Exercise 2. Fill in the gaps, inserting the word that is missing.
The future of television
The increase in the number of available TV channels worldwide is bound to have far reaching effects. Up to now, television has been a uniquely unifying national phenomenon. …1… before have so many people had …2… a common core of shared cultural experiences. …3… creates a durable communal bond. You …4… not know the names of your next-door …5…, but you can be fairly sure that over the past few days they have seen some of the same programmes you have. Before …6…, with the vast expansion of television programming, everyone will be able to watch …7… different – "Me TV" perhaps – just as each Internet user …8… explore a different selection of websites. The television will become a personal …9… of equipment more like a mobile phone …10… a communal source of entertainment. But it is also possible …11… on these personalized machines, people will actually …12… up watching fewer programmes: that television will become more …13… the movie business, with a number of blockbusters attracting vast global …14… . Viewers in all countries will …15… day be able to pick their programmes in a global market. …16… may still choose to watch their own national programmes since programmes …17… at international markets, with the partial exception of those from America, …18… to have smaller audiences than do national products. But, armed …19… a credit card and a remote control, people will eventually order television programmes from …20… they choose. The television business will then become truly global. So, perhaps, will the cultural values it instills.
Exercise 3. Check your knowledge giving a term to the description, the figure in the brackets means the number of the letters in the word.
1. The site of a nuclear disaster in 1986 (9)
2. Relating to or determined by the Sun (6)
3. A design to make radar or sonar detection difficult (7)
4. Device for making calls (9)
5. Reddish coating of iron oxide (4)
6. A long journey, typically by sea or in space (6)
7. British-French supersonic commercial airliner (8)
8. Shape of the Earth (5)
9. Element needed for respiration (6)
10. Serbian-US engineer and inventor, Nikola (5)
Variant 3
Exercise 1. Choose the best answer (a, b, c d or e) according to the text.
Technological progress
Over the past thirty years or so the quality of many people's lives has deteriorated in some respects because of technological progress. Those people living near airports are constantly assailed by the noise of increasingly larger and more powerful jet aircraft taking off and landing. We have ugly buildings which have sprung up in towns and cities. Some of these are blocks of flats-high-rise buildings built because of the high price of land, which seem more like breeding boxes than houses where people have space to live. Worse still, much of our building effort has been channeled into the construction of more and more large office blocks at the expense of much needed housing for the growing urban population.
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1. It's obvious in the passage that…
a) the quality of people's lives has declined by technology;
b) those people living around airports are happy with their condition;
c) technology progressed the life standards;
d) airports are usually constructed in urban areas;
e) people want to live near airports.
2. We have ugly buildings…
a) so we need to improve technology;
b) because the land is expensive;
c) but we don't have much complaint about it;
d) where people find enough space to live;
e) which have appeared only in rural areas.
3. Technological progress…
a) has negative effects on people's lives;
b) requires more large office blocks;
c) became much faster than expected;
d) enabled people to live in large blocks;
e) force us to find ways to own land.
Exercise 2. Read the text. a) Look at the first two paragraphs. There are six mistakes. Correct them and say why they are wrong.
B) Look at the rest of the text. There are eight more mistakes. Find them and correct them.
The three most significant technological
developments of the past century
The past hundred years see enormous developments in technology. These are often labour saving and have made our lives much easier in many ways. Morover, they have also driven many dramatic changes in our society.
It could be argue that one of the most important advances is one which we now all take for granted, the telephone. It is now difficult to imagine a life where contacting someone involved seeing them face to face or writing them letter, which would be take days, or possibly weeks to reach them. Furthermore, in these days of mobile phones, the equipments needed to call someone has become so small and portable, that it seems to be only a step away from telepathic.
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The second technological development that has had far-reaching consequences, is the computer; and the information technology revolution. The majority people in the developed world can use the Internet and email to easily access a news, any informations, or get an advice on everything from medical to financial problems.
Another development that has been of great social significance the washing machine.
Prior to this, washing clothes was a major household chore, and was one reason why women were trapped in the home and unlikely to be able to have a career. With the advent of such labour saving devices, women had more freedom to choose to have a career as well as a family. They often say that this has had a very destabilizing effect on families, but it has also enabled many women to have satisfing careers, and I feel on balance, has been a very positive force in society.
Although many other advances could say to be significance, in my opinion these three are the ones which have changed society the most.
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