The telecity is a city whose life, direction, and functioning are largely shaped by telecommunications. In the twenty first century, cities will be based more and more on an economy that is dependent on services and intellectual property. Telecommunications and information networks will define a city"s architecture, shape, and character. Proximity in the telecity will be defined by the speed and bandwidth of networks as much as by geographical propinquity. In the age of the telecity, New York and Singapore may be closer than, say, New York and Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Telecities will supersede megacities for several reasons, including the drive toward clean air, reducing pollution, energy conservation, more jobs based on services, and coping with the high cost of urban property. Now we must add the need to cope with terrorist threats in a high-technology world. Western mind-sets were clearly jolted in the wake of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City and attacks in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and else where. But the risks posed by twentieth-century patterns of urbanization and architecture have ye to register fully with political figures and leaders of industry. The Pentagon, for example, has been rebuilt in situation rather than distributed to multiple locations and connected by secure landlines and broadband wireless systems. Likewise, the reconstruction of the World Trade Center complex still represents a massive concentration of humanity and infrastructure. This is a remarkably shortsighted and dangerous vision of the future. The security risks, economic expenses, and environmental hazards of over-centralization are everywhere, and they do not stop with skyscrapers and large governmental structures. There are risks also at seaports and airports, in food and water supplies, at nuclear power plants and hydroelectric turbines at major dams, in transportation systems, and in information and communications systems. This vulnerability applies not only to terrorist threats but also to human error, such as system-wide blackouts in North America in August 2003 and in Italy in September 2003, and natural disasters such as typhoons, hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes. Leaders and planners are only slowly becoming aware that overcentralized facilities are the most vulnerable to attack or catastrophic destruction. There is also growing awareness that new broadband electronic systems now allow governments and corporations to safeguard their key assets and people in new and innovative ways. So far, corporations have been quickest to adjust to these new realities, and some governments have begun to adjust as well. According to the author, the most active advocates of telecities are
A. leaders and planners.
B. urban architects.
C. some corporations.
D. government administrators.
Television—the most pervasive and persuasive of modern technologies, marked by rapid change and growth—is moving into a new era, an era of extraordinary (1)_____ and versatility, which promises to reshape our lives and our world. It is an electronic revolution of sorts, made possible by the (2)_____ of television and computer technologies. The word "television", derived from its Greek (tele: distant) and Latin (vision: sight) roots, can (3)_____ be interpreted as sight from distance. Very simply (4)_____, it works in this (5)_____: through a sophisticated system of electronics, television provides the capability of (6)_____ an image (focused on a special photo-conductive plate within a camera) into electronic impulses, which can be sent through a wire of cable. These impulses, when fed into a (7)_____ (television set), can then be electronically (8)_____ into that same image. Television is (9)_____ just an electronic system, (10)_____. It is a means of expression, as well as a (11)_____ for communication, and as such becomes a powerful tool for reaching other human beings. The field of television can be divided into two (12)_____ determined by its means of transmission. First, there is broadcast television, which reaches the masses through broad-based airwave transmission of television (13)_____. Second, there is non-broadcast television, which provides for the needs of individuals or (14)_____ interest groups through controlled transmission techniques. Traditionally, television has been a (15)_____ of the masses. We are most familiar with broadcast television (16)_____ it has been with us for about thirty-seven years in a form similar to what exists today. During those years, it has been controlled, for the most part, by the broadcast networks. ABC, NBC and CBS, who have been the (17)_____ purveyors of news, information, and entertainment. These giants of (18)_____ have actually shaped not only television but our perception of it as well. We have come to (19)_____ the picture tube as a source of entertainment, placing our role in this (20)_____ medium as the passive viewer.
A. vehicle
B. facility
C. instrument
D. source
You are going to read a text about language, followed by a list of examples, Choose the best example from the list for each numbered subheading. There is one extra example which you do not need to use. Language, the principal means used by human beings to communicate with one another. Language is primarily spoken, although it can be transferred to other media, such as writing. If the spoken means of communication is unavailable, as may be the case among the deaf, visual means such as sign language can be used. A prominent characteristic of language is that the relation between a linguistic sign and its meaning is arbitrary. (41) Language and Language Abilities Language can be used to discuss a wide range of topics, a characteristic that distinguishes it from animal communication. The dances of honey bees, for example, can be used only to communicate the location of food sources. (42) The Sounds of Language Because most languages are primarily spoken, an important part of the overall understanding of language involves the study of the sounds of language. Most sounds in the world"s languages—and all sounds in some languages, such as English—are produced by expelling air from the lungs and modifying the vocal tract between the larynx and the lips. (43) Units of Meaning While many people, influenced by writing, tend to think of words as the basic units of grammatical structure, linguists recognize a smaller unit, the morpheme. The word cats, for instance, consists of two elements, or morphemes: cat, the meaning of which can be roughly characterized as "feline animal", and-s, the meaning of which can be roughly characterized as "more than one". (44) Word Order and Sentence Structure Syntax is the study of how words combine to make sentences. The order of words in sentences varies from language to language. English-language syntax, for instance, generally follows a subject-verb-object order, as in the sentence "The dog (subject) bit (verb) the man (object)". The sentence "The dog the man bit" is not a correct construction in English, and the sentence "The man bit the dog" has a very different meaning. In contrast, Japanese has a basic word order of subject-object verb, as in "watakushi-wa hon-o kau", which literally translates to "I book buy". (45) Meaning in Language While the fields of language study mentioned above deal primarily with the form of linguistic elements, semantics is the field of study that deals with the meaning of these elements. A prominent part of semantics deals with the meaning of individual morphemes.A. For instance, the sound p requires complete closure of the lips, so that air coming from the lungs builds up pressure in the mouth, giving rise to the characteristic popping sound when the lip closure is released. The sound used by English speakers to express annoyance, often spelled tsk or tut, uses air trapped in the space between the front of the tongue, the back of the tongue, and the palate.B. Semantics also involves studying the meaning of the constructions that link morphemes to form phrases and sentences. For instance, the sentences "The dog bit the man" and "The man bit the dog" contain exactly the same morphemes, but they have different meanings. This is because the morphemes enter into different constructions in each sentence, reflected in the different word orders of the two sentences.C. While the language-learning abilities of apes have surprised many and there continues to be controversy over the precise limits of these abilities—scientists and scholars generally agree that apes do not progress beyond the linguistic abilities of a two year-old child.D. First-language acquisition is a complex process that linguists only partially understand. Young children have certain innate characteristics that predispose them to learn language. These characteristics include the structure of the vocal tract, which enables children to make the sounds used in language, and the ability to understand a number of general grammatical principles, such as the hierarchical nature of syntax.E. Hixkaryana, spoken by about 400 people on a tributary of the Amazon River in Brazil, has a basic word order of object-verb-subject. The sentence "toro yahos ye kamara", which literally translates to "Man grabbed jaguar", actually means that the jaguar grabbed the man, not that the man grabbed the jaguar.F. The study of these smallest grammatical units, and the ways in which they combine into words, is called morphology.
Television—the most pervasive and persuasive of modern technologies, marked by rapid change and growth—is moving into a new era, an era of extraordinary (1)_____ and versatility, which promises to reshape our lives and our world. It is an electronic revolution of sorts, made possible by the (2)_____ of television and computer technologies. The word "television", derived from its Greek (tele: distant) and Latin (vision: sight) roots, can (3)_____ be interpreted as sight from distance. Very simply (4)_____, it works in this (5)_____: through a sophisticated system of electronics, television provides the capability of (6)_____ an image (focused on a special photo-conductive plate within a camera) into electronic impulses, which can be sent through a wire of cable. These impulses, when fed into a (7)_____ (television set), can then be electronically (8)_____ into that same image. Television is (9)_____ just an electronic system, (10)_____. It is a means of expression, as well as a (11)_____ for communication, and as such becomes a powerful tool for reaching other human beings. The field of television can be divided into two (12)_____ determined by its means of transmission. First, there is broadcast television, which reaches the masses through broad-based airwave transmission of television (13)_____. Second, there is non-broadcast television, which provides for the needs of individuals or (14)_____ interest groups through controlled transmission techniques. Traditionally, television has been a (15)_____ of the masses. We are most familiar with broadcast television (16)_____ it has been with us for about thirty-seven years in a form similar to what exists today. During those years, it has been controlled, for the most part, by the broadcast networks. ABC, NBC and CBS, who have been the (17)_____ purveyors of news, information, and entertainment. These giants of (18)_____ have actually shaped not only television but our perception of it as well. We have come to (19)_____ the picture tube as a source of entertainment, placing our role in this (20)_____ medium as the passive viewer.
A. no more than
B. more than
C. no other than
D. rather than