A、Nine years ago. B、Eight years ago. C、Seven years ago. D、Six years ago. B根据句(4)可知，中国的网络教育始于八年前，因此答案为[B]。

W: What are the advantages of (1) E-education, Professor Gu?
M: (2-1) There are at least four advantages. First, with access to the Internet, students can overcome barriers of space and time. For example, we can make educational resources in Beijing available to students in Xinjiang. (2-2) Second, easy access. For example, we can put libraries of multimedia resources on the Internet and students can have access to these libraries just by clicking the mouse. (2-3) The third advantage is the optimization of resources. For example, we can tape the lectures given by very prominent professors and broadcast them live in China and even in the entire world through the Internet. (2-4/3-1) Because of these three advantages, there is another big advantage, that is, the Internet technology makes mass education possible. As you know, it is simply impossible for the whole population to receive education on campus. It is impossible economically or otherwise. (3-2) And this is where the greatest advantage of E-education lies. It offers mass education and education for a lifetime.
W: Can you briefly tell us the history of China’s E-education, Professor Gu?
M: (4) E-education in China started eight years ago when the Internet technology began to prevail. People realized that the Internet technology was more powerful than TV, because it really created the opportunities for students to interact with teachers and among themselves. In 1996 or later than that, the Ministry of Education initiated a piloting project using the Internet technology to promote education.
W: My understanding is that an online education project may involve a large amount of money and yet most investors would expect a quick return for their investment, so how did you solve that problem?
M: This is the lesson that lots of investors have to learn from this initial investment into online education programs. (5-1) Initially, they thought it might be possible to have a quick return of cash after the investment for one or two years. It is a misconception of online education. Sometimes, I use a metaphor of building a supermarket. If you want to build a supermarket, first of all, you have to have these infrastructures. On top of the building, you have to develop various goods that people like. (5-2) It’s the same with education. You must realize you have to develop courseware that people really love. And it takes quite a long time to develop really good courseware.
This is the end of Part One of the interview. Questions 1 to 5 are based on what you have just heard.
1. What is the interview mainly about?
2. Which of the following is among the advantages of E-education?
3. According to Professor Gu, what is the greatest advantage of E-education?
4. According to Professor Gu, when did the Internet education start in China?
5. What can we know about the online education program?