Castyourmindbacktothepasttwentyyearsandhardlydidanyonehavetheirownemailaccount.TheInternethadjusttakenoffin1991andpeoplewereonlyusingofficeandPCbasedemailexchanges.
Inthemid1990sexternalemailprovidersappeared.ThemostfamousofthesewasHotmailthefirstfreeemailproviderandwebbasedemailservice.SabeerBhatiaandJackSmithlaunchedHotmailonJuly41996.AndMicrosofttooknoteofandboughtHotmailfor$400milliononDecember301997anicebirthdaypresentforBhatiawhoturned29thatday.ItwasrelaunchedasMSNHotmailandin2007wasrelaunchedagainasWindowsLiveHotmail.
Fastforwardthepresentdayandmostofushaveatleastapersonalwebbasedemailaccount.Itseemsimpossibletolivewithoutthem.Oneofthebiggestadvantagesofemailisthefactthatcommunicationhasbecomesomucheasierespeciallywiththoseacrossdifferenttimezones.Emailtakessecondstosendamessagewhereaslettersasweusedtocommunicatebycouldtakeweeks.Ofcoursetherewasthefaxthatbeepinginventionfromthe1980sbutitwasn’tassecureasemailandyouneverknewifthepersonontheotherendhadpickedupyourfaxorifithadgotlostsomewhereintheoffice.
Inconclusiononeofthebestinventionsfromthe1990shastobeemail.Butsometimespeoplearetoocloselyconnectedtotheiremailandhaveacompulsiontocheckitseveraltimesaday.Atworkpeoplehavebecomelazyandinsteadofgoingtospeaktothepersonsittingnexttothemtheysendanemail，causinganinboxtopileupwithmoretimespentreadingemailandrespondingratherthanworking.Clearlyaninventionthatsavedtimebecauseofitsquickandspeedyconnectioncannowalsocauseustowastealotoftime
1.Theearliestweb-basedemailcameintobeingprobably_______
A.in1991
B.in1996
C.in1997
D.in2007
2.Theauthormentions“fax”inthethirdparagraphinordertotellusthat_______
A.itisexactlyasgoodasemail
B.itismuchbetterthanemail
C.itislessconvenientthanemail
D.itiseasierandfasterthanemail
3.Theunderlinedword“compulsion”inParagraph4probablymeans“_______”
A.strongdesire
B.commonsense