听力原文：Hast: Today, we're going to examine some of the complexities involved in managing today's Internet. And our industrial expert here for us today is Matthew Flanigan, President of the Telecommunications Industry Association. Matt, many thanks. Welcome to the program. What are some of the key issues that we're still grapping with when trying to maximize the Internet's sufficiency？
Matt Flanigan, President, TIA: Well, today I would say speed and bandwidth. Especially, a little smile up to the consumer' is probably a big issue holding back the Internet. But security is also important with electronic commerce. And until they really solve that, people are not gonna feel secure.
Host: All right. Well, Let's introduce our guest.
We're joined by an executive from Effnet: Tomas Althen. Welcome to the program. We're delighted to have you. Tomas, let's start with this. What sort of Internet issue is Effnet dealing with？ What kind of solutions do you bring to the table？
Tomas Althen, CEO, Effnet Group: The Internet is growing at a very rapid speed at the moment. As you must know, the number of users doubles every year. However, also the information on the net doubles every month. And this calls up the two issues we have been hearing about here, speed and security.
Host: Well, let's look at more details. Look at this video about the city council of Stockholm, Sweden.
Narrator on the video: Here is the power. The politicians and high civil servants at Stockholm County Council are used to having access to qualified information. Now with everyone using Internet and Intranet, some information has to remain secret. The decision on how to do this are mad here at IT Control. They have found the way to let 10, 000 employees use the Internet but some information can still be accessed only by qualified people.
This is the firewall keeping the information system secure. A box in the basement with software from Effnet. Scandinavia is known for its technology. Cellular phones and Internet are part of daily life. And here in Sweden there are some young, very innovative up-starting companies. One is Effnet, founded in 1997 and already on the world market.
As the world demands speed and security and reliability, Effnet's gigabit router on a card makes security easier. The generic plug-in card, firewaller and router in one, proves that they are ready to meet the world demand.
Host: Well, how does the firewall work？ We were told a few days ago that one of the new methods of transmission was to break everything up into little packets, send them all into the Internet and hope they arrive in the same order, and so on. Is the protection of these packets from being raided is this the principle task of the firewall？
Tomas Althen: You can say that in one sense. You also don't want packets to come in to your data system, or into your network, packets which you don't want to be there. You want to be able to decide for yourself as an organization or as a company: hey, I don't want these guys to be able to access my treasure. And to do that you need to do some filtering. You need to decide which packets are allowed, which packets are not allowed. You have to do that very fast so you don't end up with yet another bottleneck. And we solved that problem.
Host: Let's look ahead a couple of years and have you estimate for us how you see this technology evolving. What do you think will be different or new on the horizon in a couple of years？ Tomas？
Tomas Althen: More and more has been put into smaller and smaller spaces. We are making quite a leap in putting all these features on one card. But the next step is clearly putting them on one chip. And we are talking to chip vendors to try to do that as quickly as reasonable.
They usually say that one year in this business is seven ordinary years. So, that would be 14 years from now. We'll see things more and more integrated. For Effnet, in two years I would s
A．The quality of being easy to use.
B．For most of us, broadband access is years in the future.
C．To maximize the Internet's sufficiency.
The onrush of cheap communications, powerful computers and the Internet all explain why many people feel that, nowadays, change is happening ever more rapidly as technological progress accelerates. Moore's law, that the power of microchips doubles every 18 months, has been tested and found correct. This is what gives people the sense of a world shifting beneath their feet.
2. Yet the implication that rapid change is a new phenomenon is again misleading. If you measure the time it takes for a technology to become widely diffused, today's experience does not seem unusual. Take the car. The basic patent for an internal-combustion engine capable of powering a car was fried in 1877. By the late 1920s—50 years later—over half of all American households owned a car.
3. The comparable dates for the computer axe harder to tie down, but the first big computer, based on vacuum valves, was built in 1946. The transistor—the first semiconductor device—was invented at Bell Laboratories in 1948. The first patent for an integrated circuit was filed in 1959. Now, in 1999-50 years after the first one was built—around half of American households own a computer. The pace of introduction has been similar to that of the car.
4. You have to cheat, choosing only the date for the personal computer, say(mid-1970s), or the internet (ditto) to make it seem much more rapid.
Comparing its diffusion among private users is, you might say, unfair to the computer, for that machine's main use is in businesses. On that measure, the best historical analogy is with electrification, and the spread of the electric dynamo into factories.
5. According to Paul David, a historian at Stanford University in California, the first electricity-generating stations had been installed in New York and London in 1881, but it was well into the 1920s before the dynamo became widely used and started to raise productivity. The adoption of the computer in business has also been slow, and failed to have any measurable impact on productivity until very recently.
Have you ever noticed advertisements which say “Learn a foreign language in six weeks, or your money back! From the first day your pronunciation will be excellent.Just send...” and so on？ Of course, it never happens quite like that.The only language that is easy to learn is the mother tongue.Think how much practice that gets! Before the Second World War people usually learnt a foreign language in order to read the literature of the country.Now speaking a foreign language is what most people want.Every year many millions of people start learning one.
Some people try at home, with books and records or tapes; some use radio or television programmes; others go to evening classes.If they use the language only twice or three times a week, learning it will take a long time.A few people try to learn a language fast by studying for six or more hours a day.It is clearly easier to learn the language in the country
where it is spoken.However, most people cannot afford this, and for many it is not necessary.They need the language in order to do their work better.For example, scientists and doctors chiefly need to be able to read books and reports in the foreign language.Whether the language is learnt quickly or slowly, it is hard work.Machines and good books will help, but they cannot do the student's work for him.
36.The advertisements say it would be easy to().
A.speak your native language better
B.keep in mind any foreign language
C.learn a foreign language within several weeks
D.learn by heart a foreign language
37.Nowadays most people want to learn()according to the text.
A.about the country where a language is spoken
B.to speak a foreign language
C.to read essays in the foreign language
D.to write in the foreign language
38.Before the World War people usually learnt a foreign language in order to()
A.communicate with their foreign friends
B.read the foreign newspaper
C.read the literacy works of the country
D.work in that foreign country
39.If you only use the language twice or three times a week,().
A.it is easy to learn it well
B.it will take a long time to learn the foreign language
C.you will never learn the language well
D.perhaps you will learn harsh language
40.No matter how quickly or slowly you want to learn a foreign language, you need to ().
A.read books
B.read reports
C.visit the country
D.work hard
