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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  79
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.
When someone spreads misinformation online to cover up the truth for their own profit, it has negative effects on______.
选项 A、people’s comprehension of what happened in the offline and online world
B、network users’ verifying the authenticity of information posted online
C、public faith in crucial government institutions
D、the free flow of reliable information
答案B
解析 推理判断题。本题考查人们为了私利而在网上传播错误信息以掩盖事实真相所带来的负面影响。定位段第一句提到，当惯犯们为了谋取私利而滥用互联网并发布假新闻来掩盖事实时，代价是很大的。接下来的五句分别从四个方面介绍了其代价。该段第三句提到，数百万互联网用户无法快速判断这些说法的真假，由此可知，这给互联网用户判断网上信息的真假性带来了负面影响，故答案为B)。A)“人们对现实世界和网络世界所发生的事情的理解”与原文表述不符，该段第二句指出网上传播的错误信息足以影响人们对现实世界中各事件的理解，并未提及网络世界事件，故排除；C)“重要政府机构的公信力”是对该段第四句的曲解，该句提到这一切造成人们对作为良好信息来源的核心机构和可靠团体丧失了信任，由as a source of good information and trustworthy community可知，此处是指新闻机构，而不是政府机构，故排除；D)“可靠信息的自由流动”，由该段末句可知，为了私利而在网上传播错误信息掩盖事实是对民主造成了负面影响，而不是对可靠信息的自由流动造成影响，故排除。
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