China closes 1250 sites for healthier Web

BEFORE READING 

1. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

1.	shut down	a.	quickly
2	effort	b.	tough
3.	immoral	c.	circulate
4.	aimed	d.	attempt
5.	complex	e.	cautioned
6.	distribute	f.	closed
7.	warned	g.	clean up
8.	inappropriate	h.	designed
9.	rapidly	i.	unsuitable
10.	censor	j.	wrong

The Chinese government has shut down around 1,250 Internet sites that contain pornographic material. It is the latest effort by China to crack down on immoral content. In addition to the crackdown, authorities have arrested 41 people involved in putting pornography online. The deputy director of China’s Internet Affairs Bureau, Liu Zhengrong, said the focus of the government’s actions is to create a safer environment for children who use the Internet. Liu told reporters: "The campaign is aimed at creating a healthy Internet environment for all young people and making the Internet in China safer and more reliable." Liu outlined the difficulties ahead, saying: "Our biggest challenge is that the Internet is still growing…. We are facing a long-term, complex and huge task."


In China it is illegal to distribute pornographic material. The Xinhua news agency reports that in the past three weeks the government has received more than 18,000 complaints about inappropriate content. Officials have also warned China’s most popular sites, including Google and Baidu, to do more to block pornographic material from their searches in China. The task of censoring sites in China seems to be an uphill battle. China has the largest online community in the world. There are almost 300 million users in China and this number is growing rapidly, at the rate of a quarter of a million a day. There are also 20,000 new sites uploaded to the Web every week. Many people fear the crackdown might also aim to censor news sites such as the BBC and Voice of America.

COMPREHENSION 

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	China has closed some sites about unhealthy eating and lifestyles.	T / F
b.	The government has arrested 41 people.	T / F
c.	The government wants a healthier online environment for kids.	T / F
d.	An official said the speed of the Internet’s growth is a problem.	T / F
e.	The article said over 80,000 people complained to China’s government.	T / F
f.	China has the world’s largest number of Internet users.	T / F
g.	There are 250,000 new Chinese users going online every day.	T / F
h.	The article said China is going to crack down on the BBC and VOA.	T / F