In the past, friendships were greatly limited by time, space and attention; increasing home and workplace mobility has made it even harder to keep social relations over time. Through a combination of user controls, new technologies and changing standards of social behavior, Facebook is freeing us from these limitations, making friendships more accessible, pleasant and diverse than ever before.

First, Facebook allows you to find and rediscover friends and then reminds you of these connections, so that you are less likely to fall out of touch with the long-lost school friend, or the family member in a different country. 'Second, Facebook creates an environment that allows you to interact easily with others : you can share your photos,videos,links and thoughts with your friends, and respond to what they share in turn. Third, Facebook’s unique technical system helps you to discover your friends,most valuable stories. These technologies allow people to keep and enrich friendships that they might otherwise have been unable to keep.

The effect of this is very great. A recent study by Keith Hampton for the Pew Internet and American Life Project discovered that users of social networking websites have larger, more diverse social circles, online and offline. This outcome comes at no cost to one’s closest relationships, which are kept in person and over the phone. Instead, the hour that the average user spends each day socializing on Facebook comes at the expense of less social activities, such as the three or so hours a day the average person spends watching television.

Time may limit our ability to keep social ties, but our desire for social communication is limitless. Just as boats have allowed us to cross oceans and vehicles have allowed us to move mountains, Facebook is a tool that allows us to stay more deeply connected with a larger and more diverse set of friends.

1. What can you do with the help of Facebook according to the text?

A. Protect the environment.

B. Find a new house or workplace.

C. Rediscover long-lost classmates.

D. Change the behavior towards your friends.

2. What will social networking websites do?

A. Increase the diversity of social relations.

B. Share the hours of watching television.

C. Restrict personal friendship.

D. Limit social activities.

3. What is the author's attitude towards Facebook?

A. Worried. B. Doubtful. C. Approving. D. Curious.

任务型阅读

请认真阅读下列短文,并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。

注意:每个空格只填1个单词。请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。

Deep reading, as opposed to superficial (shallow) reading we do on the Web, is an endangered practice, one we ought to take steps to preserve as we would a historic building or a significant work of art.

Recent research has illustrated that deep reading, characterized as a unique experience different kind from the mere understanding of words, is slow, immersive (沉浸的), rich in sensory detail and emotional and moral complexity. Although deep reading does not, strictly speaking, require a conventional book, the limits of the printed page are uniquely helpful to the deep reading experience. A book’s lack of hyperlinks (超链接), for example, frees the reader from making decisions—should I click on this link or not—allowing her to remain fully absorbed in the story.

That immersion is supported by the way the brain handles language rich in detail, indirect reference and figures of speech: by creating a mental representation that draws on the same brain regions that would be active if the scene were unfolding in real life. The emotional situations and moral dilemmas that are the material of literature are also vigorous (有活力的) exercise for the brain, driving us inside the heads of fictional characters and even, studies suggest, increasing our real-life capacity (能力) for recognition.

None of this is likely to happen when we’re browsing through a website. Although we call the activity by the same name, the deep reading of books and the information-driven reading we do on the Web are very different, both in the experience they produce and in the capacity they develop. A growing body of evidence suggests that online reading may be less satisfying, even for the “digital natives” to whom it is so familiar. Researchers reported that 39% of children and teens read daily using electronic devices, but only 28% read printed materials every day. Those who only read onscreen were three times less likely to say they enjoy reading very much and tell which book they like best. The study also found that young people who read daily only onscreen were nearly twice less likely to be above-average readers than those who read daily in print or both in print and onscreen.

All in all, the disappearance of deep reading would harm the intellectual and emotional development of generations growing up online, as well as the preservation of a critical part of our culture: the novels, poems and other kinds of literature that can be appreciated only by readers whose brains have been trained to understand them.

Passage outline

Supporting details

The present situation about deep reading

◆ As we are reading more on the Web, deep reading has a

tendency to 1. .

◆ Like a historic building or a significant work of art, deep reading

2. our preservation.

3. of deep reading

◆ Deep reading4. complex emotional and moral

experiences.

◆ Deep reading usually 5. from printed materials.

◆ Deep reading helps train a reader’s brain and make it more6. .

◆ Compared with online reading, deep reading can bring readers more 7. .

◆ Deep reading makes a bigger 8. in increasing readers’ reading ability.

Conclusion

◆ Without deep reading, generations in this digital world can’t

develop well in emotion and9. .

◆ Without deep reading, people may be10. to appreciate literature.

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