A. SUFFERS B. OCCURS C. POLLUTES D. THREATENSV. READ THE PASSAGE, AND...

25: A. suffers

B. occurs

C. pollutes

D. threatens

V. Read the passage, and choose the correct answer A, B, C or D for each question.

The Power of Crowdsourcing

There is a famous old saying that when trying to solve a problem “two heads are better than

one”. Yet until recently, businesses would often rely on one key person to get important

tasks done. But thanks to a phenomenon called crowdsourcing, more and more companies

are allowing their consumers to have their say when designing new products.

The term “crowdsourcing” refers to the process of outsourcing jobs which were once done

by a

single person to a large group (or a crowd) of people. In the past, crowdsourcing wasn’t

practical, as it was impossible to gather thousands of like-minded people together to share

opinions. Now, thanks to the Internet, online forums, and social media, this isn’t a difficult

task at all.

There are many important applications for crowdsourcing in business. For example, if a

small

business was looking to develop a business logo, it might employ a single designer and

hope for the best. However, with crowdsourcing, companies can specify some guidelines

about their project, set a budget, and start a design contest online. Within hours, it will

likely receive hundreds of designers sending them logos.

In the end, they can choose the design they like best and the winner will get compensated.

Crowdsourcing has other applications as well. A website called Duolingo is using

crowdsourcing to translate documents into different languages. It offers free lessons to

language learners. As part of their tests, users translate lines to test their knowledge. Then, a

computer programme will analyze thousands of test results for consistency and arrange an

accurate translation.

Not everyone is sold on crowdsourcing, though. In many cases, it may be better to rely on

the

opinion of a few specialized professionals than information from a crowd. For instance, it

makes more sense to trust the opinion of one top doctor than to take the advice of 1,000

random people regarding a health issue. Another criticism is the low wage that

crowdworkers usually receive. Since crowdworkers are freelancers and not employees, they

can be paid less than minimum wage. Whether you love or hate crowdsourcing, it appears to

be here to stay. So before you make any financial judgements, consider following the crowd

and give crowdsourcing a try.