Question

【題目】Who cares if people think wrongly that the Internet has had more important influences than the washing machines?

Why does it matter that people are more impressed by the most recent changes?

It would not matter if these misjudgments were just a matter of people’s opinions. However, they have real impacts, as they result in misguided use of scarce（稀缺的） resources.

The fascination with the ICT(Information and Communication Technology) revolution, represented by the Internet, has made some rich countries wrongly conclude that making things is so ―yesterday that they should try to live on ideas. This belief in post-industrial society has led those countries to neglect（忽略） their manufacturing sector(制造業(yè)) with negative consequences for their economies.

Even more worryingly, the fascination with the Internet by people in rich countries has moved the international community to worry about the digital divide between the rich countries and the poor countries. This has led companies and individuals to donate money to developing countries to buy computer equipment and Internet facilities. The question, however, is whether this is what the developing countries need the most. Perhaps giving money for those less fashionable things such as digging wells, extending electricity networks and making more affordable washing machines would have improved people’s lives more than giving every child a laptop computer or setting up Internet centres in rural villages, I amnot saying that those things are necessarily more important, but many donators have rushed into fancy programmes without carefully assessing the relative long-term costs and benefits of alternative（別的，可替代的） uses of their money.

In yet another example, a fascination with the new has led people to believe that the recent changes in the technologies of communications and transportation are so revolutionary（革命的） that now we live in a borderless world. As a result, in the last twenty years or so, many people have come to believe that whatever change is happening today is the result of great technological progress, going against which will be like trying to turn the clock back. Believing in such a world, many governments have put an end to some of the very necessary regulations on cross-border flows of capital, labour and goods, with poor results.

Understanding technological trends is very important for correctly designing economic policies, both at the national and the international levels, and for making the right career choices at the individual level. However, our fascination with the latest, and our under valuation of what has already become common, can, and has, led us in all sorts of wrong directions.

【1】Misjudgments on the influences of new technology can lead to .

A.a lack of confidence in technologyB.a slow progress in technology

C.a conflict of public opinionsD.a waste of limited resources

【2】The example in Paragraph 4 suggests that donators should .

A.take people's essential needs into considerationsB.make their programmes attractive to people

C.ensure that each child gets financial supportD.provide more affordable internet facilities

【3】What can we learn from the passage?

A.People should be encouraged to make more donations.B.Traditional technology still has a place nowadays.

C.Making right career choices is crucial to personal success.D.Economic policies should follow technological trends.

【4】What’s the best title of the passage?

A.The influences of ICTB.The trends of technology

C.The fascination with ICTD.The use of ICT

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】D

【2】A

【3】B

【4】A

【解析】

本文是一篇說明文。講述對信息技術(shù)的過分迷戀對國家，對個人，對慈善事業(yè)都會有不利的影響。我們應(yīng)該正確認(rèn)識科技發(fā)展趨勢并順勢而為。

【1】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段“However, they have real impacts, as they result in misguided use of scarce resources.”可知，對信息技術(shù)的錯誤判斷會導(dǎo)致有限資源的錯誤使用，也就是資源的浪費(fèi)。故選D。

【2】推理判斷題。根據(jù)第四段“Perhaps giving money for those less fashionable things such as digging wells, extending electricity networks and making more affordable washing machines would have improved people’s lives more than giving every child a laptop computer or setting up Internet centres in rural villages, I am not saying that those things are necessarily more important, but many donators have rushed into fancy programmes without carefully assessing the relative long-term costs and benefits of alternative uses of their money.”可知，與其給那些貧困地區(qū)孩子筆記本電腦或者建網(wǎng)絡(luò)中心，還不如給錢打井，鋪電網(wǎng)或者生產(chǎn)他們買得起的洗衣機(jī)。這些東西更能改善他們的生活。作者不是說這些東西一定更重要。但是很多捐贈者沒有仔細(xì)考慮捐贈的東西的長期成本，因此作者建議捐贈者要考慮受捐贈的人的實際情況，而不是一味地追求信息化。故選A。

【3】推理判斷題。根據(jù)第三段“The fascination with the ICT(Information and Communication Technology) revolution, represented by the Internet, has made some rich countries wrongly conclude that making things is so…post-industrial society has led those countries to neglect their manufacturing sector with negative consequences for their economies.”可知，對互聯(lián)網(wǎng)呈現(xiàn)的通訊技術(shù)變革的迷戀讓很多富裕國家做出一個錯誤的結(jié)論，制造產(chǎn)品已經(jīng)過時了，他們應(yīng)該靠創(chuàng)意生活，因為忽略了制造業(yè)，從而對經(jīng)濟(jì)造成不利影響，故可知傳統(tǒng)的技術(shù)仍然有它的地位，新興技術(shù)是取代不了的。故選B。

【4】文章標(biāo)題題。文章第一段“Who cares if people think wrongly that the Internet has had more important influences than the washing machines?”可知，誰會在意人們錯誤地認(rèn)為因特網(wǎng)比洗衣機(jī)的影響更大？后面介紹了對網(wǎng)絡(luò)的迷戀帶來的對國家，個人以及慈善事業(yè)的不利影響。故選A。