Google must be the most ambitious company in the world. Its stated goal, "to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful," deliberately omits the word "web" to indicate that the company is reaching for absolutely all information everywhere and in every form. From books to health records and videos, from your friendships to your click patterns and physical location, Google wants to know. To some people this sounds uplifting, with promises of free access to knowledge and help in managing our daily lives. To others, it is somewhat like another Big Brother, no less frightening than its totalitarian (集权主义的) ancestors for being in the private information.Randall Stross, a journalist at The New York Times, does a good job of analyzing this unbounded ambition in his book "’Planet Google". One chapter is about the huge data centers that Google is building with a view to storing all that information, another about the sets of rules at the heart of its web search and advertising technology, another about its approach to information bound in books, its vision for geographical information and so forth. He is at his best when explaining how Google’ s mission casually but fatally Smashes into long-existing institutions such as, say, copyright law or privacy norms.And yet, it’s puzzling that he mostly omits the most fascinating component of Google, its people. Google is what it is because of its two founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who see themselves as kindly elites and embody the limitless optimism about science, technology and human nature that is native to Silicon Valley. The world is perfectible, and they are the ones who will do much more of the perfecting, provided you let them.Brin and Page set out to create a company and an entire culture in their image. From the start, they professed that they would innovate as much in managing — rewarding, feeding, motivating, entertaining and even transporting (via Wi-Fi-enabled free shuttle buses) their employees — as they do in Internet technology. If Google is in danger of becoming a caricature (讽刺), this is first apparent here — in the over-engineered day-care centers, the shiatsu massages and kombucha teas (康普茶). In reality Googlers are as prone to power struggle and office politics as anyone else.None of that makes it into Mr. Stross’ account, which at times reads like a diligent summary of news articles. At those moments, "Planet Google" takes a risk similar to trying to board a speeding train: the Google story changes so fast that no book can stay up to date for long. Even so, a sober description of this moment in Google’s quest is welcome. Especially since Google fully expects, as its chief executive, Eric Schmidt, says at the end of the book, to take 300 years completing it. What can be inferred from the last paragraph()
A. It is impossible that Google can fulfill its ambition.
B. "Planet Google" covers only a limited part of Google.
C. Eric Schmidt seems to be unsatisfied with Randall Stross’ description.
D. "Planet Google" will add information with the development of Google.
Drugs have been a part of the American story since the very first day Columbus landed in the New World. The Taino Indians (36) Columbus with a gift of tobacco, which would go on to become one of the most important drugs in our history. And if drugs have existed since the beginning, so have drug problems. And so have (37) to solve those drug problems.Since the 19th century when Americans first discovered new (38) drugs like heroin and cocaine, the whole society has (39) the problem of drug abuse and (40) When the 20th century began, the United States— (41) with its first drug epidemic — gradually set up (42) restrictions: at home through domestic law (43) and overseas by starting a world movement to limit opium and coca crops. (44) . The first epidemic was forgotten.During the 1960s, drugs like marijuana and psychedelics came on the scene, and a new generation embraced drugs. (45) . In 1973, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration was created to enforce federal drug laws. In the 1970s, cocaine reappeared. Then, a decade later, crack appeared, spreading addiction and violence at epidemic levels.Today, the DEA’s biggest challenge is the dramatic change in organized crime. (46) 45()
Aging poses a serious challenge to OECD countries.And early retirement places an unsustainable burden on (62) financing. There is no easy (63) to this problem, but delaying retirement could help.Retiring early has become so ingrained (根深蒂固的) in OECD countries that these days it is almost an individual professional (64) . It is even possible to drum (65) economic arguments in its favor: retirees spend money (66) save it, for instance, and are valuable for such sectors as tourism. Retiring early, some argue, frees up jobs for younger recruits and helps to (67) productivity. To many, retirement is a hard-earned right, and (68) the earlier the better.All very well, but the reality is quite (69) . Early retirement may seem like a worthy individual goal, but it is a socially (70) one, and, as far as public pensions are concerned, quite unsustainable. The (71) reason is that more people are retiring early and living longer. That (72) more retirees depending on the funding of those in work for their income. The (73) is worrying. In the next 50 years, low fertility rates (出生率) and rising life expectancy (平均寿命) in OECD countries will cause this old-age dependency rate to rise 74 in size. Public pension payments, which pay 30-80% of total retirement incomes in OECD countries, are expected to rise, (75) average, by over 3% percentage points in GDP and by 8% points in some countries. Such is the (76) on pension funds that there is a danger of today’s workers not getting the pensions they (77) or felt they paid for.Action is needed, (78) simply aiming to reduce the generosity (and cost) of public pensions, or trying to augment (扩大) the role of privately funded pensions within the system, though necessary steps, may be insufficient to deal with the dependency (79) . After years of advancing early retirement schemes to (80) redundancies and higher unemployment, many governments are now looking at (81) people to stay in work until they are older. Surely, the thinking goes, if we are healthier now and jobs are physically less strenuous (费劲的) and unemployment is down, then perhaps the present rate should rise anew. 74()
A. slightly
B. roughly
C. barely
D. hardly
It’s______与你同学争论没有用)because he will never change his mind.