In the computer age, most of us take a broadbandInternet connection for granted.

In the computer age, most of us take a broadband（宽带）Internet connection for granted. Whether cable ormobile broadband, today’s connections are many times faster than those in theearly days. Videos play smoothly, complex websites load quickly, and filesdownload much faster than ten years ago. And the files are much bigger too.

There’s a catch, of course: You have to livenear enough to a major city to get broadband Internet. If you don’t, it’s slowdial-up access for you. And for those living really far out, there may be noInternet access at all.

Technology experts often talk about the “last mile”problem, which refers to the difficulty of bringing Internet access to remotelocations. In cities and suburbs, it’s relatively easy to provide access foreveryone. It is much more difficult to deliver access to those living far fromcities, especially in developing countries. Internet service providers, fortheir part, have been reluctant to provide access to sparsely (稀疏地) populated areas. The handful of Internet users theywould reach wouldn’t cover the expense.

But every year, technological advancements allow ofmore and more Internet users. Most broadband connections today run overexisting cable TV and telephone lines although these technologies aren’tavailable everywhere.

Some companies have delivered the Internet overstandard power lines. Advancements in cheaper, more efficient fiber opticscables (光纤电缆) promise to bring extremely fast Internetconnections to more users.

Still, the “last mile” problem remains hard to dealwith. There will always be somewhere that doesn’t have an affordable broadbandconnection. But someday that might not matter. If the rapid progress in cellphone technology is any indication (迹象), it maynot be too long before an Internet connection simply follows you wherever yougo.

1.The underlined part “a catch” (in Paragraph 2)probably means “_____”.

A．a rarechallenge    B．a desirableplan     C．an efficientdevice   D．a hiddenproblem

2.What can we know from the third paragraph?

A．Internetconnection has not been popular in most cities.

B．Internetservice providers care about rural（农村的）customers.

C．Computer ispopular in developing countries.

D．It is hard tobring Internet access to users in remote areas.

3.Paragraph 4 mainly tells us that technologicaladvancements _____.

A．make TV andtelephone available everywhere

B．bring greatchange to people’s everyday life

C．make itpossible for more people to use the Internet

D．bring fasterInternet connections to users

4.What may eventually settle the “last mile” problem?

A．The broadbandconnection’s getting faster.

B．More and moreInternet users.

C．more and moreInternet connections.

D．The rapidprogress in cell phone technology.

试题答案

【答案】

1.D

2.D

3.C

4.D

【解析】

试题分析:本文是一篇说明文，说明了在计算机时代，我们大部分人使用宽带是理所应当的。但是技术专家讨论“最后一公里”的问题，这是互联网难以实现接入到远程位置，在发展中国家，他们不愿意为人口稀少的地方提供互联网，只在城市和郊区提供，他们认为一些互联网用户支付不起费用

1.推理题，由后面的句子You have to livenear enough to a major city to get broadband Internet. If you don’t, it’s slowdial-up access for you. And for those living really far out, there may be noInternet access at all可以推出答案，故选D。

2.推理题，由第三段的主要意思，第一句是这段的主旨，Technologyexperts often talk about the “last mile” problem, which refers to thedifficulty of bringing Internet access to remote locations.可以推出答案，所以选D。

3.推理题，由第四段的主要意思“越来越多的人使用互联网”，可以推出答案，所以选C

4.推理题，由最后一段倒数第二行If the rapidprogress in cell phone technology is any indication (迹象),可以推出答案，所以选D

考点：本篇是一篇说明文

点评：本文主要考查推理题，推断题测试考生在阅读基础上的逻辑推理能力，要求考生根据文章所述事件的逻辑关系，对未说明的趋势或结局作出合理的推断；或根据作者所阐述的观点理论，对文章未涉及的现象、事例给以解释。考生首先要仔细阅读短文，完整了解信息，准确把握作者观点。