TEXT I

　　First read the questions.
　　35. Today’s computers can process data ___ times faster than the 1952 model, ILLIAC.
　　A. 4
　　B. 100
　　C. 200
　　D. 4, 000

　　36. NCSA aims to develop ___.
　　A. a new Internet browser
　　B. a more powerful national system
　　C. human-computer intelligence interaction
　　D. a new global network

　　Now go through TEXT I quickly to answer questions 35 and 36.
　　URBANA, Illinois. Welcome to Cyber City, USA, where scientists are developing the next-generation Internet and leading ground-breaking research in artificial intelligence. The University of Illinois at Urbana, which has a student body of 36,100, has a proud computing tradition. In 1952, it became the first educational institution to build and own its own computer.
　　That computer, ILLIAC, was four metres tall, four metres long and sixty centimetres deep. Its processing speed was about 50 kilohertz compared with 200 megahertz-that’s 200,000 kilohertz for today’s computers.
　　At the state-of-the-art Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, researchers from disciplines as far-ranging as psychology, computer science and biochemistry are focusing on biological intelligence and human-computer intelligence interaction.
　　Beckman also houses the National Centre for Supercomputing Application (NCS A), which played a key role in the development of the Internet global network. I t was NCSA that developed Mosaic, the graphically driven programme that first ma de surfing on the Internet possible.
　　Mosaic, introduced in 1992, has been replaced by much more powerful Interne t browsers such as its successor Netscape or Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
　　NCSA officials say they are now trying to bring more advanced computing and communication to research scientists, engineers and ultimately the public.
　　"What we’re looking for is a national system in which the networks are 10 0 times greater than the Internet today, and the supercomputers are 100 times more powerful,” said NCSA Director Larry Smart.
　　A proposed joint project would develop a prototype or demonstration model f or the “21st century national information infrastructure” in line with an initiative announced by President Bill Clinton last October.
　　If funded by the National Science Foundation, the new structure would take effect on October 1st.
　　NCSA, one of the four operational federal supercomputer centres in the country, is awaiting a decision from the Foundation’s board late this month on a competition for US $ 16 million in continued annual federal funding.
　　NCSA, which employs 200 people and has a yearly budget of US $ 31 million, is expected to be one of two winners along with its counterpart in San Diego.
　　"The University has put a great deal of effort into this competition. We remain hopeful about the outcome, but we will have no comment until the National Science Foundation Board’s decision,” Smart said.