センター英語について

投稿日：2005-05-15 Sun

　第３問C　　文補充問題　6×3＝18点　(目標時間6分)
＜練習問題＞　02年　本試験

　What would you do if you wanted to learn about something? A traditional way is to go to your bookshelf, pick up a dictionary or encyclopedia, and start turning pages. Now, however, you can turn on your computer, connect it to the Internet and start its search program. You just type in the keyword(s), click “search” and soon you will have what you are looking for.

　It seems as if anything you want to know can be found on the Internet. ① The range of information you can find on the Net varies from gossip, to news, to the most advanced technological findings. Furthermore, the information is always fresh. ② It seems we do not need to “know” or “remember” anything except how to get information from the Net. Or at least, there is no longer any need for the shelf space to hold those volumes of encyclopedias.

　What is being lost, though, is the joy of discovery. In many ways an Internet search is like a package tour, on which you generally know where you are going and see only what the tour organizer has selected. Similarly, what you find in the Internet search is controlled by the site’s owner or is the result of a computer program. ③ On the other hand, turning the pages of an encyclopedia, as you look up an entry, is more like wandering through a forest. ④ This may stir up a new interest, which will eventually lead you into a totally different topic.

　The word “encyclopedia” originally meant “general or well-rounded education”. ⑤ With a traditional encyclopedia, this well-roundedness may be achieved by the discoveries readers make by turning the pages. In comparison, heading straight to the target word through a series of clicks on a computer is rather linear. ⑥



30 New information is constantly added, past files are re-written, andnews reports are broadcast as they come in. 31 This suggests that technological changes in the methods of getting information may limit the opportunities for learning.　 32 You may accidentally find something interesting in the entry just next to the one you have been looking for.