One great benefit of the Web is that it allows us to move information online that now resides in paper form. Several states in America are using the Web in a profound way. You can apply for various permits or submit applications for business licences. Some states are putting up listings of jobs—not just state government jobs, but all the jobs available in the state. I believe, over time, that all the information that governments print, and all those paper forms they now have, will be moved on to the Internet.

Electronic commerce notches up month-by-month too. It is difficult to measure, because a lot of electronic commerce involves existing buyers and sellers who are simply moving paperbased transactions to the Web. That is not new business. Microsoft, for example, purchases millions of dollars of PCs online instead of by paper. However, that is not a fundamental change; it has just improved the efficiency of an existing process. The biggest impact has occurred where electronic commerce matches buyers and sellers who would not previously have found each other. When you go to a book site and find an obscure book that you never would have found in a physical bookstore, that is a new type of commerce.

Today, about half of all PCs are still not connected to the Web. Getting communications costs down and making all the software simpler will bring in those people. And that, in turn, will move us closer to the critical mass that will make the Web lifestyle everyone’s lifestyle. One element that people underestimate is the degree to which the hardware and software will improve. Just take one aspect: screen technology. I do my e-mail on a 20-inch liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor. It is not available at a reasonable price yet, but in two years it will be. In ten years, a 20-inch LCD with much higher resolution will be commonplace. The boundary between a television set and a PC will be blurred because even the set-top box that you connect up to your cable or satellite will have a processor more powerful than what we have today in the most expensive PC. This will, in effect, make your television a computer.

Interaction with the Web also will improve, making it much easier for people to be involved. Today the keywords we use to search the Web often return to too many articles to sort through, many of them out of context. If you want to learn about the fastest computer chip available, you might end up getting responses instead about potato chips being delivered in fast trucks. In the future, we shall be either speaking or typing sentences into the computer. If you ask about the speed of chips, the result will be about computers, not potatoes. Speech recognition also means that you will be able to call in on a phone and ask if you have any new messages, or check on a flight, or check on the weather.

To predict that it will take over ten years for these changes to happen is probably pessimistic. We usually overestimate what we can do in two years and underestimate what we can do in ten. It will not be too long before the Web becomes as much a way of life as the car.［558 words］

1. Electronic commerce becomes a new type of commerce when______.

［A］ paperbased transactions are moved on to the Web

［B］ the efficiency of the existing process is improved by Internet

［C］ new buyers and sellers find each other on the Internet

［D］ a book site offers the books several bookstores have altogether

2. The use of computer will be as common as the use of cars when_______.

［A］ governments begin to move administration on-line

［B］ electronic commerce causes a fundamental change

［C］ computer and communication become simpler and cheaper

［D］ the boundary between the computer and the TV disappears

3. What is the current problem with the Web according to the passage?

［A］ Too much information. ［B］ Lack of response.

［C］ Ineffective interaction. ［D］ Slowness of speed.

4. The example of potato chips is used to illustrate_____.

［A］ the defect of computers at the present stage of development

［B］ the similarity between a computer chip and a potato chip

［C］ the richness of information available on the web

［D］ the irrelevant responses the web sometimes offers

5. The passage is mainly trying to show that______.

［A］ the web is becoming a way of conveying information

［B］ the web will bring about a new way of life

［C］ electronic commerce develops with the internet

［D］ interaction with the Web will become easier

1.当_____时候，电子商务成为一种新的商务方式。

［A］ 以纸张为基础的交易被移到网上进行 ［B］ 现有交易过程的效率通过网络得到提高

［C］ 新的买者和卖者可以通过网络找到对方［D］ 一个购书网站提供数家书店共同拥有的书

［精解］ 答案C本题考查事实细节。整个第二段围绕电子商务展开论述。该段第二句谈到：许多电子商务仅仅是现有的买家和卖家把以纸张为基础的交易移到网上进行。紧接着一句说：“这不是一种新的贸易”。所以［A］项可排除。该段第四句举例指出，微软每年在线购买数百万美元的电脑，而不是通过纸张进行。文章接着提到，“这不是个根本的变化，只是提高了现有交易过程的效率”。所以也可排除［B］项。第二段第五句提到，“当电子商务把以前不可能找到对方的买方和卖方匹配起来时，网上交易的最大影响力才出现。”因此［C］项是新的商务方式的表现。紧接着该段末句举例提到，当你去购书网站找到一本在有形的书店不能找到的毫无名气的书，那就是新形式的商务。［D］项强调书的数量，与原文不符。

2. 当_____的时候，计算机的使用会和汽车的使用一样普及。

［A］ 政府部门开始把行政事务移到网上进行［B］ 电子交易引起了一个根本的变化

［C］ 计算机和通讯变得更加简单和便宜 ［D］ 计算机和电视之间的界限消失

［精解］ 答案C本题考查事实细节。［A］项是第一段举出的例子，只是说明了网络带来的益处。［B］项是第二段论述中关于网上商务的内容，但它和计算机普及之间也没有根本的联系，所以也可排除。第三段前两句提到：“通讯费用的降低以及所有软件的简易化会使没有和网络连接的个人电脑实现连接，从而更接近让网络方式成为所有人的生活方式的临界点。”所以应选［C］项。［D］项在第三段最后提到，是举例说明软件（如处理器）发展的前景。

3. 根据文章内容，目前网络的问题是什么？

［A］ 太多的信息。［B］ 缺少回应。 ［C］ 低效的交流。 ［D］ 缓慢的速度。

［精解］ 答案C本题考查推理引申。第四段前两句提到，与网络的交流将得到改善，使人们更容易参与其中。如今用关键词搜索网络会搜出太多无关内容。接着该段举了“计算机芯片”与“薯片”的例子加以说明。［A］项具有迷惑性，可本质问题在于信息的“质”而非“量”。因此［C］项正确。［B］项与文意相反，不是“缺少”，而是“太多”。［D］项文中没有提及。

4. 举薯片的例子是用来说明_____。

［A］ 计算机目前发展中的缺陷［B］ 计算机芯片和薯片之间相似之处

［C］ 网络上可获得丰富的信息［D］ 计算机有时提供的是不相关的信息

［精解］ 答案D本题考查写作目的。第四段中的相关内容指出，当我们在网上查询最快的计算机芯片时，计算机给我们的却是薯片的信息，可见计算机提供了不相关的信息，应选［Ｄ］项。 ［A］项错在computer，应换成web。［B］项是举例中的细节，注意，计算机芯片和薯片在英语中是同一个单词chip。［C］项与作者意图相反，不是“丰富”，而是“泛滥”。

5. 这篇文章主要要表达的是_____。

［A］ 网络正在成为一种新的信息传输方式［B］ 网络将带来一种新的生活方式

［C］ 电子商务随着网络的发展而发展 ［D］ 与网络的交流将变得更容易

［精解］ 答案B本题考查文章主旨。［A］、 ［C］和［D］项分别是第一段、第二段和第四段的主旨内容。但从全文来看，第一、二段主要介绍了网络给信息传输和商务带来的变化，第三段前半部分提到，通讯费用的降低及软件的改善可以使网络成为更多人的生活方式。该段后半部分则介绍了软件和硬件确实都在改善。因此，该段主要论述了网络成为生活方式的可能性。第四段论述了未来人与网络的交互也将得到改善，信息更准确，可以通过言语交流。第五段则总结到网络成为生活方式的的日子不会太遥远。因此［B］项是全文主旨。