1999年英语专业四级考试阅读真题:text B
TEXT B
Computer people talk a lot about the need for other people to become “computer-l iterate”, in other words, to learn to understand computers and what makes them tick. Not all experts agree, however, that is a good idea.
One pioneer, in particular. who disagrees is David Tibbett, the founder of Computer town UK. Although many people see this as a successful attempt to bring people e closer to the computer, David does not see it that way. He says that Computer own UK was formed for just the opposite reason, to bring computers to the people and make them “people-literate”.
David first got the idea when he visited one of America’s best-known computer “guru” figure, Bob Albrecht,in the small university town of Palo Alto in Northern California. Albrecht had started a project called Computer town USA in the local library, and the local children used to call round every Wednesday to borrow some time on the computers there, instead of borrowing library books. Albrecht was always on hand to answer any questions and to help the children discover about computers in their own way.
Over here, in Britain, Computer towns have taken off in a big way,and there are now about 40 scattered over the country. David Tibbett thinks they are most successful when tied to a computer club. He insists there is a vast and important difference between the two, although they complement each other. The clubs cater f or the enthusiasts, with some computer knowledge already, who get together arid eventually form an expert computer group. This frightens away non-experts, who a re happier going to Computer towns where there are computers available for them t o experiment on, with experts available to encourage them and answer any questions; they are not told what to do, they find out.
David Tibbett finds it interesting to see the two different approaches working side by side. The computer experts have to learn not to tell people about computers, but have to be able to explain the answers to the questions that people really want to know. In some Computer towns there are question sessions, rather like radio phone-ins, where the experts listen to a lot of questions and then try to work out some structure to answer them. People are not having to learn computer jargons, but the experts are having to translate computer mysteries into easily understood terms; the computers are becoming “{people-literate”.
70. According to David Tibbett, the purpose of Computer town UK is to__
A. train people to understand how computers work
B. make more computers available to people
C. enable more people to fix computers themselves
D. help people find out more about computers
71. We learn from the passage that Computer town USA was a ___.
A. town
B. project
C. library
D. school
72. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT?
A. Computer towns in the UK have become popular.
B. Compute rtowns and clubs cater for different people.
C. Computer towns are more successful than clubs.
D. It’s better that computer towns and clubs work together.
73. Which of the following is NOT an advantage of computer towns?
A. Experts give lectures and talks on computers.
B. Experts are on hand to answer people’s questions.
C. People are left to discover computers on their own.
D. There are computers around for people to practice on.
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