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Question

   According to Nielsen the average number of mobile phone calls we make is dropping every year after hitting a peak in 2007. And our calls are getting shorter: In 2005 they averaged three minutes in length; now they’re almost half that.

We are moving in other words toward a fascinating cultural transition: the death of the telephone call. This shift is particularly plain among the young. Some college students I know go days without talking into their smartphones at all.

This generation doesn’t make phone calls because everyone is in constant lightweight contact in so many other ways: texting chatting and social-network messaging. And we don’t just have more options than we used to. We have better ones: These new forms of communication have exposed the fact that the voice call is badly designed. It deserves to die. Consider: If I suddenly decide I want to dial you up I have no way of knowing whether you’re busy and you have no idea why I’m calling.

We have to open Schrödinger’s box every time having a conversation to figure out whether it’s OK to have a conversation. Plus voice calls are emotionally high-bandwidth which is why it’s so weirdly exhausting to be interrupted by one. (We apparently find voicemail even more torturous: Studies show that more than a fifth of all voice messages are never listened to. )

The telephone in other words doesn’t provide any information about status so we are constantly interrupting one another. The other tools at our disposal are more polite. Instant messaging lets us detect whether our friends are busy without our annoying them and texting lets us ping one another but not at the same time. ( Plus we can spend more time thinking about what we want to say. ) Despite the hue and cry about becoming an “ always on ” society we’re actually moving away from the demand that everyone should be available immediately.

We’ll still make fewer phone calls as most of our former phone time will migrate to other media. But the calls we do make will be longer reserved for the sort of deep discussion that the medium does best.

As video chatting becomes more common enabled by the new iPhone and other devices we might see the growth of persistent telepresence leaving video-chat open all day so we can speak to a spouse or colleague spontaneously. Or to put it another way we’ll call less but talk more.

77.  The writer of the text thinks that what is happening with mobile phone calls is ________.

A. an unexpected occurrence                

B. a strange but very predictable fact

C. an interesting social phenomenon                  

D. negative for social interaction

78.  The phrase “ hue and cry ” in paragraph 5 means __________.

       A. appeal                    B. protest           C. claim               D. argument

79.  What does the writer think will happen to voice calls in the future?

       A. They will only be used in emergencies.

       B. They will continue to get more expensive.

       C. They will only be used between family members.

       D. They will be used mainly for intimate and detailed discussions.

80.  What is the best title of the passage?

       A. Video Chatting                                   B. Talking into Smartphones

C. The Death of the Phone Call             D. Mobile Phone calls

Answer 1

BBDC