In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the correct answer to each question on your answer sheet. According to the interviewee, parents can do all of the following to save money EXCEPT
A. [A] swaping clothes with other parents.
B. buying clothes in discount stores.
C. buying fancy newborn equipment.
D. going on eBay to buy nursing articles.
The world seems increasingly divided into those who favor genetically modified (GM) foods and those who fear them. Advocates assert that growing genetically altered crops can be kinder to the environment and that eating foods from those plants is perfectly safe. And, they say, genetic engineering—which can induce plants to grow in poor soils or to produce more nutritious foods—will soon become an essential tool for helping to feed the world’s burgeoning population. Skeptics contend that GM crops could pose unique risks to the environment and to health—risks too troubling to accept placidly. Taking that view, many European countries are restricting the planting and importation of GM agricultural products. Much of the debate hinges on perceptions of safety. But what exactly does recent scientific research say about the hazards Advocates of GM, or transgenic, crops say the plants will benefit the environment by requiring fewer toxic pesticides than conventional crops. But critics fear the potential risks and wonder how big the benefits really are. "We have so many questions about these plants," remarks Guenther Stotzky, a soil microbiologist at New York University. "There’s a lot we don’t know and need to find out. " As GM crops multiply in the landscape, unprecedented numbers of researchers have started fanning into the fields to get the missing information. Some of their recent findings are reassuring; others suggest a need for vigilance. Every year U.S. growers shower crops with an estimated 971 million pounds of pesticides, mostly to kill insects, weeds and fungi. But pesticide residues linger on crops and the surrounding soil, leaching into groundwater, running into streams and getting gobbled up by wildlife. The constant chemical trickle is an old worry for environmentalists. In the mid-1990s agribusinesses began advertising GM seeds that promised to reduce a farmer’s use of toxic pesticides. Today most GM crops—mainly soybean, corn, cotton and canola—contain genes enabling them to either resist insect pests or tolerate weed-killing herbicides. The insect-resistant varieties make their own insecticide, a property meant to reduce the need for chemical sprays. The herbicidetolerant types survive when exposed to broad-spectrum weed killers, potentially allowing farmers to forgo more poisonous chemicals that target specific weed species. Farmers like to limit the use of more hazardous pesticides when they can, but GM crops also hold appeal because they simplify operations (reducing the frequency and complexity of pesticide applications) and, in some cases, increase yields. But confirming environmental benefit is tricky. Virtually no peer-reviewed papers have addressed such advantages, which would be expected to vary from plant to plant and place to place. Some information is available, however. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, farmers who plant herbicidetolerant crops do not necessarily use fewer sprays, but they do apply a more benign mix of chemicals. For instance, those who grow herbicide-tolerant soybeans typically avoid the most noxious weed killer, turning instead to glyphosate herbicides, which are less toxic and degrade more quickly. Insect-resistant crops also bring mixed benefits. To date, insect resistance has been provided by a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). This gene directs cells to manufacture a crystalline protein that is toxic to certain insects—especially caterpillars and beetles that gnaw on crops—but does not harm other organisms. The toxin gene in different strains of Bacillus. thuringiensis can affect different mixes of insects, so seed makers can select the version that seems best suited to a particular crop. Defining the environmental risks of GM crops seems even harder than calculating their benefits. At the moment, public attention is most trained on Bt crops, thanks to several negative studies. Regulators, too, are surveying the risks intensely. This spring or summer the EPA is expected to issue major new guidelines for Bt crops, ordering seed producers to show more thoroughly that the crops can be planted safely and monitored in farm fields. In the face of mounting consumer concern, scientists are stepping up research into the consequences of Bt and other GM crops. Among their questions: How do Bt crops affect "nontarget" organisms—the innocent bugs, birds, worms and other creatures that happen to pass by the modified plants Will GM crops pollinate nearby plants, casting their genes into the wild to create superweeds that grow unchecked What are the odds that the genetically engineered traits will lose their ability to protect against insects and invasive weeds, leaving GM plants suddenly vulnerable Which of the following is NOT the reason given by advocates of GM crops
A. GM crops can produce more nutritious foods.
B. GM crops can be greatly helpful in feeding the growing population of the world.
C. GM crops will benefit the environment by requiring fewer pesticides.
D. GM crops can simplify operation in growing crops.
People do not have secret trolleys at the supermarket, so how can it be a violation of their privacy if a grocer sells their purchasing habits to a marketing firm If they walk around in public view, what harm can cameras recording their movements cause A company is paying them to do a job, so why should it not read their e-mails when they are at work How, what and why, indeed. Yet, in all these situations, most people feel a sense of unease. The technology for gathering, storing, manipulating and sharing information has become part of the scenery, but there is little guidance on how to resolve the conflicts created by all the personal data now washing around. Which of the following is the best title for the passage [A] Contextual Integrity in Privacy [B] The Variables of Privacy [C] The Logic of Privacy [D] Privacy in Contextual Integrity
A group of computer scientists at Stanford University, led by John. Mitchell, has started to address the problem in a novel way. Instead of relying on rigid (and easily programmable) codes of what is and is not acceptable, Dr. Mitchell and his colleagues Adam Barth and Anupam Datta have turned to a philosophical theory called contextual integrity. This theory acknowledges that people do not require complete privacy. They will happily share information with others as long as certain social norms are met. Only when these norms are contravened--for example, when your psychiatrist tells the personnel department all about your consultation--has your privacy been invaded. The team think contextual integrity can be used to express the conventions and laws surrounding privacy in the formal vernacular of a computer language.
B. Contextual integrity, which was developed by Helen Nissenbaum of New York University, relies on four classes of variable. These are the context of a flow of information, the capacities in which the individuals sending and receiving the information are acting, the types of information involved, and what she calls the "principle of transmission".
C. It is the fourth of these variables that describes the basis on which information flows. Someone might, for example, receive information under the terms of a commercial exchange, or because he deserves it, or because someone chose to share it with him, or because it came to him as a legal right, or because he promised to keep it secret. These are all examples of transmission principles.
Dr. Nissenbaum has been working with Mr. Barth to turn these wordy descriptions of the variables of contextual integrity into formal expressions that can be incorporated into computer programs. The tool Mr. Barth is employing to effect this transition is linear temporal logic, a system of mathematical logic that can express detailed constraints on the past and the future.
E. Linear temporal logic is an established discipline. It is, for example, used to test safety critical systems, such as aeroplane flight controls. The main difference between computer programs based on linear temporal logic and those using other sorts of programming language is that the former describe how the world ought to be, whereas the latter list specific instructions for the computer to carry out in order to achieve a particular end. The former say something like: "If you need milk, you ought eventually to arrive at the shop. "The latter might say: "Check the refrigerator. If there is no milk, get in your car. Start driving. Turn left at the corner. Park. Walk into the shop."
F. Dr. Mitchell and his team have already written logical formulae that they believe express a number of American privacy laws, including those covering health care, financial institutions and children’s activities online. The principles of transmission can be expressed in logical terms by using concepts such as "previously" and "eventually" as a type of mathematical operator. (They are thus acting as the equivalents of the "plus", "minus", " multiply" and "divide" signs in that more familiar system of logic known as arithmetic.) For example, the Gramm-Leaeh-Bliley act states that "a financial institution may not disclose personal information, unless such financial institution provides or has provided to the consumer a notice. "This is expressed as:
G. IF send (financial-institution, third-party, personal-information)
H. THEN PREVIOUSLY send (financial-institution, consumer, notification)
I. OR EVENTUALLY send (financial-institution, consumer, notification)According to Dr. Nissenbaum, applying contextual integrity to questions of privacy not only results in better handling of those questions, but also helps to pinpoint why new methods of gathering information provoke indignation. In a world where the ability to handle data is rapidly outpacing agreement about how that ability should be used, this alone is surely reason to study it.
The communications explosion is on the scale of the rail, automobile or telephone revolution. Very soon you’ll be able to record your entire life (1) —anything a microphone or a camera can sense you’ Il be able to (2) . In particular, the number of images a person captures in a lifetime is set to rise exponentially. The thousand (3) a year I take of my children on a digital camera are all precious to me. (4) a generation’ s time, my children’ s children will have total image documentation of their entire lives—a (5) log of tremendous personal value.By then we’ll be wrestling with another question: how we control all the electronic (6) connected to the internet: trillions of PCs, laptops, cell phones and other gadgets. In Cambridge, we’re already working (7) millimetre-square computing and sensing devices that can be linked to the internet through the radio network. This sort of (8) will expand dramatically (9) microscopic communications devices become dirt-cheap and multiply. Just imagine (10) the paint on the wall could do if it had this sort of communications dust in it: change colour, play music, show movies or even speak to you.(11) costs raise other possibilities too. (12) launching space vehicles is about to become very much cheaper, the number of satellites is likely to go up exponentially. There’ s lots of (13) up there so we could have millions of them. And if you have millions of loworbit satellites, you can establish a (14) communications network that completely does away with towers and masts. If the satellites worked on the cellular principle so you got spatial reuse of frequencies, system (15) would be amazing. Speech is so (16) that I expect voice communication to become almost free eventually: you’ 11 pay just a monthly fixed (17) and be able to make as many calls as you want. By then people will also have fixed links with business (18) , friends and relatives. One day I (19) being able to keep in touch with my family in Poland on a fibreoptic audio-video (20) ; we’ll be able to have a little ceremony at supper-time, open the curtains and sit down "together" to eat. Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1.7()
A. to
B. on
C. for
D. with