(B) A new period is coming. Call it what you will: the service industry, the information age, the knowledge society. It all translates to a great change in the way we work. Already we’re partly there, the percentage of people who earn their living by making things has fallen sharply in the Western World. Today the majority of jobs in America, Europe and Japan (two thirds or more are in many of these countries) are in the service industry, and the number is on the rise. More women are in the work force than ever before. There are more part-time jobs. More people are self-employed. But the breath of the great change can’t be measured by numbers alone, because it also is giving rise to new way of thinking about the nature of work itself. Long-held opinions about jobs and careers, the skills needed to succeed, even the relation between workers and employers—all these are being doubted. We have only to look behind us to get some sense of what may lie ahead. No one looking ahead 20 years possibly could have seen the ways in which a single invention, the chip(芯片), would change our world thanks to its uses in personal computers, and factory equipment. Tomorrow’s achievements in biotechnology or even some still unimagined technology could produce a similar wave of great changes. But one thing is certain: information and knowledge will become even more important, and the people who own it, whether they work in factories or services, will have the advantage and produce the wealth. Computer knowledge will become as basic a requirement as the ability to read and write. The ability to deal with problems by making use of information instead of performing regular tasks will be valued above all else. If you look ahead 10 years, information service will be leading the way. It will be the way you do your job. Information age means _____________.