四、练习答案

Text I

Text Comprehension

I. Decide which of the following best states the author’s purpose of writing.

B.

II. Judge, according to the text, whether the following statements are true or false.

1．T. Refer to Paragraph 1.

2．F. Refer to Paragraph 2. When the author says “this might sound like an apparent contradiction”, he implies that this is in fact not a contradiction at all. Throughout the whole essay, the author explains the seemingly contradictory idea: on the one hand the Internet is responsible for global unification, and on the other it alienates the participants.

3．F. Refer to Paragraph 3, where the author, by saying “I have not known this fellow to be given to exaggeration … it gave mc pause to think”, actually means that to the best of his knowledge, this friend of his has never exaggerated anything; therefore, the fellow’s story made the author pause to think about the unintended negative consequences of the Internet.

4．T. Refer to Paragraph 4. At the end of this paragraph, the author argues that when people spend much time developing on-line relationships with faraway folks, they will have no time to participate in the communal activities which undermines the sense of community.

5．T. Refer to Paragraph 6. In this paragraph, the author argues that when surfing the web a person might be cognitively overloaded and that the cognitive overload might result in a distorted sense of reality.

III. Answer the following questions.

1．As the author sees 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 contributes 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 members 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．His friend was addicted to the Internet. He would spend even over twenty-four hours non-stop on the Internet so that he had to force himself to go off line. As he spent so much time in cyberspace, his sense of reality might have been crooked. Moreover, without any face-to-face verbal communication with other people, he felt lonely and depressed.

3．The alienation of society members had begun long before the Internet 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 around 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 Internet. Internet addicts are far from rare. As illustrated by the example of the author’s 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 or friends. For lack of communications, they 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．The “cruel irony” means that the 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 and for involvement in the community activities.

5．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 balance 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 Internet is make moderate use of this tool without losing one’s sense of place in the world.

IV. Explain in your own words the following sentences taken from the text.

1．As there are relatively few restrictions for reaching and using the Internet, communications via the Internet are comparable to traveling through the international waterways.

2．A lot of people talk about the “new information age”, but not so many people are acquainted with the idea that the internet separates people from each other and fragments society further as a result.

3．I think that in our society the top priority is given to the satisfaction of one’s immediate needs. The Internet is the best tool for this purpose, for on the Internet one can do whatever he likes to.

Structural analysis of the text

The three parts of the text:

Part2 （Paragraphs 1-2）; Part 2 （Paragraphs 3-6）; and Part 3 （Paragraph 7）

Topical sentence: However I am also troubled by the possible unintended negative consequences.

Concluding statement: All this being said, I believe that the key to realizing the potential of the Internet is in achieving balance in our lives.

Rhetorical features of the text

More antonyms: real/not real; reality/virtual existence; outside playing with his friends/ play his games against his friends in cyberspace. The use of all these pairs of antonyms helps to reinforce the seeming self-contradiction that the Internet can lead to globalization on the one hand and cause the alienation of the user from the people around him on the other.

Vocabulary

I. Explain the underlined part in each sentence in your own words.

1．ability to develop, achieve or succeed

2．causing to feel very distant from or not welcome to other people

3．liked it very much and wanted to spend as much time doing it as possible.

4．more information than one can cope with

5．a set of images and sounds produced by a computer which seems so real that for most purposes it can be regarded as real

II. Fill in the blank（s） in each sentence with a phrase taken from the box in its appropriate form.

1．for the better

2．at the expense of

3．was confronted with

4．took advantage of

5．in earnest

6．are available for

7．prior to

8．would give … pause to think

III. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate forms of the given words.

1．alienating

2．globalization

3．fragmenting

4．addict

5．exaggerates

6．Depression

7．simulated

8．gratified

IV. Choose the word or phrase that can replace the underlined part in each sentence without changing its original meaning.

1．A

2．B

3．B

4．C

5．B

6．A

7．D

8．D

V. Give a synonym or an antonym of the word underlined in each sentence in the sense it is used.

1．intended

2．outstanding

3．separated

4．cultivate

5．immoderate

6．improvement

7．twisted

8．superficial

VI. Explain the meaning of the underlined Word or phrase in each sentence.

1．expanses

2．thinking it is necessary

3．commonplace

4．at home

5．tell you

6．large number

Grammar

I. Combine the sentences in each group into one, using at least one absolute construction.

1．All of this being said, I believe that the key to realizing the potential of the Internet is in achieving balance in our lives.

2．There having been no rain, the ground was dry.

3．When I walked in, Grandpa was sitting at the kitchen table, the newspaper spread before him.

4．The boys leaned against the willow tree, fishing poles resting on sticks, eyes gazing at the bobs floating on the ripples.

5．Mark went homeward alone, his heart full of strange emotion.

6．The discussion completed, the chairman adjourned the meeting for half an hour.

7．Diana stood motionless at the end of the diving board, her hands at her sides, her heels slightly raised, every muscle anticipating action.

8．The cowboy dominates the pages of many magazines, his hair dark and curly, his broad shoulders sloping yet powerful and his expression calm and confident.

II. Put the verbs in brackets into a gerund or an infinitive.

1．pacify, be pacified, grumbling

2．seeing

3．being treated

4．doing

5．getting, closing

6．answering, ring

7．reporting

8．resolving

9．making

10．going

III. Rewrite the following sentences. Start with the words given.

1．Hardly had he arrived when she started complaining.

2．Rarely does Manton care about anything else once he gets logged on to the Net.

3．Under no circumstances must you touch this switch.

4．Never in all their lives have they known such hardships.

5．So much does he worry about his financial position that he can’t sleep at night.

6．Not only did he speak more correctly but also more convincingly.

7．Only after several trials did they succeed.

8．Under no circumstances are the passengers permitted to open the doors themselves.

IV. Rewrite each of the following sentences, shifting the adverbial phrase of direction or place to the front of the clause. Use inversion where possible.

Omitted.

V. Correct any mistakes you find in this newspaper item.

The people of Sawston were evacuated yesterday as forest fires headed towards the town. Such was the heat of the oncoming inferno that trees more than 100 meters ahead began to smoulder. Only once in recent years, during 1994, has a town of this size （inversion is likely in this written context） had to be evacuated because of forest fires. A fleet of coaches and lorries arrived in the town in the early morning. Into these vehicles climbed the sick and elderly （inversion is likely in this written context）, before they headed off to safety across the river. Residents with cars left by mid morning, as did all non-essential police officers.

Hardly had the evacuation been completed when the wind changed direction and it became clear that the fire would leave Sawston untouched. Soon after that complaints were heard from some residents. “At no time did the fires pose a real threat,” said one local man. “I didn’t want to leave my home, and nor did most of my neighbors.” So upset are some elderly residents that they are threatening to complain to their MP. But Chief Fire Officer Jones replied, “Had we not taken this action, lives would have been put at risk. Only when the fires have moved well away from the town will residents be allowed to return to their homes.”

VI. Make sentences of your own after the sentences given below, keeping the underlined structures in your sentences.

1．I am ready to accept your proposal in that I believe it to be the best you can offer.

This machine differs from the other one in that it is more powerful.

2．All things being considered, I think I ought to award the scholarship to John.

So many members being absent, the meeting had to be put off.

Translation

I. Translate the following sentences into Chinese.

1．上网的途径及网络的使用所受到的限制相对还比较少，就这点来说，网上交流相当于在国际海域行使。

2．乍听起来，这表面上看起来似乎互相矛盾：一种东西怎么既能让人自由地交流，从而使全球融为一体，同时又让人们彼此疏远呢》

3．据我所知，此人不喜欢夸大其辞，因此，当他描述自己的网瘾，说常常连续泡网一天一夜时，这引起了我的思考。

4．但代价是，消耗了原本可以用来参加一些培养他们村庄及城镇社区意识活动的时间。

II. Translate the following sentences into English, using the words and phrases given in brackets.

1．There’s no denying that smoking is addictive. And once you are addicted, it’s very difficult to get rid of the habit.

2．In a Japanese-made video game? players can simulate the experience of AIDS from HIV infection until death.

3．I’m sure he was in earnest when he said that you could use this money to continue your study of music.

4．We can only increase production at the expense of quality, which could ruin the company’s reputation.

5．She is not often given to anger, but this time she really lost her temper.

6．A teacher of foreign language should possess at the very least a graduate degree from a certified education school or institute if he is to teach high school.

7．I soon perceived that I couldn’t make him change his mind.

III. Translate the following passage into Chinese.

互联网已经把我们带入了一个真正的信息时代，而且正在帮助世界各地的人们在一个以前不可想象的范围内相互交流。无论互联网和信息高速公路走的是一条什么样的发展道路，电讯、电视和计算机行业一致采用数码化的做法永远改变了我们的交际和计算方式。

这种一致将使公司能提供以前因技术有限而不能提供的服务。网络电视将使观众能接触互联网。大屏幕、高保真数字电视和DVD有可能改变电影的拍摄方法。卫星将帮助汽车找到回家的路。家家户户将接收到卫星、微波发射塔、纤维或铜线传送的信号。

Exercises for integrated skills

I. Dictation.

The Internet undoubtedly enriches our lives in many ways./ The instant reach of the email/ makes keeping-in-touch so rewarding/ and so excuse-proof./The access to so much information （ quality aside） by our fingertips/certainly makes a tremendous difference. / But do all these new platforms/of carrying on existing activities / contribute to the making of the new opportunities/ created by the coming of electricity and telephone,/ and steam locomotives and airplanes? / Do they really boost our productivity/ and create new wealth? / Are we simply using a new platform in the Internet/ to do things we have been doing without it? / If so,/ we don’t really need Internet companies to do them for us./ Perhaps,/ the leaders of the Internet revolution/can’t easily reconcile with their fate of becoming dispensable. / It certainly will take　 a lot of independent thinking on our own part/to get over the Internet-is-the-world mood.

II. Fill in each blank in the passage below with ONE appropriate word.

Text II

Questions for discussion

1．He imagined a world in which computers would be connected so that they could work much faster and everybody could use them.

2．Because it was by no means easy to get a large number of subscriber, especially at the very beginning. AOL had to start with this unique marketing approach to make its product known to the general public. As a matter of fact, it took five years for this company to attract a million subscribers.

3．It did not expect the fast increase of subscribers and failed to satisfy the needs of its customers. As a result, it lost a lot of money and consumer confidence.

4．It got a large amount of revenue from advertising on the Internet and selling products online.