公共英语四级
单选题根据下面资料,回答题
Think of those fleeting moments when you look out of an aeroplane window and realise that you are flying, higher than a bird. Now think of your laptop, thinner than a brown-paper enve-lope, or your cellphone in the palm of your hand.Take a moment or two to wonder at those mar-vels. You are the lucky inheritor of a dream come true.
The second half of the 20th century saw- a collection of geniuses, warriors, entrepreneurs and visionaries labour to create a fabulous machine that could function as a typewriter and printing press, studio and theatre, paintbrush and gallery, piano and radio, the-mail as well as the mail car-der. (51)____
The networked computer is an amazing device, the first media machine that serves as the mode of production, means of distribution, site of reception, and place of praise and critique. The computer is the 21st century´ s culture machine.
But for all the reasons there are to celebratethe computer, we must also tread with caution.
(52)____ I call it a secret war for two reasons. First, most people do not realise
that there are strong commercial agendas at work to keep them in passive consumption mode. Sec-ond, the majority of people who use networked computers to upload are not even aware of the sig-nificance of what they are doing.
All animals download, but only a few upload. Beavers build dams and birds make nests. Yet for the most part, the animal kingdom moves through the world downloading. Humans are unique in their capacity to not only make tools but then turn around and use them to create superfluous ma-terial goods--paintings, sculpture and architecture--and superfluous experiencesmusic, litera-ture, religion and philosophy. (53)____
For all the possibilities of our new culture machines, most people are still stuck in download mode. Even after the advent of widespread social media, ´a pyramid of production remains, with a small number of people uploading material, a slightly larger group commenting on or modifying that content, and a huge percentage remaining content to just consume. (54)____
Television is a one-way tap flowing into our homes. The hardest task that television asks of anyone is to turn the power off after he has turned it on. (55)____
What counts as meaningful uploading? My definition revolves around the concept of "sticki-ness"--creations and experiences to which others adhere.
A.Of course, it is precisely these superfluous things that define human culture and ultimately what it is to be human. Downloading and consuming culture requires great skills, but failing to move beyond downloading is to strip oneself of a defining constituent of humanity.
B. Applications like tumblr, com, which allow users to combine pictures, words and other media in creative ways and then share them, have the potential to add stickiness by amusing, enter-taining and enlightening others.
C.Not only did they develop such a device but by the turn of the millennium they had also man-aged to embed it in a worldwide system accessed by billions of people every day.
D.This is because the networked computer has sparked a secret war between downloading and uploading--between passive consumption and active creation--whose outcome will shape our collective future in ways we can only begin to imagine.
E. The challenge the computer mounts to television thus bears little similarity to one format being replaced by another in the manner of record players being replaced by CD players.
F. One reason for the persistence of this pyramid of production is that for the past half-century,much of the word´ s media culture has been defined by a single medium--television--and tel-evision is defined by downloading.
G. The networked computer offers the first chance in 50 years to reverse the flow, to encourage thoughtful downloading and, even more importantly, meaningful uploading.
第51题选
Think of those fleeting moments when you look out of an aeroplane window and realise that you are flying, higher than a bird. Now think of your laptop, thinner than a brown-paper enve-lope, or your cellphone in the palm of your hand.Take a moment or two to wonder at those mar-vels. You are the lucky inheritor of a dream come true.
The second half of the 20th century saw- a collection of geniuses, warriors, entrepreneurs and visionaries labour to create a fabulous machine that could function as a typewriter and printing press, studio and theatre, paintbrush and gallery, piano and radio, the-mail as well as the mail car-der. (51)____
The networked computer is an amazing device, the first media machine that serves as the mode of production, means of distribution, site of reception, and place of praise and critique. The computer is the 21st century´ s culture machine.
But for all the reasons there are to celebratethe computer, we must also tread with caution.
(52)____ I call it a secret war for two reasons. First, most people do not realise
that there are strong commercial agendas at work to keep them in passive consumption mode. Sec-ond, the majority of people who use networked computers to upload are not even aware of the sig-nificance of what they are doing.
All animals download, but only a few upload. Beavers build dams and birds make nests. Yet for the most part, the animal kingdom moves through the world downloading. Humans are unique in their capacity to not only make tools but then turn around and use them to create superfluous ma-terial goods--paintings, sculpture and architecture--and superfluous experiencesmusic, litera-ture, religion and philosophy. (53)____
For all the possibilities of our new culture machines, most people are still stuck in download mode. Even after the advent of widespread social media, ´a pyramid of production remains, with a small number of people uploading material, a slightly larger group commenting on or modifying that content, and a huge percentage remaining content to just consume. (54)____
Television is a one-way tap flowing into our homes. The hardest task that television asks of anyone is to turn the power off after he has turned it on. (55)____
What counts as meaningful uploading? My definition revolves around the concept of "sticki-ness"--creations and experiences to which others adhere.
A.Of course, it is precisely these superfluous things that define human culture and ultimately what it is to be human. Downloading and consuming culture requires great skills, but failing to move beyond downloading is to strip oneself of a defining constituent of humanity.
B. Applications like tumblr, com, which allow users to combine pictures, words and other media in creative ways and then share them, have the potential to add stickiness by amusing, enter-taining and enlightening others.
C.Not only did they develop such a device but by the turn of the millennium they had also man-aged to embed it in a worldwide system accessed by billions of people every day.
D.This is because the networked computer has sparked a secret war between downloading and uploading--between passive consumption and active creation--whose outcome will shape our collective future in ways we can only begin to imagine.
E. The challenge the computer mounts to television thus bears little similarity to one format being replaced by another in the manner of record players being replaced by CD players.
F. One reason for the persistence of this pyramid of production is that for the past half-century,much of the word´ s media culture has been defined by a single medium--television--and tel-evision is defined by downloading.
G. The networked computer offers the first chance in 50 years to reverse the flow, to encourage thoughtful downloading and, even more importantly, meaningful uploading.
第51题选
参考答案:C进入在线模考
参考译文
想想那些短暂的时刻吧,当你从飞机的窗户向外望去,意识到你正飞在半空中,比鸟儿飞得还要高。再想想你的笔记本,比牛皮纸信封还要轻薄,又或者你手里的手机。花一点时间想想这些神奇的东西。你是个幸运的人,因为你的梦境变成了现实。
20世纪的后半叶涌现了很多天才、勇士、企业家以及有远见的实干家,他们创造了一台奇妙的机器,能够具备像打字机和打印机、录音棚和剧院、画笔和画廊、钢琴和收音机、邮箱和邮递员一样的功能。他们不仅开发了这样一项设备,并且在世纪之交的时候他们成功地将此设备嵌入到数十亿人每天都使用的全球系统中。
联网计算机是一个非常奇妙的设备,它是第一台制作模式的媒体机,一种传播方式,一个接收器,以及同时受到褒扬和批评的设备。计算机是21世纪的文化机器。尽管我们有很多理由来庆祝计算机的诞生,但是我们必须小心地使用它。这是因为联网计算机在下载和上传之间,即被动的消费和积极主动的创造之间引发了一场秘密的战争,这场战争的结果将会决定我们现在还只能想象的未来。我们称为秘密的战争有两个原因。首先,大多数人没有意识到强大的商业活动正在运作,使他们在消费模式中处于被动。其次,使用联网计算机上传的多数人都没有意识到他们正在做的事情的重要性。
所有的动物都下载,但是只有一部分动物上传。海狸建造堤坝,鸟儿筑造巢穴。但是更多的情况是,动物王国在下载的世界里活动。人类不仅是唯一能够制造工具的动物,也是唯一可以转而用工具创造更多物质财富(比如画作、雕塑和建筑等)和丰富经验(比如音乐、文学、宗教和哲学)的动物。当然,正是这些丰富的东西定义了人类文化,并最终定义了什么使人被称为“人”。下载以及消费文化对技能的要求很高,但是一个人若是不能超越下载,他就缺少了其作为人的一个必要组成部分。
就我们新的文化机器的各种可能性而言,多数人还只停留在下载模式。即便是在大众传媒广泛推广之后,产品仍然以金字塔的形式存在,人们中很少一部分上传资料,略多一点的人群评论或者修改这些上传内容,而庞大的群体仅满足于消费。这个金字塔结构得以维持的一个原因是在过去的半世纪中,世界媒体文化的很大一部分是由单一媒介——电视来定义的,而电视则是由下载定义的。
电视可以看作一个单向的阀门,里面的内容源源不断地流入千家万户。电视要求每个人做的最难的事情就是在打开阀门之后记得关上。
在过去的50年主,联网计算机让人们第一次有机会调转流向,鼓励有思想的下载,更为重要的是,鼓励有意义的上传。
什么是有意义的上传呢?我的定义围绕着“附着”这个词,即让其他人附着其上的创造和经验。
答案及解析
本题是顺接关系题。该空格位于第二段末尾。空格前面介绍了20世纪后半叶诞生的一种机器及其带来的功能。空格后面的内容,即第三段的开始,表明了这些功能的载体——联网计算机。从段落主题的一致性以及语篇的发展模式来看,要填入的内容应当介绍联网计算机的特点但又不能出现“联网计算机”的字样,据此可以排除三个选项。分析其余四个选项可知,A项的关键词是human culture,B项的关键词是像tumblr.com这样的应用,F项的关键词是production,均没有介绍第一段中提到的那台多功能设备的特点,只有C项的关键词是device,且介绍了该设备传播范围广的特点。
想想那些短暂的时刻吧,当你从飞机的窗户向外望去,意识到你正飞在半空中,比鸟儿飞得还要高。再想想你的笔记本,比牛皮纸信封还要轻薄,又或者你手里的手机。花一点时间想想这些神奇的东西。你是个幸运的人,因为你的梦境变成了现实。
20世纪的后半叶涌现了很多天才、勇士、企业家以及有远见的实干家,他们创造了一台奇妙的机器,能够具备像打字机和打印机、录音棚和剧院、画笔和画廊、钢琴和收音机、邮箱和邮递员一样的功能。他们不仅开发了这样一项设备,并且在世纪之交的时候他们成功地将此设备嵌入到数十亿人每天都使用的全球系统中。
联网计算机是一个非常奇妙的设备,它是第一台制作模式的媒体机,一种传播方式,一个接收器,以及同时受到褒扬和批评的设备。计算机是21世纪的文化机器。尽管我们有很多理由来庆祝计算机的诞生,但是我们必须小心地使用它。这是因为联网计算机在下载和上传之间,即被动的消费和积极主动的创造之间引发了一场秘密的战争,这场战争的结果将会决定我们现在还只能想象的未来。我们称为秘密的战争有两个原因。首先,大多数人没有意识到强大的商业活动正在运作,使他们在消费模式中处于被动。其次,使用联网计算机上传的多数人都没有意识到他们正在做的事情的重要性。
所有的动物都下载,但是只有一部分动物上传。海狸建造堤坝,鸟儿筑造巢穴。但是更多的情况是,动物王国在下载的世界里活动。人类不仅是唯一能够制造工具的动物,也是唯一可以转而用工具创造更多物质财富(比如画作、雕塑和建筑等)和丰富经验(比如音乐、文学、宗教和哲学)的动物。当然,正是这些丰富的东西定义了人类文化,并最终定义了什么使人被称为“人”。下载以及消费文化对技能的要求很高,但是一个人若是不能超越下载,他就缺少了其作为人的一个必要组成部分。
就我们新的文化机器的各种可能性而言,多数人还只停留在下载模式。即便是在大众传媒广泛推广之后,产品仍然以金字塔的形式存在,人们中很少一部分上传资料,略多一点的人群评论或者修改这些上传内容,而庞大的群体仅满足于消费。这个金字塔结构得以维持的一个原因是在过去的半世纪中,世界媒体文化的很大一部分是由单一媒介——电视来定义的,而电视则是由下载定义的。
电视可以看作一个单向的阀门,里面的内容源源不断地流入千家万户。电视要求每个人做的最难的事情就是在打开阀门之后记得关上。
在过去的50年主,联网计算机让人们第一次有机会调转流向,鼓励有思想的下载,更为重要的是,鼓励有意义的上传。
什么是有意义的上传呢?我的定义围绕着“附着”这个词,即让其他人附着其上的创造和经验。
答案及解析
本题是顺接关系题。该空格位于第二段末尾。空格前面介绍了20世纪后半叶诞生的一种机器及其带来的功能。空格后面的内容,即第三段的开始,表明了这些功能的载体——联网计算机。从段落主题的一致性以及语篇的发展模式来看,要填入的内容应当介绍联网计算机的特点但又不能出现“联网计算机”的字样,据此可以排除三个选项。分析其余四个选项可知,A项的关键词是human culture,B项的关键词是像tumblr.com这样的应用,F项的关键词是production,均没有介绍第一段中提到的那台多功能设备的特点,只有C项的关键词是device,且介绍了该设备传播范围广的特点。
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