Thousands of free, popular children's apps available on the Google Play Store could be violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), according to a new, largescale study, highlighting growing criticism of Silicon Valley's datacollection efforts. “This is a market failure，” said Serge Egelman, a coauthor of the study. “What we have uncovered points out basic enforcement(执行) work that needs to be done.”
The potential violations were abundant and came in several forms, according to the study. More than 1，000 children's apps collected identifying information from kids using tracking software whose terms explicitly forbid their use for children's apps. The researchers also said nearly half the apps fail to always use standard security measures to transmit sensitive data over the Web, suggesting a violation of reasonable datasecurity measures laid out by COPPA.
Some of the apps in question included Disney's “Where's My Water？”， Gameloft's “Minion Rush” and Duolingo, a language learning app. The findings also suggested that app creators that had been officially recognized as COPPAcompliant(遵守) were no better than any of the other app developers at protecting children's privacy.
Disney argued that the study doesn't claim to identify any actual violations. “Protecting children's online privacy is very important to us and we are confident that our practices comply with the law，” the company said. “We have a sound COPPA compliance program, and we maintain strict data collection and use policies for Disney apps created for children and families.”
Gameloft announced that children's privacy is of “utmost importance” and is investigating the issue. “We have a very strict datacollection policy at Gameloft and always make sure that we are compliant with protection laws，” the company said.
Duolingo did not respond to requests for comment.
Although Google stated that “We are taking the researcher's report very seriously and looking into their findings”， critics of Google's app platform say the company has profited greatly from advances in datatracking technology. “Google has basically looked the other way while it was able to generate revenues off of children's apps，” said Jeffrey Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. “The new, alarming report is further evidence that Google is thumbing_its_nose_at the only federal online privacy law that we have.”
1.How did companies respond to the accusation of violating COPPA?
A. Disney claimed to strictly obey privacy laws.
B. Gameloft questioned the validity of the study.
C. Duolingo planned to adopt strict datacollection policies.
D. Google admitted to the charge and promised to do more.
2.What does the underlined phrase “thumbing its nose at” probably mean?
A. Observing. B. Disrespecting.
C. Prohibiting. D. Introducing.
3.The purpose of the passage is to ________．
A. charge app companies with the violation of COPPA
B. inform readers of different ways to violate child privacy laws
C. illustrate the growing criticism of app's datacollection function
D. highlight the urgency of strengthening enforcement of COPPA
高三英语阅读理解困难题
Thousands of free, popular children's apps available on the Google Play Store could be violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), according to a new, largescale study, highlighting growing criticism of Silicon Valley's datacollection efforts. “This is a market failure，” said Serge Egelman, a coauthor of the study. “What we have uncovered points out basic enforcement(执行) work that needs to be done.”
The potential violations were abundant and came in several forms, according to the study. More than 1，000 children's apps collected identifying information from kids using tracking software whose terms explicitly forbid their use for children's apps. The researchers also said nearly half the apps fail to always use standard security measures to transmit sensitive data over the Web, suggesting a violation of reasonable datasecurity measures laid out by COPPA.
Some of the apps in question included Disney's “Where's My Water？”， Gameloft's “Minion Rush” and Duolingo, a language learning app. The findings also suggested that app creators that had been officially recognized as COPPAcompliant(遵守) were no better than any of the other app developers at protecting children's privacy.
Disney argued that the study doesn't claim to identify any actual violations. “Protecting children's online privacy is very important to us and we are confident that our practices comply with the law，” the company said. “We have a sound COPPA compliance program, and we maintain strict data collection and use policies for Disney apps created for children and families.”
Gameloft announced that children's privacy is of “utmost importance” and is investigating the issue. “We have a very strict datacollection policy at Gameloft and always make sure that we are compliant with protection laws，” the company said.
Duolingo did not respond to requests for comment.
Although Google stated that “We are taking the researcher's report very seriously and looking into their findings”， critics of Google's app platform say the company has profited greatly from advances in datatracking technology. “Google has basically looked the other way while it was able to generate revenues off of children's apps，” said Jeffrey Chester, the executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. “The new, alarming report is further evidence that Google is thumbing_its_nose_at the only federal online privacy law that we have.”
1.How did companies respond to the accusation of violating COPPA?
A. Disney claimed to strictly obey privacy laws.
B. Gameloft questioned the validity of the study.
C. Duolingo planned to adopt strict datacollection policies.
D. Google admitted to the charge and promised to do more.
2.What does the underlined phrase “thumbing its nose at” probably mean?
A. Observing. B. Disrespecting.
C. Prohibiting. D. Introducing.
3.The purpose of the passage is to ________．
A. charge app companies with the violation of COPPA
B. inform readers of different ways to violate child privacy laws
C. illustrate the growing criticism of app's datacollection function
D. highlight the urgency of strengthening enforcement of COPPA
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
Sometimes, the entrance tickets are _____ free of charge from the university．
| A．available | B．valuable | C．imaginable | D．accessible |
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
All of the ski resorts are_______from the hotel via free public transportation.
| A．accessible | B．available | C．present | D．probable |
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
Three years ago, five parrots were set free in a wild place of Arizona, thousands of miles from the Channel Islands in Jersey where they had been looked after by zookeepers. No evolutionary strategies informed them how to behave in this new landscape of mountainous pine forest unoccupied by their kind for 50 years. To the researchers’ surprise, they failed to make contact with a group of wild parrots imported from Mexico and set free at the same time. Within 24 hours the reintroducing ended in failure, and the poor birds were back in cages, on their way to the safety of the Arizona reintroduction programme.
Ever since then, the programme has enjoyed great success, mainly because the birds now being set free are Mexican birds illegally caught in the wild, confiscated （没收） on arrival north of the border, and raised by their parents in the safety of the programme. The experience shows how little we know about the behaviour and psychology （心理） of parrots, as Peter Bennett, a bird researcher, points out: “Reintroducing species of high intelligence like parrots is a lot more difficult. People like parrots, always treating them as nothing more than pets or valuable ‘collectables’.”
Now that many species of parrot are in immediate danger of dying out, biologists are working together to study the natural history and the behaviour of this family of birds. Last year was an important turning point: conservationists founded the World Parrot Trust, based at Hayle in Cornwall, to support research into both wild and caged birds.
Research on parrots is vital for two reasons. First, as the Arizona programme showed, when reintroducing parrots to the wild, we need to be aware of what the birds must know if they are to survive in their natural home. We also need to learn more about the needs of parrots kept as pets, particularly as the Trust’s campaign does not attempt to discourage the practice, but rather urges people who buy parrots as pets to choose birds raised by humans.
1.What do we know about the area where the five parrots were reintroduced?
A. Its landscape is new to parrots of their kind.
B. It used to be home to parrots of their kind.
C. It is close to where they had been kept.
D. Pine trees were planted to attract birds.
2.The reintroducing experience three years ago shows that man-raised parrots
A. can find their way back home in Jersey
B. are unable to recognize their parents
C. are unable to adapt to the wild
D. can produce a new species
3.Why are researches on parrots important according to the passage?
A. The Trust shows great concern for the programme.
B. We need to know more about how to preserve parrots.
C. Many people are interested in collecting parrots.
D. Parrots’ intelligence may some day benefit people.
4.According to the passage, people are advised ______.
A. to treat wild and caged parrots equally
B. to set up comfortable homes for parrots
C. not to keep wild parrots as pets
D. not to let more parrots go to the wild
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
It’s nearly exam time, so check out some of the best free apps around to help you manage the stress of exams and ensure you are studying effectively over the coming weeks.
Exam Countdown
This app can help to remind you how many days, hours, and minutes you have until your exam. This can help to motivate you to hit the books before it’s too late.
Block The Internet
Are you constantly checking Facebook when you should be writing an essay? Or perhaps are you distracted by a battle in League of Legends? Download this app to get rid of online distractions by temporarily blocking Internet sites on your mobile. Simply add the websites you want to block and the period of time to block them for. Guarantee to get yourself focused on that assignment.
CBT-i Coach
The US Department of Veterans (老兵) Affairs developed the app, CBT-i Coach, to assist with insomnia (失眠) and help people who would like to improve their sleeping habits. It provides several key parts: information about sleep and insomnia, strategies for improving sleep, relaxation skills and a helpful sleep diary.
Yoga
Yoga has great health benefits both for the mind and body, and will help you to perform at your best while at university. Download a yoga app and have your own personal yoga instructor in your living room. You can choose from short or long workouts and have a qualified instructor teaching you how to do each pose. Choose from a variety of yoga routines and watch the instructional videos. Go on, stretch out those sore muscles.
1.If you are not good at managing your time before an exam, you could try ________.
A. Block The Internet B. Exam Countdown
C. CBT- i Coach D. Yoga
2.Which app is the most useful for a student addicted to video games?
A. Yoga. B. CBT- i Coach.
C. Exam Countdown. D. Block The Internet.
3.What do we know about CBT-i Coach from this article?
A. It helps to build up stronger muscles.
B. It helps students to manage their study time.
C. It monitors and improves people’s sleeping quality.
D. It is used to treat soldiers with sleeping difficulties.
4.When using the Yoga app, the students are expected to ________.
A. ask a personal Yoga coach to instruct them face to face
B. choose some short workouts to avoid being so tired
C. choose some long workouts to guarantee the training effect
D. follow the instructional videos to stretch out the muscles
5.What does the author mainly intend to tell us in this passage?
A. Some apps to help students better prepare for exams.
B. The influence of our study habits on our exam results.
C. Several tips on how to throw off anxiety before exams.
D. Details of some apps to help to improve learning skills.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Norman Garmezy, a development psychologist at the University of Minnesota, met thousands of children in his four decades of research. A nine-year-old boy in particular stuck with him. He has an alcoholic mother and an absent father. But each day he would walk in to school with a smile on his face. He wanted to make sure that “no one would feel pity for him and no one would know his mother’s incompetence.” The boy exhibited a quality Garmezy identified as “resilience”.
Resilience presents a challenge for psychologists. People who are lucky enough to never experience any sort of adversity (逆境) won't know how resilient they are. It's only when they're faced with obstacles, stress, and other environmental threats that resilience, or the lack of it, comes out. Some give in and some conquer.
Garmezy's work opened the door to the study of the elements that could enable an individual’s success despite the challenges they faced. His research indicated that some elements had to do with luck, but quite large set of elements was psychological, and had to do with how the children responded to the environment. The resilient children had what psychologists call an “internal lens of control(内控点)”. They believed that they, and not their circumstances, affected their achievements. The resilient children saw themselves as the arrangers of their own fates.
Ceorge Bonanno has been studying resilience for years at Columbia University's Teachers College. He found that some people are far better than others at dealing with adversity. This difference might come from perception(认知) whether they think of an event as traumatic(创伤), or as an opportunity to learn and grow. “Stressful” or “traumatic” events themselves don't have much predictive power when it comes to life outcomes. "Exposure to potentially traumatic events does not predict later functioning,” Bonanno said. "It's only predictive if there's a negative response.” In other words, living through adversity doesn't guarantee that you'll suffer going forward.
The good news is that positive perception can be taught. "We can make ourselves more or less easily hurt by how we think about things," Bonanno said. In research at Columbia, the neuroscientist Kevin Ochsner has shown that teaching people to think of adversity in different ways—to reframe it in positive terms when the initial response is negative, or in a less emotional way when the initial response is emotionally “hot”—changes how they experience and react to the adversity.
1.According to the passage, resilience is an individual's ability________.
A. to think critically B. to decide one’s own fate
C. to live a better life D. to recover from adversity
2.What does the underlined word “they” in Paragraph 3 refer to?
A. The psychologists B. The resilient children
C. Positive elements D. Internal locus of control
3.According to Paragraph 4, we can learn that____________.
A. your positive perception may turn adversity around
B. stressful events are more predictive than delightful events
C. experiencing adversity predicts that you will go on suffering
D. a negative response doesn't guarantee you will suffer all the time
4.What is the author's purpose of writing this passage?
A. To teach people how to be resilient.
B. To encourage people to live through adversity.
C. To indicate people’s perception varies from each other.
D. To compare different research findings about resilience.
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
Free On-line Short Stories For Kids: Trevor The Taxi
In this children's story, suited to younger children, we have an adventure with Trevor. He is a taxi. Trevor loves his life:
“Sometimes he takes patients to the nursing home, where they can get better after being ill, and sometimes he takes people home when they have been shopping, and Stan puts all their packages inside Trevor's boot, so they will not get wet or broken.”
The black cab, in this adventure, goes far beyond the call of duty whilst he achieves his wildest dreams! What could this be? Well you will just have to read this short story for yourself!
Free On-line Short Stories For Kids: The Girl Who Believed In Fairies
The fairy queen is upset and the elves just don't know what to do:
“Oh dear, oh dear," sobbed the queen, getting her hankie all wet with her constant crying. For the twelfth time that day, Elgie the chief elf took her hankie and wrung it out on to the carpet of grass that grew all around the palace.”
How will they manage to help the queen? Why was she so unhappy? There is only one person that can help! Can she do it? This is a lovely fairy tale that will glow the embers of your heart - only for young girls!
Free On-line Short Stories For Kids: The Envious Kings
This story is suitable for 6 years and upwards.
Unfolding in the story pages of this recommendation is a children's story about two kings who were competing with each other:
“In spite of the easy life that the two kings had, they were not happy, for each of them kept thinking that the other one had a bigger and better palace, or owned more horses, or had more jewels or even had creamier milk.”
They were both petty and, through their envy, they caused themselves much trouble. Who do you think saved the day? Well, you will just have to read the story to find out!
Free On-line Short Stories For Kids: The Wise Old Woman
This story is probably suited to the 8 years old age range and upwards, although would appeal to adults, alike.
Here I introduce you to one of my kids on-line stories listed on the writing and literature section of Hubpages. In this parable you will find a magical world of wisdom involving trees, people and someone very special.
“As she stood and watched, the knowledge melted into her and the sapling grew...The magical transition took her breath away and as she watched on with ore, she noticed something strange.”
So, what was this strangeness and magical transition? Let me leave you with wonderment ... and a click of the link!
Free On-line Short Stories For Kids: Unusual Stories - Faffenburger's Odyssey
This story is probably more suited to the older child. So who is Faffenburger? Well with one of these free on-line short stories for kids, we enter into a different realm. A world of nonsense as Faffenburger moves within alpha and omega. This is a rather unusual story as you will find out!
“My friend, Henry Faffenburger stomped down the long lane on his short stumpy legs, moonlight glancing off his bald-spot, which was a little surprising as there was no moon that night. As he rounded the bend, he saw a pair of headlights coming toward him. They drew level, and stopped. A small man with yellow eyes emerged from the darkness behind the lights, and enquired if Faffenburger would like a lift.
"Where are you going ?" asked my friend. "Wherever you want to go", replied the owner of the yellow eyes.”
So, the adventure begins! Where will they go? Alpha, Omega or just the middle? After all, it was a long summer - especially the middle! Take a closer look at this - you might find something a little more strange and a little more hidden that you have noticed before. Intrigued? Well you should be with Faffenburger's Odyssey!
1.Which story is more well-received by young girls?
A．Trevor The Taxi B．Faffenburger's Odyssey
C．The Wise Old Woman D．The Girl Who Believed In Fairys
2.You can find the description of a night scene in _______?
A．The Envious Kings B．The Girl Who Believed In Fairies
C．The Wise Old Woman D．Faffenburger's Odyssey
3.According to the passage, the kings in “The Envious Kings” can be described as_______?
A．Jealous B．powerful C．rude D．ugly
4.Who will most probably find the passage useful?
A．parents with children B．children who love to surf the Internet
C．teachers in high school D．experts who concern children
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
The programs of UNICEF have saved thousands of African children who would have died from hunger or disease.
A. instead B．therefore C. otherwise D .moreover
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
一What do you think of the UNICEF?
一Great. Its programs have saved thousands of children in Africa who would have______died from lack of food or terrible diseases.
A. instead B. otherwise C. therefore D. moreover
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
Now, thanks to the government’s quick reaction, thousands of children who would otherwise have died___________.
A. would be saved B. are saved
C. had been saved D. have been saved
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析