前程百利小编为大家带来托福阅读材料。谷歌眼镜是由谷歌公司于2012年发布的一款"拓展现实"眼镜，很智能，但是作者认为它是可怕的。文章的难词已经标示出来，希望大家可以学习到相关知识，并通过不断的阅读练习提高自己的托福阅读能力。
Hard to believe it was just a few years ago when we first heard about Google Glass, the breakthrough in augmented-reality eyeglasses. And today— what a marvel(奇迹)! — millions of us wear this futuristic(新潮的) headgear(头部设备) to surf the Web, video-chat with mom and take hands-free photos.
Oops. Cancel that augmented vision of the future.
Google Glass did make its first appearance in the spring of 2012,and a year later several thousand people paid $1,500 each to test the technology through the Glass Explorer Program. But Google apparently determined that digital spectacles(眼镜) fail as a consumer product. It's an unnecessary innovation. Intrusive(烦扰的). Silly, even.
Last week Google said it would end the Explorers program, stop individual sales of Glass and take its wearable computer project(可穿戴电脑项目) back to the lab. "We still have some work to do," the company said. The idea may not be dead; Google will try again. But what's over is the hype(不实宣传), and the presumption(假定) that Google Glass is a good idea because it came from Silicon Valley and somehow pushed the frontiers of computing.
Thank goodness.
Some people looked askance at(词组，怀疑地看待) Google Glass from the beginning: Who wants to live in a society populated by wandering cyborgs(电子人) staring vacantly(茫然地) into space?
A few were brave enough to take a stand(表明立场). In Seattle, a restaurant ejected a dude for wearing Glass because, let's face it, he was wearing an Internet-linked video camera across the bridge of his nose, and that's just creepy(恐怖的，令人毛骨悚然的). In certain circles, those who wore Google Glass got a snarky handle: they were glass holes.
True, many people were intrigued by(被迷住) Glass and the future of ubiquitous(无处不在的) connectivity. Or maybe they were just resigned to it. The device — activated(触发，启动) by voice commands or a touch of the finger — projected information into the wearer's field of vision via a heads-up display perched over the right eye. You could read Twitter, news headlines or do a Google search hands-free. You could snap(拍照) photos of the kids and never fumble(摸索) for a camera. Look at a cityscape and, without breaking stride(一步不迈), instantly overlay(覆盖) a historical photo of the scene for comparison's sake.
Can't you accomplish those basic tasks with an phone? Pretty much. And that's where the idea started to break down(垮掉).
Many people were concerned about privacy issues because the device allowed wearers to take surreptitious(私密的) photos and video. Legal jurisdictions wondered whether wearing Glass was akin to(与……相似) watching television and therefore should be banned(禁止) for drivers. A lot of people just thought computer glasses were dorky(愚蠢的). And the battery power was weak.
For all the potential problems, no one could point to a reason Google Glass was worth the potential risk to privacy, anonymity(匿名，不透露真实姓名) or self-respect. Glass was failure because it solved no burning(急切的) problem for consumers. There was no killer app.
What Google Glass did was reassert(重申) an important principle about technology: Society will not barrel ahead from innovation to innovation without the public's interest and consent.
There is no straight line from the introduction of the cellular phone in the 1980s to the placement of an all-knowing chip(芯片) in each of our heads in the 22ndcentury. With each technology breakthrough, we consider the progress and potential cost. Then we react. Smart phone: yes. Google Glass: no. Wearable fitness monitors(显示器)? They're new; we'll see.
Google Glass is more likely to succeed as a niche product(针对特定市场的商品) for surgeons, the physically disabled and others. Maybe there are other uses. So Google executives, feel free to explain how your technology will enrich our future. But before you do, please take off those ridiculous(滑稽的，荒唐的) glasses. They make us giggle(笑个不停).
以上就是前程百利小编为大家带来的托福阅读材料，平时的阅读练习是托福考试阅读备考的重要一环。希望大家利用好每份材料，尽可能多地从中获取知识。预祝大家托福考试取得好成绩。
