A、Nine years ago. B、Eight years ago. C、Seven years ago. D、Six years ago. B

W: What are the advantages of E-education, Professor Gu?
M: There are at least four advantages. First, with access to the Internet, students can overcome barriers of space and time. For example, we can make educational resources in Beijing available to students in Xinjiang. Second is the easy access. For example, we can put multimedia resources libraries (I -3) on the Internet and students can have access to these libraries just by clicking the mouse. The third advantage is the optimization of resources. For example, we can tape the lectures given by very prominent professors and broadcast them live in China and even in the entire world through the Internet. Because of these three advantages, there is another big advantage, that is, the Internet technology makes mass education possible. And this is where the greatest advantage of E-education lies. It offers mass education and education for a lifetime.
W: Can you briefly tell us the history of China’s E-education, Professor Gu?
M: E-education in China started eight years ago when the Internet technology began to prevail.
W: My understanding is that an online education project may involve a large amount of money and yet most investors would expect a quick return for their investment, so how did you solve that problem?
M: Sometimes, I used a metaphor of building a supermarket. If you want to build a supermarket, you have to have these infrastructures. It’s the same with education. You must realize you have to develop courseware that people really love. And it takes quite a long time to develop really good courseware.
W: Then, how do you look at the so-called digital gap between the rich and the poor, between the urban areas and the rural areas in China?
M: Actually, the Internet technology can bridge the gap between the poor and the rich. I used to think it would be very difficult for the Internet to be widely accessible in northwest China. But actually the government invested money and made the broadband Internet access possible in Guizhou and Gansu.
W: The biggest problem that E-education is confronted with is probably the development of good courseware. What are the difficulties involved?
M: We have to humanize technology. This is the greatest challenge in courseware development.
W: How do you make sure the results of the examinations are reliable online?
M: This is a big question and the big headache for us at the moment. We have developed the online Testing program. However, we can’t implement it because we have no way to check whether the examinee is the real examinee. So at this moment, we cannot do any serious online Testing except for what we call "safe monitoring Testing".
W: Given the problem of taking examinations online, how can you persuade your students to accept the online exam as a viable option?
M: We have adopted the third party policy. It means we authorize the Examination Center under the Ministry of Education to conduct examinations for us.
W: Professor Gu, two years from now I’d like to interview one of your degree-holders from Beiwai Online so that he or she may Testify to the effects of online education.
M: That would be a great idea and you are very welcome to do that.
1. What is the interview about?
2. According to Professor Gu, what is the greatest advantage of E-education?
3. When did the Internet education start in China?
4. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT?
5. Which of the following is CORRECT about online Testing at the moment?