Question

Along with global warming and the Ebola virus，this year, something far less life-and society-threatening also spiraled out of control：email．

It was long ago invented as something to make us more productive．But what productivity expert would ever say that it's a good thing that instead of working，we now“answer email? Or that on some days，I am unwilling to leave my desk to head into a meeting because it means taking my finger off the keyboard and knowing 1 will return to a flood of new messages waiting patiently for my total attention?

Some people struggle for“inbox zero”．But like many people，I now get so much junk mail that if I were to adopt such a goal，I would spend every workday doing nothing but deleting emails．To make sure nothing important gets buried，I have developed an embarrassinglv old system of keeping a pen-and-paper list of emails that need responses on a series of Post-It notes．As far back as 2007，F(xiàn)red Wilson famously declared “email bankruptcy”．I'm close to doing the Same．

But I may not need to．I predict that 2015 will mark the beginning of the end of emails．Already, some tools have emerged(出現(xiàn))over the years，like software Freedom which disables access to the Internet for chosen periods of time．Corporations have gradually been adopting stricter email policies：A few years ago，Volkswagen said it would stop sending emails from its servers to company-owned BlackBerrys after the end of its workday．

But this great hope is largely the optimist in me speaking，and I give this prediction small chances compared to some of our others．As Tony Hsieh once told me，the problem with email is that it is a“good—enough”solution．Some technologies stay around just because there isn’t anything better．It’s probably right．But my wish is that 2015 is the year when truly effective email management solutions go from good to great-and that email volume goes from crazy to reasonable．We’ll a11 be better for it．

1.The underlined word “spiraled” in Paragraph l probably means “_____________”.

A．increased rapidly B．moved in circle

C．changed unexpectedly D．a(chǎn)ppeared suddenly

2.The writer is unwilling to attend a meeting because____________.

A．he has to return with quantities of emails

B．a(chǎn)nswering emails calls for great attention

C．more emails will flood in waiting for him to check

D．he doesn’t want to take his fingers off the keyboard

3.From Paragraph 3，we may infer that____________.

A．the goal “inbox zero” is hard to obtain

B．the writer is devoted to deleting emails

C．pens and paper are highly favored at work

D．Fred Wilson famously declared “email bankruptcy”

4.The writer may agree that____________.

A．emails will come to an end

B．emails will still hold a place

C．existing email management is perfect

D．emails will never be sent to BlackBerrys

Answer 1

1.A

2.C

3.A

4.B

【解析】

試題分析：本文主要介紹電子郵件的末日開始到來 ，電子郵件不會在2015年或未來某個節(jié)點很快死掉，但從這一年開始，它的替代產(chǎn)品可能會飛速發(fā)展。

1. 推理判斷題，本文第一段Along with global warming and the Ebola virus，this year, something far less life-and society-threatening also spiraled out of control：email． 電子郵件雖然不會危及生命與社會，但至少對我來說，它和全球變暖、埃博拉病毒、政治僵局一樣，在今年變得有些失控�？梢酝茢喑鲭娮余]件就像全球變暖、埃博拉病毒、政治僵局一樣傳播速度快，數(shù)量也急速增加。故選A。

2. 細節(jié)理解題，本文第二段I am unwilling to leave my desk to head into a meeting because it means taking my finger off the keyboard and knowing 1 will return to a flood of new messages waiting patiently for my total attention? 有的時候，我很不愿離開辦公桌去開會，因為這意味著我的雙手要離開鍵盤，而我很清楚，等我開會回來后，就會有堆積如山的新郵件耐心地等待我去耗費全部的精力來回復(fù)�？紤]到這些，還有哪一位生產(chǎn)力專家會說電子郵件是個好東西？可以知道選C。

3. 推理判斷題，本文第三段Some people struggle for“inbox zero”．But like many people，I now get so much junk mail that if I were to adopt such a goal，I would spend every workday doing nothing but deleting emails． 有些人正努力實現(xiàn)“收件箱零郵件”，但是和許多人一樣，我的郵箱里有非常多的垃圾郵件和來路不明的郵件，如果我要清空收件箱，那么我每天都要把所有的工作時間都花在刪除郵件上了。說明要實現(xiàn)“收件箱零郵件”，是很困難的，故選A。

4. 推理判斷題，本文第四段But I may not need to．I predict that 2015 will mark the beginning of the end of emails． 但也許我不需要。照我預(yù)測，2015年正是電子郵件的替代方案開始發(fā)展之時。可以推斷出我還是認為電子郵件仍舊會被替代。故選B。

考點：考查科學(xué)性文章閱讀。