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Passage Two
Telecommunications is just one of the means by which people communicate and, as such, we need to look at telecommunications and any other communications technologies within the wider context of human communication activity. Early findings show that many people are uneasy and even fearful of information technology by avoiding it or by using it in minimal ways.
To obtain this type of data we have spent time with individuals, watching how they communicate where they get confused, what they don't understand and the many mistakes they make. You can do this type of research yourself in an informal way. Just watch someone at the desk next to you trying to use a phone or trying to fill in a form. What you will quickly notice about people on the phone is that they use very few of the buttons available on the keypad, and they get quite anxious if they have to use any buttons outside their normal ones. Most will not use the instruction book, and those that do will not necessarily have a rewarding experience. Watch someone fill out a form--a good meaty one such as an application form or a tax form--and you will see a similar pattern of distressed behavior.
The simple fact we can all observe from how people use these ordinary instruments of everyday communication is how messy, uncertain and confusing the experience can be. Now multiply these individual close encounters of the communicative kind to take account of the full range you may experience in a single day, from getting up in the morning until you go to bed at night and the world takes on a slightly different appearance.
Even watching television which for many provides an antidote to the daily confusion is itself fraught with a kind of low level confusion. For example, if you ring people up five minutes after the evening news has finished and ask them what the news was about, many cannot remember, and those who do remember get some of it wrong.
One of the reasons why this obvious confusion gone unnoticed is because "communication" is a word we associate with success, and therefore we expect the process to work effectively most of the time. To suggest otherwise is to challenge one of our society's most deeply held beliefs.
57. How do scientists know many people are uneasy about information technology?
A) By asking people to answer questions orally.
B) By asking people to fill in various question forms.
C) By making people use instruments of everyday communication.
D) By watching people using information technology.
58. Which of the following about reading the instruction book is TRUE?
A) Those who read it benefit a great deal.
B) Generally, it is poorly written.
C) Generally, it is too long to read.
D) Most people do not refer themselves to it.
59. The writer includes the example of watching TV in Paragraph 4 for the purpose of ______.
A) illustrating that watching TV itself is a source of low-level confusion
B) recommending that watching TV is an antidote to removing confusion
C) indicating that TV viewers cannot remember all its programs
D) supporting the view that all people poor and rich, enjoy watching TV
60. What does the last paragraph want to indicate?
A) The kinds of confusion gone unnoticed.
B) What makes some confusion go unnoticed.
C) The contents of confusion gone unnoticed.
D) The people with some confusion gone unnoticed.
61. What conclusion about new technology can you obtain from this passage?
A) It takes time to get familiar with new technology.
B) New technology is developing rapidly.
C) Not everybody likes new technology.
D) People take a positive attitude toward new technology.
