France Hosts Internet Forum Before G8 Summit

     French President Nicolas Sarkozy has hailed the Internet in transforming the world and driving recent Arab protests.  Sarkozy launched an Internet forum¹ before a G8 summit later this week.

    President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke² to an audience of key movers and shakers in the digital universe, gathered in Paris for the first so-called "E-G8" forum.  Conceived by the French president, the two-day meeting will debate the Internet's role in transforming politics, the economy and social services, and whether or not it should be regulated.

    Sarkozy described the Internet as a revolution that has changed many things, including driving the ongoing³ protests in the Arab world.

    Sarkozy said the revolutions this year in Tunisia and Egypt took many by surprise, and helped changed foreign policy.  He said they influenced France's decision to intervene in Ivory Coast and in Libya.

    While praising the Internet's role in empowering people and economies, the French leader also talked about the importance of responsibility on matters like piracy⁴ and child pornography.  Whether to regulate the Internet is a matter of hot debate, with countries like China and North Korea censoring⁵ the net and others like France pushing for copyrights and other regulations.

    The 1,500 delegates attending the Paris forum include the heads of Google, E-Bay and social media site Facebook.  French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde noted⁶ the World Wide Web is not only boosting developed economies, but also developing ones, by helping⁷ transfer remittances⁸.

    "When you look at the amount and volume of remittances to Africa, it is bigger than the volume of aid, development money that is paid to African agencies, governments and companies," said Lagarde.  "So it is a huge amount."Indian telecommunications heavyweight Sunil Bharti Mittal talked about the role of mobile phones in delivering health care in poorer nations.

    "M-health, rather than e-health, holds a great promise for countries like India," noted Mittal.  "The rural health services are in an absolutely broken condition today.  There are many, many things that can now be done on mobile phones or the benefit of large masses of the population."Later this week, leaders of the Internet forum are expected to meet with heads of state at the G8 summit in the French city of Deauville, in what Sarkozy hopes will launch an ongoing dialogue between the two.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

4 piracy   

n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害

参考例句：

• The government has already adopted effective measures against piracy.政府已采取有效措施惩治盗版行为。
• They made the place a notorious centre of piracy.他们把这地方变成了臭名昭著的海盗中心。

5 censoring   

删剪（书籍、电影等中被认为犯忌、违反道德或政治上危险的内容）( censor的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Therefore, exhibitors shall not make use of these materials before censoring. 展商在审查前不可使用这些资料。
• The company then said it would end self-censoring search results, putting it at odds with Beijing. 随后该公司表示，将停止自我审查搜索结果，从而与中国政府发生对抗。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 remittances   

n.汇寄( remittance的名词复数 )；汇款，汇款额

参考例句：

• He sends regular remittances to his parents. 他定期汇款给他父母。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Remittances sometimes account for as much as 20% of GDP. 在这些国家中，此类汇款有时会占到GDP的20%之多。 来自互联网