Part A Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points) The history of the computer in the twentieth century is one of dramatic adaptation and expansion. The computer had modest beginnings in areas where it was used as a specialist tool. The first electronic computer was built in the 1930s and was solely for the use of undergraduate students in Iowa State University to handle mathematical computations in nuclear physics. In the 1960s an early version of the Internet, ARPPANET was used in computer science and engineering projects. However, only 10 years later computers were starting to change our life style, the way we do business and many other things and by the late 1980s' networks were expanding to embrace sections of the general public. Computerization has changed US high school education in many ways. Three different changes that consider being important. The first is the use of the computer as teaching aid for teachers. The next is the massive data storage and fast data retrieval facilitated by computer. Then comes the changes brought about by the introduction of simulation software. How prevalent is the use of computers in schools! As recently as the early 1980s only 20% of secondary science teachers in the USA were using microcomputers. However, since then high schools in the US have computerized rapidly. By 1987, schools had acquired about 1.5 million computers with 95% of public schools having at least one computer. Computers can be used as teaching aids both in schools and in homes. In schools, for example, teachers can plug a computer into an especially equipped overhead projector to bring texts, graphics, sound and videos into a classroom. By these multimedia computer animations, teachers can more readily attract and retain students' attention. Ann concludes that computer aided teaching can attract and motivate students who were dropping out when more traditional methods were being used. Let us now turn to the Internet. This is a global network connecting many local networks. Over the Internet, high school students can retrieve information and databases from every networked library around the world in seconds. The World Wide Web provides an easy way to access hard-to-find information. Students can now reach any library through the global network and find what they want. The final step is to download the scanned image. Though the slow transmission of signal through the network is a major limiting factor, it can still save us much time in finding useful information, and thus it is an invaluable tool to both high school teachers and students. The main point of paragraph 1 is to