Section C
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.
Could you get by without using the internet for four and a half years? That's exactly what singer and actress
Selena Gomez has done in a bid to improve her mental health.
She has spoken extensively about the relationship between her social media usage and her mental wellbeing,
recalling feeling like “an addict” when she became Instagram's most followed user in 2016.“Taking a break
from social media was the best decision that I've ever made for my mental health”, says she.“The unnecessary
hate and comparisons went away once I put my phone down."
Ditching the web at large, however, is a far more subtle and complicated prospect. The increasing
digitisation of our society means that everything from paying a gas bill to plotting a route to a friend's house and
even making a phone call is at the mercy of your internet connection. Actively opting out of using the internet
becomes a matter of privilege.
Ms Gomez's multi-millionaire status has allowed her to take the “social" out of social media, so she can
continue to leverage her enormous fame while keeping the trolls(恶意挑衅的帖子)at bay. The fact that she's
still the second most-followed woman on Instagram suggests it's entirely possible to maintain a significant web
profile to promote various projects-by way of a dedicated team—without being exposed to the cruel comments,
hate mail and rape or death threats.
It goes without saying that this is fundamentally different from how the rest of us without beauty deals and
films to publicise use the likes of Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, but even the concept of a digital detox(戒瘾)
requires having a device and connectivity to choose to disconnect from.
The UK's digital divide has worsened over the past two years, leaving poorer families without broadband
connections in their homes. Digital exclusion is a major threat to wider societal equality in the UK, so witnessing
companies like Facebook championing the metaverse(元宇宙)as the next great frontier when school children
are struggling to complete their homework feels particularly irritating.
Consequently, it's worth bearing in mind that while deleting all social media accounts will undoubtedly
make some feel infinitely better, many other people benefit from the strong sense of community that sharing
platforms can breed
Internet access will continue to grow in importance as we edge further towards web 3.0, and greater resources and
initiatives are needed to provide the underprivileged with the connectivity they desperately need to learn, work and
live. It's crucial that people who feel that social media is having a detrimental effect on their mental health are allowed
to switch off and for those living in digital exclusion to be able to switch on in the first place.

46. What do we learn about singer and actress Selena Gomez in the past four and a half years?
A)She has had worsening mental problems. C) She has refrained from using social media.
B) She has won Instagram's most followers. D) She has succeeded in a bid on the internet.

B) Edging further towards web 3.0. D)Opening more social media accounts.