GRE写作素材Section Two: Science and Technolo

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　　There is a great deal of interest in the use of computers in education. The educational use of computers is called Computer Assisted Instruction, or CAI. Many public schools in the United States have acquired computers and CAI programs to rum on them. School districts are establishing computer resource centers and special training programs to help teachers use computers. In addition, some colleges and universities are beginning to establish computer literacy requirements for graduation. In spite of all this interest in the use of computers in education, some educators and students still may be wondering if this expensive toy is really worth their time and, in some cases, money. The answer is a definite yes: The use of computers in education has important benefits for both students and teachers.

　　Computers enhance a student s learning experience in many ways. First of all, the computer has the ability to accommodate individual differences in learning speed because the user is the one who controls the pace of the lessons. In addition, because a computer is nonjudgmental, the learner does not have to be afraid of reprisal or humiliation when making errors. For example, because computers can repeat information over and over, the user can ask for many repetitions of a lesson without fearing a judgmental response about his or her ability to learn. The beneficial effects of learning in a stress-free atmosphere are well documented. A third advantage of CAI is that computer can give a student immediate feedback. It can tell the student why she or he is wrong as soon as an error is made, and it can even provide an approach hint for figuring out the correct answer.

　　Not only do computers benefit students, they also make the teacher s job easier. One advantage lies in the preparation of instructional materials. Schools and colleges can purchase educational computer programs that can be adapted to any learning situation. These systems, called authoring systems, are like skeletal lesson plans: The format of several exercises and tests is already planned out; all the teacher adds is the information he or she wants the students to learn . The authoring system automatically incorporates these teaching points into its preplanned format and then is ready to be used by several students for a long time. The system can also correct the students work and determine and record grades. In addition, the computer offers numerous advantages to teachers in managing their classrooms. A computer laboratory can free the teacher to meet individually with students while the rest of the class is occupied with computer lessons. Finally, computers can help teachers keep student records and chart student progress, thereby cutting down on time consuming paperwork.

　　With all of these advantages for both teachers and students, it is easy to see why there is so much interest in using computers in education. Of course, there are those who are skeptical and view computers as a passing fad. There are those also who simply are afraid of them. In time, however, computers will become as familiar in the classroom as chalkboards are today.

　　2. Computer Make the Workplace Less Friendly

　　We have seen the future, and it hurts.

　　That s what millions of American office workers are discovering every year as computer come to dominate the office and the mania for ever-increasing profits consumes the work environment. If present sentiments persist, there could be a white-collar revolt, as executives and stenographers alike find that the office of tomorrow is just the keypunch counterpart of the sweatshop of yesterday.

　　One reason for this is the computer s potential to deskill work to reduce it to simple, repetitive actions. For example, instead of having each worker in an insurance company record an incoming insurance claim and then stay with it through all phases of processing, the job is broken up: One drone does nothing but complete the same log-in forms; another grind out identical letters to different addresses.

　　Even valued senior employees are burning out as a consequence, of computer monitoring which affects between 20 and 35 percent of America s workers, according to a report by the Office of technology Assessment .

　　When workers use electronic gear, it is easy to meter work-time to the millisecond, tally breaks and phone calls, or rank a worker s output against that of his colleagues. Terminals track the number of keystrokes a workers uses in completing a particular project. This is all necessary, managers say, to improve productivity.

　　BankAmerica, for example, paid $1million in 1985 to install a computer system for rating the 3,500 employees in the credit card division on 200 specific work criteria. I measure everything that moves, the senior vice president in charge declared.

　　Workers are less enthusiastic. A Boston insurance-claim keypuncher finds incredible pressure to enter data faster and faster to meet management s standards. I d leave work every day with a terrible headache and pain in my neck and shoulders. It s a familiar complaint. An OTA survey of 110 organizations between 1982 and 1986 found that approximately two-third were engaged in some form of computer surveillance, monitoring, standardized pace, or quota systems.

　　This despite the fact that as early as 1981, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found that clerical work involving computers and video display terminals produced a higher level of tension than air-traffic control. Proponents of high technology dismissed the findings a transient spasm of adjustment to the new digital workplace. The volume of stress-based complaints continues to rise, however.

　　In an atmosphere of computer monitoring, inept work station, inflexible pacing, and nerve-wracking anxiety, workman s compensation claims based on job stress have more than doubled since 1980, and now account for approximately 15 percent of all occupational disease claims. According to estimates by the OTA, stress-related illness costs business, between $50 and $75 billion per year.

　　Labor Department figures show that productivity in the services sector where electronic equipment should have maximum impact and which employs nearly three quarters of all American workers is scarcely above levels in the mid-1970s, chiefly because of problems understanding and adapting to new technology.

　　3. Solar Energy

　　Solar power was an exotic new technology when John Schaeffer graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1972 and helped start a primitive commune in the woods in northern California. He was a tinkerer, and in his spare time he managed to rig up a solar-powered television set so he wouldn t have to miss his favorite shows. Soon Schaeffer was selling solar panels to his fellow urban refugees. Today Schaeffer s beard has become a white goatee, and his Real Goods Trading Company has blossomed into a catalog operation that is the country s largest retailer of home solar equipment. With a circulation of 400,000, the catalog offers everything for the energy-efficient home. The growth of Real Goods sales have jumped from $29,000 in 1986 to $10 million in 1933 is a small but sharp tremor along the shifting tectonic plates of America s energy landscape.

　　Until now, solar energy has appealed mostly to affluent homeowners and the save-the-environment folks. That s because buying and installing solar equipment can cost $15,000 for an average-size home before any currents starts to flow. What s making solar energy so hot? For one thing, the technology is getting better and cheaper. The price of the photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight to electricity has fallen sharply from $500 a watt in the 1960s to about $4 today.

　　Companies are now rushing to break the $2 barrier. Texas Instruments and Southern California Edison have joined forces to produce flexible solar panels from inexpensive low-grade silicon. The innovative technology will allow the panels to be integrated into car and building design and, even more important; will crash the price to $2.50 a watt.

　　Some of the biggest boosters of solar power are the utility companies, eager for a clean source of electricity that will enable them to produce more power without new billion-dollar plants. Both as consumers of solar technology and as the promoters of home solar panels, utilities will drive much of the industry s growth into the next century. Utilities are beginning to realize that they re going to have to get on the solar bandwagon, says S. David Freeman, general manager of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District . If they don t and rates go up sharply, people are going to buy their own solar panels and pull the plug on the utilities. His company embraced alternative energy when rate payers voted to close its trouble nuclear facility in 1989.