【听力答案】

7. D 8. B 9. B 10. B

【听力原文】

Passage 3

Communicating information always has been extremely important. Throughout history, some information has had value beyond measure. The lack of information often costs huge amounts of money and, sometimes, many lives. （7）From the beginning of human history，information traveled only as fast as a ship could sail, or a horse could run, or a person could walk.（在人类历史的初期，信息的传递速度由船划行的速度、马奔跑的速度或者人行走的速度决定。）People experimented with other ways to send messages. Some people tried using birds to carry messages.（8）Then they discovered it was not always a safe way to send or receive information.（后来人们发现通过鸟收发信息并不总是很安全。）

A faster method finally arrived with the invention of the telegraph. The first useful telegraphs were developed in Britain and the United States in the 1830s.（9）The telegraph was the first instrument used to send information using wires and electricity.（电报是最早通过电线发送信息的通信工具。）（10）By the year 1900，big city newspapers could provide people with information that was only hours old.（到1900年，大城市的报纸可以提供几个小时前的最新消息。）Now, both radio and television, with the aid of satellite communications, could provide information immediately. People who lived in a small village could listen to or watch world events as they happened. People in large cities, small towns and villages saw the event as it was happening. There was no delay in communicating important information.

【核心词汇】

communicate v.传达，表达

telegraph n.电报

instrument n.器具，仪器