Level 2 · Reading series
Lesson 17 · A Link Too Good to Be True
Audio track 17
Listen first
Listen once before opening the English passage.
Open the English passage and hover for word help
The message said, "Get free game coins today!" It showed a colorful button and a picture from a popular game. My brother almost tapped the link.
"It looks official," he said.
"Maybe," I answered, "but the address is strange." The website name had extra letters, and the message asked for his password.
Real companies do not usually ask you to enter your password from a random message. We closed the page and opened the game app directly.
Free is not always safe.
Check your understanding
After reading, state the main idea in one sentence and find a line that supports it.
Chinese translation
那条消息写着：‘今天免费领取游戏币！’旁边有个色彩鲜艳的按钮，还有一张热门游戏的图片。弟弟差点点开链接。
他说：‘看起来像官方发的。’
我说：‘也许吧，不过这个网址很奇怪。’网站名称多出几串字母，消息还要求他输入密码。
正规公司通常不会通过一条来历不明的消息让你输入密码。我们关掉网页，直接打开了游戏应用。
免费的东西也未必安全。
Key words and expressions
Key terms have Chinese explanations. Hover over dotted words in the English passage for word help and pronunciation when available.
- too good to be true
- 好得令人难以相信；常用来提醒可能有陷阱。
- coin
- 游戏币；游戏内使用的虚拟货币。
- colorful
- 色彩鲜艳的；形容吸引人点击的按钮。
- popular
- 受欢迎的；文中指热门游戏。
- tap
- 轻点；指在屏幕上点击链接。
- official
- 官方的；弟弟误以为消息来自游戏公司。
- address
- 网址；这里不是家庭住址。
- extra
- 额外的；网站名称里多出了字母。
- random
- 随意发来的；random message 指来历不明的消息。
- directly
- 直接地；从游戏应用本身进入。
Background notes (Chinese)
仿冒消息会借用熟悉的游戏图片和醒目按钮，让人忽略网址里的异常。遇到要求输入密码的链接，先停下并从自己熟悉的应用入口进入，比顺着消息点击更稳妥。