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2020-2021学年度第12期总第811期
Fears surround FR technology（P2）
河北石家庄市第二中学 张涛

主题语境：人与社会中的科学与技术（科技发展与信息技术创新，科学精神，信息安全。）
Genre：Expository Writing（说明文）
Lead-in

FR technology and its functions

Pre-reading: Prediction
Fears surround FR technology

From the title, try to predict what the passage is mainly about.

Reading
1. Can you find some words related to “fears”?
Worries & Concerns

2. What is the structure of the passage?

Part One (para 1)

1. What are the advantages of FR technology?
 unlock smartphones; make payments; take the subway …

Part Two (para 2-8)  

1. What does the sentence “Loopholes aren’t the only worry, though.” in paragraph 6 mean?
While loopholes (漏洞) could lead to data leaks, there are also other concerns. The personal information stolen could be traded illegally.

2. Why has FR technology caused concerns about the security of personal bioinformation?
Because certain physical characteristics, including facial features and fingerprints, are unique and remain with us for life.

Part Three (para 9-12)  

Measures: regulations & technology progress
Government: the China Cyber Security Law & The Civil Code
Tech companies: the FR algorithm (算法) upgraded

Post-reading
Group discussion

What do the two opinions convey? What’s your attitude toward AI?

AI is going to change the world more than anything in the history of mankind. More than electricity. — Dr Kai-Fu Lee

For artificial intelligence to be truly smart, it must respect human values, including privacy. If we get this wrong, the dangers are profound. — Apple CEO Tim Cook

Word formation

Facial recognition (recognize) technology is increasingly popular nowadays. Using just their faces, people can unlock (lock) their smartphones, make payments and take the subway. However, a survey jointly (joint) released by Guangzhou-based Nanfang Metropolis Daily said that almost 65 percent of respondents think that FR technology is being abused. According to Xinhua, many applications do have loopholes that could lead to leaks in personal and facial information data. This has prompted concerns about the security of personal bioinformation. “Physical characteristics, including facial features and fingerprints, are some of the most important identifiers (identify) for individuals. Unlike (like) our ID, which can be modified, our bioinformation stays permanent for life.”

Compound（合成法）

overseas returnee (海归)

Guangzhou + based = Guangzhou-based
loop + hole = loophole
finger + print = fingerprint
bio + information = bioinformation

Derivation (派生法)
Suffixes & Prefixes

It‘s a floating cloud.
disclose one's secret

Prefixes
unlock, unlike, resell

suffixes
controversial → controversy
identify → identifier
finance → financial
regulate → regulation
respond → respondent

Conversion (转换法)

cold  n. 感冒；adj. 寒冷的
address v. 设法解决；n. 地址

Summary

Evaluation
Daily Learning Log