在現代，信息的快速傳播已經是一種常態，但是在過去，信息網絡又是怎麼樣的呢?下面，我們一起走進這則英語聽力短文。
Some historians say that the most important contribution of Dwight Eisenhower's presidency(總統任期) in the 1950s was the U.S. interstate highway system. It was a massive project, easily surpassing the scale of such previous human endeavors as the Panama Canal. Eisenhower's interstate highways bound the nation together in new ways and facilitated major economic growth by making commerce less expensive. Today, an information superhighway has been built - an electronic network that connects libraries, corporations, government agencies and individuals. This electronic superhighway is called the Internet, and it is the backbone(主幹) of the World Wide Web.
一些歷史學家說，德懷特·艾森豪威爾總統在20世紀50年代最重要的貢獻就是建立了美國的洲際公路系統。這是一個巨大的項目，輕易就超過了先前人們所努力修剪的巴拿馬運河的規模。艾森豪威爾的洲際公路使整個國家以新的方式連接在一起，並且通過減少貿易費用推動了主要經濟的增長。現如今，信息高速公路已經建成——即一種電子網絡，它將圖書館、公司、政府機構和個人連接在了一起。這種電子高速公路被稱爲互聯網，它也是萬維網的支柱。
The Internet had its origins in a 1969 U.S. Defense Department computer network alled ARPAnet, which stood for Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. The Pentagon built the network for military contractors and universities doing military research to exchange information. In 1983 the National Science Foundation (NSF), whose mission is to promote science, took over.
互聯網起源於1969年美國國防部被稱爲阿帕網的計算機網絡，阿帕網代表的是高級研究計劃網絡。美國國防部建立這個網絡是爲了軍事承包商和大學裏的'軍事研究院進行信息交流。1983年，以促進科學發展爲使命的國家科學基金會(NSF)接管了過來。
This new NSF network attracted more and more institutional users, many of which had their own internal networks. For example, most universities that joined the NSF network had intracampus computer networks. The NSF network then bacame a connector for thousands of other networks. As a backbone system that interconnects networks, internet was a name that fit.
這種新的國家科學基金會網絡吸引了越來越多的機關用戶，其中許多都有自己的內部網絡。例如，大多數加入美國國家科學基金會網絡的大學都有校內計算機網絡。於是NSF的網絡連接起了成千上萬的其他網絡。作爲連接網絡的支柱系統，互聯網這個名稱最爲合適。
So we can see that the Internet is the wired infrastructure(基礎設施) on which web messages move. It began sa a military communication system, which expand into a government-funded civilian research network.
因此，我們可以看到，互聯網是承載信息的有線基礎設施。它是作爲軍事通訊系統開始的，而後擴展成爲政府資助的民用科研網絡。
Today, the Internet is a user-financed system tying institutions of many sorts together into an "information superhighway".
如今，互聯網是一個將各式各樣的機構捆綁在一起成爲“信息高速公路”的用戶融資系統。
