【非選題】 II. Summarize and rearrange the following text into a passage around 250 words, and present 5 cloze test
questions in that passage, with answers. (15%)
Mobile phones, tablets and e-readers with broadband connectivity could prove to be the long-sought answer in
the global effort to bring high-quality, multidisciplinary education to people everywhere, especially the world’s
poorest or most isolated communities, according to the UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development, which
held its 11th meeting at UNESCO headquarters in Paris today.
A report by the Commission’s Working Group on Education, led by UNESCO, indicated that, worldwide, over
60 million primary-school age children do not currently attend school; almost half that number never will. The
situation worsens as children get older, with over 70 million not enrolled in secondary school. And while classroom
computers can help, lack of resources remains critical. If eight children share each classroom computer in OECD
nations, in Africa teachers can struggle to share each computer among 150 or more pupils. But with increasingly
sophisticated mobile devices now packing more computing power than the famed ‘supercomputers’ of the late 1990s,
the Commission believes broadband-connected personal wireless devices could be the solution.
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ITU figures show that mobile broadband is the fastest growing technology in human history. The number of
mobile phone subscriptions now exceeds the world’s total population of around seven billion, and active mobile
broadband subscriptions exceed 2.1 billion – three times higher than the 700 million wireline broadband connections
worldwide. Even more encouragingly, most of this progress has taken place in the developing world, which has
accounted for 90% of global net additions for mobile cellular and 82% of global net additions of new Internet users
since early 2010.
“Every day, everywhere, women and men are inventing new ways to use broadband, mobile telephones and
computers to be empowered, more autonomous and free,” said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova. “We need to
tap this inventiveness to improve education, especially for girls and women. But we have a long way to go. Two
thirds of illiterate adults are women, and two thirds of the world’s out-of-school primary-age children are girls. This is
a huge injustice, and a gap that we must fill. The continued expansion of broadband combined with technology can
help us make giant strides towards this.”
Established in 2010, the Broadband Commission is a top-level advocacy body which focuses on strategies to
make broadband more available and affordable worldwide. It is chaired by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and
Mexico’s Carlos Slim Helú, with ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao and UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova
as co-Vice Chairs. As the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals fast approaches, Commissioners are now
focusing on ensuring broadband is recognized as a fundamental pillar of the UN Sustainable Development Goals,
which will be agreed at the forthcoming Sustainable Development Summit in New Year in September.
Today’s meeting of the Commission was held in conjunction with UNESCO’s flagship ICT education-focused
event, Mobile Learning Week (MLW), co-organized this year with sister agency UN Women. Broadband
Commissioners participating in the MLW High-level Policy Forum of “Leveraging technology to empower women
and girls” took advantage of the opportunity to interact with Ministers of Education and senior representatives of
international organizations on the uses of mobile broadband for education.
“Education is one of the most powerful uses to which broadband connectivity can be put,” said ITU
Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. “For the first time in history, mobile broadband gives us the chance to truly bring
education to all, regardless of a person’s geographical location, linguistic and cultural frameworks, or ready access to
infrastructure like schools and transport. Education will drive entrepreneurship, especially among the young – which
is why we must strive harder to get affordable broadband networks in place which can deliver educational
opportunities to children and adults,” he said.
Speaking at the opening of the Commission session earlier today, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda stressed
that broadband should be regarded as a basic utility, like water and electricity. “In Rwanda, investing in ICTs has been
indispensable to the attainment of our development goals. Broadband enables business and social entrepreneurs to
find ways to offer world class education at low cost, to populations that have never had access. These centres of
knowledge already exist, but in order for developing countries and isolated communities to access and use them
productively, they will need faster, more reliable, and more affordable Internet. The same principle extends to
government more widely, particularly in delivering essential services. Broadband technology can enhance public
administration efficiency and accountability to citizens, no matter where they live.”