4级2单-新练习

Unit Two (Book Four)

形成性练习

I. RF

Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over a passage quickly and read

ten statements after it.

For statements1-10, write

T (for True) if the statement agrees with the information given in the above

paragraph(s);

F (for False) if the statement contradicts the information given in the above

paragraph(s);

E (for Not given) if the statement is not given in the above paragraph(s);

(1)

Letters: Obsolete Technology?

Readers’ complaints that our young people are helpless when thrown back on obsolete

technology, such as the dial telephone and simple addition, have aroused a protest.

You may remember reading here about the fifth-grade pupil who wanted to call home from

school but didn’t know how to use the dial phone, and the ice cream parlor that had to close

because the computerized cash register broke down.

These stories suggested that young people are almost wholly dependent on state of the art

technology, and also that we older people are becoming obsolete or outdated along with the

machines of our era.

Perhaps it is the latter that hurts.

John A. Junot wants to know whether, if my car broke down, I would know how to ride a horse.

I might be willing to try. But the problem is --- where could I ride one?

Junot suggests that I would either get the car repaired or replace it. That is what today’s young

engineers do when their computers break down, he points out.

In that respect I am as dependent on modern technology as the young, I have allowed myself to

become wholly dependent on my computer, and when it breaks down I am like a man cast adrift at

sea in a small boat.

“Cultures do not lose arts and skills,” Junot argues. “They abandon them. Calculating by slide

rule is in exactly the same class as archery, blacksmithing, sailing, hand-weaving and drawing. To

the extent that those things are done, they are done by hobbyists, historians and cultural

anthropologists and are preserved mainly by librarians.”

Junot points out that certain ancient skills, such as archery and sailing, are themselves improved

by modern technology. “Robin Hood probably couldn’t shoot one of today’s graphite (石墨)/epoxy (环氧的) compound bows.”

He says: “And so to that fifth-grader who didn’t know how to dial-type phone, you imply that

the boy was somehow culturally deprived, and that it would ‘come in handy’ if he learned.”

“I fail to see how. Rotary-dial phones are going the way of high-button shoes; they are

uncommon now and doomed to extinction simply because you can’t talk to computers with a

rotary-type phone.”

Junot points out that the first computers are already obsolete. I know what he means. I bought

the first IBM Personal Computer on the market. Recently I blew what is known as the “mother 2 card.” It was replaced by a more advanced clone card that is not perfectly compatible with my

machine. I have had little but misery with it ever since.

Junot says it would have been impossible for the ice cream clerks to go on doing business,

making their calculations by hand, when their computerized register failed.

“Well, before cash registers were invented, business was done that way. And employees stole

because it was easy. Cash registers were invented precisely to keep employees honest, and to

protect them from charges of dishonesty…”

“Furthermore, computerized receipts are used for computing sales tax and the printouts for

people buying on expense accounts. Are you suggesting that the kids give the businessman and the

tax man numbers scribbled on the backs of paper sacks? The manager was probably only

following the company policy when he closed the store.”

“Evidently, then, we have seen the end of mental calculations. Those fast-food computers even

note the amount of money the customer pays and also the exact amount of change due. The clerk

doesn’t even have to figure out how much change is due from a $10 bill, nor does the customer,

since he can assume that the computer doesn’t err.”

It’s OK with me. I never was any good at arithmetic, anyway, and I’m glad I have lived long

enough to see it become obsolete.

Meanwhile, Barbara Jones of Santa Barbara wonders how children can ever learn how to tell

time when all they see are digital watches.

And Sally Wade wonders, “How will tomorrow’s adult (today’s child) ever master a wrench (扳钳), spigot (套管), tap, screw (螺丝) or the like when the directions tell him/her to turn it

‘clockwise’ or ‘counterclock-wise’ in this age of digital clocks?”

Why would tomorrow’s adults ever have to use a wrench or a screwdriver (螺丝刀)?