VOA常速英语2008年-Internet Slowdown Continues to Hamper India

By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
01 February 2008

India is continuing to suffer from sluggish¹ Internet service, although the situation has improved somewhat since damage to undersea cables in the Mediterranean² caused widespread net disruptions. Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi that the disruption has hit countries from Egypt to Bangladesh.

India's international communications improved to a degree Friday after service providers began diverting Internet traffic through alternative routes.

The outages began after two cables on the ocean floor off the coast of Egypt were cut, disrupting service through the Middle East and South Asia.

Internet service providers in India said they initially³ experienced a 50 percent cut in bandwidth, leaving many Information Technology companies, call centers and other businesses to struggle with sluggish communications.

 

Traffic bound for the United States and Europe was particularly hard hit.

R.S. Perhar is secretary of the Internet Service Providers Association of India. He says telecommunications providers are scrambling⁴ to find working systems.

"Fair amount of activity is one of moving the traffic on to service providers whose fiber⁵ systems are functioning…so that they can switch the traffic on to the systems which are working," he said.

Service providers say it could take up to a week to restore normal service.

Much of modern day communication is dependent on fiber optic cables that lie on the ocean floor, carrying the world's phone and Internet traffic.

Phone and net linkages⁶ to the West are the lifeline for India's IT companies and call centers, which provide foreign companies such services as customer support and other back office operations. While the bigger Indian companies have sophisticated back-up systems, many smaller companies rely on local service providers for their communications.

The most recent disruption of telecoms systems occurred in December 2006 when an earthquake damaged undersea cables off Taiwan and the Philippines, severely⁷ slowing communications between Southeast Asia and the rest of the world.

1 sluggish   

adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的

参考例句：

• This humid heat makes you feel rather sluggish.这种湿热的天气使人感到懒洋洋的。
• Circulation is much more sluggish in the feet than in the hands.脚部的循环比手部的循环缓慢得多。

2 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

3 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

4 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。

6 linkages   

n.连接( linkage的名词复数 )；结合；联系；联动装置

参考例句：

• Only the thermosetting resins provide a strong cohesive forces; this is due to molecular cross linkages. 只有热固性树脂具有巨大的凝聚力，这是由于分子交错链所造成的。 来自辞典例句
• The linkages between the stable units must be as near as possible of equal stability. 稳定链节之间的键必须有尽可能接近的稳定性。 来自辞典例句

7 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。