18.通信和信息技術的進步削減了商業運作成本
段落大意：通信和信息技術的進步大大削減了商業運作成本。
Advances in communication and information technologies have helped slash （削減） the cost of transacting （交易的） business deals by well over 90.percent. Using a computer to do banking on the Internet, for example, costs the banking industry pennies per transaction instead of dollars by traditional methods. Over the last third of the 20th century the real cost of computer processing fell by 35.percent on average each year. Vast amounts of information can be processed, shared, and stored on a disk or a computer chip （集成電路片）, and the cost is continually declining. People can be almost anywhere and remain in instant communication with their employers, customers, or families 24.hours a day, 7.days a week. When people in the United States call a helpline （熱線服務電話） or make an airline reservation, they may be connected to someone in Mumbai（孟買）, India, who has been trained to speak English with an American accent. Other English speakers around the world prepare tax returns for US companies, evaluate insurance claims, and attempt to collect overdue（過期的） bills by telephone from thousands of kilometers and a number of time zones away.
19.通信技術的進步及即時通信的實現
段落大意：通信技術的進步將世界各地的人們聯係在一起，並給人們提供豐富的信息，促進了即時通信的實現。
Advances in communications have united people around the globe. For example, communications satellites allow global television broadcasts to bring news of faraway events, such as wars and national disasters as well as sports and other forms of entertainment. The Internet, the cell phone, and the fax machine permit instantaneous（即時的） communication. The World Wide Web and computers that store vast amounts of data allow instant access to a large number of information.
20.信息技術的進步降低了商業成本
段落大意：信息技術的進步降低了商業成本，以思科公司為例進行說明。
Advances in information technologies have lowered business costs. The global corporation Cisco Systems, for example, is one of the world’s largest companies as measured by its stock market value. Yet Cisco owns only three factories to make the equipment used to help maintain the Internet. Cisco subcontracts （轉包契約） the rest of its work to other companies around the world. Information platforms, such as the World Wide Web, enable Cisco’s subcontractors to bid for business on Cisco’s website where auctions （拍賣） take place and where suppliers and customers stay in constant contact.
21.信息係統在商業中的作用
段落大意：信息係統在現代商業社會中有著至關重要的作用。
Today’s information systems are both technical and social in nature. Management must understand the importance of information for the organisation. It is management’s job to understand how information is collected, processed （加工）, and distributed. We are all extremely affected by information systems and must be willing to understand and work with them. Our global economy does not allow us to depend on face-to-face transactions （麵對麵交易） as in the 1980s. Today, few managers can ignore the importance and impact of how information is handled by their organisation. Information systems play a critical role in today’s business organisation and society.
22.20世紀的三大技術成就及DNA芯片
段落大意：DNA芯片改變了基因的研究並且轉變了製藥業的研究和生產方式。
When future historians look back on the greatest scientific advancements of the 20th century, they will undoubtedly focus on only three events: the Apollo Moon landing, the invention of the microprocessor （微處理器）, and possibly the greatest scientific endeavor （成就） yet, genomics （基因學）, the science of identifying genes and how they work in humans. It is possibly not a total coincidence that two of this century’s greatest advancements have grown out of the same cradle （搖籃） of technology, Silicon Valley （矽穀）. The first advancement was the invention of the microprocessor, and the second was the invention of the DNA chip, also called the DNA array or biochip （生物芯片）. These DNA chips are the newest tools being used in the study of genomics. They are changing the way researchers analyze the genetic make-up of cells, and will make traditional pharmaceutical （藥物的） research obsolete. This allows for whole new generations of drugs that will be made to combat diseases by effecting changes in their specific genetic design.
23.計算機產業的壟斷
段落大意：壟斷的定義及其在計算機領域的體現。
The definition of pure competition is the absence of significant barriers for new firms to enter the market. Monopoly （壟斷）, correspondingly, arises because of such barriers. A monopoly firm is the exclusive seller of a good or service with no close substitutes （代替品）. The market in which the monopoly firm operates is called a monopoly market. Two forces dominated developments in the computer industry in 1995, the arrival of Microsoft Corp.’s new Windows 95.personal computer operating system and the overnight authority of the Internet and the World Wide Web, a subset （子集） of the Internet for multimedia use. Events in 1995.drew so much attention to both Windows 95.and the Web that by the end of the year the computer mouse had become almost as well known to the world population as the television remote control. Both Windows 95.and the Web were milestones on what clearly emerged during the monopoly.