17、What is the Internet? The Internet is a huge network of connected computers．It is one of  the greatest inventions of the last century．It started as a way to help researchers do more things faster．But lately it can do much more than that．

    Now many people all over the world use the Internet．In l985，there were about two thousand people on the Internet，but now there are over ninety million people．Each month the Internet welcomes millions of new users．

    The Internet is an excellent communication tool．You are able to talk with many people  around the world at the same time．You can also send and receive messages and e-mails， make your blog（博客）and so on．

    People can use lots of information on the Internet．You can look up businesses with a click of a button，and you can also find out all kinds of information about almost everything, such as medicine，jobs，health，sports，games，music，movies．Communication and information are just two ways that computers provide now．Who knows what this invention will be like in the future?

1．The Internet is one of the greatest inventions of the                           century．

A．21st                    B．20th                    C．19th                             D．18th

2．How many people were there on the Internet in l985．

A．90．                   B．200．                  C．2000．                   D．900．

3．The Chinese meaning of the underlined word “excellent” in the third paragraph is  “                       ’'

A．简单的                B．迅速的                C．乏味的                D．极好的

4．Every month                          users may join the Internet．

    A．hundreds of       B．millions of        C．thousands of       D．billions of

5．From the passage，we know                       ．

    A．computers can be connected to each other

    B．the Internet is a computer

    C．the Internet is the only tool for communicating

    D．a computer is a network