考研人数逐年增加，竞争之激烈使得我们不得不加急复习的日程。众所周知，阅读理解占据了考研英语二100分试卷的一半分值，而考研英语阅读文章大多来自英美国家的主流报刊杂志，所以如果能在日常就多多阅读这些文章，对以后读懂文章做对题目来说会大有裨益。
学习步骤如下：
1.不看汉语译文自己看一遍短文做理解
2.看汉语译文比对自己理解的意思与之出入
3.强化记忆重点单词（以记忆其汉语意思为主）
Social scientists have identified at least three major forces that collectively bind together successful democracies: social capital (extensive social networks with high levels of trust), strong institutions, and shared stories. Social media has weakened all three.
To see how, we must understand how social media changed over time—and especially in the several years following 2009.In their early period, platforms such as Myspace and Facebook were relatively harmless. They allowed users to create pages on which to post photos, family updates, and links to the mostly static pages of their friends and favorite bands.
In this way, early social media can be seen as just another step in the long progression of technological improvements—from the Postal Service through the telephone to email and texting—that helped people achieve the eternal goal of maintaining their social ties.
短文翻译
社会科学家已经确定，至少有三种主要力量共同将成功的民主国家联系在一起：社会资本(具有高度信任的广泛社会网络)、强大的制度和共享的故事。社交媒体削弱了这三个因素。
要了解其中的原因，我们必须了解社交媒体是如何随着时间而变化的，尤其是在2009年之后的几年里。在早期，Myspace和Facebook等平台相对来说没什么危害。他们允许用户创建页面，在上面发布照片、更新家庭动态，以及与他们的朋友和最喜欢的乐队的静态页面链接。
在这种情况下，早期的社交媒体可以被视为漫长的技术进步过程中的又一步——从邮政服务到电话，再到电子邮件和短信——帮助人们实现维持社会关系的永恒目标。
重点单词
identify [aɪˈdentɪfaɪ]
v.识别，鉴定
collectively [kɒˈlɛktɪvli]
adv.集体地，共同地
democracy [dɪˈmɒkrəsi]
n.民主政体
social capital
社会资本
social network
社交网络
They allowed users to create pages on which to post photos, family updates, and links to the mostly static pages of their friends and favorite bands.
on which引导定语从句，修饰pages,意为：在这个页面上，发布照片、更新家庭动态，以及与他们的朋友和最喜欢的乐队的静态页面链接。
technological improvement
技术进步
social ties
社会关系，社交联系
