Communications Revolution Cyberspace, data superhighway, multi-media—for those who have seen the future, the linking of computers television and telephones will change our lives for ever. Yet for all the talk of a forthcoming technological utopia little attention has been given to the implications of these developments for the poor. As with all new high technology, while the West concerns itself with the “how“, the question of “for whom“ is put aside once again. Economists are only now realizing the full extent to which the communications revolution has affected the world economy. Information technology allows the extension of trade across geographical and industrial boundaries, and transnational corporations take full advantage of it. Terms of trade, exchange and interest rates and money movements are more important that the production of goods. The electronic economy made possible by information technology allows the haves to increase their control on global markets—with destructive impact on the have-nots. For them the result is instability. Developing countries which rely on the production of a small range of goods for export are made to feel like small parts in the international economic machine. As “futures“ are traded on computer screens, developing countries simply have less and less control of their destinies. So what are the options for regaining control? One alternative is for developing countries to buy in the latest computers and telecommunications themselves—so-called “development communications“ modernization. Yet this leads to long-term dependency and perhaps permanent constraints on developing countries’ economies. Communications technology is generally exported from the U. S., Europe or Japan; the patents, skills and ability to manufacture remain in the hands of a few industrialized countries. It is also expensive, and imported products and services must therefore be bought on credit—credit usually provided by the very countries whose companies stand to gain. Furthermore, when new technology is introduced there is often too low a level of expertise to exploit it for native development. This means that while local elites, foreign communities and subsidiaries of transnational corporations may benefit, those whose lives depend on access to the information are denied it.

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A Brief to Singapore 1．Singapore is an independent city-state in southeastern Asia, consisting of one major island the Singapore Island—and more than 50 small islands, located off the southern tip of Malay. The city of Singapore, the capital of the country, is at the southeastern end of the Singapore Island; it is one of the most important port cities and commercial centers of Southeast Asia. The total area of the republic is 640 sq. km. 2．Low-lying Singapore Island has no outstanding relief(轮廓鲜明的) features. A central area of hills rises to the maximum height of 176 m. The country has a wet tropical climate, with an average annual temperature of 27.20℃. The average annual rainfall is 2,413 mm; the wettest months are November through January. 3．Singapore is governed under a constitution of 1959. A president, elected to a four-year term is head of state, and a prime minister is head of government. The president used to be selected by Parliament, but by a 1991 constitutional amendment(宪法修正案),the president is now elected directly by the people. The Parliament is the lawmaking body with its 81 members popularly elected. 4．In the late 1980s the country had some 290 primary schools with 278,300 pupils and 160 secondary schools with 200,200 students. The main institutions of higher education are the National University of Singapore, several technical colleges, and a teachers college. 5．Singapore has one of the highest standards of living of any country in Asia. In the late 1980s the gross domestic product(GDP) was estimated at $23.7 billion, or $8.870 per person. The fishing industry is centered on the port of During on southwestern Singapore Island. Industry has grown rapidly since the 1960s, and Singapore now produces a diversity(多样化的 ) of goods, including chemicals, electronic items, clothing, and processed foods, etc. Shipbuilding and petroleum refining are also important.

Communications Revolution Cyberspace, data superhighway, multi-media—for those who have seen the future, the linking of computers television and telephones will change our lives for ever. Yet for all the talk of a forthcoming technological utopia little attention has been given to the implications of these developments for the poor. As with all new high technology, while the West concerns itself with the “how“, the question of “for whom“ is put aside once again. Economists are only now realizing the full extent to which the communications revolution has affected the world economy. Information technology allows the extension of trade across geographical and industrial boundaries, and transnational corporations take full advantage of it. Terms of trade, exchange and interest rates and money movements are more important that the production of goods. The electronic economy made possible by information technology allows the haves to increase their control on global markets—with destructive impact on the have-nots. For them the result is instability. Developing countries which rely on the production of a small range of goods for export are made to feel like small parts in the international economic machine. As “futures“ are traded on computer screens, developing countries simply have less and less control of their destinies. So what are the options for regaining control? One alternative is for developing countries to buy in the latest computers and telecommunications themselves—so-called “development communications“ modernization. Yet this leads to long-term dependency and perhaps permanent constraints on developing countries’ economies. Communications technology is generally exported from the U. S., Europe or Japan; the patents, skills and ability to manufacture remain in the hands of a few industrialized countries. It is also expensive, and imported products and services must therefore be bought on credit—credit usually provided by the very countries whose companies stand to gain. Furthermore, when new technology is introduced there is often too low a level of expertise to exploit it for native development. This means that while local elites, foreign communities and subsidiaries of transnational corporations may benefit, those whose lives depend on access to the information are denied it.

A Fire near Waco Six years later, in an about-face, the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) admits that federal agents fired tear gas canisters capable of causing a fire at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas in 1993. But the official said the firing came several hours before the structure burst into flames, killing 80 people including the Davidians’ leader, David Koresh. “In looking into this, we’ve come across information that shows some canisters that can be deemed pyrotechnic in nature were fired—hours before the fire started,” the official said. “Devices were fired at the bunker, not at the main structure where the Davidians were camped out.“ The FBI maintains it did not start what turned to be a series of fiery bursts of flames that ended a 51-day standoff between branch members and the federal government. “This doesn’t change the bottom line that David Koresh started the fire and the government did not,“ the official said. “It simple shows that devices that could probably be flammable were used in the early morning hours. “ The law enforcement official said the canisters were fired not at the main structure where the Davidian members were camped out but at the nearby underground hunker. They bounced off the bunker’s concrete roof and landed in an open field well, the official said. The canisters were fired at around 6 a. m., and the fire that destroyed the wooden compound started around noon, the official said. The official also added that other tear gas canisters used by agent that day were not flammable or potentially explosive. While Coulson denied the grenades played a role in starting the fire, his statement marked the first time that any U. S. government official has publicly contradicted the government’s position that federal agents used nothing on the final day of the siege at Waco that could have sparked the fire that engulfed the compound. The cause of the fiery end is a major focus of an ongoing inquiry by the Texas Rangers into the Waco siege.

A Minor Microsurgery Last year, Sean Martinovich, from Whitianga, had life-saving surgery when a golf-sized tumor was removed from his brain stem. But the operation left half his face paralysed. He talked with a slur, sometimes dribbled out of the side of his mouth and could not close his eye properly. Although he could run around with the other boys in the playground, when they laughed he could not laugh with them. Without a smile, he could suffer psychologically and emotionally. Last week, 6-year-old Sean had seven hours of microsurgery that should give him back his smile. Doctor Bartlett removed a nerve from the back of one of Sean’s legs and transplanted it into his face. On the normal side of his face the nerve divides into lots of little branches. “We’ll cut those nerve branches and then we’ll take a nerve graft from one leg and tunnel it across his face from one side to the other and join that on to the nerve that’s been cut on the good side of his face. “ Doctor Bartlett said, before the operation. “If this was not fixed he could face physical and emotional problems as he got older,“ Doctor Bartlett said. “Socially people can become quite withdrawn because of the face paralysis. It’s easy for people, especially children, to become rather emotionless because they prefer the flatness of no movement on either side to the weirdness of an asymmetry of smiling on one side and having this twisted face. “ Scan is not smiling yet. Over the next six months the nerves will grow across the face to the damaged side and after that movement will hopefully come back. Sean’s parents, Steve and Wendy Martinovich, said they had been through a year of hell. But their son was a determined boy who just got on with it, said Mrs Martinovich. They are amazed at the technology that they hope will restore the cheeky smile they love so much. For Doctor Bartlett the microsurgery is almost routine. For Sean’s parents, it is a miracle.

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Why Would They Falsely Confess? Why on earth would an innocent person falsely confess to committing a crime? To most people, it just doesn’t seem logical. But it is logical, say experts, if you understand what can happen in a police interrogation (审讯) room. Under the right conditions, people’s minds are susceptible (易受影响的) to influence, and the pressure put on suspects during police questioning is enormous. (46) “The pressure is important to understand, because otherwise it’s impossible to understand why someone would say he did something he didn’t do. The answer is: to put an end to an uncomfortable situation that will continue until he does confess. “ Developmental psychologist Mary Redlich recently conducted a laboratory study to determine how likely people are to confess to things they didn’t do. (47) The researchers then intentionally crashed the computers and accused the participants of hitting the “alt“ key to see if they would sign a statement falsely taking responsibility. Redlich’s findings clearly demonstrate how easy it can be to get people to falsely confess: 59 percent of the young adults in the experiment immediately confessed. (48) Of the 15-to 16-year-olds, 72 percent signed confessions, as did 78 percent of the 12- to 13-year-olds. “There’s no question that young people are more at risk,“ says Saul Kassin, a psychology professor at Williams College, who has done similar studies with similar results. (49) Both Kassin and Redlich note that the entire “interrogation“ in their experiments consisted of a simple accusation—not hours of aggressive questioning—and still, most participants falsely confessed. (50) “In some ways,“ says Kassin, “false confession becomes a rational decision.“ A．In her experiment, participants were seated at computers and told not to hit the “alt“ key, because doing so would crash the systems. B．Because of the stress of a police interrogation, they conclude, suspects can become convinced that falsely confessing is the easiest way out of a bad situation. C．“It’s a little like somebody’s working on them with a dental (牙齿的) drill,“ says Franklin Zimring, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley. D．“But the baseline is that adults are highly vulnerable too. “ E．The court found him innocent and he was released. F．Redlich also found that the younger the participant, the more likely a false confession.

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From the passage we know that the development of high technology is in the interests of______.

It can be inferred from the passage that______.

Why does the author say that the electronic economy may have a destructive impact on developing countries? ______.

The development of modern communications technology in developing countries may______.

The author’s attitude toward the communications revolution is ______.