雅思源文阅读--键盘侠时代 2

作为雅思考生，我们读外刊要有一定的目的性，不仅仅是为了扩大我们的阅读面，还要有意识地针对雅思考试，提高自己的水平。本文的话，我们做了一些注释，主要帮助大家习得雅思口语的知识。

Mobilisation often explodes, seemingly at random, according to the authors, most of whom work at the Oxford Internet Institute. Most online petitions, for instance, attract only a small number of supporters. Success does not depend on the subject matter—similar ones often fare quite differently—but the personality of potential participants. Extroverts, for instance, are more likely to act because they are sensitive to “social information”: seeing that others have already signed and knowing that their endorsement will be seen too. As a result, if a petition's initial audience includes enough people with the right mindset, it can quickly take off (as do political Twitter hashtags). Politics in the age of social media are thus better understood by chaos theory than by conventional social science. Collective action online is a bit like the weather: small events can have a big impact. The book's intriguing conclusion: social media are making democracies more “pluralistic”, but not in the conventional sense of the word, involving diverse but stable groups.Instead, the authors see the emergence of a “chaotic pluralism”, in which mobilisations spring from the bottom up.

据大都在牛津互联网研究院工作的该书作者，表面上看，动员组织的爆发经常是随机的。例如，大多数网络请愿吸引的只是一小部分支持者。成功不取决于题材——同样的题材常常是结果迥异——而是取决于潜在参与者的性格。例如，外向的人更有可能采取行动，因为它们对“社会信息”敏感：看到别人已经签名，就知道他们的支持也会被看到。因而，一场请愿能够(和政治性的推特话题一样)迅速发动起来的前提就是初始旁观者中包括足够多的具有正确心态的人。因而，在社交媒体时代，用混沌理论比用传统社会科学能更好地理解政治。网络集体行为有点像天气：一连串的小事件能够造成巨大影响。该书的有趣结论是：社交媒体正在让民主变得更加“多元化”。但是，这里的pluralistic一词已经没有了其传统的含义，不再指多样但稳定的群体。相反，作者看到的是一种动员和组织都是自下而上的“无序多元化”。

【经典句式】

explode爆发

seemingly看似

at random随机地

petition请愿

depend on取决于

subject matter题材

fare quite differently结果迥异

personality性格

potential潜在

participant参与者

extrovert外向者

likely可能的;倾向于

be sensitive to对……敏感

endorsement支持

initial最初的

mindset思维方式;心态

take off起飞;蓬勃发展

as do … 和……一样

conventional传统的

impact影响

intriguing吸引人的

democracy民主;民主国家

diverse多样的

emergence出现

spring from来自

【犀利观点】集体&个人：

Collective action online is a bit like the weather: small events can have a big impact.

One day, say the authors, it will be possible to predict, and perhaps even trigger such social-media surges, in thesame way that meteorologists have become good at forecasting the weather. The big question is: who will be the political weathermen? Only two groups of actors are sure to have good access to social-media data and enough resources to develop software to sift through them: one is online giants, such as Facebook and Google, the other governments. So social media, like other forms of technology, will cutboth ways in politics: they are making societies more democratic,but will also provide those in power with new tools of control.

该书的作者称，总有一天，用气象学家已经擅长的预测天气的方式，去预测甚至激发此类社交媒体的大爆发将成为可能。问题是：谁会是政治的天气预报员?只有两类人能充分利用社交媒体数据并且具有足够的资源开发出筛选数据的软件：一类是像脸书和谷歌这样的网络巨头，另一类是政府。因而，社交媒体将像其他形式的技术那样，给政治造成截然相反的两种影响：它们正在让社会变得更加民主，但是也将给掌权之人带来新的掌控工具。

【经典句式】

predict预测

trigger激发

social-media surge社交媒体的大爆发

meteorologist气象学家

forecast预测

have good access to能充分利用

develop software开发软件

sift through筛选

online giant网络巨头

democratic民主的

【大作文万用句式】

One day it will be possible to …总有一天，……将成为可能。

cut both ways in …造成截然相反的两种影响

【犀利观点】社交媒体的影响：

Social media, like other forms of technology, will cut both ways in politics:they are making societies more democratic,but will also provide those in power with new tools of control.

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