Unit Four

1. Unit Four • 10. Anytime, Anywhere—But Beware

2. information related to the text • 1. microprocessor • It refers to the integrated circuit that interprets and executes instructions from a computer program. When combined with other integrated circuits that provide storage for data and programs, often on a single semiconductor base to form a chip, the microprocessor becomes the heart of a small computer, or microcomputer. The evolution of the microprocessor has made possible the inexpensive hand-held electronic calculator, the digital wristwatch, and the electronic game. The microprocessor is also used to control consumer appliances, to regulate gasoline consumption in automobiles, and to monitor home and industrial alarm systems.

3. 2. Sun Microsystems, Inc., Microsoft Corp., AOL • There are all computer companies established in the U.S. in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Microsoft is known for its operation systems for personal computers, from the Dos to Windows XP. AOL is short for America on Line, an Internet service provider.

4. General Comprehension of the text • In what way will the Internet be just as life-changing as electricity and running water? • What does the article mainly discuss?

5. Questions for discussion • 1. In this news story, the Internet is compared to the invention of electricity and running water a century ago. In what ways are these technological inventions similar? How does the Internet affect our life today? • 2. How do optimists and pessimists see the future of computer technology differently? Which opinions do you agree with? Use information from the reading and your own experience to support your arguments.

6. Difficult Language Points in the Text • 1. But this transformation is anything but smooth. Experts keep pushing it forward, saying the internet will be just as life-changing as electricity or running water. (Line 20) • Anything but: is used in expressions such as anything but quit and anything but attractive to emphasize that something is not the case. E.g. I will be anything but quiet on Saturday night. • Translation: 但是，这种改变决非顺利。专家们不断地推动这一变化，说互联网将会像电的发明和自来水的使用一样改变我们的生活。

7. 2. The Internet remains in a messy, global build-up stage that one could compare with the electrification of the developed world a century ago. (Line 25) • If a situation is messy, it is confused or complicated, and therefore unsatisfactory. • E.g. Negotiations would be messy and time-consuming. • Translation: 互联网仍然处在一个混乱的全球建设阶段，人们可以将其与一个世纪前发达国家的电气化进程相比。

8. 3. That’s where we are now with what’s called “pervasive computing,” computing that can be done anywhere. (Line 40) • Something that is pervasive is present or felt throughout a place or thing, especially something bad. E.g. She lives with a pervasive sense of guilt. • Translation:这就是我们现在所处的境况，所谓“渗透性计算”，即在任何地方都可以进行的计算。

9. 4. Still, leading computer scientists in dozens of top research labs around the world are chasing this computing dream. • If you are chasing something you want, you are trying hard to get it. • E.g. Publishers and booksellers chasing profits from high-volume sales. • Translation: 但是，全世界几十个顶尖实验室中一流的计算机科学家们仍然在追求这个计算梦想。

10. 5. He believed that once the Internet truly achieves the reliability and simplicity of other utilities, people will grow increasingly comfortable and skilled at tapping its power to make their lives better. (Line 106) • If you tap a resource or situation, you make use of it by getting from it something that you need or want. E.g. He owes his election to having tapped deep public disillusion with professional politicians. • Translation: 他相信一旦互联网真正达到其他工具的可靠性和简便性，人们将对它使用的越来越得心应手，更加熟练地利用它的力量使生活变得更美好。

11. Key to the Exercises • I. 1. c 2.D 3. A 4. B 5. D 6. A 7. C • II. 1.但是，这种改变决非顺利。专家们不断地推动这一变化，说互联网将会像电的发明和自来水的使用一样改变我们的生活。 • 2. 互联网仍然处在一个混乱的全球建设阶段，人们可以将其与一个世纪前发达国家的电气化进程相比。 • 3. 我们正在通往数字化仙境的路上， 在那里，互联网将神奇地变成无所不能的私人助理。 • 4. 戴维库博斯坦预言，建设一个稳定的计算基础设施将会使互联网在2005年变成为一种成熟的信息公用事业。

12. Key to the Reading-Skill Exercises • 1. Fact 2. Opinion 3. Opinion 4. Fact 5. Opinion 6. Fact 7. Fact 8. Opinion 9. Fact 10. Opinion

13. 11. The Internet? Bah! • Information related to the text • 1. Clifford Stoll • Clifford Stoll is an astronomer and pioneer Internet user. But, unlike most high-tech insiders, this University of California Berkeley astronomer isn’t sure of the network’s value. He is, in fact, more than just skeptical of the highly touted benefits of computers. And, Mr. Stoll is troubled by what he sees the real damage they may cause to American education. He expresses his doubts in a volume entitled High Tech Heretic: Why Computers Don’t Belong in the Classroom and Other Reflections by a Computer Contrarian.

14. 2. Citizen’s Band Radio • Citizen’s Band radio, operating at frequencies near 27 megaherts, are used in vehicles for communication while traveling. It’s a two-way radio service licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to a U. S. citizen for short distance personal or business communications between fixed or mobile stations.

15. 3. Online database • Database systems store information as a series of discrete records that are, in turn, divided into discrete fields (e.g. name, height, and weight); records can be searched and retrieved on the basis of the content of the fields. The data is stored within the computer, either in main storage or auxiliary storage, for ready access. At the beginning, a database was stored on one individual computer only, but as the networking systems are developed, computers are linked together, and a database on a computer now can be accessed from other computers.

16. 4. multimedia • It refers to the combined use of several media, such as sound and full-motion video in computer applications. It is an effective means of presenting knowledge to students by using sound, picture, photo, video clips, and has been widely used so far.

17. General Comprehension of the text • 1) What is the major problem of the Internet? • 2)What does the author want to prove in the examples given against the possible future uses of the Internet?

18. Questions for discussion • 1. An effective argument considers the opponent’s point of view. What are the author’s response to each of his opponent’s points? Do you think the author’s point of view represents a majority or a minority position? • 2. What does the author want to prove in the examples given against the possible future uses of the Internet? What do you think are the disadvantages of the Internet?

19. Difficult Language Points • 1. Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. (Line 4) • If someone is a visionary, he has strong, original ideas about how things might be different in the future, especially about how things might be improve. E.g. Visionaries are constantly fighting conventional wisdom because they see the world ahead in terms of what it can be.] • Translation: 有眼光的人看到的未来是电子通勤工人、互动式图书馆和多媒体教室。

20. 2. At best, it’s an unpleasant chore: the myopic glow of a clunky computer replaces the friendly pages of a book. (Line 24) • A chore is a task that you must do but that you find unpleasant or boring. E.g. She sees exercise primarily as an unavoidable chore. • If something is clunky, it is solid, heavy, and makes low noise. • Translation: 阅读电子图书再好也是一件不愉快的事；笨重的嗡嗡响的计算机不清晰的显示代替了书的友好的页面。

21. 3. While the Internet beckons brightly, seductively flashing an icon of knowledge-as-power, this nonplace lures us to surrender our time on earth. • If something beckons, it is so attractive to someone that they feel they must become involved in it. E.g. The bright lights of Hollywood beckon to many. • Something that is seductive is very attractive or tempting. E.g. She has a seductive voice.

22. To lure someone means to trick them into a particular place or to trick them into doing something that they should not do. E.g. He lured her to his home and shot her with his father’s gun. • To surrender one’s time is to spend one’s time on something useless or meaningless. • Translation: 当互联网发出迷人的召唤，诱人地闪烁出知识就是力量的图象时， 这个不存在的地方诱惑我们放弃了在人间的时光。

23. 4. A poor substitute it is, this virtual reality where frustration is legion and where—in the holy names of Education and Progress—important aspects of human interactions are relentlessly devalued. (Line 75) • If something frustrates you, it upsets or angers you because you are unable to do anything about the problems it creates. E.g. These questions frustrated me.

24. If things of a particular kind are legion, there are a great number of them. E.g. Books on the subject of Tarot Cards are legion. • Something that is relentless never stops or never becomes less intense. E.g. The pressure now was relentless. • Translation: 这是一个很差劲的替代品。在这个虚拟现实中到处都是挫折，在这里人类交往的重要方面被毫不留情地贬低了—而且是以教育和进步的神圣名义。

25. 5. Uh, sure. (Line 29) 哦，肯定的。（注意这里的讽刺口吻。） • Not a good omen. (Line 47) 不是好兆头。 • Who needs teachers when you’ve got computer-aided education? Bah. (Line 51) 呸。 • “Bah” is used in writing to represent a noise that people make in order to express scorn, disappointment, or annoyance.

26. Keys to the Exercises • I. 1.D 2. B 3. B 4. C 5. A • II. 1. 那不和谐的声音更像市民波段电台的广播，充满了头衔、骚扰和匿名恐吓。 • 2. 学生们通过精心剪辑的软件可以愉快地跟着动画人物学习。 • 3. 即使通过互联网有可靠的寄钱方法（现在还没有），互联网也缺少推销员这一资本主义最基本的组成部分。 • 4. 当互联网发出迷人的召唤，诱人地闪烁出知识就是力量的图象时， 这个不存在的地方诱惑我们放弃了在人间的时光。

27. 12. Connected Wireless • information related to the text • 1. Nokia • A company making mobile phones and other communication equipment. • 2. Universal Electronics • A company making electronic products in the U. S.

28. 3. Friends • A popular television series in the U.S., which has been shown on major channels in the past few years and has received high ratings. Ross is one of the six young men and women in the sitcom whose life and romance stories are the contents of the sitcoms.

29. General Comprehension of the text • 1) According to the report, what kinds of applications of wireless technology are in use now? • 2) What are some complications caused by the wireless connection?

30. Questions for discussion • 1. As wireless technology develops, more and more devices are introduced that make our life better and easier. Tell your classmates what wireless devices you know of and how marvelous they are. • 2. Although the author of this essay sounds more positive on new technology than the author of Text 11, he still mentions some problems with the wireless connection. What are the problems he mentions in the essay?

31. Difficult Language Points • 1. Technical terms • Apple’s 苹果计算机，美国最早的一种计算机，有自己 的操作系统 • Airport Base Station broadband connection with wireless home networks • Wi-Fi the latest networking standard, called 82.11b • Microsoft’s Windows XP 微软操作系统 • Valhalla a system that transfers the power of remotes to other devices • Midas a remote-control watch • AOL 美国在线，一个互联网服务供应商 • Mickey D’s 一个快餐店名称 • POX a wireless game

32. 2. Wireless tech will wind itself deeper into the fabric of our lives, sometimes with uncertain consequences. (Line 12) • To wind a tape or film back or forward is to make it move nearer to its starting or ending point using a device such as a tape recorder or camera. • Fabric refers to the structure of something. • Translation: 无线技术将更加深入我们的生活有时候带来不明确的后果。

33. 3. “There’s an indelible log of information about your daily activities and my daily activities that passes through the communication network,” says Paul Henry., a researcher at AT&T Labs. “The opportunity for abuse is just enormous.” (Line 22) • A log is an official written account of what happens each day, for example on board a ship.

34. Abuse of something is the use of it in a wrong way or for a bad purpose. E.g. What went on here was an abuse of power. • Translation: “经过通讯网络进行的你的日常活动和我的日常活动在上面有无法清除的信息记录，” AT&T实验室研究员保罗 亨利说，“被恶意利用的机会是很大的。”

35. 4. “You can point to the sweater and impulse buy.” (Line 63) • An impulse is a sudden desire to do something. E.g. Unable to resist the impulse, he glanced at the sea again. • Translation: “你可以把它指向那件毛衣，立刻买下来。”

36. 5. Meanwhile, marketers salivate at the idea of the internet version of the billboard—a message piped into your car to let you know you’re near their business. (Line 73) • If you say that someone is salivating at something , you mean that you disapprove of their motivation. E.g. These companies are salivating at the juicy contracts for rebuilding Kuwait. • If some liquid or gas is piped somewhere , it is transferred from one place to another through a pipe. • Translation: 同时，营销人员对于广告牌的互联网版本很感兴趣—一个传送到你的汽车里的信息，让你知道你正在他们的营业场所附近。

37. Keys to the Exercises • I. 1. F 2. T 3. T 4. T 5. F 6. F 7. T • II. 1. The wireless technology is now used in: a. broadband network, b. satellite connected cars, c. mobile phone or two-way pagers. • 2. There can be storage problems because of the rapid expansion of the network use. • 3. The public would adopt “telematics”, i.e. connecting the car to mobile phones, satellite navigation and the Internet.

38. 4. It is a wireless game that doesn’t connect to the Internet, but sends out a short-range signal that looks for another unit. When that happens, a fight will take place between the software “warriors” programmed by the kids who own the toys.

39. III. 1. keeps Mom’s headache at bay—If you keep something or someone at bay, you prevent them from reaching, attacking, or affecting you. 使母亲们不再头痛 • 2. indelible log of information 无法消除的信息记录 • 3. pin their hopes on –If you pin your hope on something, you sincerely hope that it will produce the result you desire. 把他们的希望寄托在。。。。。。 • 4. impulse buy冲动购买，即时购买 • 5. message piped into your car传送到汽车里的信息

40. 6. true weirdness of the wired world—If someone or something is weird, they are strange and peculiar.联网世界的真正不可思议之处 • 7. virtually bonded to实际上被连接到…...