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  3. The Internet mirrors society, reflecting our strengths and weaknesses. A healthy society and a healthy Internet share the same v

The Internet mirrors society, reflecting our strengths and weaknesses. A healthy society and a healthy Internet share the same v

admin2020-11-04  40
问题    The Internet mirrors society, reflecting our strengths and weaknesses. A healthy society and a healthy Internet share the same vital forces: individuals taking action, making things, solving problems, and ultimately building our own environment. We need both technology and social commitment to create spaces where healthy democracies will flourish.
   As citizens, we have a right and a responsibility to participate in democracy for it to work. Today we see technology—specifically the Internet—enabling rich new ways to participate in democracy. The Internet lets citizens swiftly tune in to world events, discuss the implications, organize campaigns, project their voices, and force change. Through the Internet, democratically elected leaders can more easily hear diverse voices. By making political activities more transparent, the Internet helps citizens hold politicians more accountable. It has created a sea change for democratic political discourse, offering a global soapbox (即兴演讲台 ) like none other.
   We also see the Internet magnifying the polarization of our societies and the rise of vitriol, hate speech and misinformation. This amplification is made possible by the Internet and centralized social media platforms, which combine to create mass echo chambers. However, the core issues live within the nature of our societies themselves. So today the Internet reflects richness, divisiveness and areas where hope and opportunities to improve one’s own life are not as widely available as we would like.
   The ease with which "fake news" can be disseminated (散布) online presented an opportunity to capitalize on existing social discontent by distributing misinformation for financial gain. We saw this happen in the latest US election cycle when egregiously fabricated stories published solely for profit circulated widely in social media. Pizzagate. The Pope endorses a presidential candidate. Florida imposes Sharia law. Though these stories were clearly false, each was published online, consumed, shared and viewed by millions of people. And yet we need to ask: How different are these articles from standard "clickbait" (标题党 ) that sensationalizes the truth in order to drive traffic?
   The stakes are high when bad actors misappropriate the Internet and position fake news to drown out facts for personal gain. Misinformation spread online has the power to influence people’s understanding of real world events. Millions of Internet users have no way to quickly assess whether claims are true or false. All of this adds up to loss of trust in core institutions as a source of good information and trustworthy community. But the loss is further compounded. Democracy relies on the free flow of good information and human connection, and when people believe they can’t trust anyone, democracy is weakened.
   Technology alone will not solve the problem, but technology combined with human intent, economic investment, and development policies can make immense positive changes.
   The world today is in a disruptive state, and it’s clear that the connection of technology to social impact is deeply needed so that communities of goodwill can grow, trust in the Internet and information will rebound and democracy will thrive. We have to apply ourselves to this challenge. Otherwise we will have wasted a rare and precious opportunity.
What does the word "vitriol" in Para. 3 mean?
选项 A、Bitter remarks.
B、Public praise.
C、Complimentary words.
D、Irrational fear.
答案A
解析 语义理解题。本题考查vitriol的词义。定位句提到，我们也看到互联网加剧了社会的两极分化和vitriol、仇恨言论及错误信息的泛滥。结合句意可知，该句在讲述互联网的负面影响。而vitriol与hate speech和misinformation并列，由此推测，vitriol的词义应该是与“仇恨言论”和“错误信息”类似的贬义词。因此，该词与A)的意义相近，意为“刻薄评论”，故为答案。B)“公开的称赞”和C)“恭维话”均为褒义词，明显与原文不符，故排除；D)“无端的恐惧”与原文内容无关，故排除。
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