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.
How do scientists know many people are uneasy about information technology? ______
根据题干关键词定位到第二段第一句。文章第二段提到“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.”只要观察他们就可以获得数据。作者接着举例：“Just watch someone at the desk next to you trying to use a phone or trying to fill in a form.”可以观察他们何使用电话，如何填写表格。因此，选项B通过观察人们如何使用信息技术了解人们对信息技术的态度是正确答案。 [参考译文] 通讯只是人们沟通的一种手段，因而在更大范围的人际交流活动中，我们应该对通讯和其他通信技术有所认识。早期的研究结果显示，许多人对信息技术感到不安甚至恐惧，他们会在生活中避免或尽可能少地使用信息技术。 为了获得相关数据，我们花时间对个体展开了研究，观察他们在遇到令自己困惑混乱的信息技术时怎么办，他们对哪些问题不理解，容易犯哪些错误。你自己也可以在私下里做这种研究。只需要观察跟你邻座的人是如何使用手机或填写表格的。你很快就会注意到打电话交谈的人很少使用键盘上的按钮，在必须使用不常用的按钮时，他们会异常焦虑。大部分人不看说明书，而那些看的人也未必见得能得到什么有价值的经验。再观察一下别人填写表格——申请表或税单这类内容繁多的表格——的过程，你会发现相似的焦虑行为。 通过观察人们日常交往过程中对常用沟通工具的使用情况，很容易看到这些工具对于人们来说有多棘手、难懂和混乱。现在，从多方面对个体展开观察，把你一整天能用到通讯设备的情况都考虑在内，从早晨起床到晚上上床睡觉，你会发现情况有了些许变化。 对很多人来说，电视是混乱生活中的一剂良药，但即使是电视本身也充斥着一种程度较低的信息混乱。比如，晚间新闻结束五分钟后，你给一个人打电话，问他新闻报道了什么，许多人都会不记得了，就算有些人记住了，也会记错一部分内容。 为什么这么明显的混乱却没有被人发现呢?其中一个原因就是我们总是把通讯技术和成功联系在一起，因此我们总以为通讯过程都是有效的。提出异议就是在对整个社会根深蒂固的思想做出挑战。
Which of the following about reading the instruction book is TRUE? ______
根据题干关键词定位到第二段倒数第二句。由第二段倒数第二句“Most will not use the instruction book, and those that do will not necessarily have a rewarding experience. ”可知大多数人都不看说明书，那些看说明书的人也不一定能得到有益的帮助。因此正确答案为C项。
The writer includes the example of watching TV in Paragraph 4 for the purpose of ______.
根据题干关键词定位到第四段第一句。由第四段段首主题句“Even watching television which for many provides an antidote to the daily confusion is itself fraught with a kind of low level confusion. ”可知哪怕是看电视被很多人看作是消除日常信息混乱的方法，其本身也充斥着一种程度较低的信息混乱。紧接着作者以看电视新闻为例，指出人们看电视也不能获得准确全面的信息。可见，此例是为了阐释段首主题句的。因此正确答案为A项。
What does the last paragraph indicate? ______
根据题干关键词定位到第四段。最后一段作者指出这种明显的信息混乱没有引起人们注意的原因是人们总把“communication”和成功联系在一起。人们总是期待这个过程是成功的，否则就是挑战人们所深信不疑的信念。可见最后一段是在分析原因，正确答案为B项。
What conclusion about new technology can be made from this passage? ______
根据题干关键词定位到第四段。最后一段作者提到人们总是把新技术(例如communication)和成功相联系。人们期待这个过程成功，对此深信不疑。由此可见，尽管有混乱和迷惑，人们对新技术的态度是积极的、客观的。正确答案为A项。