Question

How long are you willing to wait for a webpage to open before you start to lose your patience? Half a minute? A few seconds?

Google engineers have discovered that even 400 milliseconds ― as short as the blink (眨眼) of an eye ― is too long for most Internet users.

A millisecond is one thousandth of a second. People hardly notice such a small time difference, but it does cause them to stop searching, reported The New York Times.

“Of course you don’t like to wait,” said Arvind Jain, a Google engineer. “Every millisecond matters.”

Now, millions of smart-phones and computers are always sending out information. With so many people downloading (下載) maps, sports videos, news and restaurant recommendations, you can get online “traffic jams (交通阻塞)”. Users are expecting faster and faster service.

Google found that if one website is 250 milliseconds slower than another website, then people will visit it less often. This is why technology companies try their best to be the fastest.

Achieving a higher speed has always been part of the history of the Internet.

In the 1990s, when the World Wide Web first started to become popular, it was very crowded and slow; people called it the “World Wide Wait”. But engineers managed to fight the problem with new inventions. They improved software so it would work more smoothly; they made computer servers all around the world nearer to users; all these increased speed.

Now we can enjoy much faster Internet. Major search engines (引擎) such as Google and Microsoft’s Bing usually find search results in less than a second. But they will need to keep fighting to keep up with the developing needs of Internet users.

1.What does the report of The New York Times indicate (暗示)?

A. A millisecond is one thousandth of a second.

B. A millisecond has nothing to do with the Internet speed.

C. A millisecond really makes a difference to the Internet users.

D. 400 milliseconds is not so long for most Internet users.

2.How does the writer feel about the future of the Internet speed?

A. Excited. B. Interested.

C. Confident. D. Discouraged.

3.What can be the best title of this passage?

A. Don’t make me “www.wait”.

B. Search engines work faster.

C. Traffic jams keep us waiting.

D. The World Wide Web becomes popular.

Answer 1