The new cable should help local businesses

Background: 在非洲東部和南部的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)連接即將會(huì)得到明顯的改善。新投資建設(shè)的海底光纜將把寬帶服務(wù)帶入非洲東南部地區(qū)，同時(shí)也將促進(jìn)該地區(qū)的工業(yè)和經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展。

Questions: 請(qǐng)?jiān)诼?tīng)下面錄音的時(shí)候試著回答這些問(wèn)題。這是一個(gè)用來(lái)幫助你提高聽(tīng)力技能的練習(xí)。

1. Were the cables laid above ground?

2. How many new cables are going to become operational soon?

3. Will the cable mean cheaper internet access for everyone?

4. Why is it feared the new cable will not benefit everyone living in villages?

East Africa Broadband 東非寬帶發(fā)展

Listen to Will Ross' report 點(diǎn)擊此處下載錄音材料

It has been an ambitious project. Laying a 17,000 kilometre fibre optic cable under the sea linking Europe and Asia with East and Southern Africa. Seacom, a Mauritius-based company, is today officially launching the arrival of a fast broadband internet service in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa. It should be commercially available in a few weeks’ time.

Three other fibre optic cables are due to become operational soon including one which is backed by the Kenyan government. In theory the region could be on the brink of an internet revolution. But it all depends how well the service is rolled out across the region.

To the disappointment of many consumers, some internet providers are not planning to lower the cost of the internet but they will offer increased bandwidth.

Corporate businesses will benefit - they have been paying around three thousand dollars per month for a megabyte via a satellite link but will now pay about six hundred dollars thanks to the fibre optic cables.

Faster internet when it comes should improve business efficiency and countries like Kenya or Uganda could become popular places for telephone call centres.

What is not clear is whether this internet revolution will reach the villages many of which are struggling to access a reliable electricity supply.

GLOSSARY 詞匯表 (收聽(tīng)發(fā)音, 請(qǐng)單擊英語(yǔ)單詞)

fibre optic cable 光纜	internet providers 互聯(lián)網(wǎng)服務(wù)公司
launching 推出（新產(chǎn)品）	bandwidth 帶寬
commercially available 市場(chǎng)上能買到的	megabyte 百萬(wàn)字節(jié)
operational 能進(jìn)入操作階段	satellite link 衛(wèi)星聯(lián)接
backed 支持	telephone call centres 電話服務(wù)中心
on the brink 即將	reliable 穩(wěn)定的
rolled out 推出	electricity supply 供電，電源

Answers 

1. Were the cables laid above ground?

No, they were laid under the sea.

2. How many new cables are going to become operational soon?

Four, including the Seacom cable.

3. Will the cable mean cheaper internet access for everyone?

No, some internet providers will not be lowering their prices.

4. Why is it feared the new cable will not benefit everyone living in villages?

Because they do not all have a reliable electricity supply.