题目内容
1. account | A. group | B. country | C. thousand | D. famous |
2. existence | A. experience | B. example | C. exercise | D. extra |
3. depend | A. relative | B. elect | C. recent | D. develop |
4. solid | A. Europe | B. robot | C. waste | D. wander |
5. cough | A. daughter | B. enough | C. fight | D. neighbor |
I went on line to check if my pay was in my bank account(账户). To my amazement I discovered that not only had I been paid, but a company I’d never worked for had also paid me! I know I would have been beside myself (情绪失控) if my own salary was not in my account, so I tried to get the money back to the right person. Easier said than done.
The bank couldn’t help as it “wasn’t a bank problem.” The human-resource department at the company that paid me was unable to help as I didn’t have enough details. I rang the bank again. Thankfully I had a sympathetic call operator who gave me a name, so I again rang the company “Daniel” worked for.
I expected the bank would contact me to arrange to take the money from my account and repay Daniel. I heard nothing for a month and the money remained in my account when Daniel called, explaining he’d tried to get back his money but had been unsuccessful as neither the bank nor his company felt it was their error. He had rung to ask if I could speak to the bank, but after chatting for a few minutes we realized we could probably fix this problem ourselves.
We decided I would take the money from my account and he would pick it up from me. Due to my busy job I was unable to meet Daniel personally but he left me a lovely bottle of wine in exchange for what was rightfully his. I never had any intention of keeping Daniel’s pay but red tape(繁琐手续)made it difficult to do the right thing. It all came down to two people being able to do what a huge bank and a large company couldn’t do — admit a mistake has occurred and fix it.
【小题1】What was the attitude of the author towards the extra money in his bank account?
A.He didn’t know what to do with it. | B.He felt lucky to get it. |
C.He thought of keeping it for himself. | D.He wanted to return it to the right person. |
A.The author and Daniel solved the problem themselves. |
B.It cost Daniel a lovely bottle of wine to get back his money. |
C.The author gave the money back to the company. |
D.The call operator offered to solve their problem. |
A.the bank could solve the problem soon and easily with the red tape |
B.some large organizations usually have troublesome official rules |
C.Daniel didn’t know the error until he contacted the author |
D.it was easy for a company to have a mistake which had occurred fixed |
People are being lured (引诱)onto Facebook with the promise of a fun, free service without realizing they’re paying for it by giving up large amounts of personal information. Facebook then attempts to make money by selling their data to advertisers that want to send targeted messages.
Most Facebook users don’t realize this is happening. Even if they know what the company is up to, they still have no idea what they’re paying for Facebook because people don’t really know what their personal data is worth.
The biggest problem, however, is that the company keeps changing the rules. Early on, you keep everything private. That was the great thing about facebook—you could create your own little private network. Last year, the company changed its privacy rules so that many things— your city, your photo, your friends' names—were set, by default (默认)to be shared with everyone on the Internet.
According to Facebook’s vice-president Elliot Schrage, the company is simply making changes to improve its service, and if people don’t share information, they have a “less satisfying experience”.
Some critics think this is more about Facebook looking to make more money. Its original business model, which involved selling ads and putting them at the side of the page, totally failed. Who wants to look at ads when they’re online connecting with their friends?
The privacy issue has already landed Facebook in hot water in Washington. In April. Senator Charles Schumer called on Facebook to change its privacy policy. He also urged the Federal Trade Commission to set guidelines for social-networking sites.“I think the senator rightly communicated that we had not been clear about what the new products were and how people could choose to use them or not to use them,” Schrage admits.
I suspect that whatever Facebook has done so far to invade our privacy, it’s only the beginning, which is why I’m considering deactivating(撤销)my account. Facebook is a handy site, but I’m upset by the idea that my information is in the hands of people I don’t know. That’s too high a price to pay.
【小题1】What do we learn about Facebook from the first paragraph?
A.It is a website that sends messages to targeted users. |
B.It makes money by putting on advertisements. |
C.It profits by selling its users’ personal data. |
D.It provides loads of information to its users. |
A.They are reluctant to give up their personal information. |
B.They don’t know their personal data enriches Facebook. |
C.They don’t identify themselves when using the website. |
D.They care very little about their personal information. |
A.Setting guidelines for advertising on websites. |
B.Banning the sharing of users’ personal information. |
C.Working out regulations for social-networking sites. |
D.Removing ads from all social-networking sites. |
A.He is dissatisfied with its current service. |
B.He finds many of its users untrustworthy. |
C.He doesn’t want his personal data to be used in a wrong way. |
D.He is upset by its frequent rule changes. |