Personal computers and the Internet give people new choices about how to spend their time．

Some may use this freedom to share less time with certain friends or family members, but new technology will also let them stay in closer touch with those they care more about．I know this from my personal experience．

E-mail makes it easy to work at home, where I now spend most weekends and evenings．My workinghours aren’t necessarily much shorter than they once were but I spend fewer of them at the office．This let me share more time with my young daughter than I might have if she’d been born before E-mail became such a practical tool．

The Internet also makes it easy to share thoughts with a group of friends．Say you do something fun—see a great movie perhaps—and there are four or five friends who might want to hear about it．If you call each one, you may be tired of telling the story．

With E-mail, you just write one note about your experience, at your convenience, and address it to all the friends who you think might be interested．They can read your message when they have time, and read as much as they want to．They can reply at their convenience, and you can read what they have to say at your convenience．

E-mail is also an inexpensive way to stay in close touch with people who live far away．More than a few parents use E-mail to keep in touch, even daily touch, with their children at college．

We just have to keep in mind that computers and the Internet offer another way of staying in touch．They don’t take the place of any of the old ways．

1.The purpose of this passage is to ___________．

      A．explain how to use the Internet．

      B．share the writer’s joy of keeping up with the latest technology．

      C．tell the usefulness of the Internet．

      D．introduce the basic knowledge about personal computers and the Internet．

2.The use of E-mail has made it possible for the writer to ____________．

      A．spending less time working．

      B．have more time to spend with his children．

      C．work at home on all weekends．

      D．work at a speed comfortable to him．

3.According to the writer, E-mail has no obvious advantage over the telephone because the former helps one_______________．

      A．reach a group of people at one time conveniently．

      B．keep his communication as personal as possible．

      C．pass on much more information than the latter．

      D．get in touch with his friends faster than the latter．

4.The best title for the passage is “__________________”．

      A．Computer—New Technological Advances

      B．Internet—New Tool to Maintain Good Friendship

      C．Computer—Have Made Life Easier

      D．Internet—a Convenient Tool for Communication