应用英语教程 综合英语3 教师用书U3

Unit 3 Internet and Our Life

Text Analysis

I. Background information

1. About the author

A highly acclaimed writer, Nicholas Carr is a visiting professor of sociology at

Williams College in Massachusetts and was the former executive editor of the Harvard

Business Review. His works focus on the intersection of technology, economics, and

culture and many of his books have been translated into more than twenty-five

languages. In 2015, he received the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in

Public Intellectual Activity from the Media Ecology Association.

2. About the text

The abridged article was originally published in the July/August 2008 edition of

The Atlantic. It was collected in several anthologies, including The Best American

Science and Nature Writing, The Best Spiritual Writing, and The Best Technology

Writing. In 2010, it was developed into a book entitle The Shallows: What the Internet

Is Doing to Our Brains, which won the Pulitzer Prize finalist.

II. General analysis of the text

In the text, the author, while acknowledging the conveniences of the Internet,

reflects on the negative effects of the Internet on his own thinking and reading habits.

The author introduces the theme of the text by citing his own example, in which

he mentions that he was unable to do deep reading. He then elaborates on the

conveniences which the Internet has brought him, such as saving him the trouble of

searching for information in libraries. The author then continues to cite his own

examples and examples of others to illustrate the far-reaching negative influences on

people’s thinking and reading patterns. However, despite the changes in their thinking

and reading habits due to the Internet, which have obviously made them uncomfortable,

they wouldn’t go back to the “good old days.” This indicates that the trend toward a

heavy dependence on the Internet might never be reversed, further reflecting the

irrevocable changes the Internet has made to us.

The layout of the text is as follows.

Part Paras. Main idea

Introduction 1

The author introduces the theme of the text by mentioning

the changes in his thinking and reading habits.

2-3

Body

4-7

The author elaborates on the benefits the Internet has brought

him.

The author lists the negative impacts of the Internet by citing

his own examples and examples of others.

Conclusion 8

Despite the negative impacts, the author concludes the

advantages of the Internet outweigh its own disadvantages.

III. Detailed study of the text

1. Now my concentration starts to drift after a page or two.

u drift: v. [I] to move, change, or do sth without any plan or purpose

u drift around/along etc.

Jenni spent the year drifting around Europe.

u drift from sth to sth

The conversation drifted from one topic to another.

u let your gaze/eyes/thoughts/mind, etc. drift

Idly she let her eyes drift over his desk.

u drift: v. [I] to move slowly on water or in the air

u drift out/toward, etc.

The rubber raft drifted out to sea.

Smoke drifted up from the jungle ahead of us.

2. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do.

u lose the thread: to stop concentrating so that you do not understand what someone

is saying

More than once she lost the thread and had to ask them to speak more slowly.

Arthur paused, feeling he was beginning to lose the thread of his argument.

3. Even when I’m not working, I’m as likely as not to be foraging in the Web’s

data thickets—reading and writing e-mails, scanning headlines and blog posts,

following the updates of social media, watching video streams, downloading music,

or just tripping lightly from link to link to link.

u trip: v. [I] (literary) to walk, run, or dance with quick light steps

Julie kissed her mother goodbye and tripped off along the road.

A girl in a red dress tripped down the hill.

u trip: v. [I] to hit sth with your foot by accident so that you fall or almost fall

u trip over

Clary tripped over a cable and broke his foot.

u trip on

He tripped on the bottom step.

u trip: v. [T] to make someone fall by putting your foot in front of them when they

are moving

One guy stuck his foot out and tried to trip me.

The referee said Jack was tripped and gave a penalty.

4. The advantages of having immediate access to such an incredibly rich and easily

searched store of data are many, and they’ve been widely described and duly

applauded.

u incredible: adj. too strange to be believed, or very difficult to believe

It’s incredible that he survived the fall.

I find it almost incredible that no one noticed these errors.

u incredible: adj. extremely good, large, or great

The view is just incredible.

There was blood everywhere and the pain was incredible.

u incredibly: adv. in a way that is hard to believe

The knife had pierced his heart, but incredibly he was still alive.

Incredibly, she had no idea what was going on.

5. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for

concentration and contemplation.

u chip away: to gradually make sth weaker, smaller, or less effective

Instead of an outright coup attempt, the rebels want to chip away at her authority.

u chip away: to remove small pieces from sth hard by hitting it with a tool

Use a hammer to chip away the edge.

The edges of the marble step have been chipped away over the years.

6. When I mention my troubles with reading to friends, many say they’re suffering

from similar afflictions.

u affliction: n. sth that causes pain or suffering, especially a medical condition

Malnutrition is one of the common afflictions of the poor.

Hay fever is an affliction which arrives at an early age.

u afflict: v. [T] to affect sb/sth in an unpleasant way, and make them suffer

He must learn to relax more, not be racked by the tortured tenseness that had afflicted

him for the past weeks.

Venus, however, is afflicted with a lethally hot and corrosive atmosphere.

7. I now have almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on

the Web or in print.

u longish: adj. fairly long

He has high cheekbones, and a longish nose.

She’s tall, with longish black hair.

8. …Friedman elaborated on his comment in a telephone conversation with me.

u elaborate: v. [I, T] to give more details or new information about sth

He said he had new evidence, but refused to elaborate any further.

u elaborate on

McDonald refused to elaborate on his reasons for resigning.

u elaborate: adj. having a lot of small parts or details put together in a

complicated way

The new healthcare plan is the most elaborate yet.

Her parents didn’t realize that it was all an elaborate lie.

9. He says he was “astonished” and “even irritated” when the woman paused to

read the text on the sites she stumbled upon.

u stumble upon: to find or discover sth by chance and unexpectedly

It emerged as the most successful of the dozen experiments, largely because it stumbled

upon a different way of doing business.

u stumble: v. to hit your foot against sth or put your foot down awkwardly while you

are walking or running, so that you almost fall

In her hurry, she stumbled and spilled the milk all over the floor.

She stumbled a little on the uneven path.

10. I read a lot—or at least I should be reading a lot—only I don’t. I skim. I scroll.

u scroll: v. [I] to move information on a computer screen up or down so that you can

read it

u scroll through

He scrolled through the document.

u scroll up/down

Could you scroll down a few lines?

u scroll: n. a long piece of paper that can be rolled up, and is used as an

official document, especially in past times

The most ancient scroll can be traced back to early years of their settlement on the

continent.

The ancient scroll spreads out into a painting.

Key to the Exercises

Pre-Class Tasks

1 Mini-research

1. When did the Internet originate and how does it develop?

The Internet, a system architecture that has revolutionized communications and

methods of commerce by allowing various computer networks around the world to

interconnect. Sometimes referred to as a “network of networks,” the Internet emerged

in the United States in the 1970s but did not become visible to the general public until

the early 1990s.

The first computer networks were dedicated special-purpose systems such as

SABRE (an airline reservation system) and AUTODIN I (a defense command-and-control system), both designed and implemented in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

By the early 1960s computer manufacturers had begun to use semiconductor

technology in commercial products, and both conventional batch-processing and time-sharing systems were in place in many large, technologically advanced companies.

Time-sharing systems allowed a computer’s resources to be shared in rapid succession

with multiple users, cycling through the queue of users so quickly that the computer

appeared dedicated to each user’s tasks despite the existence of many others accessing

the system “simultaneously.”

This led to the notion of sharing computer resources (called host computers or

simply hosts) over an entire network. Host-to-host interactions were envisioned, along

with access to specialized resources (such as supercomputers and mass storage systems)

and interactive access by remote users to the computational powers of time-sharing

systems located elsewhere.

2. What are the impacts of the Internet on human society?

There are 3 ways that the Internet has impacted on human society.

Search engines

Before the advent of search engines, there were not many websites, and users

could simply type in the website address to locate a certain website. However, as the

number of websites exploded, it became almost impossible to do so. Search engines are

web-based tools that allow users to enter keywords and sift through billions of websites

to locate information on the World Wide Web.

E-commerce

E-commerce has helped hasten the transition from street shopping to making

purchases from the comfort of your home. Today, with the click of a mouse or a simple

voice command, a host of items—from oven gloves to groceries and computers to cell

phones—can be ordered for home delivery, often on the same day.

Social Media

Social media websites have become many people’s medium of choice for sharing

their musings, photos, videos and a whole lot more. It is estimated that there are more

than 4.5 billion social media users around the world. For individuals, social media is

used to keep in touch with friends and extended family. For businesses, social media is

used to find customers, boost sales, and offer customer service or support.

2 Co-learning

This is an open-ended question.

3 Presentation

This is an open-ended question.

Comprehension

1

1. neural circuitry

The nervous system is one of the vital systems in the body. The cells in the nervous

system are called neurons. As the primary working units of the brain, they have a unique

way of communicating with each other. They need to form an organization or circuit

so that they can process specific information.

A neural circuit consists of neurons that are interconnected by synapses, the contact

points where neurons communicate with each other. Once activated, a neural circuit

carries a specific function. And neural circuits connect with each other, forming a large

scale brain network, or referred to as neural circuitry.

2. War and Peace

It is an epic historical novel by Leo Tolstoy, originally published as Voyna i mir in

1865-1869. This panoramic study of early 19th-century Russian society, noted for its

mastery of realistic detail and variety of psychological analysis, is generally regarded

as one of the world’s greatest novels.

War and Peace is primarily concerned with the histories of five aristocratic families—particularly the Bezukhovs, the Bolkonskys, and the Rostovs—the members of which

are portrayed against a vivid background of Russian social life during the war against

Napoleon (1805-1814). The theme of war, however, is subordinate to the story of

family life, which involves Tolstoy’s optimistic belief in the life-affirming pattern of

human existence. The heroine, Natasha Rostova, for example, reaches her greatest

fulfillment through her marriage to Pierre Bezukhov and through motherhood. The

novel also sets forth a theory of history, concluding that there is a minimum of free

choice; all is ruled by an inexorable historical determinism.

2

Beginning

(para. 1)

The theme of the text is introduced by mentioning the

changes in the author’s thinking and reading habits.

1 (paras. 2-3) The benefits/boons that the Internet has brought

Body

(paras. 2-7)

the author are illustrated.

2 (paras. 4-7) The negative impacts of the Internet are listed

by citing the author’s own examples and examples of others.

Conclusion The advantages of the Internet outweigh its own

(para. 8)

3

1. Because the author wants to illustrate the fact that he has been negatively affected

by the Internet.

2. The Internet has the major advantage of saving its users a great deal of time, thus

boosting people’s life and work efficiency. People can have quick access to loads

of information, deal with banking and shopping online, pay the bills, schedule the

appointments, book flights and hotel rooms, renew the driver’s license, send

invitations and greeting cards, etc.

3. They were scattered broadly around the world.

4. Here, “scuba diver” and “a guy on a Jet Ski” are used metaphorically to refer to

the traditionally slow thinking process and the swift mode of thinking respectively.

Therefore, “scuba diver” and “a guy on a Jet Ski” serve as a sharp contrast between

the modes of thinking before and after the advent of the cyber age.

5. Because the author wants to cite a specific example to illustrate the fact that Bruce

Friedman has lost the ability to read or absorb a longish article on the Web or in

print.

6. Because in the 1990s people used the Internet in a much simpler way and they just

used a Web browser to click on the hypertexted words instead of spending a lot of

time reading the information on it.

disadvantages.

7. Because the benefits they get from using the Net make up for the loss of their

ability.

8. This is an open-ended question.

Word Application

1

1. immersion 2. fidgeted/fidgets 3. incredible 4. unduly 5. contemplate

6. aberrant 7. voraciously 8. pathology 9. nuances 10. potency

2

1. Over the past few years, I have felt uncomfortable because someone or something

seems to have changed my brain, my nervous system, and memory.

2. I used to be able to immerse myself in deep reading, but now I have to force myself

to concentrate.

3. In the past, it usually took researchers days to read through papers or immerse

themselves in periodicals in order to get the research done. Instead, all of this can be

done in a matter of minutes.

4. It is almost impossible to calculate the amount of time and gasoline the Internet saved

me by providing instant access to information and eliminating the need to drive to such

places as libraries to search for information.

5. Even if I am not working, I will probably still be searching the Web for information.

6. Computers’ memory, which is mainly made of silicon, makes the storage and

retrieval of information highly efficient. This greatly facilitates users’ thinking.

7. I used to immerse myself in the world of literature, exploring slowly and patiently.

Now, however, I am used to shallow reading, sacrificing depth for speed.

8. As they grow more and more reliant on the Web, they have to work harder to focus

their attention on long pieces of writing.

9. His thought patterns has become interrupted, meaning that he was only able to read

short texts.

10. We can’t fully realize the advantages of this networked thinking process because

we are comparing it with our old habit of thinking in a linear way.

3

1. drifted 2. stumble upon 3. decay 4. strolled 5. longish

6. chipped away 7. affliction 8. conduits 9. snippets 10. scroll

4

1. up

Grammar Application

1

1-5: BMDJF 6-10: CKANE

2

1. The sick tiger, the one in the second cage, attacked its trainer.

2. We Chinese people are brave and hard-working.

3. The plot deals with another eternal theme of human beings, namely love.

4. Elizabeth I, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, became Queen of England

in 1558.

5. The boy came and gave us the news, that is, the troops would be leaving.

6. A century ago, Sigmund Freud formulated his revolutionary theory, that is, dreams

are the disguised shadows of our unconscious desires and fears.

3

1. good-humored

2. far-reaching

3. two-faced

4. Deep-sea

5. Highly-paid

6. one-sided

7. long-lasting

8. out-of-the-way

2. to

7. for

3. on

8. to

4. to

9. over

5. for

10. for 6. on

4

1. Jack’s mind wandered, and he lost the thread of what his father was saying.

2. The telltale redness around his eyes betrayed the fatigue he was suffering.

3. Many people made a point of praising the film’s pithy dialog.

4. With the concerted efforts of government, enterprises, and individuals, the chronic

unemployment problem in this country has been improved.

5. She elaborated on the significance and complexity of this issue in her thesis.

6. He laughs loudly when I accuse him of lying.

7. Traders are taking a sanguine view of interest-rate prospects.

8. Focusing on traditional Chinese handicraft art, the exhibition showcases a range

of artifacts with Chinese characteristics, including clay figures, paper cuts,

shadow puppets, embroidery, and porcelain.

Oral Practice

This is an open-ended question.

Writing

One version for reference:

The Internet has transformed our way of accessing and sharing information. While

enjoying the conveniences it brings us, we are well aware of the potential drawbacks it

might have. Therefore, it is necessary to explore how one can make full of the positive

sides of the Internet while avoiding the negative sides.

First, it is necessary to apply critical thinking to the information we retrieve from

the Internet. The Internet has allowed its users instant access to information on virtually

any topic. Faced with the tons of information, one must be careful enough to distinguish

between correct information and false or even deliberately misleading information. One

quick way to do so is to only cite information from authoritative websites and authors

of high repute.

Second, it is wise to not to expose one’s personal information on the Internet. In

the information age, the freedom to share information often means the loss of individual

privacy, and one may sometimes feel that he or she lives under observation. This alone

gives people the cause for concern. Therefore, it is recommended that one should not

post his or her core personal information, such as one’s name, physical address, or

phone number on the Internet.

In conclusion, in order to take full advantage of the positive sides of the Internet,

it is necessary to treat information from the Internet with caution and protect one’s own

core privacy.

Text B Internet Ethics and Netiquette

Anonymous

Working with Words and Expressions

Look up the following words and expressions in a dictionary and find out their meaning

in the text.

1. Internet ethics means acceptable behavior for using the Internet 网络道德规范

2. Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is the set of communication

protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks. The current

foundational protocols in the suite are the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and

the Internet Protocol (IP), as well as the User Datagram Protocol (UDP). 互联网协议群

3. Inter alia, a Latin phrase, meaning “among other things.” It can be used when

you want to say that there are other things involved apart from the one you

are mentioning. 除此之外

4. A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, or lacking social skills.

Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or

non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly technical, abstract, or

relating to topics of fiction or fantasy, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities.

Additionally, many so-called nerds are described as being shy, quirky, pedantic,

and unattractive, and may have difficulty participating in, or even following, sports.

乏味落伍的人；电脑迷

5. Usenet is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was

developed from the general-purpose UUCP dial-up network architecture. Tom

Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it was established in 1980.

Users read and post messages (called articles or posts, and collectively termed news)

to one or more categories, known as newsgroups. Usenet resembles a bulletin board

system (BBS) in many respects and is the precursor to Internet forums that are

widely used today. Usenet can be superficially regarded as a hybrid between email

and web forums. Discussions are threaded, as with web forums and BBSs, though

posts are stored on the server sequentially. The name comes from the term “users

network.” Usenet网，用户网络（志趣相投的用户用以互发电邮）

6. bulletin board is a place on a computer system where users can read messages and

add their own. （计算机）公告栏

7. A troll is someone who leaves an intentionally annoying or offensive message on

the internet, in order to upset someone or to get attention or cause trouble. 在互联网发挑衅帖子、制造麻烦的人

8. An emoticon is a pictorial representation of a facial expression using punctuation

marks, numbers and letters, usually written to express a person’s feelings or mood.

As social media has become widespread, emoticons have played a significant role

in communication through technology, and some devices have provided stylized

pictures that do not use punctuation. They offer another range of “tone” and feeling

through texting that portrays specific emotions through facial gestures while in the

midst of text-based cyber communication. 情感符号，表情符号

Understanding the Text

1

1. The term “netiquette” is derived from two words: 1) Internet; 2) Etiquette. It is a

code of polite behavior that users engage in when they use computer networks

connected to the Internet.

2. Begun as a vehicle for experimental network research in the mid-1970s, the Internet

has become an important national infrastructure supporting an increasingly

widespread, multi-disciplinary community of researchers ranging, inter alia, from

computer scientists and electrical engineers to mathematicians, physicists, medical

researchers, chemists, astronomers and space scientists.

3. Etiquette—within wider society—is always changing and evolving, and, therefore,

so is netiquette. What constitutes netiquette varies amongst cultures and social

groups, and it is difficult to define a definitive list of netiquette which will “hold

water” for all countries, cultures and social groups.

4. Posting information on a different topic (off-topic discussion), and commercial

advertising (spam), are two examples of “bad” netiquette which can plague these

social systems.

5. Emoticons inserted into text communications help to defuse misunderstandings and

convey mood. Without the use of an emoticon, a text message may appear “cold”

or aggressive. Abbreviations help to save time and effort for commonly written

phrases. To make appropriate use of them is to use only when necessary. As said in

the text, a heavy use of abbreviation, can sometimes come across as a lack of effort,

and within some social interactions, overuse of abbreviation may be viewed as

childish and as bad netiquette.

2

1. 因此，很明显，网络礼仪是用户在使用连接到互联网的计算机网络时所遵循的一种礼貌行为准则。

2. 传输控制协议/网际协议是因特网网络（互联网络）用来互联和通信的软件系统。

3. 在不同的文化和社会群体中，网络礼仪的构成各不相同，很难确定一份权威的网络礼仪清单，适用于所有国家、文化和社会群体。

4. 这种行为已经变得非常普遍，以至于那些实施在线骚扰的个人被人们称为trolls。

5. 表情符号是插入文本交流中的图像，有助于消除误解和传达情绪。

Voicing Your Views

Open-ended questions.

Reading Between the Lines

1. More examples of interpretation of the terminologies in the text:

1) The Internet is a system of computer networks which voluntarily interconnect

through the use of the Internet protocol suite.

2) ...it becomes clear that netiquette is a code of polite behavior that users engage in

when they use computer networks connected to the Internet.

3) TCP/IP is the software system that the networks of the Internet (interconnected

networks) use to interconnect and communicate.

4) ...the Internet Activities Board (IAB)—an organization created in 1983 to continue

the development of

5) Do not refer to people in a derogatory way: nerd, noob (newbie), etc.

6) Netiquette, as a term, was probably first recognized upon Usenet; one of first

systems on the Internet that provided open discussion and debate.

7) Such behavior has become so commonplace that individuals who perpetrate online

harassment are referred to as: trolls.

8) Emoticons are images, inserted into text communications, that help to defuse

misunderstandings and convey mood.

2. The author explains the proper nouns in different writing methods deliberately

with the advantage of avoiding monotonous repetition of text and creating a

variety of writing effects.

Appendices

I. Chinese version of Text A

互联网正在对我们的大脑做什么

尼古拉斯·卡尔

1在过去几年里，我一直有一种不舒服的感觉，似乎某个人或某样东西一直在修改我的大脑，重构我的神经回路，重置我的记忆方式。我现如今的思考方式已不同于以往了。这种感觉在我阅读时最强烈。我发现在过去我可以轻易让自己沉浸在一本书或一篇长文中。我的思维常常会被叙事的曲折和辩论的反转深深吸引，我会花几个小时徜徉在长篇的散文意境中。而我现在再也不是这样了。现在的我看过一两页书后便思路游离，没了头绪，然后便开始寻找其他事来做。过去能轻而易举做到的深度阅读，现在就算努力都无法实现。

2我觉得我知道发生了什么。十好几年来，我一直花大量的时间上网，搜索信息，浏览网页，有时也为网络资源贡献些自己的知识智慧。因特网对于一位作家来说，简直就是天赐之物。曾经需要花好几天埋头于图书馆成堆的书籍或期刊室中才能完成的调查研究现在几分钟就能完成。网上搜索几次，在超链接上快速点几下，我就能获得我所需的揭露真相的事实和简洁的名人名言。我根本无法计算出因特网为我节省了多少时间和燃油。我大部分的银行业务和很多的购物都是在网上完成。我使用网页浏览器支付帐单、预约见面、订购飞机票和宾馆房间、更新驾照、发送邀请函和贺卡。甚至当我不工作时，我很可能也在凌乱的网络数据中寻找着——读读邮件，写写回信，浏览头条和博客，看看社交平台上更新的内容，观看视频，下载音乐，或者仅仅是快速地轻点一条又一条链接。

3因特网已经成了我的全能信息途径，多数经由我的眼睛和耳朵进入大脑的信息都源于这个渠道。拥有快速获取如此丰富且易搜索的数据库，优势很多。这些优势，被广泛描述过，也受到了应有的赞许。海泽

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