Question

It appears that the police now have a device that can read license plates and check if a car is unregistered, uninsured or stolen. We already know that National Security Agency can dip into your Facebook page and Google searches. And it seems that almost every store we go into these days wants your home phone number and ZIP code as part of any deal.

So when Edward Snowden — now cooling his heels in Russia — revealed the extent to which the NSA is spying on Americans, collecting data on phone calls we make, it's not as if we should have been surprised. We live in a world that George Orwell predicted in 1984. And that realization has caused sales of the 1949, dystopian (反烏托邦）novel to spike dramatically upward recently — a 9,000% increase at one point on Amazon. com.

Comparisons between Orwell’s novel about a tightly controlled totalitarian (極權(quán)主義的）future ruled by the everywhere-present Big Brother and today are, in fact, quite similar. Here are a few of the most obvious ones.

Telescreens — in the novel, nearly all public and private places have large TV screens that broadcast government propaganda (宣傳), news and approved entertainment. But they are also two-way monitors that spy on citizens, private lives. Today websites like Facebook track our likes and dislikes, and governments and private individuals hack into our computers and find out what they want to know. Then there are the ever-present monitoring cameras that spy on the ordinary people as they go about their daily routine.

The endless war — In Orwell’s book, there's global war that has been going on seemingly forever, and as the book's hero, Winston Smith, realizes the enemy keeps changing. One week we’re at war with Eastasia and friends with Eurasia. The next week, it's just the opposite. There seems little to distinguish the two opponents, and they are used primarily to keep the people of Oceania, where Smith lives, in a constant state of fear, thereby making disagreement unthinkable — or punishable. Today we have the so-called war on terror, with no end in sight, a generalized societal fear, suspension of certain civil liberties, and an ill-defined enemy who could be anywhere, and anything.

Newspeak — the fictional, stripped-down English language, used to limit free thought. OMG (Oh my God), RU (Are you) serious? That's so FUBAR (Fucked Beyond Ail Recognition). LMAO (Laugh My Ass Off).

Memory hole — this is the machine used in the book to change or disappear embarrassing documents. Paper shredders (碎紙機） had been invented, but were hardly used when Orwell wrote his book, and the concept of wiping out a hard drive was years in the future. But the memory hole foretold both technologies.

So what’s it all meant? In 1984, Winston Smith, after an intense round of “behavioral modification” — read: torture— learns to love Big Brother, and the difficult world he was born into. Jump forward to today, it seems we’ve willingly given up all sorts of freedoms, and much of our right to privacy. Fears of terrorism have a lot to do with this, but dizzying advances in technology, and the ubiquity of social media, play a big part.

There are those who say that if you don't have anything to hide, you have nothing to be afraid of. But the fact is, when a government agency can monitor everyone’s phone calls, we have all become suspects. This is one of the most frightening aspects of our modem society. And even more frightening is the fact that we have gone so far down the street, there is probably no turning back. Unless you spend your life in a wilderness cabin, totally off the grid, there is simply no way the government won’t have information about you stored away somewhere.

What this means, unfortunately, is that we are all Winston Smith. And Big Brother is the modem surveillance state.

1.What caused 1984 to sell well on Amazon.com?

A. The similarities between the world we live in and that of 1984.

B. The surprise at how Americans are spied on by the government.

C. The fact that authorities have access to our personal information.

D. The worry that our government agencies can monitor our phones.

2.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. When Orwell wrote 1984, paper shredders didn't exist.

B. The war with Eastasia makes people in Oceania fearful.

C. Telescreens are used to broadcast and spy on citizens’ privacy.

D. Winston Smith loves Big Brother due to the fears of terrorism.

3. What does the underlined word “this” in Paragraph 8 refer to?

A. Addiction to social media.

B. The phone calls being monitored.

C. A round of “behavioral modification”.

D. Willingness to abandon freedom and privacy.

4.The underlined part in the passage replies that _______.

A. it is impossible for us to return to our initial path

B. it’s very difficult for us to change the current situation

C. we are walking along the street too far to go back home

D. the government can find out which street we are going down

5. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A. We are all Winston Smith.

B. Big Brother is watching you.

C. We’re living “1984” today.

D. The NSA is spying on Americans.

6.What is the writer's attitude towards the phenomenon?

A. Optimistic. B. Concerned. C. Angry. D. Indifferent.

Answer 1