Enter the information age. Information is the raw material for many of the business activities shaping this new era (1)________ Iron and steel were the basic commodities in the dawning of the industrial age.
The world's knowledge is said to be doubling every eight years. This knowledge (2)________ is stimulating economic progress. The need to collect, analyze, and communicate large quantities of information is spawning new products and services, creating jobs, and (3)________ career opportunities.
The information age is generally considered to be a phenomenon of the service (4)________ of the economy, (5)________ a product of heavy industry. Certainly, (6)________ information technologies are creating new capabilities in knowledge-base service spheres. But changes just as dramatic are (7)________ industry, giving people the opportunity to do challenging work in exciting new ways.
Manufacturing is a full (8)________ in the information age. From (9)________ to production, the manufacturing process has long been information-intensive. It always has required exacting communication to describe what goes into products and (10)________ to make them. Now, computer technology is giving factory managers new capability to gather all of this information and use it to control production.
Telecommunication is producing error-free communication between the design office and the factory, computer-aided design is enabling engineers to evaluate product (11)________ and manufacturing processes (12)________ video displays, before (13)________ are committed to build and test (14)________. Techniques like these are bringing about new advances in manufacturing productivity.
Just as coal fueled the transformation to an industrial society, (15)________ micro-electronics powering the rise of the information age. Microelectronic information-management tools are strengthening U. S industrial (16)________, (17)________ remains vital to America's economic well-being and national security.
More and more manufacturing companies are (18)________ that the wise of information can give them a competitive (19)________ . As companies emphasize powerful information management, talented people will continue to find ways to make factories and mills with increased (20)________ .
上一句提到信息是现代社会的原材料，下一句提到钢铁是工业时代的基本用品，可见，是将信息在现代社会的地位与钢铁在工业时代的地位进行类比，故选C。
explosion爆炸。exploitation开发。expression表达。tension张力。将四个选项代入句子，只有A 项最合适。 句意为 “知识爆炸刺激了经济发展”。
从上文的信息创造了更多就业，可以看出，此处是扩大了就业机会，故选D 。
从选项中可以看出此处要填的是“服务业”，即 “service sector”，故选 D 。
此句的意思是“不同于重工业的产品，信息时代是服务业的一种现象”， “other than” 意 为 “不同于”。故选 A。
“burgeoning”常用来形容迅速发展的产业或行业，在此处用来修饰信息技术行业最合适，故选C。
transform转变。transmit传输，传播。transport运输。translate翻译。此句意为工业的转变使人们可以挑战新的工作方式。故选 D。
下一句中提到的整个生产过程是信息密集型的，可见在信息时代，制造业是参与者。故选B。
“从设计到产品”这是生产的整个过程，故选 A。
产品的生产需要弄清原材料和制作方法，因此，应选择 “how ”，表示生产方式。故选 C。
performance性能。只有这个词能形容产品，其他选项均不合适。故选A。
“videodisplays”是视频显示器，故选用介词“ on” 搭配。
“生产材料” 使 用 “resource” 一词。
生产过程中要先生产样品进行测试。故选 “prototype” 样品。
“just as … so...”表 示 “正如....一样，........也........ ”。
工业生产能力“industrial capability” 为固定搭配。
此句为非限定性定语从句，只能用 “which” 引导非限定性定语从句。
supposing表示 “猜想，认为”，此句意为“越来越多的制造公司认为信息技术能带给他们竞争优势。
竞争优势“competitive edge” 为固定搭配。
生产力用 “productivity ”。