Based on the text below, answer questions 26 and 27.
THE INTERNET AND GUTEMBERG
In our age, everything is the newest New Thing or the biggest
Big Thing. Steve Case of America Online already calls the new
century "the Internet Century, " and some authorities whisper that
the Internet rivals the importance of Gutenberg' s invention of the
printing press in the 15th century.
We suffer from historical amnesia.
Suppose you were born in 1900. You wouldn't yet watch movies,
let alone global TV. Fewer than 10% of U.S. homes had phones, and
fewer than 8% had electricity. Antibiotics hadn't been discovered.
As yet the Internet isn't in the same league with these
developments .
Each changed lifestyles and popular beliefs. The automobile
suburbanized America and inaugurated mass travel. Antibiotics,
vaccines and public–health advances helped raise life expectancy
from 46 in 1900 to 77 today. The explosion of prosperity – a
consequence of electricity, other technologies and modern management
– shortened working hours and expanded leisure. Movies and TV
transformed popular culture. As a matter of fact, the Internet is
too young for anyone to foretell its ultimate significance.
(Adapted from http: // Newsweek, January 24, 2000)
The word "raise" in " (...) public–health advances helped raise life expectancy (...) ." means:
