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  3. Sometimes the biggest changes in society are the hardest to spot precisely because they are hiding in plain sight. It could well

Sometimes the biggest changes in society are the hardest to spot precisely because they are hiding in plain sight. It could well

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问题     Sometimes the biggest changes in society are the hardest to spot precisely because they are hiding in plain sight. It could well be that way with wireless communications. Something that people think of as just another technology is beginning to show signs of changing lives, culture, politics, cities, jobs, even marriages dramatically. In particular, it will usher in a new version of a very old idea: nomadism.
    Futurology is a dangerous business, and it is true that most of the important arguments about mobile communications at the moment are to do with technology or regulation—bandwidth, spectrum use and so on. Yet it is worth jumping ahead and wondering what the social effects will be, for two reasons. First, the broad technological future is pretty clear: there will be ever faster cellular networks, and many more gadgets to connect to these networks.  Second, the social changes are already visible:  parents on beaches waving at their children while typing furtively on their BlackBerrys; entrepreneurs discovering they don’t need offices after all. Everybody is doing more on the move.
    Wireless technology is surely not just an easier-to-use phone. The car divided cities into work and home areas; wireless technology may mix them up again, with more people working in suburbs or living in city centers. Traffic patterns are beginning to change again: the rush hours at 9am and 5pm are giving way to more varied patterns, with people going backwards and forwards between the office, home and all sorts of other places throughout the day. Already, architects are redesigning offices and universities,  more flexible spaces for meeting people, fewer private enclosures for sedentary work.
    Will it be a better life? In some ways, yes. Digital nomadism will liberate ever more knowledge workers from the cubicle prisons as depicted in Mr. Dilbert’s cartoons. But the old tyranny of place could become a new tyranny of time, as nomads who are "always on" all too often end up— mentally—anywhere but here. As for friends and family, permanent mobile connectivity could have the same effect as nomadism: it might bring you much closer to family and friends, but it may make it harder to bring in outsiders. Sociologists fret about constant e-mailers and texters losing the everyday connections to casual acquaintances or strangers sitting next to them in the cafe or on the Bus.
    The same tools have another dark side, turning everybody into a fully equipped paparazzo. Some fitness clubs have started banning mobile phones near the treadmills and showers lest exercising people find themselves pictured, flabby and sweaty, on some website. As in the desert, so in the city: nomadism promises the heaven of new freedom,  but it also signals the hell of constant surveillance by the tribe.  
Which of the following is true of the future wireless technology?
选项 A、It is beginning solving the traffic problems.
B、It will change people’s way of working.
C、It will save people a lot of time.
D、It will come true in offices and universities.
答案B
解析 此题考查考生根据上下文中的具体细节内容进行理解判断的能力。第二段分析无线通信值得我们大力发展并探索其未来社会效应的第二个原因时，提出企业家发现他们根本不需要办公室。第三段提出交通模式再次开始改变：朝九晚五的交通高峰让位于变化多样的模式，人们一天之中可以在家、办公室和各类场所间往来。建筑师已然开始重新设计大学和办公室：为会议族提供更加灵活的空间，减少办公室族的私人领地。以上这些均说明无线通信将会改变人们的工作方式。因此，B选项是正确的。
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