第二单元英美报刊选读.docVIP

Unit Two Information Superhighway Text A The Future is Already Here By Barrett Seaman It is simple but ingenious, easily accessible ? and it gives people what they want without fuss or argument. It is, in short, one of the great conveniences of modern technology, the ATM, or automated teller machine.1 Only a few years ago, getting your hands on real money meant waiting in line at the bank, or knowing the corner shopkeeper well enough to cash a personal check. The ATM changed all that, using a fusion of computer chips, telepad, phone line and dispensing mechanism to transform the way people access their money.2 Armed with only a plastic card and a functioning index finger, a customer can now obtain cash as easily in Tierra del Fuego as in downtown Brussels. Yet the ATMs great convenience and relatively humble workings should not obscure the fact that it is in the vanguard of the information age, no less than the Internet,3 interactive TV4 or video teleconferencing5. By applying technology to peoples everyday needs, it epitomizes what Yale University computer scientist David Gelertner calls the true potential of the information superhighway:6 making everyday life for most people somewhat easier and less irritating. To that end, the new age of technology is already well launched, fueled by a long stream of techno-driven goods and services that is flooding the consumer marketplace to change the ways people live and work. So advanced is this transformation that even some of the most recent innovations are already taken for granted.7 The heart of the cyberrevolution8 remains, of course, the personal computer. Cheaper, faster, more versatile and easier-to-use PCs are infiltrating Americas social fabric.9 Software like Mosaic10 and Netscape11 has made navigating the Internet a lot less daunting for average citizens, who are rushing to buy modems12 and sign up for online services.13 The modern, well-wired U.S. home already offers young and old a hea