Inthecomputerage,mostofustakeabroadbandInternetconnectionforgranted.Whethercableormobilebroadband,today’sconnectionsaremanytimesfasterthanthoseintheearlydays.Videosplaysmoothly,complexwebsitesloadquickly,a
Inthecomputerage,mostofustakeabroadbandInternetconnectionforgranted.Whethercableormobilebroadband,today’sconnectionsaremanytimesfasterthanthoseintheearlydays.Videosplaysmoothly,complexwebsitesloadquickly,andfilesdownloadmuchfasterthantenyearsago.Andthefilesaremuchbiggertoo.
There’sacatch,ofcourse.YouhavetolivenearenoughtoamajorcitytogetbroadbandInternet.Ifyoudon’t,it’sslowdial-upaccessforyou.Andforthoselivingreallyfarout,theremaybenoInternetaccessatall.
Technologyexpertsoftentalkaboutthe“lastmile”problem,whichreferstothedifficultyofbringingInternetaccesstoremotelocations.Incitiesandsuburbs,it’srelativelyeasytoprovideaccessforeveryone.Itismuchmoredifficulttodeliveraccesstothoselivingfarfromcities,especiallyindevelopingcountries.Internetserviceproviders,fortheirpart,havebeenreluctanttoprovideaccesstosparsely(稀疏地)populatedareas.ThehandfulofInternetuserstheywouldreachwouldn’tcovertheexpense.
Buteveryyear,technologicaladvancementsallowofmoreandmoreInternetusers.MostbroadbandconnectionstodayrunoverexistingcableTVandtelephonelinesalthoughthesetechnologiesaren’tavailableeverywhere.SomecompanieshavedeliveredtheInternetoverstandardpowerlines.Advancementsincheaper,moreefficientfiberopticscables(光纤电缆)promisetobringextremelyfastInternetconnectionstomoreusers.
Still,the“lastmile”problemremainshardtodealwith.Therewillalwaysbesomewherethatdoesn’thaveanaffordablebroadbandconnection.Butsomedaythatmightnotmatter.Iftherapidprogressincellphonetechnologyisanyindication(迹象),itmaynotbetoolongbeforeanInternetconnectionsimplyfollowsyouwhereveryougo.
小题1:Theunderlinedpart“acatch”(inParagraph2)probablymeans“________”.A．ararechallengeB．adesirableplanC．anefficientdeviceD．ahiddenproblem小题2:Whatcanweknowfromthethirdparagraph?A．Internetconnectionhasnotbeenpopularinmostcities.B．Internetserviceproviderscareaboutruralcustomers.C．Co