I. Find the words close in their meaning. II. Find the English equivalents in the text. 1

1. to found 2. to manufacture 3. to launch 4. sophisticated 5. handheld 6. to dominate 7. to achieve 8. trade

a. advanced b. to establish c. commerce d. portable e. to reach f. to produce g. to control h. to begin

 

II. Find the English equivalents in the text.

1. рекламная кампания 2. конкурент 3. нововведение, новая идея, метод 4. производить, выпускать 5. товарищество, объединение, партнерство 6. продажи 7. торговля 8. промышленность, производство 9. основывать 10. начинать, запускать

11. представлять (кого-л.) 12. внешнеторговый дефицит 13. выпускать, отпускать 14. столкнуться 15. страдать 16. преобладать, доминировать, господствовать 17. конкурировать 18. спасти от беды, несчастья 19. достигать 20. направлять, нацеливать 21. развивать, разрабатывать

 

III. Mark the sentences true (T) or false (F). Find the information in the text to prove your answer.

1. The company Nintendo was founded in the XIX century.

2. Nintendo and Mitsubishi Electric formed a partnership in 1965.

3. The first portable console was GameBoy.

4. Nintendo has never had any competitors.

5. In 2001 Sony released the PlayStation.

6. GameBoy Advanced was more successful than GameCube.

7. The Wii was the best-seller in 2006.

8. The Wii U was very popular and sold well.

9. The Nintendo Switch helped the company Nintendo make more money than GameCube, Wii and 3 DS.

 

IV. Answer the questions.

1. When and how did the history of the company Nintendo start?

2. What was their first product?

3. What happened in 1963?

4. Why did Nintendo form a partnership with Mitsubishi?

5. When did Nintendo launch the first console that you could carry in you pocket?

6. Why and when did the company’s sales suffer badly?

7. What did Nintendo concentrate on in 2004?

8. What saved the company from disaster?

9. Was Wii successful? Why?

10. How did the executives explain low adoption of Wii U?

11. Which is the most successful product of the company? Why do you think so?

V. Use the notes to speak about the company Nintendo.

1889 playing cards

1963 name Nintendo; games

1975 a partnership → micro-processor technology

1983 a console the NES

1989 GameBoy

1994 Sony → PlayStation; sales ↓

2001 GameCube, GameBoy Advanced, handheld market

2004 portable market – the Nintendo DS ↑↓ Sony’s PSP

2006 the Wii, saves; “wand” → move, play, easy,

           advertising campaign, adult → sales

2012 Wii U, GamePad, wireless; low adoption

2017 Nintendo Switch, hybrid device, wireless controllers, outsell

 

VI. Discussion points.

1. What do you think about computer games? Is it a good or a bad invention?

2. Why do people play computer games?

3. Why do they create computer games?

4. What can people do to save themselves from computer games addiction?

UNIT 5

YOUTUBE

 

Jawed Karim was a college student with a difference. For a start, he was not worried about the $100,000 cost of his master’s program at Stanford University because he was already a millionaire. He first hit the Internet jackpot when eBay bought the online payment company he was working for. Then he got lucky again when Google agreed to buy YouTube for $1.65 billion.

When the deal was signed everybody was talking about two of YouTube's co-founders – Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. After all, they were the public face of YouTube. Most people didn't know that there was also a third co-founder of YouTube, Jawed Karim. In fact, he was the person who actually first proposed the idea.

Karim grew up in West Germany, but has lived in the USA since his family emigrated there when Karim started high school. His Bangladeshi father is a chemist at 3M, and his German mother is a professor at the University of Minnesota. Karim obtained his degree in computer science and engineering at the University of Illinois.

Hurley, Chen and Karim have known each other since they met as employees at PayPal, the payment service. When eBay bought PayPal for $1.5 billion, they all received substantial payments. Now rich, the three men often met late at night for brainstorming sessions at Max's Opera Cafe near Stanford, and discussed possible ventures. Karim said he originally pitched the concept of a video-sharing website to his friends because at the time it was difficult to download videos off the net.

The three agreed to divide up the work based on their different skills. Hurley designed the site’s interface and logo while Chen and Karim shared responsibility for technical aspects. At a later stage, when it was necessary to take on management roles, Hurley became CEO and Chen the chief technology officer. However, Karim really wanted to return to his computer studies, so he chose not to be part of the management team. As a result he agreed to take a smaller stake than the other two founders, and not to take a salary or even a formal title because in his own words, he was "focused on school." Although, since then, he has continued in an informal advisory role, he admits it was the other two who actually turned the basic idea into reality.

Jawed Karim is not the first entrepreneur to lose his place in history. Popular wisdom, for example, says that Bill Gates started Microsoft and Sam Walton founded Wal-Mart on their own, but they too had co-founders. In any case, it is not likely that Karim has too many regrets. While his former colleagues continue to run YouTube, his dream is to teach and become a university professor. Whatever he does, money is not likely to be a problem.