Section D This section consists of one passage
followed by a summary. Read the passage carefully and complete the summary below
by choosing no more than three words from the passage for each blank. Remember
to write the answers on the answer sheet. Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following
passage.
Management in Cyberspace
Virtual
reality is often used to mimic hazardous environments--cockpits of combat
aircraft, burning oil rigs, the treasure-strewn caves of irritable dragons and
so on. Until now, though, it has rarely been deployed to simulate that most
hazardous environment of all--the office. But if Sandra Testani of the Franklin
Institute in Philadelphia has her way, it will soon be possible to hone the
black arts of office politics and corporate survival on a computer before you
employ them against your colleagues in the real world. Or, from the boss’s point
of view, you will be able to practise your skills at "co-operating" in virtual
"team-building" exercises. Dr. Testani’s virtual world is called
CIMBLE. The acronym stands for CADETF which in turn stands for Consortium for
Advanced Education and Training Technologies Interactive Multi-user Business
Learning Enviromnent. The idea behind CIMBLE is to let people who are unable or
unwilling to meet face to face practise collaborating with each other over a
computer network. To do this, CIMBLE’s software creates a
virtual world for up to six participants. Each acts via an electronic
representative known as an avatar. A participant sees the world (including the
other players’ avatars, which appear on screen as cartoon-like images of men and
women) from his own avatar’s point of view. Any other characters that the
avatars might interact with are played by a moderator, who also acts as Big
Brother, overseeing and monitoring the activities of the group and steering
things in a suitable direction. The CIMBLE software allows the
avatars to walk around and manipulate objects in the virtual world (opening
doors, for example) at the click of a mouse. It also lets avatars (and" hence
the participants) talk to one another. Most conversations are assumed to
be in the open, and can be heard by everybody. But true office
Machiavellis will be pleased to learn that private chats are also possible,
since the software can work out who is within earshot of whom, and will transmit
sound only to those who should be able to hear it. So far, Dr.
Testani and her colleagues have devised two exercises in their new
electronic world. One simply brings the participants together around a
virtual conference table and lets them chew over an agenda provided by the
moderator. The second, however, is more sophisticated. The participants are
deemed to be working for a civil-engineering firm, and are sent off to the
proposed site of a new bridge to settle a dispute with local residents and
officials. After a long ear ride and a night in a hotel ( all depicted in loving
detail by CIMBLE’s software) , they meet the irate local and try to mollify
them. A successful outcome, allowing the bridge to go ahead, is greeted by an
onscreen display of virtual fireworks. Summary
: Dr. Testani of Franklin Institute designed a software
called CIMBLE which (61) CADETT Interactive Multi-user
Business Learning Environment. This virtual world is used to mimic the office
and has made it possible for (62) people to practise
collaborating with others over a computer network. (63) is
represented by an avatar, and their activities are monitored by a moderator.
With this software, participants can talk to each other--as well as have
(64) in the virtual world because the software will transmit
sound only to people who should be able to hear it. Two exercises have been
devised up till now. One allows the participants to think over an agenda, while
the other requires them to (65) over the construction of a
new bridge.