In a computer age, a broadband Internet connection is very popular now. Whether cable or mobile broadband, today’s connections are many times faster than those in the early days. Videos play smoothly, complex websites load quickly, and files download much faster than ten years ago. And the files are much bigger too.

There’s a hidden problem: you have to live near enough to a major city to get broadband Internet. If you don’t, it's slow dial-up access for you. And for those living really far away, there may be no Internet access at a11.

Technology experts often talk about the “last mile” problem, which refers to the difficulty of bringing Internet access to remote locations. In cities and suburbs(郊区), it's relatively easy to provide access for everyone. It is much more difficult to deliver access to those living far from cities, especially in developing countries. Internet service providers. for their part, have been reluctant to provide access to sparsely(稀疏地) populated areas. The handful of Internet users they would reach wouldn’t cover the expense.

But every year, technological advancements allow of more and more Internet users. Most broadband connections today run over existing cable TV and telephone lines although these technologies aren’t available everywhere.

Some companies have delivered the Internet over standard power lines. Advancements in cheaper and more efficient fiberoptic cables(光缆) promise to bring extremely fast Internet connections to more users. Still. The “last mile” problem remains hard to deal with. There will always be somewhere that doesn’t have an affordable broadband connection. But someday that might not matter. If the rapid progress in cellphone technology has any sign, it may not be too long before an Internet connection simply follows you wherever you go.

Many people agree that our lives have been changed by the Internet, but I have recently realized that I live nearly my entire life online!

【小题1】 I usually have messages from friends or family, and I always reply right away. Then I open my favourite online radio station and listen to music while I get ready for school. While I’m eating breakfast, I often read news articles online. On my way to school, I usually wear my earphones so I can listen to an English podcast (播客) with interesting talks about many different topics. 【小题2】

Al lunch, I like to check some online forums (论坛) about topics I’m interested in, such as pop music and TV shows. I read the updated posts from other forum members and post my own thoughts. 【小题3】, It’s also a good way to connect with others who share the same interests as me. On the way home from school, I almost always play with one of the many learning apps on my phone.

After dinner, I start my homework, and that often means going online to do research. My history teacher, my Chinese literature teacher, and my English teacher all often give homework. 【小题4】 So I’m nearly always online in the evening, reading online resources (资源) for my homework.

My final thing to do every day is to listen to an audio book online before I go to seep! 【小题5】 However, I don’t like to look at a screen just before bedtime, so audio books are the perfect thing for me. It’s a great way to fall asleep.

A lot of people say math is not their strong suit. One New Jersey parent wants to help change that. Laura Overdeck grew up with numbers. She always helped measure ingredients（食材）when her mother baked，and she learned about angles from her father. She went on to major in astrophysics（天体物理学）in college. Overdeck wanted her own children to be good at math，too.“And when our first child was about two，we just started giving her a math problem every night，”Overdeck said. The problem was usually a story，involving animals，cars or candies that let the kid count.“Our third child started，at age two，yelling that he wanted his own math problem because he saw his brother and sister doing it. And we thought，‘Wow，we have a household where math is the popular thing at bedtime，’”Overdeck said.

In February，Overdeck set up Bedtime Math，an Internet website where she posts daily puzzles for children. Overdeck is particularly keen to hook（吸引）children on numbers before they go to school. So why introduce little ones to math so early？

Sian Beilock，an expert on performance anxiety，says the more fun and familiar math is early on，the less likely children will feel nervous when they start to learn math in school.“My lab has shown recently that kids as early as first grade report feeling anxious about doing math，”Beilock said.

“You can hear totally educated adults say，‘You know I’m just not that good at math.’or‘I’m kind of afraid of math.’And that’s a totally acceptable thing for a well-educated person to say，but you never hear them say，‘Well，you know，I’m just not that good at reading.’，”Overdeck said. She wants children and their parents to become as fluent in numbers as they are in Harry Potter.