A great deal of attention is being paid today to the so-called digital divide—the division of the world into the info(information) rich and the info poor. And that divide does exist today. My wife and I lectured about this looming danger twenty years ago. What was less visible then, however, were the new, positive forces that work against the digital divide. There are reasons to be optimistic。
　　 There are technological reasons to hope the digital divide will narrow. As the Internet becomes more and more commercialized, it is in the interest of business to universalize access—after all, the more people online, the more potential customers there are. More and more governments, afraid their countries will be left behind, want to spread Internet access. Within the next decade or two, one to two billion people on the planet will be netted together. As a result, I now believe the digital divide will narrow rather than widen in the years ahead. And that is very good news because the Internet may well be the most powerful tool for combating world poverty that we've ever had。
　　 Of course, the use of the Internet isn't the only way to defeat poverty. And the Internet is not the only tool we have. But it has enormous potential。
　　 To take advantage of this tool, some impoverished countries will have to get over their outdated anti-colonial prejudices with respect to foreign investment. Countries that still think foreign investment is an invasion of their sovereignty might well study the history of infrastructure (the basic structural foundations of a society) in the United States. When the United States built its industrials infrastructure, it didn't have the capital to do so. And that is why America's Second Wave infrastructure—including roads, barbors, highways, ports and so on—were built with foreign investment. The English, the Germans, the Dutch and the French were investing in Britain's former colony. They financed them. Immigrant Americans built them. Guess who owns them now? The Americans. I believe the same thing would be true in places like Brazil or anywhere else for that matter. The more foreign capital you have helping you build your Third Wave infrastructure, which today is an electronic infrastructure, the better off you're going to be. That doesn't mean lying down and becoming fooled, or letting foreign corporations run uncontrolled. But it does mean recognizing how important they can be in building the energy and telecom infrastructures needed to take full advantage of the Internet。
　　 25. Digital divide is something _________。
　　 [A]getting worse because of the Internet
　　 [B]the rich countries are responsible for
　　 [C]the world must guard against
　　 [D]considered positive today
　　 26. Governments attach importance to the Internet because it _________。
　　 [A]offers economic potentials
　　 [B]can bring foreign funds
　　 [C]can soon wipe out world poverty
　　 [D]connects people all over the world
　　 27. The writer mentioned the case of the United States to justify the policy of _________。
　　 [A]providing financial support overseas
　　 [B]preventing foreign capital's control
　　 [C]building industrial infrastructure
　　 [D]accepting foreign investment
　　 28. It seems that now a country's economy depends much on _________。
　　 [A]how well-developed it is electronically
　　 [B]whether it is prejudiced against immigrants
　　 [C]whether it adopts America's industrial pattern
　　 [D]how much control it has over foreign corporations

　　 名師解析
　　 25. Digital divide is something _______. 數(shù)字鴻溝是______。
　　 [A]getting worse because of the Internet 因?yàn)橐蛱鼐W(wǎng)而變得更加糟糕
　　 [B]the rich countries are responsible for 由富裕國(guó)家應(yīng)該承擔(dān)責(zé)任的
　　 [C]the world must guard against 全世界都要警惕的
　　 [D]considered positive today 今天被認(rèn)為是積極的
　　 【答案】 C
　　 【考點(diǎn)】 事實(shí)細(xì)節(jié)題。
　　 【分析】 通過題干關(guān)鍵詞“數(shù)字鴻溝”定位到第一段。第一句是對(duì)“數(shù)字鴻溝”所下的一個(gè)定義。其后作者提到，他和妻子20年前就談到這種隱伏的的危險(xiǎn)，這里的“l(fā)ooming danger”指的就是“the digital divide”。早在20年前，防止產(chǎn)生這種鴻溝的積極因素還不太明顯，而今天作者認(rèn)為是樂觀的。同時(shí)定位到第二段，作者提到了“因特網(wǎng)的普及使這種鴻溝正得到縮小”，可見，選項(xiàng)[A]是錯(cuò)誤的，“因?yàn)橐蛱鼐W(wǎng)而變得糟糕”與原文意思相左。[B]不對(duì)，是因?yàn)樽髡邲]有提到這個(gè)方面。在作者看來，這種鴻溝是不好的現(xiàn)象，而網(wǎng)絡(luò)的普及能幫助世界戰(zhàn)勝貧困。[D]的說法顯然是錯(cuò)誤的，因?yàn)樽髡呔褪且�消除這個(gè)鴻溝。
　　 26. Governments attach importance to the Internet because it ______.
　　 政府重視因特網(wǎng)是因?yàn)樗黖_______。
　　 [A]offers economic potentials 提供很多經(jīng)濟(jì)可能
　　 [B]can bring foreign funds 能夠帶來外國(guó)資金
　　 [C]can soon wipe out world poverty 能夠很快消除世界貧困
　　 [D]connects people all over the world 將世界人民連在一起
　　 【答案】 A
　　 【考點(diǎn)】 事實(shí)細(xì)節(jié)題。
　　 【分析】 定位到第二段，文中提到“政府之所以大力推廣因特網(wǎng)是出于因特網(wǎng)可能成為消除貧困的比較好的工具的考慮”。第三段更是提到“因特網(wǎng)可能具有巨大的潛力”。因此可以判斷[A]是正確的。[B]選項(xiàng)認(rèn)為“可以帶來海外投資”，這僅僅是局部因素。[C]選項(xiàng)中，雖然作者提到了“國(guó)際互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的利用可能是戰(zhàn)勝貧困的工具”，但這僅僅是一種潛在的力量，并沒有說能夠很快消除貧困。[D]選項(xiàng)也是因特網(wǎng)的一個(gè)主要功能，但是也不是政府重視的主要原因。
　　 27. The writer mentioned the case of the United States to justify the policy of _________。
　　 作者提到美國(guó)的案例是為了證明__________政策是對(duì)的。
　　 [A]providing financial support overseas 為海外提供資金支持
　　 [B]preventing foreign capital’s control 防止外國(guó)資金控制
　　 [C]building industrial infrastructure 建設(shè)工業(yè)基礎(chǔ)
　　 [D]accepting foreign investment 接受外國(guó)投資
　　 【答案】 D
　　 【考點(diǎn)】 作者意圖題。
　　 【分析】 在第四段，美國(guó)和巴西的例子都被作者用以說明拋棄過去的在那種在利用外資上的，過時(shí)的反殖民偏見，提出充分利用外資建立電子基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的重要性，并且指出，哪個(gè)國(guó)家在建設(shè)“第三次浪潮”的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施上利用外資多，哪個(gè)國(guó)家就將變得更富裕。因此可以判斷正確選項(xiàng)是[D]。[A]選項(xiàng)把吸收外資的重要性和美國(guó)提供海外資金混淆起來。[B]的說法無法從美國(guó)這個(gè)案例中推斷出來。[C]錯(cuò)在“工業(yè)”這個(gè)概念上。
　　 28. It seems that now a country’s economy depends much on _____。
　　 現(xiàn)在，一個(gè)國(guó)家的經(jīng)濟(jì)看起來極大地依賴于_______。
　　 [A]how well developed it is electronically 它的電子發(fā)展程度
　　 [B]whether it is prejudiced against immigrants 它是否歧視移民
　　 [C]whether it adopts America’s industrial pattern 它是否接受美國(guó)的工業(yè)模式
　　 [D]how much control it has over foreign corporations 它對(duì)外國(guó)公司的控制有多大
　　 【答案】 A
　　 【考點(diǎn)】 推斷題。
　　 【分析】 文章比較后一段提到哪個(gè)國(guó)家在建設(shè)“第三次浪潮”的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施上利用外資多，哪個(gè)國(guó)家就將變得更富裕。這里的“第三次浪潮”指的就是“電子基礎(chǔ)建設(shè)”。因此選項(xiàng)[A]是正確的。其他三個(gè)選項(xiàng)中，[B]和[D]文中沒有提到。[C]再次出現(xiàn)“工業(yè)模式”，因此不正確。

　 難句解析：
　　 1. As the Internet becomes more and more commercialized, it is in the interest of business to universalize access—after all, the more people online, the more potential customers there are。
　　 【結(jié)構(gòu)分析】 本句主句是“It is in the interest of business to universalize access”，“as”引導(dǎo)一個(gè)伴隨狀語，“隨著”，而非“因?yàn)椤�，后面破折�?hào)的部分是進(jìn)一步解釋說明前面的主句。
　　 2. The more foreign capital you have helping you build your Third Wave infrastructure, which today is an electronic infrastructure, the better off you're going to be。
　　 【結(jié)構(gòu)分析】 本句是一個(gè)“the more..., the more.。.”的句型�！皐hich today is an electronic infrastructure”是修飾“Third Wave infrastructure”的非限定性定語從句。
　　 全文翻譯：
　　 今天，人們十分關(guān)注所謂的數(shù)字鴻溝問題，即世界被分為信息資源豐富區(qū)和信息資源貧乏區(qū)兩類。這個(gè)鴻溝今天確實(shí)存在，我和我妻子20年前談過這個(gè)隱伏的危險(xiǎn)。然而，那時(shí)一些抵制數(shù)字鴻溝的、新的積極因素還不如今天明顯。我們是有理由感到樂觀的。
　　 一些技術(shù)上的因素使我們有理由希望鴻溝會(huì)縮小。隨著互聯(lián)網(wǎng)變得越來越商業(yè)化，普及上網(wǎng)對(duì)商家是有利的——畢竟，上網(wǎng)人數(shù)越多，潛在的客戶就越多。越來越多的政府，由于擔(dān)心自己的國(guó)家會(huì)落后，都想推廣互聯(lián)網(wǎng)。一二十年之內(nèi)，全球?qū)⒂幸欢�十億人被網(wǎng)在一起。因此，我現(xiàn)在相信，在將來，數(shù)字鴻溝將會(huì)縮小而不是擴(kuò)大。這是非常好的消息，因?yàn)榛ヂ?lián)網(wǎng)非�？赡艹蔀槲覀兿�除所面臨的貧困的比較強(qiáng)有效的工具。
　　 當(dāng)然，使用互聯(lián)網(wǎng)不是唯一戰(zhàn)勝貧困的方法�；ヂ�(lián)網(wǎng)也不是我們所擁有的唯一工具，但它卻有巨大的潛力。
　　 要想利用互聯(lián)網(wǎng)這個(gè)工具，某些貧困國(guó)家必須克服在外國(guó)投資方面的過時(shí)的反殖民偏見。那些認(rèn)為外國(guó)投資是對(duì)本國(guó)主權(quán)的侵犯的國(guó)家比較好還是研究一下美國(guó)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施(社會(huì)的基本結(jié)構(gòu)基礎(chǔ))的歷史。當(dāng)初美國(guó)建設(shè)自己的工業(yè)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施時(shí)，缺乏資金，這就是為什么美國(guó)的第二波基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施建設(shè)——包括公路、港口，高速公路、港口城市等等——都是利用的國(guó)外資金。英國(guó)人、德國(guó)人、荷蘭人和法國(guó)人都在這片前英國(guó)殖民地投資。他們提供資金，美國(guó)移民建造。想想看，現(xiàn)在誰擁有這一切?美國(guó)人。我想，同樣的事情也可以發(fā)生在巴西或其他任何地方。你擁有的去建造第三次浪潮基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施(今天主要指電子基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施)的外國(guó)資金越多，那么你就越富裕。這并不是說卑躬屈膝，任人愚弄，也不是讓外國(guó)公司為所欲為。但這的確意味著你已認(rèn)識(shí)到外國(guó)公司對(duì)本國(guó)能源及通信基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施建設(shè)的重要性，這些基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施是充分利用互聯(lián)網(wǎng)所必要的。