A great deal of attention is being paid today to the so-called digital divide—the division of the world into the info（information） rich and the info poor. And that divide does exist today. My wife and I lectured about this looming danger twenty years ago. What was less visible then, however, were the new, positive forces that work against the digital divide. There are reasons to be optimistic.
There are technological reasons to hope the digital divide will narrow. As the Internet becomes more and more commercialized, it is in the interest of business to universalize access—after all, the more people online, the more potential customers there are. More and more governments, afraid their countries will be left behind, want to spread Internet access. Within the next decade or two, one to two billion people on the planet will be netted together. As a result, I now believe the digital divide will narrow rather than widen in the years ahead. And that is very good news because the Internet may well be the most powerful tool for combating world poverty that we've ever had.
Of course, the use of the Internet isn't the only way to defeat poverty. And the Internet is not the only tool we have. But it has enormous potential.
To take advantage of this tool, some impoverished countries will have to get over their outdated anti-colonial prejudices with respect to foreign investment. Countries that still think foreign investment is an invasion of their sovereignty might well study the history of infrastructure （the basic structural foundations of a society） in the United States. When the United States built its industrials infrastructure, it didn't have the capital to do so. And that is why America's Second Wave infrastructure—including roads, harbors, highways, ports and so on—were built with foreign investment. The English, the Germans, the Dutch and the French were investing in Britain's former colony. They financed them. Immigrant Americans built them. Guess who owns them now? The Americans. I believe the same thing would be true in places like Brazil or anywhere else for that matter. The more foreign capital you have helping you build your Third Wave infrastructure, which today is an electronic infrastructure, the better off you're going to be. That doesn't mean lying down and becoming fooled, or letting foreign corporations run uncontrolled. But it does mean recognizing how important they can be in building the energy and telecom infrastructures needed to take full advantage of the Internet.
55. Digital divide is something ________.
[A] getting worse because of the Internet
[B] the rich countries are responsible for
[C] the world must guard against
[D] considered positive today
56. Governments attach importance to the Internet because it ________.
[A] offers economic potentials
[B] can bring foreign funds
[C] can soon wipe out world poverty
[D] connects people all over the world
57. The writer mentioned the case of the United States to justify the policy of ________.
[A] providing financial support overseas
[B] preventing foreign capital's control
[C] building industrial infrastructure
[D] accepting foreign investment
58. It seems that now a country's economy depends much on ________.
[A] how well-developed it is electronically
[B] whether it is prejudiced against immigrants
[C] whether it adopts America's industrial pattern
[D] how much control it has over foreign corporations
重点词汇：
divide /di5vaid/（分开；分配；除）是division /di5viVEn/（分开；部门；除法）的动词形式。The only way on earth to multiply happiness is to divide it.世上唯一能使幸福成倍增加的方法是将其分作几份。Grief can take care of itself， but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with.悲伤只需其自身就足够了，然而要获取一件乐事的充分价值，你就必须找人分享。Instead of this absurd division into sexes they ought to class people as static and dynamic.为取代性别这种荒唐的区别，他们应该把人分成静态与动态两种。
commercialize /kE5mE：FElaiz/（使商业化）即commercial+ize，commercial（商业的）←commerc（e）+ial，-ize动词后缀使……化。Good manners are the settled medium of social， as specie is of commercial life.礼貌是社会生活固定的中介，就像硬币之于商业生活。commercialism—doing well that which should not be done at all商业主义-把根本不该做的事做得很好。
universalize /7ju：ni5vE：sElaiz/（使普遍化）即universal+ize，universal（宇宙的；普遍的）←univers（e）+al，-ize动词后缀使……化。Envy is the most universal passion.忌妒是最普遍的情感。universe—merely a fleeting idea in God's mind—a pretty uncomfortable thought， particularly if you're just made a down payment on a house宇宙-不过是上帝头脑里一个稍纵即逝的想法-一种让人很不舒服的想法，特别是在你刚预付过房子的定金之后。
prejudice /5predVudis/（偏见v.n.损害）即pre+jud+ice，pre-前缀在前，jud词根判断（=judge），-ice后缀，在弄清事实之前就做出判断→偏见，而偏见是会招致损害的。Prejudice is the child of ignorance.偏见是无知的产物。prejudice—①an unwillingness to be confused with facts②a device enabling you to form opinions without getting the facts偏见-①不愿为事实所困惑②使你能在不了解事实的情况下形成观点的一种装置。
respect /ris5pekt/（v.n.尊敬）即re+spect，re-反复，spect词根看，反复看一个人是对其表示尊敬；with respect to关于。All the great religions are fundamentally equal. We must have innate respect for other religions as we have for our own.一切伟大的宗教在根本上都是等同的。我们对于其它宗教，必须像对自己的宗教一样怀着天然的敬意。To respect a person is not possible without knowing him.不了解一个人却要尊敬他，那是不可能的。respect—to admire from a distance尊敬-从远处赞赏。
sovereignty /5sCvrinti/（主权；主权国家）即sover+（r）eign+ty，sover（=over）在上，reign统治，-ty名词后缀，在上面统治；sovereign（统治的；统治者）←sover+（r）eign.Men in great places are thrice servants： servants of the sovereign or state； servants of fame； and servants of business.身居高位者是三重仆人：统治者或国家的仆人，名声的仆人，以及事务的仆人。
responsible /ris5pCnsEbl/（负责的；可靠的；责任重大的）即respons（e）+ible，response回应（见2001年Passage 1），-ible能……的，能得到回应的→负责的。An idea isn't responsible for the people who believe in it.一种思想对信仰它的人并不负有责任。To be a man is， precisely， to be responsible.确切地说，做男人就是负责任。
in the interest of为了……的利益；may well很有可能；lie down屈从。
难句解析：
①A great deal of attention is being paid today to the so-called digital divide—the division of the world into the info（information） rich and the info poor.▲本句的结构较简单，抓住attention is being paid to the digital divide就可以了，注意破折号后面的名词短语实际上是对digital divide一词的定义。
②As the Internet becomes more and more commercialized， it is in the interest of business to universalize access—after all， the more people online， the more potential customers there are.▲注意主句是It is in the interest of business to do sth.，前面as引导的是伴随状语，而非原因状语，要理解为随着，而非因为。后面破折号的部分是进一步解释说明前面的主句。
③To take advantage of this tool， some impoverished countries will have to get over their outdated anti-colonial prejudices with respect to foreign investment.▲本句的主干是some impoverished countries will have to get over their outdated anti-colonial prejudices.前面的不定式可以被看成是一个目的状语。
④The more foreign capital you have helping you build your Third Wave infrastructure， which today is an electronic infrastructure， the better off you're going to be.▲此处用了the more…… the more……的句型。逗号之间的which today is an electronic infrastructure是Third Wave infrastructure的非限定性定语从句。
第一段第一句对数字分化下了一个定义。其后作者提到，他和妻子20年前就在讲演中谈到这种随时将至的危险，这里，this looming danger当指the digital divide，即在世界范围内产生信息富裕和信息贫乏的两类国家。当时，作者就认为前途是乐观的，因为早在20年前就已经出现了一些防止产生这种分化的积极因素，只是当时这些因索还不太明显。同时，在第二段，作者提到了网络的普及使这种分化正得到缩小。可见，在作者看来，这种分化是不好的现象，而网络的普及能帮助世界战胜贫困（combating world poverty， defear poverty）。
