全新版大学英语听说教程第二册 Unit16

2-16-A

 

 

Passage 1:

Students and teachers at 20 schools in China's poor rural areas will have their own computer labs by the end of 2001. The labs are being jointly² funded by the China Youth Development Foundation and Coca-Cola (China) Beverages³ Ltd., which have planned to establish more computer labs in 1,200 rural schools in the future.

Passage 2:

China is now using India's rich resources and expertise⁴ in IT education to meet its great demand for software professionals. An Indian company has recently signed a deal with China to establish a joint¹ venture company in Beijing. It is the first Indian company to invest in the education of software professionals in China.

Passage 3:

Code Red II , the world's most vicious cyber worm, is about to start another attack. Unlike its former peer, "I love you" bug⁵, this time the Code Red series will target Internet servers and the network. Anti-bug experts are calling for greater online security.

 

2-16-B

 

 

Digital Divide

Jenny: Hi, John.

John: Hi, Jenny.

Jenny: One of the issues today is the digital divide. What does it mean?

John: It refers to the divide between who is online and who isn't.

Jenny: What's the nature of the breakdown⁶? Who are they saying is online and who isn't?

John: They are looking at three principal portions of the American population with regard to ethnic⁷ gap, income gap and also different age groups.

Jenny: What do they discover?

John: They find that today 30% of African Americans, 33% of Hispanic Americans, and 47% of White Americans, are online, but the largest portion of the American population are Asian Americans with a 65% online.

Jenny: Do they offer any explanations about why this might be?

John: Well, one reason of course is income. Low income population's use of the Internet is less. For example, for those who earn $75,000 annually⁸, over 70% have computers linked to the Internet.

Jenny: Well, computers are still a fairly pricey item, although prices are coming down.

John: But they're predicting that within five years double the amount of people will be using them.

Jenny: Going back to this digital divide, do men and women use the Internet equally? Is there a gender⁹ divide?

John: No. Not only is there not a gender divide but the prediction is this year more women will be online than men.

Jenny: Really?

John: But the difference here is the sites they visit. Men are interested in financial and technology sites. Women tend to prefer sites dealing¹⁰ with more personal matters. For instance. they want to find out about women's health. So while both men and women are online, there is a difference in what they go online for.

Jenny: Yeah. Interesting. What did the study say about the future growth?

John: Well. they're forecasting that three quarters of the country will be online within five years.

Jenny: That's fast, isn't it?

John: Sure. Let's better get involved.

Jenny: Right.

 

2-16-C

 

 

Ananova

Ananova is the Cyber-Goddess. She is the perfect woman -- 28, tall and beautiful, available 24 hours a day. She is a green-haired, wide-eyed, animated¹¹ woman with a mid-Atlantic accent. She delivers the news in a pleasant, quietly intelligent manner that makes people feel relaxed when they listen to her. Unlike humans, she doesn't possess undesirable¹² characteristics such as arrogance¹³, timidity, and dishonesty, and she'll never call in sick or request a two-day vacation.

On April 19, 2000, Ananova made her initial appearance on the Internet. Her first words were "Hello, world " -- a common phrase used in the new software programs, followed by "Here's the news, and this time it's personal." She went on to deliver her first news story, reading a bulletin about a plane crash in the Philippines. During her two-minute speech she used her limited range of facial expressions -- a widening of the eyes and a superficial-looking smile. Her speechwriters attach tags to various words to help the computer animation¹⁴ program know when she should smile or look serious. Crowded with users, her site was very difficult to access that morning. She attracted tens of thousands of users in the first hour.

As technology improves, people will be able to talk to her rather than type in their requests and get personalized bulletins, shopping help and other services read to them, on the Internet or by mobile phone.

In time, Ananova may gain virtual colleagues, a family or a male companion and she will get gradually more sophisticated.

1 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

2 jointly   

ad.联合地，共同地

参考例句：

• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
• She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。

3 beverages   

n.饮料( beverage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• laws governing the sale of alcoholic beverages 控制酒类销售的法规
• regulations governing the sale of alcoholic beverages 含酒精饮料的销售管理条例

4 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

5 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

6 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

7 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

8 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

9 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

10 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

11 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

12 undesirable   

adj.不受欢迎的，不良的，不合意的，讨厌的；n.不受欢迎的人，不良分子

参考例句：

• They are the undesirable elements among the employees.他们是雇员中的不良分子。
• Certain chemicals can induce undesirable changes in the nervous system.有些化学物质能在神经系统中引起不良变化。

13 arrogance   

n.傲慢，自大

参考例句：

• His arrogance comes out in every speech he makes.他每次讲话都表现得骄傲自大。
• Arrogance arrested his progress.骄傲阻碍了他的进步。

14 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。