UNIT 3综英4

1、.,UNIT 3,ALIENATION AND THE INTERNRT Will Baker 1307010135 王宇 1307010203张文斐,.,Text comprehension,.Decide which of the following best states the authors purpose of writing. A. To tell the reader that he is bewildered（困惑的/使困惑） by the benefits and the negative consequences brought about by the Internet

2、. B. To convince the reader of our ability to reap the benefit of the Internet without being penalized(处罚） by it. C.To argue that the demerits（短处） of the Internet overweigh its merits（长处）.,（B）,.,.Judge,according to the text,whether the following statements are true or false. 1.The author believes th

3、at the human potential cant be realized without the globalization of ideas. （作者认为没有信息全球化，人类的潜力就不能实现） 2.The paradox seems unintelligible to the author that the Internet alienates the participant and at the same time it drives towards global unification.（互联网一方面使全球紧密团结，另一方面却又使互联网使用者互相隔离，对这种自相矛盾的现象，作者似乎

4、不能理解） 3.When his friend told him about his Internet binges，the author thought he was exaggerating.（当他的朋友告诉他关于互联网热潮时，笔者认为他在夸大其词）,T,F,F,.,4.When people spend too much time on line，they will be unable to participate in activities together with other community members so that their sense of community gr

5、adually diminishes.（人们花太多时间上网，他们就不能与其他社区成员一起参加活动，这样他们的社区感就会消失） 5.A person is likely to be cognitively overloaded if he is confronted with too much information on the Internet,and he may consequently have a distorted sense of reality.(面对着网上的巨大信息，一个人可能认知过度，他也可能看到一个现实中的扭曲世界）,T,T,.,.Answer the following

6、 questions. 1.Whats the authors viewpoint about the benefit of the Internet？What does he see about its negative side？ Answer: -As the author see it，the Internet is most likely to make our global village a better place to live in.It provides a miraculous forum for the globalization of ideas，which con

7、tributes to the realization of human potential. Furthermore，it is a powerful tool for the acquisition and application of knowledge.,.,The benefits of the Internet ，however，may be darkened by its negative consequences. It may deprive its user of his time for necessary interaction with other society m

8、embers so that the whole world may be further fragmented. In addition,there is a reasonable likelihood that the Internet presents too much information,which gives its user a skewed sense of reality by making him a cognitively overloaded man.,.,2.What happened to the authors friend as regards the Int

9、ernet?What negative consequences did he see about it? Answer： -His friend was addicted to the Internet. He would spend even over twenty-four hours nonstop on the Internet so that he had to force himself go off line. As he spent so much time in cyberspace, his sense of reality might have been crooked

10、. Moreover, without any face-to-face verbal communication with other people, he felt lonely and depressed.,.,3.What alienated society members before the Internet gained popularity? What alienates them in the information age? Answer： - The alienation of society members had begun long before the Inter

11、net started to be used worldwide. After World War II when the soldiers returned from the battlefields, they devoted themselves to “progress”. What they did to achieve their goal was to manufacture large quantities of cars and make them available to most people. With the car people could travel aroun

12、d more easily, but at the expense of their reunion with their extended families and communications with their neighbors. Thus, it is apparent that it was the car ownership that alienated people before the internet.,.,In the information age, however, people are alienated not so much by cars as by the

13、 Internet. Internet addicts are far form rare. As illustrated by the example of the authors nephew, it seems to be an irreversible trend that more and more people, old and young, are becoming addicted to the Internet. They will spend many hours non-stop in cyberspace rather than with their families

14、or friends. For lack of communications, the are becoming strangers to other people. Therefore, there is a good reason to believe that the society is being further alienated by the Internet.,.,4.What is meant by the “cruel irony” that appears in Paragraph 4? Answer： - The “cruel irony” means that the

15、 Internet provides the user with a convenient means of communicating and making friends with people far apart on the one hand, but on the other, it estranges the user from the people around him by canceling his availability for the face-to-face communications even with his families and close friends

16、 and for involvement in the community activities.,.,5. How, according to the author, can the potential of the Internet be realized? Answer： - The potential of the Internet as a powerful tool for globalizing ideas and for acquiring and applying knowledge can only be realized when its user strikes a b

17、alance between the reality and the Internet. Although the Internet makes it possible for its users to debate, shop, travel and have romance in cyberspace without leaving home, the overuse of this tool probably results in a distorted sense of reality. The only way to avoid being penalized by the Inte

18、rnet is make moderate use of this tool without losing ones sense of place in the world.,.,.Explain in your own words the following sentences. 1.Given the relatively few restrictions governing access and usage, it is the communications modal equivalent of interna-tional waters. Answer： As the Interne

19、t can be reached and used with relatively fe-w restrictions, it plays a role in connecting people globally, which is comparable to traveling through international wa-terways.,.,2.But much less widely reported has been the notion that the Internet may be responsible for furthering the fragmen-tation of society by alienating its individual users. Answer： A lot