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Text 4 Artificial intelligence, or AI, is called artificial for a good reason. Facebook made th...

Text 4
Artificial intelligence, or AI, is called artificial for a good reason. Facebook made that point last week by ending its attempt to rely heavily on software algorithms to select news items for its 2 billion users. It announced Jan. 19 that the Facebook "community" will be asked to rank news outlets by their trustworthiness.
This reader feedback will promote "high quality news that helps build a sense of common ground" in a world with "so much division," said chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. The first surveys have started in the United States and will soon expand to other countries. The company plans to include the local news outlets of users in its surveys.
Like many digital platforms that act as news providers, Facebook had great faith in a belief that programmed electrons in computer servers can discern qualities of thought such as trust, fairness, and honesty. Even in respected newsrooms, however, these traits of character require constant upkeep among journalists and feedback from paying customers. Good judgment on news relies on orders of consciousness beyond what a machine can do.
Rather than move toward becoming a hands-on gatekeeper of news, Facebook now hopes its "diverse and representative" sampling of users can lead to a ranking of news outlets - and that would bring a measure of objectivity in its news feed. The company may be in the news business but it has chosen to outsource news credibility to the collective wisdom of individuals and their ability to distinguish truth from falsehood.
By placing its trust in people as seekers of truth, Facebook could earn greater trust from its users. This is also a lesson for many companies, especially digital platforms or those in the media business. According to the latest survey of trust in institutions worldwide by Edelman communications firm, "media has become the least-trusted institution for the first time," more so than other businesses or government. In particular, the US is "enduring an unprecedented crisis of trust" among many of its institutions, says Richard Edelman, president and CEO of Edelman. "The root cause of this fall is the lack of objective facts and rational discourse," he adds.
Facebook's shift away from computer-driven news selection is a welcome step toward restoring trust in the overall business of news. This is not a new problem. "Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper," wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1807. Yet the Digital Age has forced the issue of trust for news providers. By inviting readers to participate in solving this problem, Facebook has itself set a new bar for earning trust.
39. The author holds that Facebook's shift is
  • A. a lesson for news providers on filtering news.
  • B. the cause of the trust crisis across business of news.
  • C. a step towarcl restoring users' trust in news business.
  • D. the result of lacking objective facts and rational discourse.
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Text 1
The European Commission's proposed tax on digital services is intended to make companies such as Google and Uber pay more. The idea is that such firms are gaming the rules at the expense of other taxpayers. The issue is real and needs to be addressed - but the answer under discussion breaks with both established international practice and plain common sense.
Formal talks on the plan are due to start this week. The commission is calling for a 3 percent tax on the turnover of large digital enterprises - those with EU digital revenues over 50 million euros and total global revenues of over 750 million euros. About half the companies affected would be American, the EU estimates.
The commission says it has been left with little choice. The value generated by digital companies doesn't require a physical presence, making them harder to rax. Digital businesses arrange their affairs to exploit this: They allocate income to low-tax jurisdictions and, according to officials, end up paying an effective tax of roughly 10 percent of profits, less than half of the burden carried by traditional businesses.
Officials acknowledge that the right solution is a thorough overhaul of the corporate tax code, especially as it affects international firms selling digital services - and that this should be done not unilaterally but in cooperation with other countries, notably the U. S. Efforts are in fact underway, but progress has been slow, and EU officials have chosen to do something, anything, as soon as possible.
Doing nothing would be better than this. For a start, the plan wouldn't raise much revenue - a meager 5 billion euros each year. And this supposedly fairer tax would bring abnormal results. For instance, companies such as Uber that don't make money will have a new cost to absorb; highly profitable firms with market power, such as Facebook, will be able to pass the tax on to their consumers. Small startups will be exempt from the new tax - unless they're acquired by larger companies. That will discourage consolidations. And the proposal as it stands may tax more activities than intended: Some financial services, for example, seem to be within its scope In its zeal to tax digital enterprises, the commission departs from many of its own stated principles. Its plan would probably require accessing individual, not just anonymized, user data. This runs counter to the EU's strict new rules on privacy, coming into force next month.
Efforts to design a multinational solution need to be stepped up, not set aside. The goal should be a fair, multilateral framework that recognizes the complexity of the new digital economy while respecting the sovereignty of nations to set their own tax policy. That's an international challenge demanding an international solution.
21. According to the first two paragraphs, the EU digital tax proposal
  • A. protects European industries from competition.
  • B. aims to updaic esiablished international practice.
  • C. is a blow to top digital companies.
  • D. binds only America's tech giants.
2 单选题 0分
Text 1
The European Commission's proposed tax on digital services is intended to make companies such as Google and Uber pay more. The idea is that such firms are gaming the rules at the expense of other taxpayers. The issue is real and needs to be addressed - but the answer under discussion breaks with both established international practice and plain common sense.
Formal talks on the plan are due to start this week. The commission is calling for a 3 percent tax on the turnover of large digital enterprises - those with EU digital revenues over 50 million euros and total global revenues of over 750 million euros. About half the companies affected would be American, the EU estimates.
The commission says it has been left with little choice. The value generated by digital companies doesn't require a physical presence, making them harder to rax. Digital businesses arrange their affairs to exploit this: They allocate income to low-tax jurisdictions and, according to officials, end up paying an effective tax of roughly 10 percent of profits, less than half of the burden carried by traditional businesses.
Officials acknowledge that the right solution is a thorough overhaul of the corporate tax code, especially as it affects international firms selling digital services - and that this should be done not unilaterally but in cooperation with other countries, notably the U. S. Efforts are in fact underway, but progress has been slow, and EU officials have chosen to do something, anything, as soon as possible.
Doing nothing would be better than this. For a start, the plan wouldn't raise much revenue - a meager 5 billion euros each year. And this supposedly fairer tax would bring abnormal results. For instance, companies such as Uber that don't make money will have a new cost to absorb; highly profitable firms with market power, such as Facebook, will be able to pass the tax on to their consumers. Small startups will be exempt from the new tax - unless they're acquired by larger companies. That will discourage consolidations. And the proposal as it stands may tax more activities than intended: Some financial services, for example, seem to be within its scope In its zeal to tax digital enterprises, the commission departs from many of its own stated principles. Its plan would probably require accessing individual, not just anonymized, user data. This runs counter to the EU's strict new rules on privacy, coming into force next month.
Efforts to design a multinational solution need to be stepped up, not set aside. The goal should be a fair, multilateral framework that recognizes the complexity of the new digital economy while respecting the sovereignty of nations to set their own tax policy. That's an international challenge demanding an international solution.
22. To which of the following would EU officials most probably agree?
  • A. Traditional business lax cut is necessary in the digital era.
  • B. The pace of global corporate tax reform is too slow.
  • C. Europe should reduce the number of Iow-tax jurisdictions.
  • D. Corporate tax code is being revised in favor of the U, S.
3 单选题 0分
Text 1
The European Commission's proposed tax on digital services is intended to make companies such as Google and Uber pay more. The idea is that such firms are gaming the rules at the expense of other taxpayers. The issue is real and needs to be addressed - but the answer under discussion breaks with both established international practice and plain common sense.
Formal talks on the plan are due to start this week. The commission is calling for a 3 percent tax on the turnover of large digital enterprises - those with EU digital revenues over 50 million euros and total global revenues of over 750 million euros. About half the companies affected would be American, the EU estimates.
The commission says it has been left with little choice. The value generated by digital companies doesn't require a physical presence, making them harder to rax. Digital businesses arrange their affairs to exploit this: They allocate income to low-tax jurisdictions and, according to officials, end up paying an effective tax of roughly 10 percent of profits, less than half of the burden carried by traditional businesses.
Officials acknowledge that the right solution is a thorough overhaul of the corporate tax code, especially as it affects international firms selling digital services - and that this should be done not unilaterally but in cooperation with other countries, notably the U. S. Efforts are in fact underway, but progress has been slow, and EU officials have chosen to do something, anything, as soon as possible.
Doing nothing would be better than this. For a start, the plan wouldn't raise much revenue - a meager 5 billion euros each year. And this supposedly fairer tax would bring abnormal results. For instance, companies such as Uber that don't make money will have a new cost to absorb; highly profitable firms with market power, such as Facebook, will be able to pass the tax on to their consumers. Small startups will be exempt from the new tax - unless they're acquired by larger companies. That will discourage consolidations. And the proposal as it stands may tax more activities than intended: Some financial services, for example, seem to be within its scope In its zeal to tax digital enterprises, the commission departs from many of its own stated principles. Its plan would probably require accessing individual, not just anonymized, user data. This runs counter to the EU's strict new rules on privacy, coming into force next month.
Efforts to design a multinational solution need to be stepped up, not set aside. The goal should be a fair, multilateral framework that recognizes the complexity of the new digital economy while respecting the sovereignty of nations to set their own tax policy. That's an international challenge demanding an international solution.
23. The author believes ihat the commission's tax plan would
  • A. ultimately harm consumers
  • B. benefit some financial services
  • C. help curb monopoly power
  • D. force privacy rules to be modified.
4 单选题 0分
Text 1
The European Commission's proposed tax on digital services is intended to make companies such as Google and Uber pay more. The idea is that such firms are gaming the rules at the expense of other taxpayers. The issue is real and needs to be addressed - but the answer under discussion breaks with both established international practice and plain common sense.
Formal talks on the plan are due to start this week. The commission is calling for a 3 percent tax on the turnover of large digital enterprises - those with EU digital revenues over 50 million euros and total global revenues of over 750 million euros. About half the companies affected would be American, the EU estimates.
The commission says it has been left with little choice. The value generated by digital companies doesn't require a physical presence, making them harder to rax. Digital businesses arrange their affairs to exploit this: They allocate income to low-tax jurisdictions and, according to officials, end up paying an effective tax of roughly 10 percent of profits, less than half of the burden carried by traditional businesses.
Officials acknowledge that the right solution is a thorough overhaul of the corporate tax code, especially as it affects international firms selling digital services - and that this should be done not unilaterally but in cooperation with other countries, notably the U. S. Efforts are in fact underway, but progress has been slow, and EU officials have chosen to do something, anything, as soon as possible.
Doing nothing would be better than this. For a start, the plan wouldn't raise much revenue - a meager 5 billion euros each year. And this supposedly fairer tax would bring abnormal results. For instance, companies such as Uber that don't make money will have a new cost to absorb; highly profitable firms with market power, such as Facebook, will be able to pass the tax on to their consumers. Small startups will be exempt from the new tax - unless they're acquired by larger companies. That will discourage consolidations. And the proposal as it stands may tax more activities than intended: Some financial services, for example, seem to be within its scope In its zeal to tax digital enterprises, the commission departs from many of its own stated principles. Its plan would probably require accessing individual, not just anonymized, user data. This runs counter to the EU's strict new rules on privacy, coming into force next month.
Efforts to design a multinational solution need to be stepped up, not set aside. The goal should be a fair, multilateral framework that recognizes the complexity of the new digital economy while respecting the sovereignty of nations to set their own tax policy. That's an international challenge demanding an international solution.
24. What is the ultimate goal that digital tax legislation should pursue?
  • A. Efficient unilateral solution.s.
  • B. Simplified corporate tax systems
  • C. A global cooperative approach
  • D. An anti-tax avoidance package
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