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SECTION II. READING AND VOCABULARY

Unit 13. SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS

1. Fill in he missing words.

carriers competition deregulation fee hooked up installed monopoly suburbs telecommunications to place calls

Sandra: Tony, I just moved into my new apartment, and I need to have the phone (1) __________.

I have no idea what I am doing; I have to make all these decisions about local, local long-distance, and long-distance (2) __________.

Tony: I know — it’s really complicated. In America, we have somewhere between five and ten thousand long-distance telephone companies. It’s good for (3) __________, but sometimes I think we have too much choice! It was easier before (4) __________ in the early eighties. The __________ industry has become far too confusing, but at least prices have really gone down in the last twenty years.

Sandra: Why do I need to choose more than one company?

Tony: We divide telephone service into three categories: local, local long-distance, and long-distance. Your long-distance company allows you to call foreign countries, other American states, and other cities in your state. Your local long-distance company allows you to call (5) __________ or regions just outside your city. And, of course, your local company allows you (6) __________ within your own city.

Sandra: But they only asked me to choose a local long-distance company and a long-distance company. Don’t I get to choose my local service?

Tony: In Southern California, we really don’t have much choice yet when it comes to local service. It’s still basically a (7) __________.

Sandra: Is it really expensive to make local telephone calls then? How much does it cost per minute?

Tony: Actually, for most people, local calls do not have a per-minute charge. You pay your local telephone company a monthly service (8) __________ of around ten to fifteen dollars for your local service, but then you don’t have to pay per minute.

Sandra: You don’t pay per minute? That’s amazing! In my country, I normally have to pay a lot of money for local calls.

Tony: I rarely pay more than twenty dollars a month for local, local long-distance, and long-distance combined. It’s so cheap (hat I had an extra telephone line (9) __________ for my daughter.

2. Fill in the missing vowels.

1 I just got my computer, and I don’t really know what I am doing. Do you know how to .nst.ll a new computer program on the hard drive?

2 There were so many different wires (hat it took me more than half an hour to h..k.p the video recorder.

3 Unfortunately, the quality of the t.l.co.mm.n.c.t..n service has gone way down.

4 That s.ftw.r, company has bought out so much of its competition that it has virtually become a monopoly.

5 If you want to place a call from this office, you need to d..l «9» first to get an outside line.

6 Jonathan is taking a really interesting course on how the Internet and cable television will alter the pricing for l.ng-d.st.nc. telephone service.

3. Choose the correct item.

1 When you pick up the phone to call someone you hear a ________.

A ringer

В dial tone

2 If I’m not home leave a message on my ________ machine.

A answering

В directory

3 Sally must be talking to her mom because I have been getting a ________ for two hours.

A busy signal

В answer

4 I never answer my ________ while I’m driving.

A cordless

В cell phone

5 Mark always turns his ________ off when he is studying.

A ringer

В phone

6 I’m busy right now. Can you ________ later.

A hang up

В call back

7 You have to ________ «0» for the operator.

A dial

В answer

8 I have a ________ so I can do the dishes and chat at the same time.

A cordless

В receiver

9 You will need a quarter or a phone card if you want to use the ________.

A cell phone

В pay phone

10 I know it was my friend who called because I have ________.

A dial tone

В call display

4. Bead the text and decide whether the follow ill" statements are true or false.

Globalcall Communications

Globalcall Communications has grown from a telecommunications solutions provider for local businesses in the greater Seattle metropolitan area to a truly global corporation providing telecommunications solutions for clients both large and small. Established to fill a significant market gap for simple communication solutions, the company first expanded to most major North American cities before becoming a major multinational player.

Presently, the company is extending operations to include voice over IP, as well as high-speed cable Internet access. Globalcall Communications’ team includes more than 40,000 specialists worldwide in more than 20 countries on three continents. Next year will see the deployment of a third generation wireless communications network in Asian countries.

The future looks bright for Globalcall Communications. By 2005 the company will be servicing more than 15 million households and businesses globally. Globalcall Communications will have become a household word. We look forward to serving clients and are planning to do everything in our power to make sure that your communication future is unlimited AND simple.

1 The company began by offering computer software solutions to local businesses in the greater Seattle metropolitan area

2 The company was founded on an approach to providing simple communication solutions.

3 The company is expanding operations at the moment.

4 Worldwide communications employs more than 40,000 specialists.

5 The company expects to be servicing more than 50 million customers worldwide by 2005.

5. Read the text and answer the following questions.

STUDYING THE FUTURE

Predicting the future used to be the business of science fiction writers and astrologers. Now it has become a recognised science. Starting this autumn, Leeds University in Yorkshire is offering a Master of Arts in Future Studies, the first of this kind in Europe. Students in tire two-year course will examine the reasons why so many predictions have been wrong in the past.

Graduates will probably find job opportunities in the growing market for futurologists in British industry. Any company that can predict the way technology will develop in ten year's time has an enormous advantage over its rivals.

Ever since Alvin and Heidi Toffler published their book Future Shock in 1970, the Americans have taken the subject seriously. The Tofflers now produce a daily TV show' called «Next New's Now», which report stories which are going to happen but not news which has already taken place.

1 What are Futurologists?

A People studying planets

В People who study the past and predict the future

C People studying the weather.

2 Graduates

A find a job easily

В are often under-paid

C don’t find any jobs

3 The Tofflers are

A students

В universities

C TV producers

6. Match pans of the conversation.

Hooking Up My Computer

1. Peter: Hi Jack. Can you give me a hand?

2. Peter: I’ve just bought a new computer and I’m having some problems hooking everything up.

3. Peter: Thanks! I’ve connected all the cables from my monitor, mouse and keyboard, and I’ve plugged it in.

4. Peter: No, I haven’t. Do I need to?

5. Peter: Will the computer boot up without those? Peter: OK. What’s that tiling (points to a computer component)

A Jack:... and I’m a geek. Yeah, I know. I’d be happy to help.

В Jack: Have you installed the software yet?

C Jack: Of course. Boot up the computer and then we can update the drives.

D Jack: Sure. what’s up?

E Jack: Oh, that’s a memory reader. You can insert things like SD cards from your camera and mp3 players into it.

F Jack: Not always, but it’s best to install drivers for your keyboard and mouse, as well as your printer.

Виконайте тест

Під час роботи над тестом не можна користуватися будь-якими підручниками, посібниками, словниками тощо.

TEST

A. Social Networks

Do the names MySpace, Facebook, Orkut, etc. ring a bell? They probably do because they are some of the most popular sites on the internet today. These sites are all called ’social networking’ sites because they help people meet and discuss things online. Each of these social networking sites has its own strengths: MySpace is especially popular among teenagers, Facebook is popular with college age people, Orkut is especially loved in Brazil, and CyWorld is the site to visit in South Korea The common thread between all of these social networks is that they provide a place for people to interact, rather than a place to go to read or listen to ’content’.

Web 2.0

Social networks are considered to be web 2.0. What does this mean? To understand this, it’s important to understand what the original web did (often called web 1.0). Back in the nineties, the internet — or web — was a place to go to read articles, listen to music, get information, etc. Most people didn’t contribute to the sites. They just ’browsed’ the sites and took advantage of the information or resources provided. Of course, some people did create their own sites. However, creating a site was difficult. You needed to know' basic HTML coding (the original language the internet uses to ’code’ pages). It certainly wasn’t something most people wanted to do as it could take hours to get a basic page just right. Things began to get easier when blogs (from web log) were introduced. With blogs, many more people began writing ’posts’, as well as commenting on other people’s blogs.

MySpace Surprises Everybody

In 2003 a site named MySpace took the internet by storm. It was trying to mimic the most popular features of Friendster, the first social networking site. It quickly became popular among young users and the rest was history. Soon everyone was trying to develop a social networking site. The sites didn’t provide ’content’ to people, they helped people create, communicate and share what they loved including music, images and videos. They key to the success of these sites is that they provide a platform on which users create the content. This is very different from the beginning of the internet which focused on providing ’content’ for people to enjoy.

Key to Success

Relying on users to create content is the key to the success of web 2.0 companies. Besides the social networking sites discussed here, other huge success stories include: Wikipedia, Digg.com and the latest success — Twitter. All of these companies rely on the desire of users to communicate with each other, thereby creating the ’content’ that others want to consume.

В Choose the correct item.

1 Which social networking site was not mentioned in the reading?

A MySpace

В Linkedln

C Facebook

2 What is Facebook?

A A blog

В A content site

C A social networking site

3 Where is Orkut especially popular?

A In Japan

В In South Korea