单选题
The technology revolution may be coming to poor
countries via the mobile phone, not the personal computer, as it did in rich
ones. And just as the Internet encouraged an entrepreneurial philosophy, and
with it the creation of a few too many dotcom firms, Africa's surge in
mobile-phone use may {{U}}unleash{{/U}} the same sort of business energy, but
tailored to local needs. One such initiative is about to begin.
TradeNet, a software company based in Accra, Ghana, will unveil a simple sort of
eBay for agricultural products across a dozen countries in West Africa. It lets
buyers and sellers indicate what they are after and their contact information,
which is sent to all relevant subscribers as an SMS text message in one of four
languages. Interested parties can then reach others directly to do a deal.
Listing offers is free, as is receiving the texts. TradeNet plans to earn
revenue by putting advertisements in the messages, though it hopes the service
will become so useful that recipients will eventually want to pay. For the
moment, though, the company is busy signing up users and swallowing the cost of
sending the messages. Mobile-phone use in sub-Saharan Africa is
soaring. Whereas only 10% of the population had network coverage in 1999, today
more than 60% have it, a figure expected to exceed 85% in the coming year,
according to the GSM Association, an industry trade
group. This provides the infrastructure for businesses
like TradeNet to function. TradeNet is the brainchild of Mark
Davies, a British dotcom tycoon who gave up the rat race and went to Africa in
2000. In 2005, he started the prototype for TradeNet using around ＄600,000 of
his own money and about ＄200,000 from aid agencies. An early set of trials last
year generated a surplus of trades, such as a sale of organic fertilizer between
a person in Yemen and another in Nigeria. A number of other
mobile-phone market-places taking shape also started as aid projects. For
example, Trade at Hand, a project funded by the UN's International Trade Centre
in Geneva, provides daily price information for fruit and vegetable exports in
Burkina Faso and Mali, with plans to add more countries. And Manobi, a telecoms
firm based in Senegal, providing real-time agricultural and fish prices to
fee-paying subscribers, is also backed by aid money. But TradeNet's approach is
unique so far because it collects valuable economic data-names, locations,
business interests and telephone numbers-and then sells them to advertisers. The
price of economic development may be junk mail by mobile phone.
单选题
The word "unleash" (Line 4, Paragraph 1) is closest in meaning to
A. generate.
B. intensify.
C. create.
D. loosen.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】
单选题
Which of the following about TradeNet is true?
A. TradeNet is to agricultural products what eBay is to manufactured
products.
B. The ultimate goal of TradeNet is to let its users pay for the
services.
C. Users' payment for TradeNet's services forms TradeNet's revenue.
D. TradeNet is possible due to high network coverage and cell-phone
availability.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】
单选题
What do we learn about Mark Davies?
A. His dotcom firm had dominated the British market.
B. He was the person who benefited most from the African market.
C. He had been tired of the fierce competition among British dotcom
firms.
D. He created and founded the firm TradeNet all by himself.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】
单选题
What can we infer from the last paragraph of the text?
A. With the UN's support, Trade at Hand is bound to spread to the whole
African continent.
B. Aid projects played an important role in fostering mobile-phone
market-places in Africa.
C. TradeNet is the most successful one of all the mobile-phone market-places
in Africa.
D. The junk mail by mobile phone will ruin the economic development in
Africa.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】
单选题
What is the author's attitude towards mobile-phone market-places?