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  3. The telecity is a city whose life, direction, and functioning are largely shaped by telecommunications. In the twenty-first cent

The telecity is a city whose life, direction, and functioning are largely shaped by telecommunications. In the twenty-first cent

admin2011-03-22  65
问题 The telecity is a city whose life, direction, and functioning are largely shaped by telecommunications. In the twenty-first century, cities will be based more and more on an economy that is dependent on services and intellectual property. Telecommunications and information networks will define a city’s architecture, shape, and character. Proximity in the telecity will be defined by the speed and bandwidth of networks as much as by geographical propinquity. In the age of the telecity, New York and Singapore may be closer than, say, New York and Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
   Telecities will supersede megacities for several reasons, including the drive toward clean air, reducing pollution, energy conservation, more jobs based on services, and coping with the high cost of urban property. Now we must add the need to cope with terrorist threats in a high-technology world.
   Western mindsets were clearly jolted in the wake of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City and attacks in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere. But the risks posed by twentieth-century patterns of urbanization and architecture have yet to register fully with political figures and leaders of industry. The Pentagon, for example, has been rebuilt in situation rather than distributed to multiple locations and connected by secure landlines and broadband wireless systems.  Likewise, the reconstruction of the World Trade Center complex still represents a massive concentration of humanity and infrastructure. This is a remarkably short-sighted and dangerous vision of the future.
   The security risks, economic expenses, and environmental hazards of over-centralization are everywhere, and they do not stop with skyscrapers and large governmental structures. There are risks also at seaports and airports, in food and water supplies, at nuclear power plants and hydro-electric turbines at major dams, in transportation systems, and in information and communications systems.
   This vulnerability applies not only to terrorist threats but also to human error, such as system-wide blackouts in North America in August 2003 and in Italy in September 2003, and natural disasters such as typhoons, hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes. Leaders and planners are only slowly becoming aware that over-centralized facilities are the most vulnerable to attack or catastrophic destruction.
   There is also growing awareness that new broadband electronic systems now allow governments and corporations to safeguard their key assets and people in new and innovative ways. So far, corporations have been quickest to adjust to these new realities, and some governments have begun to adjust as well.
What is the author’s attitude towards the reconstruction of The Pentagon and the World Trade Center?
选项 A、Supporting
B、Critical
C、Neutral
D、Hostile
答案B
解析 观点态度题，根据文章第3段末我们不难看出作者的批评态度：This is a remarkably shortsighted and dangerous vision of the future.
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