20090720-- The Final Mile (1)

The Final Mile

Bringing broadband to the backcountry
Sometimes we have to turn around and look behind us in order to see how far we've come. For me, it happened on a recent visit to a friend who lives on a farm some thirty minutes from town. I wanted to show him a video on YouTube that I liked, so we tried watching it over his dial-up Internet connection. The operative word here is tried. The video skipped and hiccupped. It stuttered and sputtered. It. Was. Agonizing.

Most of us are accustomed to a broadband Internet connection to the point of taking it for granted. Whether cable, DSL or mobile broadband, today's connections are many times faster than those in the days of the poky dial-up modem. Videos play smoothly, complex websites load quickly, and files download in a fraction of the time it would have taken ten years ago. (And the files are much bigger too.) There's a catch, of course: You have to live near enough to a major city to get broadband Internet.
If you don't, it's poky dial-up access for you. And for those living really far out, there may be no Internet access at all.



operate v. 操作/運作
operative adj. 重要的/關鍵的
=> the most important
operative word
=> 一段話中/一段文字中最關鍵的字
eg: The operative factor to her successful diet was exercise.
eg: When she was employed with the company, she made a lot of money. "Was" is the operative word here, because she just got fired last month.

sputter v. 發出拍啪的聲音
eg: The old car sputtered to life when Jordan turned the key.
eg: The air-conditioner sputtered for a while and then completely shut down.

sputter v. 結結巴巴地說話/慌亂的說話
eg: After he heard the news, he sputtered incoherently in a rage.


poky adj. 無生氣的/緩慢的
=> very slow
eg: We were stuck behind a poky old truck all the way down the road.

catch n. 問題
eg: Judy wants this particular book but there is a catch. She has to buy two others to get it.
eg: The price of the house is way too cheap. There must be a catch to it somewhere.
eg: The salary of this job is great, but the catch is that have to work night shifts(上夜班).

broadband n. 寬頻
broadband network 寬頻網路

dial-up 撥接

hiccup v. 打嗝
= hiccough

agonizing adj. 令人痛苦難忍的

DSL[digital subscriber line]
=> high speed Internet

//== Chat room ==//

backcountry 偏僻未開發的地區
wilderness (純樸的/未受污染的)曠野(像荒漠甘泉那樣的曠野)

the outback 偏僻未開發的地區(通常指澳洲內地)

//== Grammer on the go ==//

Most of us are accustomed to a broadband Internet connection to the point of taking it for granted.

to the point of 到...程度
= to the level of
= to the degree of

eg: The travelers were tired to the point of collapsing.
eg: Sandra was mad to the point of not being able to say anything at all.