was impatient out of fear. D.I looked different from others.
4.What can be inferred from Mommy’s Anglo family life?
A.She used to experience an identity crisis. B.She fought against her American identity.
C.She forgot the pains of her early years. D.She kept her love for Asia from childhood.
5.Why did Mommy name her daughter “Shao-ming”?
A.To match her own birth-name. B.To brighten the lives of the family.
C.To identify her with Chinese origin. D.To justify her pride in Chinese culture.
6.By “Your past is more complete than mine,” Mommy means______.
A.her past was completed earlier than Shao-ming’s
B.Shao-ming has got motherly care and a sense of roots
C.her mother didn’t comfort her the way she did Shao-ming
D.her past was spent brokenly, first in Asia, then in the US
In the United States alone,over 100 million cell-phones are thrown away each year.Cell-phones are part of a growing mountain of electronic waste like computers and personal digital assistants.The electronic waste stream is increasing three times taster than traditional garbage as a whole.
Electronic devices contain valuable metals such as gold and silver.A Swiss study reported that while the weight of electronic goods represented by precious metals was relatively small in comparison to total waste,the concentration（含量）of gold and other precious metals was higher in So-called e-waste than in naturally occurring minerals.
Electronic wastes also contain many poisonous metals.Even when the machines are recycled and the harmful metals removed,the recycling process often is carried out in poor countries,in practically uncontrolled ways which allow many poisonous substances to escape into the environment.
Creating products out of raw materials creates much more waste material,up to 100 times more,than the material contained in the finished products.Consider again the cell-phone,and imagine the mines that produced those metals,the factories needed to make the box and packaging（包装）it came in.Many wastes produced in the producing process are harmful as well.
The U.S Environmental Protection Agency notes that most waste is dangerous in that"the production, distribution,and use of products-as well as management of the resulting waste-all result in greenhouse gas release." Individuals can reduce their contribution by creating less waste at the start-for instance,buying reusable products and recycling.
In many countries the concept of extended producer responsibility is being considered or has been put in place as an incentive（动机）for reducing waste.If producers are required to take back packaging they use to sell their products,would they reduce the packaging in the first place?
Governments' incentive to require producers to take responsibility for the packaging they produce is usually based on money.Why,they ask,should cities or towns be responsible for paying to deal with the bubble wrap（气泡垫）that encased your television?
From the governments' point of view,a primary goal of laws requiring extended producer responsibility is to transfer both the costs and the physical responsibility of waste management from the government and tax-payers back to the producers.
1.By mentioning the Swiss study,the author intends to tell us that .
A.the weight of e-goods is rather small
B.natural minerals contain more precious metals
C.E-waste deserves to be made good use of
D.the percentage of precious metals is heavy in e-waste
2.The responsibility of e-waste treatment should be extended .
A.from producers to governments
B.from governments to producers
C.from individuals to distributors
D.from distributors to governments
3.What does the passage mainly talk about?
A.The increase in e-waste. B.The creation of e-waste.
C.The seriousness of e-waste. D.The management of e-waste.
D
Freedom and Responsibility
Freedom’s challenge in the Digital Age is a serious topic. We are facing today a strange new world and we are all wondering what we are going to do with it.
Some 2,500 years ago Greece discovered freedom. Before that there was no freedom. There were great civilizations, splendid empires, but no freedom anywhere. Egypt and Babylon were both tyrannies , one very powerful man ruling over helpless masses.
In Greece, in Athens (雅典), a little city in a little country, there were no helpless masses. And Athenians willingly obeyed the written laws which they themselves passed, and the unwritten, which must be obeyed if free men live together. They must show each other kindness and pity and the many qualities without which life would be very painful unless one chose to live alone in the desert.The Athenians never thought that a man was free if he could do what he wanted. A man was free if he was self-controlled. To make yourself obey what you approved was freedom. They were saved from looking at their lives as their own private affair. Each one felt responsible for the welfare of Athens, not because it was forced on him from the outside, but because the city was his pride and his safety. The essential belief of the first free government in the world was liberty for all men who could control themselves and would take responsibility for the state.
But discovering freedom is not like discovering computers. It cannot be discovered once for all. If people do not prize it, and work for it, it will go. Constant watch is its price. Athens changed. It was a change that took place without being noticed though it was of the extreme importance, a spiritual change which affected the whole state. It had been the Athenian’ s pride and joy to give to their city. That they could get material benefits from her never entered their minds. There had to be a complete change of attitude before they could look at the city as an employer who paid her citizens for doing her work. Now instead of men giving to the state, the state was to give to them. What the people wanted was a government which would provide a comfortable life for them; and with this as the primary object, ideas of freedom and self-reliance and responsibility were neglected to the point of disappearing. Athens was more and more looked on as a cooperative business possessed of great wealth in which all citizens had a right to share.
Athens reached the point when the freedom she really wanted was freedom from responsibility. There could be only one result. If men insisted on being free from the burden of self-dependence and responsibility for the common good, they would cease to be free. Responsibility is the price every man must pay for freedom. It is to be had on no other terms. Athens, the Athens of Ancient Greece, refused responsibility; she reached the end of freedom and was never to have it again. But, “the excellent becomes the permanent”, Aristotle said. Athens lost freedom forever, but freedom was not lost forever for the world. A great American, James Madison, referred to: “The capacity (能力) of mankind for self-government.” No doubt he had not an idea that he was speaking Greek. Athens was not in the farthest background of his mind, but once man has a great and good idea, it is never completely lost. The Digital Age cannot destroy it. Somehow in this or that man’s thought such an idea lives though unconsidered by the world of action. One can never be sure that it is not on the point of breaking out into action only sure that it will do so sometime.
1.What does the underlined word “tyrannies” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A.Countries where their people need help.
B.Powerful states with higher civilization.
C.Splendid empires where people enjoy freedom.
D.Governments ruled with absolute power.
2.People believing in freedom are those who________ .
A.regard their life as their own business
B.seek gains as their primary object
C.behave within the laws and value systems
D.treat others with kindness and pity
3.What change in attitude took place in Athens?
A.The Athenians refused to take their responsibility.
B.The Athenians no longer took pride in the city.
C.The Athenians benefited spiritually from the government.
D.The Athenians looked on the government as a business.
4.What does the sentence “There could be only one result.” in Paragraph 5 mean?
A.Athens would continue to be free.
B.Athens would cease to have freedom.
C.Freedom would come from responsibility.
D.Freedom would stop Athens from self-dependence.
5.Why does the author refer to Aristotle and Madison?
A.The author is hopeful about freedom.
B.The author is cautious about self-government.
C.The author is skeptical of Greek civilization.
D.The author is proud of man’s capacity.
6.What is the author’s understanding of freedom?
A.Freedom can be more popular in the digital age.
B.Freedom may come to an end in the digital age.
C.Freedom should have priority over responsibility.
D.Freedom needs to be guaranteed by responsibility.
Canadian smartphone maker Research In Motion (RIM), which makes the BlackBerry, says it’s back. The company is _______to reclaim a market it once dominated by _______two new devices. The last few years have been a painful time for the company as customers deserted its platform in _______of newer and more _______devices. This may be the company’s last chance to _______a vital player in an increasingly crowded marketplace.
Two brand new devices are perhaps a fresh _______for a company that has seen its global market share _______from 20 percent three years ago to just over 3 percent today.
For BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins, it’s another chance to remake a faded _______. “We have _______been on a journey of transformation, not only a journey to transform our business and our brand, ________one that I truly ________transforms mobile communications into true mobile computing,” he said.
The company promises the same ________level of network security the BlackBerry is known for, ________a fast new browser and a more intuitive operating system. The Z10 ________much like the touch-screen phones popularized by its competitors (竞争者), but the Z 10 maintains the “qwerty” keyboard that has become BlackBerry’s trademark.
Besides the technical and cosmetic (外观上的) updates, Heins says the company will no longer be called RIM or Research In Motion.
“Our customers use a BlackBerry, our ________work for BlackBerry and our shareholders are owners of BlackBerry. From today on, we are BlackBerry ________in the world,” he said.
Shareholders will be watching if customers ________the new devices. The company’s stock has dropped as much as 90 percent in the last four years as it lost ________to competitors. But company shares have doubled in the last four months as anticipation (预期) ________for the new models.
Analysts say the new devices could make or ________a company, which many people praise for starting the technological revolution in smart-phones.
1.A.refusing B.trying C.urging D.pretending
2.A.introducing B.reviewing C.rejecting D.discovering
3.A.favor B.charge C.honor D.defense
4.A.popular B.expensive C.complicated D.familiar
5.A.replace B.react C.remain D.reset
6.A.record B.dilemma C.end D.start
7.A.lose B.increase C.rise D.fall
8.A.brand B.trade C.technique D.phone
9.A.specially B.definitely C.doubtfully D.essentially
10.A.and B.or C.but D.so
11.A.agree B.believe C.suspect D.deny
12.A.high B.average C.backward D.normal
13.A.except for B.regardless of C.apart from D.along with
14.A.sounds B.smells C.looks D.finds
15.A.employees B.consumers C.relatives D.competitors
16.A.however B.whenever C.nowhere D.everywhere
17.A.adapt B.adjust C.adopt D.advocate
18.A.land B.ground C.soil D.earth
19.A.dropped B.changed C.remained D.grew
20.A.desert B.abandon C.break D.deny
Try not to cough more than you can _______ since it may cause problems to your lungs.
A.check B.allow C.stop D.help
