TheInformationSuperhighway信息高速公路

1、The In formatio n SuperhighwayAre you too tired to go to the video store but you want to see the movie Beauty and the Beast at home? Want to listen to your favorite guitar players latest jazz cassette? Need some new reading material, like a magazine or book? No problem. Just sit down in front of you

2、r home computer or TV and enter what you want, when you want it, from an electronic catalogue containing thousa nds of titles.Your school has no professors of Japa nese, a Ian guage you want to lear n before visit ing Japa n duri ng the coming summer holiday. Dont worry. Just sig n up for the Ian gu

3、age course offered by a school in ano ther district or city, have the latest editi on of the course teachi ng materials sent to your computer, and atte nd by video. If you n eed extra help with a tran slati on assig nment or your pronun ciatio n, a tutor can give you feedback via your computer.Welco

4、me to the in formatio n superhighway.While n early every one has heard of the in formatio n superhighway, even experts differ on exactly what the term means and what the future it promises will look like. Broadly speaking, however, the superhighway refers to the union of todays broadcasti ng, cable,

5、 video, teleph one, and computer and semic on ductor in dustries into one large all-c onn ected in dustry.Directing the union are tech no logical adva nces that have made it easier to store and rapidly tran smit in formatio n in to homes and offices. Fiber-optic cable, for example made up of hair-th

6、 in glass fibers is a treme ndously efficie nt carrier of in formati on. Lasers shoot ing light through glass fiber can tran smit 250,000 times as much data as a sta ndard teleph one wire, or tens of thousa nds of paragraphs such as this one every sec ond.The greatly in creased volume and speed of d

7、ata tran smissi on that these tech no logies permit can be compared to the way in which a highway with many lanes allows more cars to move at faster speeds tha n a two-la ne highway hence, the in formati on superhighway.The closest thing to an in formati on superhighway today is the Intern et, the s

8、ystem of lin ked computer n etworks that allows up to 25 millio n people in 135 coun tries to excha nge in formati on.But while the Internet primarily moves words, the in formatio n superhighway will soon make rout ine the electro nic tran smissi on of data in other formats, such as audio files and

9、images. That means, for example, that a doctor in Europe who is particularly learned will be able to treat patients in America after viewing their records via computer, deciding the correct dose of medici ne to give the patie nt, or perhaps eve n remotely con trolli ng a blade wieldi ng robot duri n

10、g surgery.Sending a segment of video mail down the hall or across the country will be easier than typing out a message on a keyboard, predicts one corresp ondent who specializes in tech no logy.The world is on the eve of a new era, says the former Un ited States Vice Preside nt Al Gore, the Cli nto

11、n adm ini strati ons leadi ng high-tech no logy advocate. Gore wan ts the federal gover nment to play the leadi ng role in shap ing the superhighway. However, i n an era of smaller budgets, the Un ited States gover nment is un likely to come up with the money n eeded duri ng the n ext 20 years to co

12、n struct the superhighway.That leaves private in dustry computer, pho ne, and cable compa nies to move into the vacuum left by the governments absenee. And while these industries are pioneering the most excit ing new tech no logies, some critics fear that profit-min ded compa nies will only develop

13、services for the wealthy. If left in the hands of private en terprise, the data highway could become little more tha n a syn thetic uni verse for the rich, worries Jeffrey Chester, preside nt of the Cen ter for Media Educati on in Wash ington, D.C.Poor people must also have access to high tech no lo

14、gy, says ano ther expert. Such access will be crucial to obta ining a high-quality educati on and gett ing a good job. So many tran sact ions and excha nges are going to be made through this medium banking, shopp ing, com muni cati on, and in formatio n that those who have to rely on the postma n to

15、 send their corresp ondence risk really falli ng beh in d, he says.Some experts were alarmed earlier this year whe n diagrams showed that four regi onal phone companies who are building components of the superhighway were only connecting wealthy com mun ities.The compa nies denied they were avoidi n

16、g the poor, but con ceded that the wealthy would likely be the first to ben efit. We had to start buildi ng some place, says a spokesma n for one of the compa ni es, and that was in areas where there are customers we believe will buy the service. This is a bus in ess.Advocates for the poor want the

17、compa nies buildi ng the data highway to devote a portion of their profits to in suri ng uni versal access. Advocates of uni versal access have already laun ched a nu mber of projects of their own. I n Berkeley, California, the citys Commu nity Memory Project has placed computer term in als in publi

18、c buildi ngs and subway stati ons, where a message can be sent for 25 cen ts. In San ta Moni ca, California, computers have replaced typewriters in all public libraries, and anyone, not just libraria ns, can send corresp ondence via computer.Many challe nges face us as we move closer to the reality

19、of the in formati on superhighway .In order for it to be of value to most people, in dividuals n eed to become in formed about what is possible and how being conn ected will be of ben efit. The possibilities are en dless but in order for the in formati on superhighway to become a reality, some con c

20、rete steps n eed to be take n to get the process started.信息高速公路你是否太累了，不想去录像店却又想在家看美女与野兽？是不是想听听你最喜欢的吉他手最新的爵士乐磁带？或需要一些新的阅读材料，比如杂志或书？ 没问题。只要坐在家中的电脑或电视机前， 在一个含有上千个条目的电子目录中输入你想要的东西和需要的 时间就行了。在暑假去日本之前你想学日语，可学校又没有日语老师。不用担心，你可以向另一地区或城市的学校报名， 上他们提供的日语课， 让他们将这门课程最新的教材传送到你的电脑 上，然后通过视听方法上课。如果你在翻译作业或发音上还需额外帮助，辅导

21、教师可通过电脑给你反馈。欢迎来到信息高速公路。尽管几乎人人都听说过信息高速公路，可即使专家们对这一名称的确切含义，以及它预示着什么样的未来也有分歧。但广义地说，信息高速公路是指由今天的广播、电视、录像、电话、电脑、半导体等产业组合而成的一个互相关联的大产业。是技术进步在引导着这一大联合。 这些技术进步已使储存信息以及向家庭和办公室快速 传输信息更为容易。例如，光纤电缆-由细如发丝的玻璃纤维制成-是一种极为高效的 信息载体。 射过玻璃纤维的激光可以传送高达标准电话线25万倍的数据，或者说，每秒可传送几万段像这样的文字。这些技术使得数据传送的容量和速度大大提高。这种情况可与一条高速公路相比，多车道

22、比双车道能使更多的车以更高的速度行驶-信息高速公路由此得名。今天，与信息高速公路最接近的就是互联网，这是一个由电脑连接而成的网络系统，它使得135个国家多达2,500万的人能进行信息交换。但是，互联网主要是传送文字，而信息高速公路不久将使其他形式的电子数据传送（如声音资料和图像的传送）成为常规。那就是说，举个例子，欧洲的一位医道高明的医生通过电脑看了病历就能给美洲的病人治病，决定病人用药的剂量， 甚至还可以遥控一个操手术刀的机器人施行手术。一位专门从事技术方面报道的记者预言道：”把录像邮件的片段传送到大楼的其他地方或国内的其他地方要比在键盘上打出文字来更为容易。”美国前副总统阿尔 戈尔说，我们这个世界正处于 新时代的前夜”，他是克林顿政府中 推行高科技的主要人物。戈尔希望联邦政府在决定信息高速公路的发展方面发挥领导作用。然而，在一个预算拨