2020수능특강 영어독해연습 6강 본문

 

6강

1

In the 1990s the Internet became the newest entrant in the baby advice field. Major manufacturers of baby equipment as well as the neighbor down the street set up Web sites to help parents care for their babies. Chat rooms brought mothers from all around the country together online to discuss, question, and support each other. The Internet meant that the speed of information available to mothers had compressed from weeks and months in the early 1900s to near instantaneous by 2000. In the 1910s a mother with a baby care question that was unanswerable in her immediate surroundings could write to the Children’s Bureau and wait for a reply. Depending on her location and the post office this entire process might take several weeks. In 2000 she could access the Internet from her home computer at 2:00 a.m if necessary and find an answer within minutes. Hospitals and pediatricians also embraced the Internet and Web sites written by and directed by them were set up across the country.

 

2

We presumably play many games because they are exciting, but will playing a particular game result in a positive or a negative mood? This is where the fundamental unpredictability of games comes in, since failure will likely result in a worse mood than success will. To play a game is to take an emotional gamble. The higher the stakes, in terms of time investment, public acknowledgment, and personal importance, the higher are the potential losses and rewards. We make very rough estimates of this gamble, factoring in the likelihood of failure along with the time investment required, the audience for our performance, and our personal investment in performing well. We are probably also not very good at doing the calculation—optimists may be unable to believe that failure is a possibility, for example.

 

3

Just as other living creatures thrive or perish depending on how well they adapt to the environment, so too do humans, although the consequences are not usually so dramatic. For example, students often fail to adapt their attention and work habits to the demands of educational institutions. In the short term, their grades suffer, but the long‑term difficulties associated with this maladaptation are no less palpable. They might have trouble adjusting their behaviour once they enter the workforce, which ultimately might deprive them of career advancement and financial remuneration. On the other hand, more relaxed work habits can be adaptable in other ways. They might induce lower levels of stress (and its related health risks) by shielding individuals from certain jobs that place undue tension on work‑life balance. Those who do adapt to the demands of higher education might enter high‑stress careers that call for adaptive techniques of their own, such as meditation or effective time‑management.

 

4

Some years ago in the United States, a woman named Linda Kenney nearly died when, prior to an operation, anesthesia was administered to her improperly. Her husband, understandably, wanted to sue the doctor and the hospital. Then the anesthesiologist wrote the couple a note expressing his regrets and grief. He told her, “Whenever you want to speak to me, I will make myself available. Here is my phone number.” The Kenneys later learned that the doctor did not inform the hospital or its lawyers of what he was doing. He knew that they would probably have forbidden him to contact the patient, because acknowledging his responsibility so frankly would put him and the hospital at great risk if the patient sued. The Kenneys were deeply moved by the doctor’s letter, and even more impressed when he came to their home and begged forgiveness. The couple ended up not pursuing a malpractice suit, and instead, in conjunction with the doctor, started a group to help both doctors and families deal with the trauma of medical and surgical errors.

 

5-6

Because the phrase is so well known, some readers may be surprised to know that Darwin never wrote “survival of the fittest.” his term was coined by British philosopher Herbert Spencer (who, incidentally, also first used the term “evolution”) in applying Darwin’s ideas to topics he himself did not address. The “survival of the fittest” concept had several effects. First, it naturalized competition as part of a “struggle for existence.” In the process, it detoured from Darwin’s ideas; Organisms do not consciously “struggle” in this way—they do not know if a mutation has taken place that may require millennia to become widespread in their species. They are simply born, live, and die, and pass on whatever was in their genes. This idea of competition grew out of and had more application to the burgeoning industrialization and class divisions that were occurring in Britain than it did to Darwin’s idea of natural selection. A second and related effect was to justify genocide and colonization (the dash to carve up Africa culminated in the Berlin Conference of 1884, when Europeans sat around tables and drew lines on maps to delimit “their” possessions, and the “taming” of the American West took place at the same time), and to undermine any suggestion of social welfare for the poor in Europe. That people were not as well off as those (whites) with the most resources was taken as evidence that they were not as “fit,” nor deserving. This Social Darwinism helped define as “natural” the hierarchy of races that had been constructed and classified through the discourses of science.

 

7

Now, back to the essential issue at hand—that of human intellect being dependent upon the application of logical principles. There is much evidence that the quality that we usually refer to as intelligence (in humans), is closely related to the individual’s capacity for logical thought. For example, a great mathematician must be highly intelligent, because his/her successful learning and manipulating of mathematical rules is impossible, apart from much capacity for logical thinking. Even though mathematics is inherently a highly logical discipline, any person who performs brilliantly in language, or any such endeavor, is showing high intelligence, because any such effective use of language, and such reasoning powers, must involve much logical thinking. And, in general, the greater capacity one has for effective application of logical principles (whether in language, mathematics, artistic creations, or whatever), the greater is one’s power of intelligence. Therefore, it can be seen that intelligence and logic are closely intertwined.

 

8

Millions of people around the world suffer a lack of necessary nutrients because of limitations on what will grow in their region. One area that scientists are exploring is genetically modifying vegetables to increase their nutritional value. An example of this is “golden rice.” This variety of rice is genetically engineered to produce vitamin A—the vitamin that gives carrots their orange color. A vitamin A deficiency can have serious effects, including blindness and even death. Millions of people suffer from this problem worldwide because they live in areas where vegetables containing the vitamin will not grow. Since rice will grow in these regions, golden rice could provide at least some of this critical vitamin to the local population.

 

9

The growing emphasis on ‘work readiness’ is the subject of much debate. Some believe that work and education are qualitatively different social sites. While education provides skills and knowledge useful both in the short and long term, it can only provide broad or generic training for work. Specific training for a particular job can only be undertaken after study. However, the demand for work‑ready graduates, who are familiar with organisational practices in the workplace, is increasing.  Employers value work experience believing that exposure to the workplace while studying provides students with the opportunity to acquire valuable insights into how the workplace operates and what is expected of them in different workplace settings. Employers report that work experience improves graduates’ soft skills, increases confidence and helps relate their studies to employment, making them more rounded and with more realistic expectations of work. The opportunity to make contacts and create networks for future employment is another advantage. In other words, work experience improves work readiness.

 

10

A baby who can’t hear would have a stronger need to remain in visual contact with her parents as she begins to roam. Mom and Dad could make a concerted effort to make their friendly waves or approving smiles especially vivid to their toddler, even at a distance. They could even make a point of coming over to her from time to time and offering a quick hug or peck on the cheek to reassure their toddler that her explorations won’t isolate her from them. A baby who can’t see would benefit from hearing lots of encouraging words and vocalizations, as well as touches and smells. In fact, we often recommend interesting games that enable babies who can’t see to locate people and objects by touch and sounds, as well as smells. In that way, they can create a sensory road map of their home even though they can’t see. The important sense of space and spatial relationships that we all need to feel secure and to navigate can be formed from many of our senses, and not just our vision.

 

11-12

Ideation in its many forms is an area today where humans have a comparative advantage over machines. Scientists come up with new hypotheses. Journalists sniff out a good story. Chefs add a new dish to the menu. Engineers on a factory floor figure out why a machine is no longer working properly. Many of these activities are supported and accelerated by computers, but none are driven by them. Picasso’s quote—Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.—is just about half right. Computers are not useless, but they’re still machines for generating answers, not posing interesting new questions. That ability still seems to be uniquely human, and still highly valuable. We predict that people who are good at idea creation will continue to have a comparative advantage over digital labor for some time to come, and will find themselves in demand. In other words, we believe that employers now and for some time to come will, when looking for talent, follow the advice attributed to the Enlightenment sage Voltaire: “Judge a man by his questions, not his answers.” Ideation, creativity, and innovation are often described as ‘thinking outside the box,’ and this characterization indicates another large and reasonably sustainable advantage of human over digital labor. Computers and robots remain lousy at doing anything outside the frame of their programming. Watson, for example, is an amazing Jeopardy! player, but would be defeated by a child at Wheel of Fortune, The Price is Right, or any other TV game show unless it was substantially reprogrammed by its human creators. Watson is not going to get there on its own.