原文刊登於《Scientific American》（2018.04.10）
原文賞析
①This was almost two decades ago. ②I suppose the question most of us are worried about today is not all that different: how effective are micro-targeted messages? ③Can psychological “big data” be leveragedto make you buy products? ④Or, even more concerning, can such techniques be weaponized to influence the course of history, such as the outcomes of elections? ⑤On one hand, we’re faced with daily news from insiders attesting to the danger and effectiveness of micro-targeted messages based on unique “psychographic” profiles of millions of registered voters. ⑥On the other hand, academic writers, such as Brendan Nyhan, warn that the political power of targeted online ads and Russian bots are widely overblown.
單詞實記
effective 有效
weaponized 武器化
brand new 全新的
attest to 證明
psychographic 消費心態學的
profile 輪廓，外形
Russian bots 俄羅斯機器人（其實就是我們所說的網絡水軍）
over blown 過分渲染的
熟詞僻義
leveraged 本意為“槓桿”；此處表示“操縱”
course 本意為“課程”；這裡意思是“進程”
profile 常見意思為“輪廓，外形”；這裡意思是“數據”
難句剖析
1.I suppose the question most of us are worried about today is not all that different: how effective are micro-targeted messages?
主句為“I suppose the question is not all that different”，包含一個省略了that的賓語從句（I suppose that…），賓語從句中又套了一個定語從句“most of us are worried about today”；冒號後為同位語，指向本句開頭的“question”。
2.On one hand, we’re faced with daily news from insiders attesting to the danger and effectiveness of micro-targeted messages based on unique “psychographic” profiles of millions of registered voters.
此句其實是一個簡單句，但是後面跟了許多的分詞結構。主幹是“we are faced with daily news”後面“from insiders”為介詞短語作定語；“attesting to”為分詞作後置定語，修飾的還是前面的“news”；第二行的“based on”為過去分詞作定語。
全文翻譯
此事距今已有二十年。我覺得今天大家關心的問題，與那時大同小異：微定向消息有多大效用？心理“大數據”會不會用來誘導你買東西？或者，我們更關注的是，這種技術會不會成為影響歷史進程的武器，比如說大選的結果？一方面，我們每天都從內部人士那裡得到許多消息，證實了微定向消息既有危險，也有效用——這是基於幾百萬註冊投票人所得出的獨特的消費心理學數據。另一方面，學術作家，比如Brendan Nyhan，警告說，定向在線廣告與俄羅斯機器人的政治力量受到了過度渲染。
作業解答
1.I wondered whether mining through millions of customer purchases could reveal hidden consumer preferences and it wasn’t long before the implications dawned on me: are they mailing us targeted ads?
本句主幹是“I wondered whether…and it wasn’t long”whether 引出賓語從句。後半句為and連接的並列成分——“it wasn’t long before …”是強調句，意思是“不久後…”；“dawned on me”是一個常見表達，意思是“突然想清楚”。
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