THE INTERNET AND GUTEMBERG
In our self-absorbed age, everything is the newest New
Thing or the biggest Big Thing. This spirit inevitably invests
the Internet with transcendent significance. Steve Case of
America Online already calls the new century "the Internet
Century," and some authorities whisper that the Internet
rivals the importance of Gutemberg's invention of the printing
press in the 15th century. We suffer from historical amnesia.
Suppose you were born in 1900. You wouldn't yet watch
movies, let alone global TV. The airplane hadn't been invented,
and Henry Ford wouldn't produce the first Model T until 1908.
Fewer than 10 percent of U.S. homes had phones, and fewer
than 8 percent had electricity. Antibiotics hadn't been
discovered. As yet the Internet isn't in the same league with
these developments.
Each changed lifestyles and popular beliefs. The automobile
suburbanized America and inaugurated mass travel.
Antibiotics, vaccines and public-health advances helped
raise life expectancy from 46 in 1900 to 77 today. The
explosion of prosperity - a consequence of electricity, other
technologies and modern management - shortened working
hours and expanded leisure. Movies and TV transformed
popular culture. As a matter of fact, the Internet is too young
for anyone to foretell its ultimate significance.
Our historical amnesia could benefit from the words of a
Tennessee farmer at a church meeting in the 1940s. "Brothers
and sisters, I want to tell you this," he said. "The greatest thing
on earth is to have the love of God in your heart, and the next
greatest is to have electricity in your home." Can the Internet
really top that?
From Newsweek, January 24, 2000
1Na linha 1, "self-absorbed" significa:
(A) materialistic.
(B) revolutionary.
(C) self-admiring.
(D) competitive.
(E) self-conscious
2) Nós sofremos de "historical amnesia" (linhas 7 e 24) porque:
(A) we invest all developments with unparalleled significance.
(B) we fail to remember some wise words uttered back in the 40s.
(C) we tend to forget major developments and inventions of the past.
(D) it is too soon to assess the importance of the Internet.
(E) the lessons of the past are necessarily forgotten.
3) Qual a idéia central do segundo parágrafo?
(A) The Model T was a car manufactured by Henry Ford in 1908.
(B) The invention of antibiotics was less important than that of the Internet.
(C) The use of electric power and telephone services was not widespread in 1900.
(D) So far the Internet hasn't proved to be as important as some earlier inventions.
(E) Movies and cable TV were not available at the turn of the century.
4) Marque a alternativa correta:
(A) "these" (linha 14) refers to "antibiotics" (linha 12).
(B) "its" (linha 23) refers to "Internet" (linha 22).
(C) "this" (linha 26) refers to "historical amnesia" (linha 24).
(D) "this" (linha 26) refers to "church meeting" (linha 25).
(E) "that" (linha 29) refers to "home" (linha 28).
5) Marque a única alternativa verdadeira de acordo com o texto:
(A) Popular culture is a consequence of movies and global TV.
(B) The automobile allowed people to live far from the center of big cities.
(C) In the year 1900 electricity was more common in U.S. homes than telephones.
(D) Some authorities believe that the Internet will replace the printing press.
(E) All religious people believe that electricity is the greatest thing on earth besides God's love
