BBC初級口語:East Africa Broadband 東非寬帶發展

Background: 在非洲東部和南部的互聯網連接即將會得到明顯的改善。新投資建設的海底光纜將把寬帶服務帶入非洲東南部地區，同時也將促進該地區的工業和經濟發展。

【文本】

East Africa Broadband

It has been an ambitious project. Laying a 17,000 kilometre fibre optic cable under the sea linking Europe and Asia with East and Southern Africa. Seacom, a Mauritius-based company, is today officially launching the arrival of a fast broadband internet service in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa. It should be commercially available in a few weeks’ time.

Three other fibre optic cables are due to become operational soon including one which is backed by the Kenyan government. In theory the region could be on the brink of an internet revolution. But it all depends how well the service is rolled out across the region.

To the disappointment of many consumers, some internet providers are not planning to lower the cost of the internet but they will offer increased bandwidth.

Corporate businesses will benefit - they have been paying around three thousand dollars per month for a megabyte via a satellite link but will now pay about six hundred dollars thanks to the fibre optic cables.

Faster internet when it comes should improve business efficiency and countries like Kenya or Uganda could become popular places for telephone call centres.

What is not clear is whether this internet revolution will reach the villages many of which are struggling to access a reliable electricity supply.

【口語突破】

fibre optic cable 光纜

launching 推出（新產品）

commercially available 市場上能買到的

operational 能進入操作階段

backed 支持

on the brink 即將

rolled out 推出

internet providers 互聯網服務公司

bandwidth 帶寬

megabyte 百萬字節

satellite link 衛星聯接

telephone call centres 電話服務中心

reliable 穩定的

electricity supply 供電，電源

【Exercises】

Questions:

1. Were the cables laid above ground?

2. How many new cables are going to become operational soon?

3. Will the cable mean cheaper internet access for everyone?

4. Why is it feared the new cable will not benefit everyone living in villages?

【Keys】

Answers

1. Were the cables laid above ground?
No, they were laid under the sea.

2. How many new cables are going to become operational soon?
Four, including the Seacom cable.

3. Will the cable mean cheaper internet access for everyone?
No, some internet providers will not be lowering their prices.

4. Why is it feared the new cable will not benefit everyone living in villages?
Because they do not all have a reliable electricity supply.

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