Enter the information age. Information is the raw material for many of the business activi

ties 【C1】______ this new era, just as iron and steel were the basic commodities in the【C2】______ of the industrial age.

The world's knowledge is said to be doubling every eight years. This knowledge【C3】______ is stimulating economic progress. The need to collect, analyze, and communicate great【C4】______ of information is producing new products and services, creating jobs, and【C5】______ career opportunities. The information age is【C6】______ considered to be a phenomenon of the service sector of the economy, 【C7】______ than a product of heavy industry. Certainly, rocketing information technologies are creating new capabilities【C8】______ knowledge-based service spheres.【C9】______ changes just as dramatic are【C10】______ industry, giving people the【C11】______ to do challenging work in exciting new ways.

Manufacturing is full【C12】______ in the information age. From design to production, the manufacturing【C13】______ has long been information-intensive. It always has required exacting communication to describe what goes into products and how to make them. Now, computer technology is giving factory managers new【C14】______ to gather all of this information and use it to control production.

Telecommunications are producing error free communication between the design office and the factory, computer-aided design is enabling engineers to【C15】______ product performance and manufacturing process on video displays, before resources are committed to build and test prototypes. Techniques like these are bringing【C16】______ new advances in manufacturing productivity.

Just as coal fueled the【C17】______ to an industrial society, so microelectronics is powering the【C18】______ of the information age. Microelectronic information-management tools are【C19】______ U.S. industrial capability, which remains【C20】______ to America's economic well-being and national security.

【C1】

A．stimulating

B．seeking

C．securing

D．shaping