A great deal of attention is being paid today to the so-called digital divide--the division of the world into theinfo(information) rich and the info poor. And that__1__ does exist today. My wife and I lectured aboutthis looming danger twenty years ago. What was less__2__ then, however, were the new, positive __3__that work against the digital divide. __4__,there arereasons to be __5__.
There are technological reasons to hope the digital divide will narrow. As theInternet becomes more and more __6__, it is in the interest of business touniversalize access-after all, the more people online, the more potential __7__ thereare. More and more __8__, afraid their countries will be left __9__, want to spreadInternet access. Within the next decade or two, one to two billion people on theplanet 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 becausethe Internet may well be the most powerful tool for __12__ world poverty that we'veever had.
Of course, the use of the Internet isn't the only way to __13__ poverty. And theInternet 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 theiroutdated anti-colonial prejudices __16__ respect to foreign investment. Countriesthat still think foreign investment is a/an __17__ of their sovereignty might wellstudy the history of __18__ (the basic structural foundations of a society) in theUnited States. When the United States built its industrial infrastructure, it didn't havethe capital to do so. And that is __19__ America's Second Waveinfrastructure-__20__ roads, harbors, highways, ports and so on-were built withforeign 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
