A great deal ofattention is being paid today to the so-called digital divide—the divisionof the world into the info(information) rich and the info poor. And that dividedoes exist today. My wife and I lectured about this looming danger twenty yearsago. What was less visible then, however, were the new, positive forces thatwork against the digital divide. There are reasons to be optimistic。

　　There are technological reasons to hope the digital divide willnarrow. As the Internet becomes more and more commercialized, it is in theinterest of business to universalize access—after all, the morepeople online, the more potential customers there are. More and moregovernments, afraid their countries will be left behind, want to spreadInternet access. Within the next decade or two, one to two billion people onthe planet will be netted together. As a result, I now believe the digitaldivide will narrow rather than widen in the years ahead. And that is very goodnews because the Internet may well be the most powerful tool for combatingworld poverty that we've ever had。

　　Of course, the use of the Internet isn't the only way to defeatpoverty. And the Internet is not the only tool we have. But it has enormouspotential。

　　To take advantage of this tool, some impoverished countries willhave to get over their outdated anti-colonial prejudices with respect toforeign investment. Countries that still think foreign investment is aninvasion of their sovereignty might well study the history of infrastructure(the basic structural foundations of a society) in the United States. When theUnited States built its industrials infrastructure, it didn't have the capital todo so. And that is why America's Second Wave infrastructure—includingroads, barbors, highways, ports and so on—were built withforeign investment. The English, the Germans, the Dutch and the French wereinvesting in Britain's former colony. They financed them. Immigrant Americansbuilt them. Guess who owns them now? The Americans. I believe the same thingwould be true in places like Brazil or anywhere else for that matter. The moreforeign 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 foreigncorporations run uncontrolled. But it does mean recognizing how important theycan be in building the energy and telecom infrastructures needed to take fulladvantage 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 justifythe 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

　　解析

　　25. Digital divide is something _______. 数字鸿沟是______。

　　[A]getting worse because of the Internet 因为因特网而变得更加糟糕

　　[B]the rich countries are responsible for 由富裕国家应该承担责任的

　　[C]the world must guard against 全世界都要警惕的

　　[D]considered positive today 今天被认为是积极的

　　【答案】 C

　　【考点】 事实细节题。

　　【分析】 通过题干关键词“数字鸿沟”定位到第一段。第一句是对“数字鸿沟”所下的一个定义。其后作者提到，他和妻子20年前就谈到这种隐伏的的危险，这里的“looming danger”指的就是“the digital divide”。早在20年前，防止产生这种鸿沟的积极因素还不太明显，而今天作者认为是乐观的。同时定位到第二段，作者提到了“因特网的普及使这种鸿沟正得到缩小”，可见，选项[A]是错误的，“因为因特网而变得糟糕”与原文意思相左。[B]不对，是因为作者没有提到这个方面。在作者看来，这种鸿沟是不好的现象，而网络的普及能帮助世界战胜贫困。[D]的说法显然是错误的，因为作者就是要消除这个鸿沟。

　　26. Governments attach importance to the Internet because it______.

　　政府重视因特网是因为它________。

　　[A]offers economic potentials 提供很多经济可能

　　[B]can bring foreign funds 能够带来外国资金

　　[C]can soon wipe out world poverty 能够很快消除世界贫困

　　[D]connects people all over the world 将世界人民连在一起

　　【答案】 A

　　【考点】 事实细节题。

　　【分析】 定位到第二段，文中提到“政府之所以大力推广因特网是出于因特网可能成为消除贫困的最好的工具的考虑”。第三段更是提到“因特网可能具有巨大的潜力”。因此可以判断[A]是正确的。[B]选项认为“可以带来海外投资”，这仅仅是局部因素。[C]选项中，虽然作者提到了“国际互联网的利用可能是战胜贫困的工具”，但这仅仅是一种潜在的力量，并没有说能够很快消除贫困。[D]选项也是因特网的一个主要功能，但是也不是政府重视的主要原因。

　　27. The writer mentioned the case of the United States to justifythe policy of _________。

　　作者提到美国的案例是为了证明__________政策是对的。

　　[A]providing financial support overseas 为海外提供资金支持

　　[B]preventing foreign capital’s control 防止外国资金控制

　　[C]building industrial infrastructure 建设工业基础

　　[D]accepting foreign investment 接受外国投资

　　【答案】 D

　　【考点】 作者意图题。

　　【分析】 在第四段，美国和巴西的例子都被作者用以说明抛弃过去的在那种在利用外资上的，过时的反殖民偏见，提出充分利用外资建立电子基础设施的重要性，并且指出，哪个国家在建设“第三次浪潮”的基础设施上利用外资多，哪个国家就将变得更富裕。因此可以判断正确选项是[D]。[A]选项把吸收外资的重要性和美国提供海外资金混淆起来。[B]的说法无法从美国这个案例中推断出来。[C]错在“工业”这个概念上。

　　28. It seems that now a country’s economy dependsmuch on _____。

　　现在，一个国家的经济看起来极大地依赖于_______。

　　[A]how well developed it is electronically 它的电子发展程度

　　[B]whether it is prejudiced against immigrants 它是否歧视移民

　　[C]whether it adopts America’s industrial pattern它是否接受美国的工业模式

　　[D]how much control it has over foreign corporations 它对外国公司的控制有多大

　　【答案】 A

　　【考点】 推断题。

　　【分析】 文章最后一段提到哪个国家在建设“第三次浪潮”的基础设施上利用外资多，哪个国家就将变得更富裕。这里的“第三次浪潮”指的就是“电子基础建设”。因此选项[A]是正确的。其他三个选项中，[B]和[D]文中没有提到。[C]再次出现“工业模式”，因此不正确。