A
People are less willing to rely on their knowledge and say they know something when they have access (接近) to the Internet, suggesting that our connection to the web is affecting how we think.
Professor Evan Risko, of the Department of Psychology at the University of Waterloo, led a recent study where the team asked about 100 participants (參與者) a series of generalknowledge questions, such as naming the capital of France.For half of the study, participants had access to the Internet.They had to look up the answer when they responded that they did not know the answer.In the other half of the study, participants did not have access to the Internet.
The team found that the people who had access to the web were about 5 percent more likely to say that they did not know the answer to the question.Furthermore, in some cases, the people with access to the Internet reported feeling as though they knew less compared to the people without access.
“With the popularity of the Internet, we are almost frequently connected to large amounts of information.And when that data is within reach, people seem less likely to rely on their own knowledge，” said Professor Risko.
Studying the results, the researchers thought that access to the Internet might make it less acceptable to say you know something but are incorrect.It is also possible that participants were more likely to say they didn't know an answer when they had access to the web because online searching offers an opportunity to confirm their answer, and the process of finding out the answer is rewarding.
“Our results suggest that access to the Internet affects the decisions we make about what we know and don't know，” said Risko.“We hope this research helps us understand how easy access to large amounts of information can influence our thinking and behaviour.”
語(yǔ)篇解讀：本文是一篇說(shuō)明文。文章主要講述了人們現(xiàn)在更多地是依靠互聯(lián)網(wǎng)獲取知識(shí)，而不是依賴(lài)自身掌握的知識(shí)。這說(shuō)明了互聯(lián)網(wǎng)在影響著人們的思想，人們也越來(lái)越依靠互聯(lián)網(wǎng)。
1．The study by Professor Risko shows that ________.
A．we are easily cheated by the web
B．the web is making our life harder
C．we are becoming dependent on the web
D．the web helps us make correct decisions
解析：選C 推理判斷題。根據(jù)倒數(shù)第三段可知，Risko教授的研究表明人們?cè)絹?lái)越依靠互聯(lián)網(wǎng)。
2．What do we know about the questions asked in the study?
A．They were funny. B．They were simple.
C．They were personal. D．They were difficult.
解析：選B 細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段第一句中的“generalknowledge questions”可知，這些問(wèn)題非常簡(jiǎn)單。
3．In the study, the participants with access to the web ________.
A．made more progress
B．showed less confidence
C．gave wrong answers
D．showed more optimism
解析：選B 推理判斷題。根據(jù)第三段的內(nèi)容可知，能使用互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的人不如那些不能使用互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的人對(duì)自己有信心。
4．What does the word “data” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?
A．Goal. B．Dream.
C．Distance. D．Information.
解析：選D 詞義猜測(cè)題。畫(huà)線部分的上句提到，隨著互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的普及人們能夠頻繁地接觸到大量的信息，由此可推知，data指的是上一句提到的information。
