Google+ Does It All(b)

When people use Google, their objective is usually to find a specific item like the address of a restaurant. Google sifts through huge amounts of data at super-fast speeds and tries to retrieve the most relevant information for that restaurant. For years, Google has been the king of Internet searches, but recently, some businesses have learned how to manipulate Google so that they will appear at the top of the search results. Consequently, more and more people are asking their friends on Facebook about restaurants instead of trusting Google.

This gives Facebook a huge advantage because they know what people are eating, watching, reading, and liking. Google wants to combine their searches with social capabilities so that they can make more money by means of raising advertising revenue. Nearly every expert agrees that all Internet websites will have some form of social capability in the future.

Many people believe that Facebook has reached its peak and are wondering if Google+ will be able to overtake the world's biggest social network. Only a few short years ago, MySpace was the leader of the online world until Facebook came around. Google+ hopes to do exactly what Facebook did to MySpace. At the moment, it's too early to tell if people are serious about Google+ and if it will be another one of Google's failed experiments like Orkut or Google Buzz. The race to be the leader in social networking will go on and on for years since it can only be decided by the people.

1.  How was Google+ field-tested?

(A) People were asked to fill out questionnaires.

(B) The service was unveiled slowly and allowed to spread.

(C) Invitations were given out to everyone.

(D) It was advertised on Facebook.

2.  What are Circles on Google+?

(A) A way to meet friends of friends.

(B) A way to scroll down the screen without a mouse.

(C) An area on Google+ for people that love scary movies.

(D) A way to group people based on the user's desires.

3.  According to the article, why are people wary of Google's search results now?

(A) People have learned how to control the outcome.

(B) Google is no longer the king of search engines.

(C) Users find there are too many ads on Google.

(D) Google is trying too many things and not focusing on searches anymore.

4.  What does "Google+ hopes to do exactly what Facebook did to MySpace" mean?

(A) Google+ wants to take all the users of MySpace and add them to its network.

(B) Google+ is thinking about teaming up with MySpace to build a new website.

(C) Google+ hopes to replace the biggest social network of the time.

(D) Google+ is planning to merge with Facebook.

　　使用 Google 时，人们的目的通常是要找像是餐厅地址的某项特定事物。Google以超快速度过滤大量数据，试图取得和那间餐厅最为相关的信息。数年来，Google一直是网络搜寻的龙头，但是最近有些企业学会如何操控 Google，让自己出现在搜寻结果最前面的位置。因此，愈来愈多人在脸书上询问朋友有关餐厅的事，而不再相信 Google。

　　这给了脸书一大优势，因为他们知道大家吃什么、看什么、读什么，还有喜欢什么。因此 Google 想结合搜寻和社交功能，借着提升广告营收赚取更多利润。几乎每位专家都同意，未来所有的网站都将具有某些社交功能。

　　许多人相信脸书已经达到高峰，并好奇 Google+ 是否可以打败第一大社交网络并取而代之。才短短几年前，MySpace曾是网络世界霸主，直到脸书出现后才被挤下来。Google+希望能够像脸书取代 MySpace 一样超越脸书。此时此刻，要判定民众是否会认真看待 Google+，还是它会是 Google 的另一个失败实验品──像是 Orkut 和 Google Buzz一样──还言之过早。争夺社群网站霸主的竞赛还会持续数年，因为只有使用者才能决定谁是赢家。

答案：1. (B)2. (D)3. (A)4. (C)

Google+从推出到 7 月中不到 1 个月的时间内，便吸引超过 2 千 5 百万名用户，以平均每天增加约 1 百万人的速度，成为历来最快达到这个用户规模的社群网站。相较之下，脸书与 Twitter 分别经过 37 个月和 33 个月才达到这个用户规模。

彭博社和一家英国市调公司连手调查结果发现，美国成年人中已有 13% 加入 Google+，调查预估，未来 1 年这个比例还会提升 9%。脸书同时间将流失约 2 个百分点的美国成年民众。（数据源：自由时报、中央社）