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外刊读写营第8期 公众号/B站：三言两语杂货社 Unit 2
Unit 2
TikTok 禁令
精读预习
步骤 任务
听录音，填空（每空填写一个单词，含连字符的单词算一个）。如无听力练习需求，
Step 1
可跳过本练习，直接查看参考答案补充原文。
请阅读全文，完成阅读选择题。首次阅读全文时请勿查单词，可通过上下文或猜词
Step 2
理解原文，模拟阅读考试。
完成阅读题后，请使用课程附送的专业词典（牛津、朗文等）再次阅读原文，查询
Step 3
生词。请标记出表达、句法、背景知识的费解之处，观看视频讲解时可重点留意。
The Government’s ______________________ Rationale for Banning TikTok
(1) Last week, a federal court ______________________ the extraordinary use of government power
against TikTok, the social-media platform that an estimated 170 million Americans use to
dance, sing, talk about politics, and engage in a lot of other First Amendment–protected
expression. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously
dismissed TikTok’s challenge to a law requiring that the app—currently a ______________________
of the Chinese tech company ByteDance—be sold to new owners by January 19 or be shut
down in the United States.
(2) This is a stunning holding in a country proud of its free-speech tradition. And the decision is
all the more remarkable because the court acknowledged that the law was motivated by
concerns about what Americans might be convinced to believe by using the app. Although
the government had also argued that the law, passed in April, was justified by data-security
concerns, the court strongly suggested that concerns that the Chinese government would
______________________ its power over ByteDance to covertly manipulate content on TikTok to
promote Beijing’s interests would on their own be enough to justify the law. In other words,
in the land of the First Amendment, the judges showed a surprising amount of deference to
the idea that an entire platform can legally be shut down to keep people from holding views
the government doesn’t like.
1外刊读写营第8期 公众号/B站：三言两语杂货社 Unit 2
(3) In a concurring opinion, Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan described the potential threat more
concretely: He mused about officials of the People’s Republic of China “sowing
______________________ in the United States by promoting videos—perhaps even primarily
truthful ones—about a hot-button issue having nothing to do with China,” or even using
ostensibly anti-Chinese TikTok content to “conjure a ______________________ for actions China
would like to take against the United States.”
(4) These statements, which presume that Beijing could easily ______________________ users’ political
beliefs via an app known largely for its dance videos, reflect a highly unflattering view of the
American public. That view is also completely inconsistent with the First Amendment, which
typically allows people to think for themselves. If the government thinks people have wrong
beliefs, then the Constitution requires that the government change their minds, not
______________________ speech it doesn’t like, unless it can meet the heavy burden of proving that
it has no other way of preventing an inevitable, direct, and immediate national-security harm.
(5) Instead of demanding such proof, the court accepted the TikTok law as part of a “well-
established practice of placing restrictions on foreign ownership or control” of mass-
communications technologies. But most of the precedents cited by the court involve
broadcast television and radio, which rely on common airwaves that the government has long
regulated closely. Therefore, the Supreme Court has held, broadcasters can even be subject
to limited content-based standards that, for example, prohibit obscenity. No such
______________________ governs cable channels, news websites, or social-media apps. The new
law doesn’t establish a careful regulatory framework for the mobile-app industry; it singles
out TikTok by name and demands the app’s sale or ______________________. It is, to be clear, a de
facto ban.
(6) To be clear, covert manipulation of the online public ______________________ is a real problem. It’s
also the status quo: Social-media platforms wield enormous power over what people are
allowed to say and read online, and they exercise that power in ______________________ ways.
Platforms publish content-moderation rulebooks, but there’s no way to know if they are
enforced consistently.
(7) The threat of covert manipulation does not come only from the platforms themselves.
Governments around the world ______________________ platforms’ power jealously and often try
to leverage it to their own ends. Asking—with varying degrees of politeness—for social-
media platforms to remove content is a common habit of governments from around the world.
In many cases, platforms are eager to ______________________. Some set up “trusted flagger”
programs for officials to alert them to content they think should be taken down. The black
box of content moderation obscures all of these inputs into platform decision making.
2外刊读写营第8期 公众号/B站：三言两语杂货社 Unit 2
(8) Just last term, however, the Supreme Court sounded a very blasé note about these threats. In
one case, it held that platforms’ covert manipulation—sorry, content moderation—of the
speech on their sites was protected by the First Amendment. Motivated by concerns that
platforms were secretly ______________________ conservative viewpoints, Texas and Florida had
passed laws to constrain platforms’ content moderation and make it more transparent. But
the Supreme Court was clear: Covert manipulation of online spaces was not in itself a harm
that the First Amendment allowed U.S. governments to regulate to prevent. This argument
rested on the principle, fundamental to First Amendment law, that no matter how much
damage private companies appear to be doing to the ______________________ of ideas,
governmental intervention would be worse.
(9) Courts should be very wary of letting amorphous claims of “national security” interests by
the government become a ______________________ in the First Amendment. In a globalized and
interconnected world, we need a structural answer to what are likely to be recurring
problems caused by foreign-ownership ______________________ in platforms and indeed covert
manipulation in general. Industry-wide regulation would create fewer fears that the
government is simply picking and choosing which platforms to favor and which to restrict.
文章来源：2024年12月《大西洋月刊》
请根据原文，选择正确的选项。
1. What does the phrase "surprising amount of deference" in paragraph 2 imply about
the court's decision?
(A) The court was very strict in limiting government action.
(B) The court ignored the potential consequences of the law.
(C) The court was unusually lenient in the government's reasoning to justify potential censorship.
(D) The court ignored the government's concerns and acted on its own.
2. According to paragraph 4, how does the First Amendment protect American citizens?
(A) It ensures that the government can regulate harmful political content.
(B) It grants people the right to free speech without government interference.
(C) It allows the government to prevent foreign governments from influencing speech.
(D) It limits the government’s ability to influence public opinion.
3. What is the "black box" of content moderation referring to?
(A) The technology used to monitor content.
(B) The government’s role in determining which content is acceptable.
(C) The visual appearance of the moderation system on social media.
(D) The private decisions and processes behind content removal.
3外刊读写营第8期 公众号/B站：三言两语杂货社 Unit 2
4. In the final paragraph, the author suggests that:
(A) The government should take a more hands-off approach to regulating content.
(B) A global response to platform manipulation should be implemented.
(C) Industry-wide regulation could lead to unfair treatment of certain platforms.
(D) National security concerns should always outweigh First Amendment rights.
精读（1）
The Government’s Disturbing Rationale for Banning TikTok
(1) Last week, a federal court upheld the extraordinary use of government power against TikTok,
the social-media platform that an estimated 170 million Americans use to dance, sing, talk
about politics, and engage in a lot of other First Amendment–protected expression. A three-
judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously dismissed TikTok’s
challenge to a law requiring that the app—currently a subsidiary of the Chinese tech company
ByteDance—be sold to new owners by January 19 or be shut down in the United States.
(2) This is a stunning holding in a country proud of its free-speech tradition. And the decision is
all the more remarkable because the court acknowledged that the law was motivated by
concerns about what Americans might be convinced to believe by using the app. Although the
government had also argued that the law, passed in April, was justified by data-security
concerns, the court strongly suggested that concerns that the Chinese government would
leverage its power over ByteDance to covertly manipulate content on TikTok to promote
Beijing’s interests would on their own be enough to justify the law. In other words, in the land
of the First Amendment, the judges showed a surprising amount of deference to the idea that
an entire platform can legally be shut down to keep people from holding views the
government doesn’t like.
4外刊读写营第8期 公众号/B站：三言两语杂货社 Unit 2
(3) In a concurring opinion, Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan described the potential threat more
concretely: He mused about officials of the People’s Republic of China “sowing discord in the
United States by promoting videos—perhaps even primarily truthful ones—about a hot-
button issue having nothing to do with China,” or even using ostensibly anti-Chinese TikTok
content to “conjure a justification for actions China would like to take against the United States.”
(4) These statements, which presume that Beijing could easily reshape users’ political beliefs via
an app known largely for its dance videos, reflect a highly unflattering view of the American
public. That view is also completely inconsistent with the First Amendment, which typically
allows people to think for themselves. If the government thinks people have wrong beliefs,
then the Constitution requires that the government change their minds, not censor speech it
doesn’t like, unless it can meet the heavy burden of proving that it has no other way of
preventing an inevitable, direct, and immediate national-security harm.
精读（1）练习
1. 请根据中文写出对应英文表达。
(1) 热点问题 __________________________________________________
(2) 关闭 __________________________________________________
(3) 制造不合 __________________________________________________
(4) 暗中操纵 __________________________________________________
2. 请根据首字母和英文释义写出对应单词。
(1) p_________________________: to suppose that sth is true, although you do not have actual proof;
(2) i________________________: that you cannot avoid or prevent;
(3) j_________________________: to give or to be a good reason for
5外刊读写营第8期 公众号/B站：三言两语杂货社 Unit 2
3. 请将以下原文句子译为中文。
These statements, which presume that Beijing could easily reshape users’ political beliefs via an
app known largely for its dance videos, reflect a highly unflattering view of the American public.
4. 请使用指定表达用英文写出以下句子。
(1) 独自旅行中，他结识了新朋友，也探索了跟团游中不会去的地方。（on one’s own）
(2) 她的旧车仍然运行良好，她无法解释为什么要买新车。（justify）
精读（2）
(1) Instead of demanding such proof, the court accepted the TikTok law as part of a “well-
established practice of placing restrictions on foreign ownership or control” of mass-
communications technologies. But most of the precedents cited by the court involve broadcast
television and radio, which rely on common airwaves that the government has long regulated
closely. Therefore, the Supreme Court has held, broadcasters can even be subject to limited
content-based standards that, for example, prohibit obscenity. No such regime governs cable
channels, news websites, or social-media apps. The new law doesn’t establish a careful
regulatory framework for the mobile-app industry; it singles out TikTok by name and
demands the app’s sale or closure. It is, to be clear, a de facto ban.
6外刊读写营第8期 公众号/B站：三言两语杂货社 Unit 2
(2) To be clear, covert manipulation of the online public sphere is a real problem. It’s also the
status quo: Social-media platforms wield enormous power over what people are allowed to
say and read online, and they exercise that power in opaque ways. Platforms publish content-
moderation rulebooks, but there’s no way to know if they are enforced consistently.
(3) The threat of covert manipulation does not come only from the platforms themselves.
Governments around the world eye platforms’ power jealously and often try to leverage it to
their own ends. Asking—with varying degrees of politeness—for social-media platforms to
remove content is a common habit of governments from around the world. In many cases,
platforms are eager to accommodate. Some set up “trusted flagger” programs for officials to
alert them to content they think should be taken down. The black box of content moderation
obscures all of these inputs into platform decision making.
(4) Just last term, however, the Supreme Court sounded a very blasé note about these threats. In
one case, it held that platforms’ covert manipulation—sorry, content moderation—of the
speech on their sites was protected by the First Amendment. Motivated by concerns that
platforms were secretly suppressing conservative viewpoints, Texas and Florida had passed
laws to constrain platforms’ content moderation and make it more transparent. But the
Supreme Court was clear: Covert manipulation of online spaces was not in itself a harm that
the First Amendment allowed U.S. governments to regulate to prevent. This argument rested
on the principle, fundamental to First Amendment law, that no matter how much damage
private companies appear to be doing to the marketplace of ideas, governmental intervention
would be worse.
7外刊读写营第8期 公众号/B站：三言两语杂货社 Unit 2
(5) Courts should be very wary of letting amorphous claims of “national security” interests by the
government become a loophole in the First Amendment. In a globalized and interconnected
world, we need a structural answer to what are likely to be recurring problems caused by
foreign-ownership stakes in platforms and indeed covert manipulation in general. Industry-
wide regulation would create fewer fears that the government is simply picking and choosing
which platforms to favor and which to restrict.
精读（2）练习
1. 请根据中文写出对应英文表达。
(1) 单独挑出 __________________________________________________
(2) 本身，本质上 __________________________________________________
(3) 内容审核 __________________________________________________
(4) 受制于、取决于某事 __________________________________________________
2. 请根据首字母和英文释义写出对应单词。
(1) w_________________________: to have a lot of influence or power over other people;
(2) o________________________: to make something difficult to discover and understand;
(3) o_________________________: difficult to understand; not clear.
3. 请将以下原文句子译为中文。
This argument rested on the principle, fundamental to First Amendment law, that no matter how
much damage private companies appear to be doing to the marketplace of ideas, governmental
intervention would be worse.
8外刊读写营第8期 公众号/B站：三言两语杂货社 Unit 2
4. 请使用指定表达用英文写出以下句子。
(1) 国际谈判的结果很大程度上将取决于是否能够达成共识。（rest on）
(2) 交通拥堵问题愈发严重，迫切需要一个覆盖全市的交通改善计划。（city-wide）
写作练习
请按照「总结与写作」课要求，完成相应造句练习。
9外刊读写营第8期 公众号/B站：三言两语杂货社 Unit 2
泛读
步骤 任务
请阅读全文，完成阅读选择题。首次阅读全文时请勿查单词，可通过上下文或猜词
Step 1
理解原文，模拟阅读考试。
Step 2 跟随课程计划，阅读泛读（1）和泛读（2）文字解析，疏通理解障碍，学习词句。
Step 3 听录音，跟读。如无听说练习需求，可跳过此步骤。
The TikTok court case has staggering implications for free speech in America
(1) The free speech implications of the coming ban on TikTok in the United States are staggering
and unprecedented. On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
upheld a federal law that requires TikTok to stop operating here on Jan. 19 if its owner,
ByteDance, does not sell it to a non-Chinese company. The 150 million Americans who use
TikTok to share and receive information no longer would be able to do so.
(2) In upholding the law, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals minimized the 1st Amendment impact of
banning TikTok, while uncritically accepting the federal government’s claim that national
security is threatened by this app.
(3) This is the first time in history that the government has ever banned a medium of
communication. It is not simply outlawing a single newspaper or publisher, which itself
would be deeply troubling under the 1st Amendment, but banning a platform on which
billions of videos are uploaded a year. As the circuit court’s chief judge, Sri Srinivasan, said in
a concurring opinion, the TikTok ban will cause a huge number of people in this country to
“lose access to an outlet for expression, a source of community and even a means of income.”
10外刊读写营第8期 公众号/B站：三言两语杂货社 Unit 2
(4) The decision stressed that TikTok is controlled by a “foreign adversary,” the People’s Republic
of China, and that those outside the United States do not have 1st Amendment rights. But this
ignores the rights of millions of users of TikTok in this country to post on the site and to
receive information. Moreover, the Supreme Court has long made clear that the identity of a
speaker should not matter under the 1st Amendment. The central premise of the 1st
Amendment is that more speech is inherently better, regardless of the source.
(5) The court of appeals recognized the free speech implications of the TikTok ban but concluded
the ban was justified by national security considerations. In doing so, the court professed the
need to give great “deference” to the government and its “evaluation of the facts” concerning
TikTok.
(6) The circuit court identified two national security concerns. First, that China would use TikTok
to “collect data of and about persons in the United States.” There is no dispute that China does
this, but the question the court does not answer is how these data can be used to harm
national security. The court points to China being able to mine the data for “commercial”
benefits, but this seems quite different from showing that China can gain a national security
advantage from knowing what Americans upload and watch on TikTok.
(7) The second rationale given by the court is even more problematic: China will “covertly
manipulate content on TikTok” to “undermine democracy” and “extend the PRC’s influence
abroad.” The court said that China “threatens to distort free speech on an important medium
of communication.”
11外刊读写营第8期 公众号/B站：三言两语杂货社 Unit 2
(8) Under this rationale, the United States could ban a foreign newspaper or a book published in
another country from being available in this country because it is seen as undermining
democracy. Indeed, this justification would allow the federal government to prohibit any
book published by the Chinese government because it could be deemed an effort to “extend
the PRC’s influence” in the United States. The government never should have the power to
censor speech because it dislikes the message expressed.
(9) There are still several paths to saving TikTok in the United States. There certainly will be an
appeal to the Supreme Court. The justices could grant review on an expedited basis and
decide the case by Jan. 19, or they could temporarily keep the law from going into effect until
they hear and resolve the issue by the end of the court’s term in late June.
(10) Another possibility is for President-elect Donald Trump to try to save TikTok once he is
inaugurated, the day after the TikTok ban is scheduled to go into effect. Trump has explicitly
said he wants to do this, but it is unclear how he could accomplish it. He cannot repeal the
law banning TikTok; that would take an act of Congress. He could direct the Department of
Justice to not enforce the law. But it is doubtful that would be enough assurance for
companies like Apple and Google to continue to make the TikTok app available knowing of
the potential liability for doing so. If there is a sale or restructuring of the ownership of TikTok,
Trump, under the law, can deem it no longer to be under foreign control and allow it to
continue to operate. If a deal is in the works, the president can grant a one-time 90-day
extension before the ban goes into effect.
(11) The TikTok case is a difficult one involving issues never before faced by the courts. Yet when
the implications for speech are so massive and the justifications for the restrictions so
speculative, the only conclusion is that the D.C. Circuit struck the wrong balance. The
Supreme Court should correct it.
12外刊读写营第8期 公众号/B站：三言两语杂货社 Unit 2
文章来源：2024年12月《洛杉矶时报》
请根据原文，选择正确的选项。
1. What is the author's primary concern about the government's action in paragraph 3?
(A) The potential economic harm caused by banning TikTok
(B) The historical precedent of banning a medium of communication
(C) The effectiveness of TikTok in promoting free speech
(D) The legal consequences for TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance
2. According to paragraph 6, why does the author think the national security concern
regarding TikTok is implausible?
(A) The court did not explain how the data collected by China could harm national security.
(B) The court did not prove that China’s data collection is illegal and harmful.
(C) The data collected by China is only useful for commercial purposes, not national security.
(D) The court did not provide clear evidence that the data would be used to directly harm
American citizens.
3. According to the author, what does the court's second rationale imply?
(A) The author believes the U.S. government should step in to control what is said on platforms
to protect democracy.
(B) The author argues that the court’s logic could justify banning any foreign media that
disagrees with U.S. values.
(C) The author agrees that China manipulating TikTok content is a serious threat to free speech
and democracy.
(D) The author suggests that the U.S. should only limit foreign content if it directly threatens
national security.
4. According to the article, what are the two potential ways to prevent the TikTok ban
from going into effect?
(A) The President could directly repeal the law or ask Congress to pass a new one.
(B) The Supreme Court could review the case quickly, or President Trump could try to save
TikTok after taking office.
(C) TikTok could make changes to its content moderation policies to comply with U.S. regulations.
(D) The TikTok app could be restructured and sold to a non-foreign company without any legal
intervention.
13
