Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 36 to 42.
THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
Information technology is influencing the way many of us live and work today. We use the Internet to look and apply for jobs, shop, conduct research, make airline reservations, and explore areas of interest. We use e-mail and the Internet to communicate instantaneously with friends and business associates around the world. Computers are commonplace in homes and the workplace.
Although the number of Internet users is growing exponentially each year, most of the world’s population does not have access to computers or the Internet. Only 6 percent of the population in developing countries are connected to telephones. Although more than 94 percent of U.S. households have a telephone, only 42 percent have personal computers at home and 26 percent have Internet access. The lack of what most of us would consider a basic communications necessity -the telephone -does not occur just in developing nations. On some Native American reservations only 60 percent of the residents have a telephone. The move to wireless connections may eliminate the need for telephone lines, but it does not remove the barrier to equipment costs.
Who has Internet access? Fifty percent of the children in urban households with an income over $75,000 have Internet access, compared with 2 percent ofthe children in low-income, rural households. Nearly half of college-educated people have Internet access, compared to 6 percent of those with only some high school education. Forty percent of households with two parents have access; 15 percent of female, single-parent households do. Thirty percent of white households, 11 percent of black households, and 13 percent of Hispanic households have access. Teens and children are the two fastest-growing segments of Internet users. The digital divide between the populations who have access to the Internet and information technology tools is based on income, race, education, household type, and geographic location. Only 16 percent of the rural poor, rural and central city minorities, young householders, and single parent female households are connected.
Another problem that exacerbates these disparities is that African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans hold few of the jobs in information technology. Women hold about 20 percent of these jobs and are receiving fewer than 30 percent of the computer science degrees. The result is that women and members of the most oppressed ethnic groups are not eligible for the jobs with the highest salaries at graduation. Baccalaureate candidates with degrees in computer science were offered the highest salaries of all new college graduates in 1998 at $44,949.
Do similar disparities exist in schools? More than 90 percent of all schools in the country are wired with at least one Internet connection. The number of classrooms with Internet connections differs by the income level of students. Using the percentage of students who are eligible for free lunches at a school to determine income level, we see that nearly twice as many of the schools with more affluent students have wired classrooms as those with high concentrations of low-income students.
Access to computers and the Internet will be important in reducing disparities between groups. It will require greater equality across diverse groups whose members develop knowledge and skills in computer and information technologies. If computers and the Internet are to be used to promote equality, they will have to become accessible to populations that cannot currently afford the equipment which needs to be updated every three years or so. However, access alone is not enough. Students will have to be interacting with the technology in authentic settings. As technology becomes a tool for learning in almost all courses taken by students, it will be seen as a means to an end rather than an end in itself. If it is used in culturally relevant ways, all students can benefit from its power.
Why does the author mention the telephone in paragraph 2?
A. To contrast the absence of telephone usage with that of Internet usage
B. To describe the development of communications from telephone to Internet
C. To demonstrate that even technology like the telephone is not available to all
D. To argue that basic telephone service is a first step to using the Internet
Chọn C
Thông tin: Although the number of Internet users is growing exponentially each year, most of the world’s population does not have access to computers or the Internet. Only 6 percent of the population in developing countries are connected to telephones ... On some Native American reservations only 60 percent of the residents have a telephone.
Dịch nghĩa: Mặc dù số lượng người sử dụng Internet đang tăng theo cấp số nhân mỗi năm, phần lớn dân số thế giới không được tiếp cận với máy tính hoặc Internet. Chỉ có 6 phần trăm dân số ở các nước đang phát triển được kết nối với điện thoại. ... Ở một số khu vực người gốc Mĩ chỉ có 60 phần trăm dân số có một chiếc điện thoại
Như vậy cả ở các nước phát triển và các nước đang phát triển, không phải tất cả mọi người đều có điện thoại.
Phương án C. To demonstrate that even technology like the telephone is not available to all = để chứng tỏ rằng kể cả công nghệ như chiếc điện thoại cũng không phải có sẵn cho tất cả mọi người
A. To contrast the absence of telephone usage with that of Internet usage = để đối lập sự thiếu vắng việc sử dụng điện thoại với việc sử dụng Internet. Không có thông tin như vậy trong đoạn 2.
B. To describe the development of Communications from telephone to Internet = để miêu tả sự phát triển của giao tiếp từ điện thoại đến Internet. Không có thông tin như vậy trong đoạn 2.
D. To argue that basic telephone service is a fírst step to using the Internet = để tranh luận rẳng dịch vụ điện thoại cơ bản là bước khởi đầu cho việc sử dụng Internet.
Không có thông tin như vậy trong đoạn 2.