On Christmas Day 1990, in a laboratory in Switzerland, British physicist Tim Berners-Lee
On Christmas Day 1990, in a laboratory in Switzerland, British physicist Tim Berners-Lee finished developing the tools to create the World Wide Web. He was working at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, Cern, in Geneva.
His boss gave him the green light to work on the project during his spare time and together with the help of his Belgian colleague Robert Cailliau, Tim Berners-Lee produced the world’s first web page.
The experiment heralded a new era because it demonstrated how computers could talk to each other through a new language they created called Hyper-Text Markup Language, or HTML.
Currently there might be anything up to a trillion web pages with all sorts of content. People buy and sell products and services, make friends through these pages, learn and teach. We found many enthusiasts of the web in the streets of London.
Man 1: “It means having information in your home with easy access which in the past would have only been available in thousands of libraries. So it’s information at your fingertips.”
Woman: “Access to a lot of people really. We’ve got a lot of family overseas so we use Skype quite a bit.”
Man 2: “Information, news, social groups.”
Man 3: “I’m just using it usually for emails and social networking with my friends and well, reading newspapers and information. Basically everything!”
Fortunes were made in the World Wide Web. Many say that Tim Berners-Lee could have been a billionaire through his invention but he said that all he wants is to keep the egalitarian spirit of the web intact and the medium free to use. Many users share the same ideals.
21. What is this passage talking about?_______
A. The birth of the World Wide Web.
B. The biography of a physicist.
C. The importance of the first web page.
D. The application of some HTML.
22. Who is Tim Berners-Lee?_____
A. An internet user.
B. A physicist won the Nobel Prize.
C. A physicist who also designed the first web page.
D. A write who writes in a brand new language.
23. Where were the people interviewed?________
A. Bern.
B. London.
C. Geneva.
D. An unknown city in England.
24. Which of the following best describes the interviewees’ attitudes towards the internet?_______
A. Fearful.
B. Indifferent.
C. Distanced.
D. Enthusiastic
25. Which of the following is incorrect about the application of the Web?_______
A. It can be used in many ways.
B. It has become very popular among average people.
C. The inventor of the internet hopes everybody has access to medium.
D. It was designed by a government official in Europe.