One great benefit of the Web is that it allows us to move information online that now resides in paper form. Several states in America are using the Web in a profound way. You can apply for various permits or submit applications for business licences. Some states are putting up listings of jobs-not just state government jobs, but all the jobs available in the state. I believe, over time, that all the information that governments print, and all those paper forms they now have, will be moved on to the Internet.

Electronic commerce notches up month-by-month too. It is difficult to measure, because a lot of electronic commerce involves existing buyers and sellers who are simply moving paperbased transactions to the Web. That is not new business. Microsoft, for example, purchases millions of dollars of PCs online instead of by paper. However, that is not a fundamental change; it has just improved the efficiency of an existing process. The biggest impact has occurred where electronic commerce matches buyers and sellers who would not previously have found each other. When you go to a book site and find an obscure book that you never would have found in a physical bookstore, that is a new type of commerce.

Today, about half of all PCs are still not connected to the Web. Getting communications costs down and making all the software simpler will bring in those people. And that, in turn, will move us closer to the critical mass that will make the Web lifestyle everyone's lifestyle. One element that people underestimate is the degree to which the hardware and software will improve. Just take one aspect: screen technology. I do my e-mail on a 20-inch liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor. It is not available at a reasonable price yet, but in two years it will be. In ten years, a 20-inch LCD with much higher resolution will be commonplace. The boundary between a television set and a PC will be blurred because even the set-top box that you connect up to your cable or satellite will have a processor more powerful than what we have today in the most expensive PC. This will, in effect, make your television a computer.

Interaction with the Web also will improve, making it much easier for people to be involved. Today the keywords we use to search the Web often return to too many articles to sort through, many of them out of context. If you want to learn about the fastest computer chip available, you might end up getting responses instead about potato chips being delivered in fast trucks. In the future, we shall be either speaking or typing sentences into the computer. If you ask about the speed of chips, the result will be about computers, not potatoes. Speech recognition also means that you will be able to call in on a phone and ask if you have any new messages, or check on a flight, or check on the weather.

To predict that it will take over ten years for these changes to happen is probably pessimistic. We usually overestimate what we can do in two years and underestimate what we can do in ten. It will not be too long before the Web becomes as much a way of life as the car.［558 words］

16. Electronic commerce becomes a new type of commerce when.--

［A］ paperbased transactions are moved on to the Web

［B］ the efficiency of the existing process is improved by Internet

［C］ new buyers and sellers find each other on the Internet

［D］ a book site offers the books several bookstores have altogether

17. The use of computer will be as common as the use of cars when.--

［A］ governments begin to move administration on-line

［B］ electronic commerce causes a fundamental change

［C］ computer and communication become simpler and cheaper

［D］ the boundary between the computer and the TV disappears

18. What is the current problem with the Web according to the passage?

［A］ Too much information. ［B］ Lack of response.

［C］ Ineffective interaction. ［D］ Slowness of speed.

19. The example of potato chips is used to illustrate.--

［A］ the defect of computers at the present stage of development

［B］ the similarity between a computer chip and a potato chip

［C］ the richness of information available on the web

［D］ the irrelevant responses the web sometimes offers

20. The passage is mainly trying to show that--.

［A］ the web is becoming a way of conveying information

［B］ the web will bring about a new way of life

［C］ electronic commerce develops with the internet

［D］ interaction with the Web will become easier

核心词汇

bring in *① to allow or invite someone to become involved in a discussion, investigation, etc 让......参与 例：They brought the police in when it all became serious. 当事态变得很严重时，他们叫来了警察。 ② to introduce(legislation, a custom, fashion, topic etc)提出(新法案)；引入（时尚、习俗、话题等） ③ to earn or produce a particular amount of profit赢利，赚钱 例：The sale of the house only brought in about $45,000. 卖房子只赚了约4.5万美元。

measure vt. ① to find the size, length or amount of sth. using standard units测量，度量 *② to judge the importance, value, or true nature of sth.估量，判定（重要性、价值或影响等） 例：Education should not be measured purely by examination results. 教育不应该只用考试成绩来衡量。

n. ① 尺寸，大小 ② ［常用复数］ 措施，办法 例：take measures to do sth. 采取措施应对（某种情况）

obscure a. *① not well known and usually not very important 默默无闻的，没有名气的 例： an obscure poet 名不见经传的诗人 ② difficult to understand 难理解的，晦涩的 例：The environment is obviously important, but its role has remained obscure. 环境显然很重要，但它的作用却仍不为人所知。（2002考研翻译 ）

vt. to make sth. difficult to know or understand 搞混，使难理解 例：Recent successes obscure the fact that the company is still in trouble. 近来的一些成功使人看不清公司依然处于困境。

resolution n. ① ［C］ 正式决定, 决议 ② ［U］ （问题、纷争的）解决 例：The lawyers advice led to the resolution of the problem. 律师的忠告使这个问题得以解决。 *③ ［C, U］ （电视、显微镜等的）清晰度；分辨率

超纲词汇

notch n. ①（表面或边缘的）V形刻痕、槽口；圆形切口 ②（记数等用的）刻痕 ③ 等级，档次 例：a notch above others比其他的高一等 vt. ① 开槽口；（用凹口）嵌入 ② 刻痕迹 *③ notch up赢得，获得（胜利等） 例：With this performance, she has notched up her third championship title.她因这一成绩而获得第三个冠军称号。

长难句分析

The boundary between a television set and a PC will be blurred because even the settop box that you connect up to your cable or satellite will have a processor more powerful than what we have today in the most expensive PC.

该句主干是The boundary ... will be blurred。介词短语between... and... 充当后置定语，