首页
登录
职称英语
The average U. S. household has to pay an exorbitant amount of money for an
The average U. S. household has to pay an exorbitant amount of money for an
游客
2023-12-04
43
管理
问题
The average U. S. household has to pay an exorbitant amount of money for an Internet connection that the rest of the industrial world would find mediocre. According to a recent report by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, broadband Internet service in the U.S. is not just slower and more expensive than it is in tech-savvy nations such as South Korea and Japan; the U. S. has fallen behind infrastructure-challenged countries such as Portugal and Italy as well.
The consequences are far worse than having to wait a few extra seconds for a movie to load. Because broadband connections are the railroads of the 21st century—essential infrastructure required to transmit products(these days, in the form of information)from seller to buyer—our creaky Internet makes it harder for U. S. entrepreneurs to compete in global markets. As evidence, consider that the U. S. came in dead last in another recent study that compared how quickly 40 countries and regions have been progressing toward a knowledge-based economy over the past 10 years. "We are at risk in the global race for leadership in innovation," Federal Communications Commission(FCC)chairman Julius Genachowski said recently. "Consumers in Japan and France are paying less for broadband and getting faster connections. We’ve got work to do. "
It was not always like this. A decade ago the U. S. ranked at or near the top of most studies of broadband price and performance. But that was before the FCC made a terrible mistake. In 2002 it reclassified broadband Internet service as an " information service " rather than a "telecommunications service. " In theory, this step implied that broadband was equivalent to a content provider(such as AOL or Yahoo!)and was not a means to communicate, such as a telephone line. In practice, it has stifled competition.
Phone companies have to compete for your business. Even though there may be just one telephone jack in your home, you can purchase service from any one of a number of different longdistance providers. Not so for broadband Internet. Here consumers generally have just two choices; the cable company, which sends data through the same lines used to deliver television signals, and the phone company, which uses older telephone lines and hence can only offer slower service.
The same is not true in Japan, Britain and the rest of the rich world. In such countries, the company that owns the physical infrastructure must sell access to independent providers on a wholesale market. Want high-speed Internet? You can choose from multiple companies, each of which has to compete on price and service. The only exceptions to this policy in the whole of the 32-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are the U. S. , Mexico and the Slovak Republic, although the Slovaks have recently begun to open up their lines.
A separate debate—over net neutrality, the principle that Internet providers must treat all data equally regardless of their origin or content—has put the broadband crisis back in the spotlight. Earlier this year a federal appeals court struck down the FCC’s plan to enforce net neutrality, saying that because the FCC classified the Internet as an information service, it does not have any more authority to ensure that Internet providers treat all content equally than it does to ensure that CNN treats all political arguments equally. In response, the FCC announced its intention to reclassify broadband Internet as a telecommunications service. The move would give the FCC power to enforce net neutrality as well as open broadband lines up to third-party competition, enabling free markets to deliver better service for less money.
Yet, puzzlingly, the FCC wants to take only a half-step. Genachowski has said that although he regards the Internet as a telecommunications service, he does not want to bring in third-party competition. This move may have been intended to avoid criticism from policy makers, both Republican and Democrat, who have aligned themselves with large Internet providers such as AT&T and Comcast that stand to suffer when their local monopolies are broken. It is frustrating, however, to see Genachowski acknowledge that the U. S. has fallen behind so many other countries in its communications infrastructure and then rule out the most effective way to reverse the decline. We call on the FCC to take this important step and free the Internet. [br] What does the word "stifled" mean in the third paragraph?
选项
A、Aggravated.
B、Lessened.
C、Suppressed.
D、Accelerated.
答案
C
解析
语义题。由第三段内容可知,原本电话公司要通过竞争来获得生意,但网络服务被等同于“内容提供商”而不是“通讯工具”。第四段第四句接着指出,消费者的选择就只有两种,要么是电缆公司,要么是电话公司。可见,美国的这一做法“抑制”了竞争,而不是[A]“恶化”、[B]“减小”或[D]“加剧”竞争,故[C]正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3245270.html
相关试题推荐
TheaverageU.S.householdhastopayanexorbitantamountofmoneyforan
Foryears,nonprofithospitalshaveshiedawayfromquantifyingtheamount
Foryears,nonprofithospitalshaveshiedawayfromquantifyingtheamount
Foryears,nonprofithospitalshaveshiedawayfromquantifyingtheamount
Foryears,nonprofithospitalshaveshiedawayfromquantifyingtheamount
Foryears,nonprofithospitalshaveshiedawayfromquantifyingtheamount
Asanyoneinahouseholdwithinfantsortoddlersknows,bedtimecanbeani
Asanyoneinahouseholdwithinfantsortoddlersknows,bedtimecanbeani
Asanyoneinahouseholdwithinfantsortoddlersknows,bedtimecanbeani
Aconsiderableamountofworkinlinguisticshasgoneinlooking【S1】______a
随机试题
Weallassociatecolorswithfeelingsandattitudes.Inpoliticsdarkblueo
我不是做发财的梦。为了发财我的几个好朋友都下海了,当了个体商贩。她们手指上戴的金戒指脖子上戴的精美项链有时也让我看得眼花缭乱,但是透过这些东西我仿佛看见她们也有
Librariesotherthanthoselistedaboverequireadditionalregistrationbeforey
DespicableCharactersAreNewHeroesA)InfilmsandTVshows
Thefirsttrainingclassforemployeesofstate-ownedenterprises,sponsored
ExploringtheWild1.目前不少年轻人都热衷于野外探险2.野外探险有好处,但也有不少问题3.我的建议
治疗猩红热邪侵肺卫证的首选方剂是A.白虎汤 B.银翘散 C.透疹凉解汤 D
291、与主接地网紧密连接的二次等电位接地网,在系统发生近区故障和雷击事故时,有
1998-93.鼻衄,目眩耳鸣,烦躁易怒,两目红赤者,首选 A.大柴胡汤B
对于矿产资源开发项目,在确定建设规模时,应考虑的因素包括()。A.水的资源量
最新回复
(
0
)