Материал: Topical Issues учебно-методическое пособие на английском языке

2) How long did it take you to learn how to save, copy, print and delete a

file?

a)I was able to learn this very quickly.

b)I’m still useless at doing these things.

c)I could do these things after I read the instructions.

3)How good are you at searching for information on the Internet?

a)I haven’t got a clue how to do this.

b)I usually manage to find what I want, but not always.

c)I’m quite good at doing this and I can always find what I want.

4)Do you know how to download software or music from the Internet?

a)I have no idea how to do this.

b)I find this quite easy to do.

c)I think I know how to do this, but I haven’t done it for a while.

5)How good are you at using new computer equipment or software?

a)I’m able to use most new stuff after a very short time.

b)I find it difficult to use anything new unless someone shows me.

c)I’m no good at using new stuff, with or without help.

Exercise 4. Discuss in groups. Do you use the Internet? What for? Do you know any facts from the history of the Internet?

Exercise 5. You are going to listen / to read the radio documentary on the history of the Internet. First, do the quiz below. Then listen to see if you are correct. (A teacher can read the text).

THE HISTORY OF THE INTERNET

a) In which year did Leonard Kleinrock connect the first two computers?

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Exercise 6. Complete the article with the following verbs in the Past Simple.

become send invent become call reach want begin crash watch mark

THE BIRTH OF THE INTERNET

In 1965, the Advanced Research Projects Agency under the US Department of Defense worked on a system to connect computers. They (b)______the project ARPANET.

On September 2nd, 1969, Professor Leonard Kleinrock connected the first two machines. Twenty people (c) in a laboratory at the University of

California as meaningless data flowed between two computers along a 15 foot grey cable. For many people, that day (d) the birth of today's Internet.

The next month they sent the first message on the Net to a computer at Stanford

same year it also went international, connecting hosts in England and Norway. In 1974 Bob Kahn and Vincent Cerf (h) a software that allowed

ARPANET to connect to other networks using different operating systems. The software, called TCP/IP, (i) the universal language of the Internet on

January 1st, 1983. Some people say that this was the true birth of the Net.

By the early 1990s the World Wide Web was the most popular way of browsing the web, and the network was accessible to anyone in the world with a

browser of the type we all use today. The growth rate of the Internet was an incredible 341% and by 1998 there were over 30,000,000 hosts.

Exercise 7. In pairs, ask and answer questions about the history of the

Internet using the prompts.

a)When / Professor Kleinrock / connect / first two computers?

b)Where / send / first message?

с) What / Ray Tomlinson / send / 1973?

d) Why / the software/ Bob Khan and Vincent Cerf / important?

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e)When / TCP/IP / become / official language?

f)How much / the Internet / grow / 1993?

THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET

The Internet is changing so fast that the things we talk about today are outdated by tomorrow. We need to anticipate how these changes will affect society and commerce. There are advantages to making a lot of predictions - some of them at least will come true. Here are ten. Which ones do you think we will see in the future?

1. Access will be thousands of times faster. Laser (a) will replace copper and fibre optic lines. What now takes ten hours to download at fast ADSL access speeds will take about ten seconds.

2. There will be a lot more multimedia. We will use the Internet in the same way as we use the (b) now.

3. Videoconferencing will finally replace most face- to-face business meetings. Most (c)____________ will disappear as a result. Videoconferencing is not new but doesn't really work at the moment because of the slow speeds. As the Internet gets faster it will be a real alternative to the hassle of air travel.

4. The Internet will be as easy to use as the (d) is now. It will be

something we take for granted and use to order products, get new information and communicate in general.

5. The Internet will be more international. At the moment about 75% of online content is in English. By 2015 (e) will be the top language.

6. Governments will be less powerful and we will participate more in making decisions. (f) will be online and we will vote on more issues.

7. People will get tired of the Internet and will reject it. There will be an anti-

8. Online shopping will replace high-street stores. We will stop going (h)______

won't want to browse on their mobile phones. They won't want to pay for these services.

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Exercise 9. Complete the gaps in the following dialogues using “will” or “won’t”. Practise the dialogues.

Exercise 10. Work with a partner. Talk about the other predictions in the text. Use the phrases below.

Yes. I agree with number two. I think the Internet will replace television. I don't think people will get tired of the Internet.

No, I don't agree with that. Governments won't be less powerful because of the Internet.

III. ECOLOGY AND HEALTH

Exercise 1. Match the adjectives and nouns and use them in sentences to describe ecology and health problems.

Exercise 2. Work in groups. What do you think an “ecological footprint” is? Make a list of different ways people could reduce their ecological footprints.

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Exercise 3. Read the text and say what ecological problems exist in our life.

How big is your ecological footprint?

to pollute – загрязнять

acid rains – кислотные дожди overpopulation – перенаселение to consume – потреблять

to become extinct – исчезнуть, вымирать waste – отходы

These days we’re all becoming more and more concerned about the effect our lifestyle is having on the environment. For example, there is a lot of traffic in cities. The roads are narrow, and the lorries and cars cannot move. The air is full of traffic fumes. People get ill. The fumes from the traffic pollute the countryside. They affect the fields where farmers grow crops. Many species of animals, plants and insects may soon become extinct.

Oceans are also in danger. They are filled with pollution: industrial and nuclear waste, chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Today our planet is in serious danger. Acid rain, global warming, air and water pollution and overpopulation are the problems that threaten people’s lives on Earth. Nowadays factories emit many harmful chemicals. They are the main reason for the greenhouse effect and acid rain. And furthermore nuclear power stations are even greater threats to us.

Our ecological footprint tells us how much land and water is needed to support the way we live. It takes into account things like the food we buy, the amount of travelling we do, the amount of rubbish we throw away and how much energy we consume. Our lifestyle is not sustainable. If everyone in the world had a lifestyle like many people from developed countries, we’d need 2.3 planets to survive.

What can be done to improve this situation? One can recycle newspapers, try to save energy by turning off the TV at night. Some ecologists consider it to be much better to buy food locally, thus avoiding excess packaging. The food industry produces too much rubbish nowadays.

Another way to reduce our ecological footprint is to become vegetarian. Farming animals is so wasteful and uses too much energy. For example, one hectare of land can produce enough soya beans to feed 600 people, but only enough beef to feed 20 people. And you need 100 times more water to produce a kilo of beef than a kilo of wheat. It’s just ridiculous and completely unjustifiable. So, meat production is very damaging to the environment. And it’s up to us to change things.

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