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  3. Science writer Tom Standage draws apt parallels between the telegraph and the gem of late 20th-century technology, the Internet.

Science writer Tom Standage draws apt parallels between the telegraph and the gem of late 20th-century technology, the Internet.

admin2011-06-29  84
问题     Science writer Tom Standage draws apt parallels between the telegraph and the gem of late 20th-century technology, the Internet. Both systems grew out of the cutting edge science of their time. The telegraph’s land lines, underwater cables, and clicking gadgets reflected the 19th century’s research in electromagnetism. The Internet’s computers and high-speed connections reflect 20th-century computer science, information theory, and materials technology.
    But, while gizmos make a global network possible, it takes human cooperation to make it happen. Standage’s insight in this regard adds depth to his technological history. It underscores the relevance to our own time of the struggles of Samuel Morse in America, William Cooke in England, and other telegraph pioneers. They made the technology work efficiently, sold it to a skeptical public, and overcame national and international bureaucratic obstacles. The solutions they found smooth the Internet’s way today.
    Consider a couple of technical parallels. Telegrams were sent from one station to the next, where they were received and retransmitted until they reached their destination. Stations along the way were owned by different entities, including national governments. Internet data is sent from one server computer to another that receives and retransmits it until it reaches its destination. Again the computers have a variety of owners.
    Then there is the social impact. The Internet is changing the way we do business and communicate. It makes possible virtual communities for individuals scattered around the planet who share mutual interests. Yet important as this may turn out to be, it is affecting a world that was already well connected by radio, television, and other telecommunications. The Associated Press, Reuters, and other news services would have spread the Start report quickly without the Internet. In this respect, the global telegraph network was truly revolutionary. The unprecedented availability of global news in real time gave birth to the Associated Press and Reuters news services. It gave a global perspective to newspapers that had focused on local affairs. A provincialism that geographical isolation had forced on people for millennia was gone forever.
    Some prophets naively hailed this as a force for world peace. They predicted that tensions over cultural and ethnic differences would relax as people interacted in real time. Visionaries say the same about the Internet. While communications can smooth this process, they don’t automatically make it happen. As the experience of the past century and a half has shown, peace takes the will to make it work and sustained effort by all parties.
Why is it that the global telegraph network truly revolutionary?
选项 A、It renders virtual communities worldwide feasible.
B、It facilitated the breakup of pervasive provincialism.
C、It makes real time global news service possible.
D、It accelerated the liberalization of world trade.
答案C
解析 题干问：“为什么全球的电报网是真正的革新?”本题主要考察的是对第4自然段的归纳。正确选项为C“它使真实的全球新闻服务成为可能”。而选项A“它使虚拟社区在全世界成为可行”，选项B“它有助于广泛存在的地方主义观念的瓦解”和选项D“它加速了世界贸易的自由化”都不是其原因。
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