One great benefit of the Web is that it allows us to move information online that now resides in paper form. Several states in America are using the Web in a profound way. You can apply for various permits or submit applications for business licences. Some states are putting up listings of jobs—not just state government jobs, but all the jobs available in the state. I believe, over time, that all the information that governments print, and all those paper forms they now have, will be moved on to the Internet.

Electronic commerce notches up month-by-month too. It is difficult to measure, because a lot of electronic commerce involves existing buyers and sellers who are simply moving paperbased transactions to the Web. That is not new business. Microsoft, for example, purchases millions of dollars of PCs online instead of by paper. However, that is not a fundamental change; it has just improved the efficiency of an existing process. The biggest impact has occurred where electronic commerce matches buyers and sellers who would not previously have found each other. When you go to a book site and find an obscure book that you never would have found in a physical bookstore, that is a new type of commerce.

Today, about half of all PCs are still not connected to the Web. Getting communications costs down and making all the software simpler will bring in those people. And that, in turn, will move us closer to the critical mass that will make the Web lifestyle everyone’s lifestyle. One element that people underestimate is the degree to which the hardware and software will improve. Just take one aspect: screen technology. I do my e-mail on a 20-inch liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor. It is not available at a reasonable price yet, but in two years it will be. In ten years, a 20-inch LCD with much higher resolution will be commonplace. The boundary between a television set and a PC will be blurred because even the set-top box that you connect up to your cable or satellite will have a processor more powerful than what we have today in the most expensive PC. This will, in effect, make your television a computer.

Interaction with the Web also will improve, making it much easier for people to be involved. Today the keywords we use to search the Web often return to too many articles to sort through, many of them out of context. If you want to learn about the fastest computer chip available, you might end up getting responses instead about potato chips being delivered in fast trucks. In the future, we shall be either speaking or typing sentences into the computer. If you ask about the speed of chips, the result will be about computers, not potatoes. Speech recognition also means that you will be able to call in on a phone and ask if you have any new messages, or check on a flight, or check on the weather.

To predict that it will take over ten years for these changes to happen is probably pessimistic. We usually overestimate what we can do in two years and underestimate what we can do in ten. The Web will be as much a way of life as the car by 2008. Probably before.

1. Electronic commerce becomes a new type of commerce when_____.

[A] paperbased transactions are moved on to the Web [B] the efficiency of the existing process is improved by Internet

[C] new buyers and sellers find each other on the Internet [D] a book site offers the books several bookstores have altogether

2. The use of computer will be as common as the use of cars when_____.

[A] governments begin to move administration on-line [B] electronic commerce causes a fundamental change

[C] computer and communication become simpler and cheaper [D] the boundary between the computer and the TV disappears

3. What is the current problem with the Web according to the passage?

[A] Too much information. [B] Lack of response. [C] Ineffective interaction. [D] Slowness of speed.

4. The example of potato chips is used to illustrate_____.

[A] the defect of computers at the present stage of development [B] the similarity between a computer chip and a potato chip

[C] the richness of information available on the web [D] the irrelevant responses the web sometimes offers

5. The passage is mainly trying to show that_____.

[A] the web is becoming a way of conveying information [B] the web will bring about a new way of life

[C] electronic commerce develops with the Internet [D] interaction with the Web will become easier

答案：1.C 2.C 3.C 4.D 5.B

核心词汇与超纲词汇

(1)notch(n.)等级，档次;(表面或边缘的)V形刻痕，圆形切口;(v.)(up)赢得，获得;刻V形痕，刻下切口

(2)measure(v.)测量，度量;估量，判定(重要性、价值或影响等)

(3)obscure(a.)无名的，鲜为人知的;费解的，难以理解的;(v.)使模糊，使晦涩，使费解

(4)physical(a.)身体的，肉体的，躯体的;物质的，现实的;根据自然规律的;物理学的;肉欲的;使用武力的

(5)bring in(sb.)让……参与;逮捕，带到警察局询问;(sth.)提出(新法案);吸引,引入

(6)resolution(n.)正式决定;(问题、纷争的)解决;决定;清晰度;分辨率

(7)commonplace(a.)平凡的，普通的，普遍的;(n.)常见的事;平常的事;老生常谈

(8)article(n.)文章，论文，报道;条款，项;物件，物品

全文翻译

网络的一个很大的好处是它允许我们把如今停留在纸上的信息转移到网上。美国几个州正在以一种意义深远的方式使用网络。人们能申请各种用于营业执照的申请表。一些州正在公布一系列工作，不仅包括州政府的工作，而且包括州内所有的工作。我认为，随着时间的推移，所有政府打印的信息以及所有他们现有的纸的形式，都会转移到网络上。

电子商务也越来越成功。但它很难估量，因为许多电子商务仅仅是现有的买家和卖家把以纸张为基础的交易移到网上进行。这不是一种新的贸易形式。比如，微软每年通过在线购买数百万美元的电脑，而不是通过纸张进行。然而，这不是根本的变化，只是提高了现有交易的效率。当电子商务把以前不可能找到对方的买方和卖方匹配起来时，网络的最大影响力才出现。当你去购书网站找到一本在有形的书店不能找到的晦涩难懂的书，那就是新形式的商务。

如今，几乎一半的个人电脑仍然没有与网络连接。通讯费用的降低以及所有软件的简易化可以使这些人和网络连接起来。而这又将使我们更接近让网络生活方式成为所有人的生活方式的临界点。人们低估了的一个因素是硬件和软件将得到改善的程度。比如，屏幕技术方面。现在我在20英寸的液晶显示器上发电子邮件。虽然它现在还不能以合理的价格购买，但是两年后将可以。十年后，更高清晰度的20英寸液晶显示器将成为普通的事物。电视和个人电脑之间的界限将变得模糊，因为甚至是连着有线或卫星的电视机上的盒子中都会有比如今最昂贵的个人电脑更强大的的处理器。实际上，你的电视将成为一台电脑。

与网络的交流也将得到改善，这使人们更容易参与其中。如今，搜索网络时输入的关键词总会搜出太多的选项让你选择，而其中很多项与你所找的内容无关。当你想知道现有的最快的计算机芯片时，却得到在快速通道上运送的薯片的信息。将来，我们可以对着电脑讲话或者往电脑中输入句子。如果问芯片的速度，结果将是电脑，而不是土豆。声音的识别也意味着你将能够打电话给电脑询问是否有新的信息，或者查询航班和天气。

预计这些变化要花上十多年时间才会发生可能太悲观了。我们经常高估两年内能做的事情，而低估十年之内能做的事情。到了2008年，或者在这之前，网络会像汽车一样成为生活的一种方式。