The central idea of cell phones is that you should be connected to almost everyone and everything at all times.The trouble is that cell phones assault your peace of mind no matter what you do.If you turn them off,why have one?You just irritate anyone who might call.If you’re on and no one calls,you’re irrelevant,unloved or both.If everyone calls,you’re a basket case.
As with other triumphs of the mass market,cell phones reached a point when people forget what it was like before they existed.NO one remembers life before cars,.TVs,air conditioners,jets,credit cards,mircrowave ovens and ATM cards.So,too,now with cell phones.Anyone without one will soon be classified as an eccentric or member of the (deep)underclass.
Look at the numbers,In1985 there were 340,213 cell-phone users.By year-end 2003 there were 159 million.Ihad once assumed that age or hearing loss would immunize most of the over-60 population against cell phones.Wrong.Among those 60 to 69,cell phone ownership(60 percent) is almost as high as among 18-to 24-year-olds(66 percent),though lower than among 30-to 49-year-olds(76 percent),according to a recent survery from the Pew Research Center.Even among those 80 and older,ownership is 32 percent.
Of course,cell phones have productive uses.For those constanly on the road,they’re a bonus.The same is true for critical workers needed zt a moment’s notice.Otherwise,benefits seem gloomy.
They make driving more dangerous,though how much so is unclear.Then, there’s sheer nuisance.Private conversations have gone public.We’ve all been subjected to someone else’s sales meeting,dinner reservation,family argument and dating problem.In2003 cell phone conversations totaled 830 billion minutes,reckons CTIA.That’ about 75 times greater than in 1991 and almost 50 hours for every man,woman and chidren in America.How valuable is all this chitchat?The average conversation lasts two-and-a-half to three minutes.Surely many could be postponed or forgotten.
Cell phones and ,indeed,all wireless devices constitute another chapter in the ongoing breakdown between work and everything else.They pretend to increase your freedom while actually stealing it.
All this is the wave of the future or ,more precisely,the present.According to another survey,two birds of Americans 16 to 29 would choose a cell phone over a traditional land line.Cell phones,an irresistible force,will soon pull ahead.But I answer to resist just as I’ve resisted ATM cards,laptops and digital cameras.I agree increasingly with the late poeT Ogden Nash,who wrote:”Progress might have been all rights once,but it’s gone on too long.”
1.According to the passage,people usually consider a person with a cell phone as ——
A peculiar one B a fashioned one
C an unusual one D an average one
2. Which of the following statements is TRUE According to the passage?
A People are getting used to the lines with cell phones.
B Those who receive no phone calls are unloved.
C People can connect everyone and everything at all times with cell phones.
D Most people buy cell phones because they don’t want to be taken as an eccentric.
3. Which group of people below has the highest rate of cell phone ownership?
A 20-year-olds B 40-year-olds
C 60-year-olds D 80-year-olds
4. The word“nuisance” refers to
A annoyance B benefits
C inconvenience D clearness
5. The following are the drawbacks brought by cell phones EXCEPT that ——
A it wastes us much valuable time
B it makes you forget what you’ve working
C it disturbs you when you’re working
D it has very limited benefits
1.D 推论题。从第二段最后一句 “Anyone without one will soon be classified as an eccentric or member of the (deep)underclass.”可以推断出。
2. A推论题。从前两段可以推断出手机已经成为我们生活当中不可缺少的一部分。
3. B细节理解题。从第三段第六句“Among those 60 to 69,cell phone ownership(60 percent) is almost as high as among 18-to 24-year-olds(66 percent),though lower than among 30-to 49-year-olds(76 percent)”可以比较得出。
4. A词义猜测。从第五段第二、三句“Then, there’s sheer nuisance.Private conversations have gone public.We’ve all been subjected to someone else’s sales meeting,dinner reservation,family argument and dating problem” 可以推断出私人谈话泄密等等都属于nuisance的范畴。
5..B理解题。从全文可以推断出。
It's 10 p.m. You may not know where your child is. but the chip does.
The chip will also know if your child has fallen and needs immediate help. Once paramedics arrive ,the chip will also be able to tell the rescue workers which drugs little Johnny or Janic is allergic(过敏的)to.At the hospital,the chip will tell doctors his or her complete medical history.
And of counse ,when you arrive to pick up your child , settling the hospital bill with your health insurance policy will be a simple matter of waving your own chip -the one embedded(牢固地,插入)in your hand .
To some ,this may sound far-fetched .But the technology for such chips is no longer the stuff of science fiction,And it may soon offer many other benefits besides locating lost childen or elderly Alzheimer patients.
"Down the line ,it could be used as credit cards and such ,"says Chris Hables Gray , a professor of cultural studies of science and technology at the University of Great Falls in Montana,"A lot of people won't have to carry wallets anymore ,"he says,"what the implications are for this technology,in the long run,is profound.”
Indeed, some are aleady wondering what this sort of technology may do to the sense of personal privacy and liberty.
“Any technology of this kind is easily abusive of personal privacy.”says Lee Tien,senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.“If a kind is trackable,do you want other people to be able to track your kid?It’s a double-edged sword.”
Tiny Chips That Know Your Name
The research of embedding microchips isn’t entirely new.Back in 1988,Brian Warwick,a professor of cybernetics(控制论) at Reading University in London,implanted a chip into his arm as an experiment to see if Warwick’s computer could wirelessly track his whereabouts with the university’s building.
But Applied Digital Solutions,Inc,in Palm Beach,Fla. is one of the latest to try and push the experments beyond the realm of academic research and into the hands——and bodies——of ordinary humans.
The company says it has recently applied to the Food and Drug Administration for permission to begin testing its VeriChip device in humans.About the size of a grain of rice,the microchip can be encoded with bits of information and implanted in humans under a layer of skin.When scanned by a nearby reader,the embedded chip yields the data——say an ID number that links to a computer database file containing more detailed information.
Chipping Blocks
Most embedded chips designs are so-called passive chip which yield information only when scanned by a nearby reader.But active chips——such as the proposed Digital Angel of the future——will need to beam out information all the time.And that means designers will have to develop some sort of power source that can provide a continuous source of energy ,yet be small enough to be embedded with the chips.
Another additional barrier,developing tiny GPS receiver chips that cuold be embedded yet still be sensitive enough to receive signals from thousnads of miles out in space.In addition to technical hurdles(需要克服的困难),many suspect that all sorts of legal and privacy issues would have to be cleared as well.
1. A chip is able to do the following EXCEPT——
A telling the location of your child
B telling doctors your child’s medical history
C telling whether your child needs immediate help
D telling the rescue workers which medicine your child should take at once
2. The word“paramedic”refers to ——
A one who is trained to assist a doctor
B one who drives the ambulance
C an ambulance
D a disease
3. The implications for chip technology are proound because——
A it can help people a lot in their daily life
B it is easily abusive if personal privacy
C it is easily abusive if personal liberty
D it is a double-edged sword
4. What has Applied Digital Solutions,Inc,recently done?
A It has recently implanted a chip into Professor Brian Warwick’s arm.
B It has recently pushed the expermients into the realm of academic research.
C It has recently made the research of embedding microchips.
D It has recently applied to the Food and Drug Administration for permission to test its VeriChip device in humans.
5. To produce active chips,the problems designers need to solve are as many as — —
A two B three
C four D five
1.D细节理解题。根据第二段第一、二句“…if your child has fallen and needs immediate help. Once paramedics arrive ,the chip will also be able to tell the rescue workers…”得出此结论。
2.A猜测词义题。根据第四段第一句“To some ,this may…”得出此结论。
3.D推论题。根据第七段最后一句话“It’s a double-edged sword.”得出此结论
4.D细节理解题。根据第十一段第一句“The company says it has recently…”得出此结论。
5.C细节理解题。根据文章最后两段叙述得出此结论。