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　　To take advantage of this tool, some impoverished countries will have to get over their outdated anti-colonial prejudices with respect to foreign investment.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 industrial infrastructure, it didn't have the capital to do so. And that is why America's Second Wave infrastructure-including roads, harbors, 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.��

　　1.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

　　2.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

　　3.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

　　4.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

　　If you intend using humor in your talk to make people smile, you must know how to identify shared experiences and problems. Your humor must be relevant to the audience and should help to show them that you are one of them or that you understand their situation and are in sympathy with their point of view. Depending on whom you are addressing, the problems will be different. If you are talking to a group of managers, you may refer to the disorganized methods of their secretaries; alternatively if you are addressing secretaries, you may want to comment on their disorganized bosses.��

　　Here is an example, which I heard at a nurses' convention, of a story which works well because the audience all shared the same view of doctors. A man arrives in heaven and is being shown around by St. Peter. He sees wonderful accommodations, beautiful gardens, sunny weather, and so on. Everyone is very peaceful, polite and friendly until, waiting in a line for lunch, the new arrival is suddenly pushed aside by a man in a white coat, who rushes to the head of the line, grabs his food and stomps over to a table by himself. “Who is that? " the new arrival asked St. Peter. “On, that's God," came the reply, “but sometimes he thinks he’s a doctor."��

　　If you are part of the group which you are addressing, you will be in a position to know the experiences and problems which are common to all of you and it'll be appropriate for you to make a passing remark about the inedible canteen food or the chairman’s notorious bad taste in ties. With other audiences you mustn't attempt to cut in with humor as they will resent an outsider making disparaging remarks about their canteen or their chairman. You will be on safer ground if you stick to scapegoats like the Post Office or the telephone system. If you feel awkward being humorous, you must practice so that it becomes more natural. Include a few casual and apparently off-the-cuff remarks which you can deliver in a relaxed and unforced manner. Often it's the delivery which causes the audience to smile, so speak slowly and remember that a raised eyebrow oran unbelieving look may help to show that you are making a light-hearted remark.

　　Look for the humor. It often comes from the unexpected. A twist on a familiar quote “If at first you don't succeed, give up " or a play on words or on a situation. Search for exaggeration and understatements. Look at your talk and pick out a few words or sentences which you can turn about and inject with humor.

　　1. To make your humor work, you should . ��

　　A.take advantage of different kinds of audience.��

　　B.make fun of the disorganized people.��

　　C.address different problems to different people.��

　　D.show sympathy for your listeners.�お�

　　2. The joke about doctors implies that, in the eyes of nurses, they are .��

　　A.impolite to new arrivals.��

　　B.very conscious of their godlike role.��

　　C.entitled to some privileges.��

　　D.very busy even during lunch hours.�お�

　　3. It can be inferred from the text that public services .��

　　A.have benefited many people.��

　　B.are the focus of public attention.��

　　C.are an inappropriate subject for humor.��

　　D.have often been the laughing stock.�お�

　　4. To achieve the desired result, humorous stories should be delivered .��

　　A.in well-worded language.��

　　B.as awkwardly as possible.��

　　C. in exaggerated statements.��

　　D.as casually as possible.�お�

　　5. The best title for the text may be .��

　　A.Use Humor Effectively.��

　　B.Various Kinds of Humor.��

　　C.Add Humor to Speech.��

　　D.Different Humor Strategies.