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Passage Two

Yet these global trends hide starkly different national and regional stories. Vittorio Colao, the boss of Vodafone, which operates or partially owns networks in 31 countries, argues that the farther south you go, the more people use their phones, even past the equator: where life is less organized, people need a tool, for example to rejig appointments. “Culture influences the lifestyle, and the lifestyle influences the way we communicate,he says. “If you don’t leave your phone on in a meeting in Italy, you are likely to miss the next one. ”

Other mundane factors also affect how phones are used. For instance, in countries where many people have holiday homes they are more likely to give out a mobile number, which then becomes the default where they can be reached, thus undermining the use of fixed-line phones. Technologies are always “both constructive and constructed by historical, social, and culture contexts,” writes Mizuko Ito, an anthropologist at the University of California in Irvine, who has co-edited a book on Japan’s mobile-phone subculture.

Indeed, Japan is a good example of how such subcultures come about. In the 1990s Americans and Scandinavians were early adopters of mobile phones. But in the next decade Japan was widely seen as the model for the mobile future, given its early embrace of the mobile Internet. For some time Wired, a magazine for technology lovers, ran a column called “Japanese Schoolgirl Watch”，serving readers with a stream of mobile oddities. The implication was that what Japanese schoolgirls did one day, everyone else would do the next.

The country’s mobile boom was arguably encouraged by underlying social conditions. Most teenagers had long used pagers to keep in touch. In 1999 NTT, Japan’s dominant operator, launched i-mode, a platform for mobile-internet services. It allowed cheap e-mails between networks and the Japanese promptly signed up in droves for mobile internet. Ms Ito also points out that Japan is a crowded place with lots of rules. Harried teenagers, in particular, have few chances for private conversations and talking on the phone in public is frowned upon, if not outlawed. Hence the appeal of mobile data services.

The best way to grasp Japan’s mobile culture is to take a crowded commuter train. There are plenty of signs advising you not to use your phone. Every few minutes announcements are made to the same effect. If you do take a call, you risk more than disapproving gazes. Passengers may appeal to a guard who will quietly but firmly explain: dame desu? — it’s not allowed. Some studies suggest that talking on a mobile phone on a train is seen as worse than in a theatre. Instead, hushed passengers type away on their handsets or read mobile-phone novels (written Japanese allows more information to be displayed on a small screen than languages that use the Roman alphabet).

46. According to the passage, an Italian would leave his phone on in a meeting for which of the following reason?

A. He is afraid of missing a business opportunity.

B. His family members may call him in emergency.

C. He thinks it is rude to leave a call unanswered.

D. He needs to get posted about the latest change in the work schedule.

47. Which of the following statements is best supported by the passage?

A. How we use our phones reflect where we live.

B. Technologies determine the way we communicate.

C. Culture influences the development of technologies.

D. Social conditions dictate the mobile future.

48. The author suggests that Japan leads the world in the mobile-phone culture in that .

A. the Japanese are the earliest mobile phone users

B. the Japanese are the chattiest mobile phone users

C. the Japanese use mobile Internet early on

D. Japan provides the best mobile phone services

49. It can be inferred from the passage that the Japanese teenagers are fond of the mobile data services because ?

A. they like to play electronic games

B. they like to talk to their friends on the phone

C. they can read novels on the phone

D. they can communicate with their friends more conveniently

50. Which of the following is the most appropriate title for the passage, based on its content?

A. The Japanese Phone Culture. B. Culture and Technology.

C. All Alike, All Different. D. Handy, If You Are Thrifty.

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