Real-time web search—which scours only the latest updates to services like Twitter—is currently generating quite a buzz because it can provide a glimpse of what people around the world are thinking or doing at any given moment. Interest in this kind of search is so great that, according to recent leaks, Google is considering buying Twitter.The latest research from the interact search giant, though, suggests that real-time results could be even more powerful—they may reveal the future as well as the present.Google researchers Hyunyoung Choi and Hal Varian combined data from Google Trends on the popularity of different search terms with models used by economists to predict trends in areas such as travel and home sales. The result? Better forecasts in almost every case. It works because searches reveal something about people’s intentions. Google has demonstrated before that search data can predict flu outbreaks, and last week World Bank economist Erik Feyen said he could cut errors in a model that forecasts lending to the private sector by 15% using Google search data.But real-time results could have even more predictive power: knowing what people are actually doing, not just thinking, at a particular instant gives a strong hint of the future consequences.Johan Bollen of Los Alamos National Laboratory and Alberto Pepe of the University of California, Los Angeles, applied a mood rating system to the text from over 10,000 Future Me emails sent in 2006 to gauge people’s hopes, fears and predictions for the future. They found that emails directed at 2007 to 2012 were significantly more depressed in tone than messages aimed at the subsequent six years. Could they have predicted the world’s current economic slump?Without more data, that is no more than an intriguing possibility. So Bollen plans to look at more Future Me emails, as well as Twitter messages, to search for mood swings that foreshadow other economic changes. If he finds any such links, the same sources might be used to try and predict future economic fluctuations.So will our online footsteps become a central part of economic forecasting? We’ll have to wait and see—or perhaps do a quick web search.1.What is “real-time” web search like Twitter?2.What is the result of research established by Google researchers Hyunyoung Choi and Hal Varian?3.What can we infer from Para. 5?4.What's the meaning of “Without more data, that is no more than an intriguing possibility.”?5.What's the attitude of author to real-time search?
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The fourth-graders at Chicago’s McCormick Elementary School don’t know Chinese is supposed to be hard to learn. For most, who speak Spanish at home, it’s becoming their third language. They've been hearing and using Chinese words since nursery, and it' s natural to give a “ni hao” when strangers enter the classroom.“It's really fun!” says Miranda Lucas, taking a break from a lesson that includes a Chinese interview with Jackie Chan.“I'm teaching my mom to speak Chinese."The classroom scene at McCormick is unusual, but it may soon be a common phenomenon in American schools, where Chinese is rapidly becoming the hot new language. Government officials have long wanted more focus on useful languages like Chinese, and pressure from them—as well as from business leaders, politicians, and parents—has produced a quick growth in the number of programs.Chicago city officials make their best effort to include Chinese in their public schools. Their program has grown to include 3,000 students in 20 schools, with more schools on a waiting list. Programs have also spread to places like Los Angeles, New York City, and North Carolina. Supporters see knowledge of the Chinese language and culture as an advantage in a global economy where China is growing in importance. “This is an interesting way to begin to engage with the world’s next superpower,” says Michael Levine, director of education at the Asia Society, which has started five new public high schools that offer Chinese. “Globalization has already changed the arrangeme