A great deal of attention is being paid today to the so-called digital divide--the division of the world into the info(information) rich and the info poor. And that __1__ does exist today. My wife and I lectured about this looming danger twenty years ago. What was less __2__ then, however, were the new, positive __3__ that work against the digital divide. __4__,there are reasons to be __5__.
There are technological reasons to hope the digital divide will narrow. As the Internet becomes more and more __6__, it is in the interest of business to universalize access-after all, the more people online, the more potential __7__ there are. More and more __8__, afraid their countries will be left __9__, want to spread Internet access. Within the next decade or two, one to two billion people on the planet will be __10__ together. As a result, I now believe the digital divide will __11__ rather than widen in the years ahead. And that is very good news because the Internet may well be the most powerful tool for __12__ world poverty that we’ve ever had.
Of course, the use of the Internet isn’t the only way to __13__ poverty. And the Internet is not the only tool we have. But it has __14__ potential.
To __15__ advantage of this tool, some poor countries will have to get over their outdated anti-colonial prejudices __16__ respect to foreign investment. Countries that still think foreign investment is a/an __17__ of their sovereignty might well study the history of __18__ (the basic structural foundations of a society) in the United States. When the United States built its industrial infrastructure, it didn’t have the capital to do so. And that is __19__ America’s Second Wave infrastructure-__20__ roads, harbors, highways, ports and so on-were built with foreign investment.
__1. A) divide B) information C) world D) lecture
__2. A) obscure B) visible C) invisible D) indistinct
__3. A) forces B) obstacles C) events D) surprises
__4. A) Seriously B) Entirely C) Actually D) Continuously
__5. A) negative B) optimistic C) pleasant D) disappointed
__6. A) developed B) centralized C) realized D) commercialized
__7. A) users B) producers C) customers D) citizens
__8. A) enterprises B) governments C) officials D) customers
__9. A) away B) for C) aside D) behind
__10. A) netted B) worked C) put D) organized
__11. A) decrease B) narrow C) neglect D) low
__12. A) containing B) preventing C) keeping D) combating
__13. A) win B) detail C) defeat D) fear
__14. A) enormous B) countless C) numerical D) big
__15. A) bring B) keep C) hold D) take
__16. A) at B) with C) of D) for
__17. A) offence B) investment C) invasion D) insult
__18. A) construction B) facility C) infrastructure D) institution
__19. A) why B) where C) when D) how
__20. A) concerning B) concluding C) according D) including
參考答案：
1.A 由文中第一行的digital divide得出答案。
2.B obscure模糊的，不清楚的;visible看得見的，明顯的;invisible看不見的;indistinct不清楚的，模糊的。空格前的less已有否定意義
3.A force力量，武力;obstacle障礙;event事件;surprise驚奇，詫異。句意：現(xiàn)在有新的、樂觀的力量來對抗數(shù)字鴻溝。
4.C seriously認(rèn)真地;entirely完全的;actually實際上;continuously 連續(xù)地。
5.B negative消極的;optimistic樂觀的;pleasant令人愉快的; disappointed令人失望的。前文說有積極的力量在對抗數(shù)字鴻溝的不利因素，因此，實 際上我們有理由保持樂觀的態(tài)度。
6.D develop發(fā)展;centralize集中;realize認(rèn)識到;commercialize使商業(yè)化，由下文“網(wǎng)絡(luò)有利于商業(yè)途徑的普及”，可知此處表述的意思是網(wǎng)絡(luò)越來越商業(yè)化。in the interest of...為了...的利益
7.C user使用者;producer生產(chǎn)者;customer消費(fèi)者;citizen公民。句意：越多的人上網(wǎng)就有越多的潛在消費(fèi)者。
8.B enterprise企業(yè)，事業(yè);government政府;official官員;句意：越來越多的政府害怕他們的國家...
9.D leave behind 留下，超過
與leave相關(guān)的短語：leave aside把某事擱置一邊
leave out 省去，遺漏，不考慮
leave off 停止，不再穿
10.A 網(wǎng)絡(luò)把人們聯(lián)系在一起，選netted
11.B decrease減少，narrow變窄;neglect忽視，疏忽;low降低 句意：因此，我現(xiàn)在認(rèn)為數(shù)字鴻溝是在變窄而不是在拓寬
12.D contain包含，容納;prevent防止，阻止;keep保留，保持;combat戰(zhàn)斗，搏斗
13.C win贏得;detail詳述，細(xì)說;defeat擊敗，戰(zhàn)勝;fear畏懼。
14.A enormous巨大的;countless無數(shù)的;numerical數(shù)字的。potential作名詞為不可數(shù)，不能用countless修飾，big一般表示尺寸、數(shù)字、范圍上的大。
15.D take advantage of 利用
16.B with respect to 關(guān)于，至于 with也可換成in.表示關(guān)于的還有with regard to,concerning等。
17.C offence冒犯;investment投資;invasion入侵;insult侮辱
18.C construction建筑;facility設(shè)備;infrastructure基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施;institution公共機(jī)構(gòu)，制度。從后文中出現(xiàn)的infrastructure可以輕易得到答案。
19.A 表語從句，表示原因，“這也就是為什么...”
20.D concerning關(guān)于;concluding結(jié)束的;according根據(jù);including包括