新视野大学英语读写教程听力 第四册 课文 4t04b

[-1:-4.00]some critics fear that profit-minded companies
[-1:-5.00]will only develop services for the wealthy.
[-1:-6.00]"If left in the hands of private enterprise,
[-1:-7.00]the data highway could become little more
[-1:-8.00]than a synthetic universe for the rich,"worries Jeffrey Chester,
[-1:-9.00]president of the Center for Media Education in Washington, D.C.
[-1:10.00]Poor people must also have access to high technology,
[-1:11.00]says another expert."Such access will be crucial
[-1:12.00]to obtaining a high-quality education and getting a good job.
[-1:13.00]So many transactions and exchanges are going to be made through this medium
[-1:14.00]— banking,shopping,communication,and information
[-1:15.00] — that those who have to rely on the postman
[-1:16.00]to send their correspondence risk really falling behind," he says.
[-1:17.00] Some experts were alarmed earlier this year
[-1:18.00]when diagrams showed that four regional phone companies
[-1:19.00]who are building components of the superhighway
[-1:20.00]were only connecting wealthy communities.
[-1:21.00]The companies denied they were avoiding the poor,
[-1:22.00]but conceded that the wealthy would likely be the first to benefit.
[-1:23.00]"We had to start building some place,"
[-1:24.00]says a spokesman for one of the companies,
[-1:25.00] "and that was in areas where there are customers we believe
[-1:26.00]will buy the service.This is a business."
[-1:27.00]Advocates for the poor want the companies building the data highway
[-1:28.00]to devote a portion of their profits to insuring universal access.
[-1:29.00]Advocates of universal access
[-1:30.00]have already launched a number of projects of their own.
[-1:31.00]In Berkeley,California,the city's Community Memory Project
[-1:32.00]has placed computer terminals in public buildings and subway stations,
[-1:33.00]where a message can be sent for 25 cents.
[-1:34.00]In Santa Monica,California,
[-1:35.00]computers have replaced typewriters in all public libraries,
[-1:36.00]and anyone,not just librarians,can send correspondence via computer.
[-1:37.00]Many challenges face us as we move closer to the reality
[-1:38.00]of the information superhighway.
[-1:39.00]In order for it to be of value to most people,
[-1:40.00]individuals need to become informed about what is possible
[-1:41.00]and how being connected will be of benefit.