2014届高考英语一轮复习精品阅读理解提升文章精选一百篇59.docVIP

Unit 61　　Web Feats　　Here is a look at six ways the internet has made an impact on us in the past decade. Theres no going back!　　Everybody can get information if they learn how to look for it. Irritated at the half-remembered lyrics of a song? Need a recipe for cassoulet? In pre-Internet days, finding the answer would have involved looking through reference books, scanning a newspaper or even making a trip to the library -- all with no guarantee of finding the information. Now, Google, the Internet search engine, can deliver even the most obscure bits of information to your desktop computer within a matter of seconds. Spend a little time on the help pages at to hone your search skills and the vast information warehouse that is the web will soon be at your fingertips.　　Cheap near-instant communication. To those who have grown up in the era of the ubiquitous @ symbol, its easy to take electronic mail for granted, but the ability to flash messages around the globe with documents or images attached is revolutionary. Of course, with email you cannot ignore the spam problem -- the inconvenience of having an inbox flooded with offers of cheap drugs and get-rich-quick schemes.　　No one is anonymous anymore. Try a search on your best friends names in Google, and chances are they will be somewhere on the Internet, especially those who are under 30. From websites to chatrooms, most Internet users leave a trail easy to pick up.　　Everyone can be a publisher. Publishing used to be concentrated in the hands of a few wealthy people and organizations that could afford the expensive infrastructure to print and distribute newspapers and magazines. Now everyone can play for next to nothing through personal websites or, more likely these days, by joining the Blogging phenomenon. Try for a taste of Blog power. How you make people read your Blog, however, is a different question.　　Everyone can get breaking news. Previously, the average person had to wait until the media decided wha