When you have a question about something, where do you go? For many people the answer is simple, as they can go online to a search engine like Google or Yahoo. But what about people in rural or underdeveloped(欠发达) areas who may have no way to get on the Internet?
A business and international development professor in California, Rose Shuman, found an answer for them: Question Box. Question Box is a service that provides answers—free of charge—for people who cannot search the Internet directly. The users of Questions Box might be those who might not be able to read, or simply have no access to the Internet.
Question Box began three years ago in India. People used a metal call box with a push-to-talk button to connect a live operator. Rose Schuman explained, “You just need to push a big green button on the box which will connect you directly to people who are sitting in front of computers, and speak your language. You can ask them any kind of question you want, and they’ll look it up in English or in Hindi, or whatever the main language is, and translate the answer back for you.”
In April 2013, Question Box was introduced to Uganda. Forty community(社区) workers with mobile phones connected villagers to call center operators in Kampala. The community workers went around telling people about the service. They wore T-shirts that said “Ask me.” But Internet service in Uganda proved slow and undependable. So Question Box teamed up with a local technology company to store information on a local server (服务器). That way, the researchers in Kampala could quickly search the database(数据库) for answers.
10. The best title for the passage is __________.
A. Question Box ----taking the place of the Internet
B. Needing an answer? ----asking Question Box
C. Question Box ----A great joke in the world
D. Rose Shuman----- A professor helping the poor
11. In Rose Schuman’s opinion, the greatest advantage of Question Box is that ______.
A. It is the most popular in the world B. It is more comfortable to carry
C. It is much easier to use D. it saves much more energy
12. What can we know from the passage?
A. Question Box is more useful in solving problems in underdeveloped areas.
B. Question Box operators can look for information in any language.
C. Question Box costs the users much less than the Internet.
D. Question Box can work without the help of the Internet in Uganda.