閱讀與觀察札記

        已經整整三個星期忙翻天,沒空寫文章,繼續po去年寫的英文作文吧!此篇標題中譯是"晶片對人類文明的衝擊"(修正版)

Television definitely changes our life and the way we know this world.  The invention of the microchip, however, has brought a far more important change to the world than the television does did.  The computer was the first product of microchip.  With the advent of the computer in the 20^th century, human civilization made a great stride.  We entered the Information Age.  The wide application of computer contributes to the flourishing development of technology.  The advancement of technology makes life convenient and speeds the exchange of opinions and knowledge.  Therefore, the invention of computer is the greatest invention of the 20^th century as far as the human civilization is concerned.

The computer plays an indispensable role in daily life, especially for those in developed nations.  It simplifies our routine work.  We are under the control of the microchips when we use a word processor and an air-conditioner, buy tickets, take public transportation, talk over a cell phone, and use a global positioning system.  Take a word processor for example, office software is very useful and we can deal with many more documents in a period of time than before.

Computer systems are also a great help in transportation.  Before you take a train you have to buy tickets.  You have three choices to get train tickets: the sales window, the vending machine, and the internet.  Whatever choices you choose, they are all controlled by computer systems. 

In addition, waiting for a bank or postal service can also be managed through the computer system.  The programmers design a specific computerized number-calling application.   We no longer have to wait in a line for a long time during rush hour in a bank or a post office so it saves us time to do extra work.

As for medication, biochips can help solve the mystery of human genes to produce new medicine quickly.  With biochips, doctors can find cancer-triggered or long-life genes quickly and may change the present ways of medication in the near future.  We even have to rethink the meaning of life.

The Information revolution resulting from computers, especially the internet, accelerates globalization.  Previously, we got images, knowledge and news from television during the middle of the last century.  We knew the world mainly from public media, such as television.  Presently, we have powerful media on the Internet.  We can exchange our opinions with others around the world in a shorter time with it.  It appeared in the late 20^th century.  We get much more knowledge than before and know what’s happening in each corner of the globe through the World Wide Web. 

Web workstyle and web lifestyle are some of the influences of the internet.  Web workstyle means we use computer to deal with business documents and contact with others through communication software when we work in the office or at home.  Web lifestyle means we use computer in our daily life, such as buying tickets, reading news, watching TV programs, playing online games, going shopping on the internet, writing e-mails, making a phone call. Internet indeed has a greater impact on our daily life than what we thought it would.

All kinds of information and words, numbers, sounds and graphs will be digitalized.  Thus most of the commercial activities turn into globalization.  For big international companies, bosses can hold video conferences without flying to another country.  Customers can place orders on the products via internet without faxing the orders.  Even the world’s governments, especially of developed countries, utilize the information technology to strength their power and influence in the world.  America is a good example.  The mass media and internet promote American ideology, economic modes, science, culture and political system to the globe.  Its fast expansion indeed reinforces its international place as the most powerful nation in the world.  From these examples, computer enhances the globalization.

Computer revolutionizes not only our working style, commercial and recreational activities, but also our society and life.  At last it has lead to the great advancement of human civilization during the last century.  In this century, we believe its impact on the progress of civilization will be more powerful than before.