Part A. Reading Comprehension.
Read the
following text:
Teenagers and Internet addiction
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Today's teenagers
are a generation for whom the line between online and real world
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interaction is
practically non-existent. The apotheosis of this is Myspace.com, which began
as
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a social networking
site, but which now is ‘a nightclub open 24 hours a day, seven days a
|
week’. Myspace
currently receives more daily visits than Google and Amazon. The site has
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40 million members
worldwide, each using their personal page to email and post bulletins,
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blogs and photos of
themselves. It is precisely that creation of identity which has made it
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such a teen
sensation.
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It's like a
voluntary Big Brother. For millions of teenagers, the Internet is like a
drug. And the
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madness of the
Internet and of adolescent hormones can be an especially potent combination.
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On one occasion,
fourteen-year-old Kara met 18-year-old David on Myspace. The
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relationship, which
began as a friendship, intensified on the site. When her parents, who
|
opposed the
relationship, tried to cut off her online access to him, her parents were
shot dead
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by the boy.
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The Internet fuels
fantasy. You can be an Internet warrior, an Internet seductress. Kids are
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using these sites to
act out fantasy. On the Internet, you are allowed the chance to be the best.
22
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Besides, lonely,
unpopular or troubled teenagers get online and play the roles they want to
be.
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It doesn't matter if
anyone is actually reading their postings or not: it just feels good to let
it
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all out, and see it
archived forever.
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I. Answer the following questions using your
own words but taking into account the
information in the text. (2 points: 1 point
each)
a. Why
being a teenager and using Internet is such a potent combination?
b. Why were
Kara’s parents murdered?
II. Are the following statements true (T) or
false (F)? Identify the part of the text that
supports your answer by copying the exact words
on the answer sheet. (1.5 point: 0.5
each)
a.
Teenagers are obsessed with getting their postings read by other teens.
b. Internet
postings at Myspace are eventually eliminated by the company.
c. Nowadays
young people don’t see the difference between their real life and their virtual
life.
III. Find a synonym for each of the four words
below from these six options: (1 point: 0.25each)
opportunity
craziness qualified in fact
promise powerful
a. actually
b. chance
c. potent
d. madness
IV. Choose a, b, or c, in each question below.
Only one choice is correct (1.5 points: 0.5 each)
1. Myspace
is a sensation because…
a)
teenagers only express their identity there.
b)
teenagers build up a different identity for their life online.
c)
teenagers are aware of the duality of their real and online identities.
2. Kara’s
parents were shot dead because…
a) they did
not like Kara’s boyfriend. 23
b) they do
not believe in adolescent love through the Internet.
c) they
wanted to stop Kara having any online contact with her boyfriend.
3. Internet
fuels fantasy…
a) because
people can be whoever they want to be.
b) because
Internet is a world of magic.
c) because
Internet is virtual.
Part B. Write a 130 to 150-word composition. (4
points)
•What do
you think about the Internet? Is it really so addictive?
