Step by Step 3000 第1册 Unit5:Net changes Life(3)

 　　Part 3. Future of the Internet.

　　A. Keywords. future, everywhere, experimenting anarchy¹, asset, threat.

　　Vocabulary. vague, clerical, asset, Internet world Trade Show.

　　You are going to hear an interview on the future of the Internet.

　　Pay special attention to the main points that some specialists say about the Internet.

　　Complete the following statements.

　　We're gonna take a closer look tonight again at the future of the Internet.

　　Not we have anything but the vaguest idea where it's going in the long run.

　　One of the truly fascinating and somewhat unsettling aspects of the Internet revolution is how many technologists and scientists say that the future may hold any number of surprises.

　　So we're going to inch our way into the future.

　　At the Internet World Trade Show in New York, they see a future when the web is everywhere.

　　Technology is moving from the desktop² into our everyday life.

　　Imagine work, society, economics, relationships, all transformed, when anyone, anytime can get any message or knowledge or amusement they what, anywhere on the planet without so much as a wire.

　　In many ways, Internet is the world's largest experimenting anarchy.

　　Because of all of a sudden, the citizens of the world are in charge, and no single government or governing body is in charge of what they do.

　　Keep in mind that the web transmitted by satellites, cellphone, cable goes through no one central location that anyone controls.

　　So many of the boundaries that exist today, political and economic, will be strained as never before.

　　Some scientists say three quarters of the world's languages will disappear as the net connects isolated³ the places.

　　Already English is what you find on most of web pages, blending cultures, no matter how much people try to save them.

　　Economies are changing too.

　　As distance becomes meaningless, white-collar clerical, accounting⁴ or administrative⁵ jobs are being exported to Asia, just as blue-collar factory jobs were years ago.

　　Imagine, there are 40 or 50 millions Indians, not mention the Chinese, who could deliver office work to the rich countries of the world for two dollars a hour.

　　So this massive web of information is both an asset and a threat, changing cultures, economics, governments in ways no one can imagine or control.

　　B. Keywords. networked individualism, social networks, electronic interaction.

　　Vocabulary. interact, contradict, flash-and-blood, hermit⁶, make-believe, flicker⁷, child-rearing.

　　B1. Listen to a report about the role of the Internet interaction.

　　Fill in the following chart with keywords.

　　There is a professor at the univeristy of Toronto in Canada who has come up a term to describe the way a lot of us North Americans interact these days.

　　And now, a big research study confirms it.

　　Barry Wellman's term is "Networked Individualism".

　　It's not the easiest concept to grasp.

　　In fact, the words seem to contradict each other.

　　How can we be individualistic and networked at same time?

　　You need other people for networks.

　　Here is what he means.

　　Until the Internet and email come along, our social networks involved fresh-blood relatives, friends, neighbors and colleagues at work.

　　Some of the interaction was by phone, but it was still voice to voice, person to person in real time.

　　But the latest study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project confirms for a lot of people, electronic interaction through the computer has replaced a great deal of social interchange.

　　A lot of folks Pew talked with say that's a good thing, because of concerns that the Internet was turning us into hermits⁸ who shut out other people in favor of a make-believe world on flickering⁹ computer screens.

　　To the contrary, the Pew study discovered.

　　The internet has put us in touch with many more real people than we'd have ever imagined.

　　Helpful people, too.

　　We're turning to an ever-growing list of cyber friends for advice on careers, medical crises, child-rearing and choosing a school or college.

　　About 60 million Americans told Pew that the Internet plays an important or critical role in helping¹⁰ them deal with major life decisions.

　　So we networked individuals are pretty tricky¹¹:

　　We're keeping more to ourselves, while at the same time, reaching out to more people, all with just the click of a computer mouse.

　　B2. Listen to the report again.

　　Find out what the tricky term "networked individualism" means and fill in the blanks.

1 anarchy   

n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• There would be anarchy if we had no police.要是没有警察，社会就会无法无天。
• The country was thrown into a state of anarchy.这国家那时一下子陷入无政府状态。

2 desktop   

n.桌面管理系统程序；台式

参考例句：

• My computer is a desktop computer of excellent quality.我的计算机是品质卓越的台式计算机。
• Do you know which one is better,a laptop or a desktop?你知道哪一种更好，笔记本还是台式机？

3 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

4 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

5 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

6 hermit   

n.隐士，修道者；隐居

参考例句：

• He became a hermit after he was dismissed from office.他被解职后成了隐士。
• Chinese ancient landscape poetry was in natural connections with hermit culture.中国古代山水诗与隐士文化有着天然联系。

7 flicker   

vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现

参考例句：

• There was a flicker of lights coming from the abandoned house.这所废弃的房屋中有灯光闪烁。
• At first,the flame may be a small flicker,barely shining.开始时，光辉可能是微弱地忽隐忽现，几乎并不灿烂。

8 hermits   

（尤指早期基督教的）隐居修道士，隐士，遁世者( hermit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• In the ancient China,hermits usually lived in hamlets. 在古代中国，隐士们通常都住在小村子里。
• Some Buddhist monks live in solitude as hermits. 有些和尚在僻静处隐居。

9 flickering   

adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的

参考例句：

• The crisp autumn wind is flickering away. 清爽的秋风正在吹拂。
• The lights keep flickering. 灯光忽明忽暗。

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

11 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。