Advantages and Disadvantages of the Internet 

网络的好处与坏处
Ten years ago, the Internet was practically unheard of by most people. Today, the Internet is one of the most powerful tools throughout the world. The Internet is a collection of various services and resources. According to Russ Brock, a director and consultant at the Center for Innovation and Inquiry, the Internet’s main components are E-mail and the World Wide Web. “There’s a lot more to the Internet than E-mail, search engines, celerity web sites, up-to-the-second sports scores, and chat rooms full of risqué discussions. The Net also ranks as one of today’s best business tools - if it’s used adroitly”. Almost all households contain the Internet; however, before people connect to the Internet, they need to be aware of its disadvantages and advantages.

十年前，对于大部分人来说网络都是几乎没听说过的。今天，互联网在整个世界中是最强大的工具之一。互联网收集各种各样的服务和资源。拉斯布鲁克，创新中心的主任兼顾问说互联网的主要组成是电子邮件和万维网。对于互联网来说还有更多的如。电子邮件，搜索引擎，快速网站，即时体育成绩，和充满淫秽讨论的聊天室。网络也被列为当今最好的商业工具——如果是熟练地运用”。几乎所有的家庭都拥有互联网；然而,在人们接触到互联网之前，他们需要知道它的缺点和优点。

Many fear the Internet because of its disadvantages. They claim to not use the Internet because they are afraid of the possible consequences or are simply not interested. People who have yet connected to the Internet claim they are not missing anything. Today’s technological society must realize, it is up to them to protect themselves on the Internet “Half of U.S. adults, or 94 million Americans, aren’t online”.

许多人都担心互联网的缺点。他们提出不使用互联网，因为他们害怕可能产生的后果或着是不感兴趣。那些还没有接触过互联网的人声称他们没有遗漏任何事情。如今的科技社会他们必须要意识到在互联网上保护自己“一半的美国成人，或着9400万美国人是不在线的”。

Children using the Internet has become a big concern. Most parents do not realize the dangers involved when their children log onto the Internet. When children are online, they can easily be lured into something dangerous. When children talk to others online, they do not realize they could actually be talking to a harmful person. As a result, there have been many cases where children have been convinced to meet people they have talked with online. In fact, “stories seem to come out every week: a child or teenager lured into something foolish, dangerous, or even deadly on line” . Cathy Cleaver of the Family Research Council claims that it is against the law for a molester to even attempt to find children online . In addition, children may also receive pornography online by mistake; therefore, causing concern among parents everywhere. Whether surfing the Web, reading newsgroups, or using email, children can be exposed to extremely inappropriate material. Pornographic sites tend to make sure they are the first sites to be listed in any search area; thus, children come across such sites easily. A man from Pearl, Mississippi was arrested in 1996 for downloading pornographic images of children from the Internet. He was charged with 290 counts of child pornography . Some critics say that parents are responsible for their own children on the Internet because there are available services to protect children. To keep children safe, parents and teachers must be aware of the dangers. They must actively guide and guard their children online. Parents should talk to their children about what is online and what might happen online, claims Howard Rheingold, writer of The Virtual Community . There are a number of tools available today that may help keep the Internet environment safer for children. Some companies, such as America Online, try to monitor everything that is said and done on their online service; however, because thousands of chat rooms are available, it is simply impossible for everything to be monitored, claims Tricia Primrose, worker for America Online . In other words, children want to explore things; however, there are people on the Internet that are just too persuasive.

孩子们使用互联网已经成为一个大问题。大部分的父母都没意识到让他们的孩子接触互联网的危险。当孩子在网上时，他们会很容易地吸引到一些危险。当他们跟别人在网上聊天时，他们不知道他们可能正在跟一个有害的人聊天。因此，有很多情况是孩子被说服去见他们在网上聊过天的人。事实上，“这样的事情似乎每周都有：有孩子或少年在互联网上被一些愚蠢的，危险的,甚至是致命的东西诱惑”。凯西在家庭研究理事会上说性骚扰者甚至试图寻找在线的孩子是违反法律的。此外，孩子们也可能在网上无意的接触到色情信息；因此，导致世界各地的父母都担忧。不管是上网，阅读新闻组，或使用电子邮件，孩子们都可以接触到不合适的材料。色情网站力倾保整他们是第一个网站列入任何搜索区域的网站；所以孩子们是很容易遇到这样的网站。一个来自密西西比州珍珠港的男人在1996年被逮捕，因为他从网上下载孩子的色情图片。他被指控290项儿童色情。一些批评家说，父母该对他们自己的孩子上网负责，因为有有效的服务来保护孩子。为了保护孩子们的安全，父母和教师必须知道其中的危险。他们必须积极引导和保护他们的孩子上网。“家长应该告诉他们的孩子网上有什么，网上可能发生什么事情，”《虚拟社区》的作家霍华德•莱茵戈德说道。今天有很多可用的工具可能有助于为儿童保持安全的网络环境。有些公司，如美国在线，试图监控所有在他们网上服务器上的言语和行为，然而，由于有成千上万的聊天室，要监控所有的东西是根本不可能的，特瑞西亚·普林罗丝，美国在线的员工说道。换句话说，孩子们想要探索事情，但是，有些人在网上太有说服力了。