2. The Internet互联网

A: The Internet can be a real pain at times.
B: Apart from the spam, and the viruses, the Internet has got to be the greatest thing that ever happened in communications.

A: The spam, and the viruses, are fairly easy to fix; the real problem with the net is the amount of info that gets posted.
B: But, that’s the beauty of it, you can find out about anything you want to know.

A: Yes; but, how do you know the information is correct?
B: That’s easy; just check the references. If you log onto a good web page the information should be reliable.

A:Ah! You see. You said “should be reliable.” That’s the whole problem. How do we know what is a “good” web page and how do we know if the information is “reliable”?
B:Well! I suppose, you just have to go through all the pages that come up, when you do a search.

A:I bet I can find you a dozen pages that say, sugar is one of the best energy foods you can have and, another dozen pages to say, it will kill you.
B:That’s where you have to use your judgement.

A:But, that’s what I go to the Internet for; to find out the information so that we can make a judgement.
B:The Internet isn’t just for getting that sort of information. E-commerce has become a boom industry because you can buy, or sell, anything on the Internet.

A:Yeah! And you can get ripped off too. I know people who have used their credit card on the Internet and had to cancel the card to stop it being used illegally.
B:That has to be a rare case. There are, real, secure ways to make payments through the Internet where that can’t happen.

A:Don’t you believe it! Credit card fraud over the Internet is a huge international problem. Look it up. There are web pages dedicated to providing the facts.
B:Who put those pages on the Internet? Is it the credit card people?

A:No way. They would never publicise that sort of information. You have to look up the alternative sites, and the blogs.
B:I don’t know. I never trust those alternative sites and, the blogs can say anything, true or false.

A:Talk about coming around in a full circle! Isn’t that just what we were talking about before? How do we know what is right and what isn’t?
B:Aw! Now, you’re just trying to confuse me!

A：有时候因特网真令人头疼。
B：不会吧，网上除了有些垃圾邮件和病毒之外，因特网可以说是迄今为止人类通讯领域发生的最伟大的一次革命。

A：垃圾邮件和病毒都好解决，真正的问题是网上每天发布的海量信息。
B：这不正是网络的优点嘛，你可以在上面找到任何你想要了解的东西。

A：没错，可是你如何才能知道这些消息是正确的呢？
B：这很简单，只要检查一下参考资料就可以了。要是你访问了一个好的网站，那么上面的信息就应该是可靠的。

A：哈！你看！你也说了，“应该是可靠的”。这就是问题的关键。我们怎么知道哪些网站是“好”的，哪些消息又是“可靠”的呢？
B：在搜索的时候，我想你恐怕需要浏览查看所有跳出的网页。

A：我敢打赌，我可以找到几十个网页说糖是你所能吃到的、最好的补充能量的食品，同时也能找到几十个网页说糖会对你的健康有害，吃多了会要你的命。
B：如果真是这样，那此时就需要你自己作出判断了。

A：可我们上网的目的就是为了查找各种信息，以便于我们作出判断啊。
B：不过，你要知道，因特网不仅仅是给人们提供信息的，它还是一个网络交易平台，你可以通过网络买卖商品，这样，因为有了因特网，现在电子商务已经成为了一个迅速发展的行业。

A：你说的没错，但也别忘了，你或许也会因此被骗。我就听说过一些人由于在网上购物时使用了信用卡，后来信用卡就被人盗用了，害得他们不得不销卡。
B：那简直太罕见了。要是通过真正的、安全的方式进行网上支付，就可以避免这样的情况。

A：你难道不相信吗？网上的信用卡欺诈已经成为了一个影响广泛的国际性问题。你看，这里有关于这个事件的专门网页。
B：是谁把这些网页放到网上的？是那些信用卡工作人员？

A：当然不是了，他们永远不会公布这类信息的。你需要去查看那些相关网页和博客。
B：我不清楚。我从不相信那些相关网页，还有那些博客。我感觉那上面不论真假，随便说。

A：你看，说来说去，我们又说回来了——我们怎么才能知道哪些信息是正确的，哪些不是呢？——这不正是我们之前所讨论的吗？
B：哦！你简直把我搞糊涂了！