II. Study the words. Make sure you know them.

Technology in Our Lives

I. First Thoughts

The world has incredibly changed, hasn’t it? What made the world change so greatly in the past years. Give examples.

II. Study the words. Make sure you know them.

operator, register, cashier, scanner, home-owner, miniature.

III. Read the text and say how we can meet our daily needs without connecting other people.

Technology plays a role in all aspects of our lives - the way we work, and the way we live at home. The speed of technological change in the past 100 years has been incredible.

The early telephones were large, and they didn't even have dials or buttons. You picked up a receiver and talked to an operator who made the call for you. Nowadays, cellular telephones fit in our pockets, and we can use them to make phone calls from anywhere to anywhere. In grocery stores, cashiers used to punch keys on cash registers to enter the price of each item. These days, scanners read bar codes on products packaging, and the prices are recorded by a computerized cash register. In the past, we made a trip to the bank to deposit or withdraw money. Now we can use ATMs (automated teller machines). And many people now do their bank transactions at home online.

Modern technology has dramatically improved our lives. Personal computers enable us to create documents, store information, and analyze data - at work or at home. The Internet allows us to send and receive e-mail messages, connects us to the World Wide Web, and allows us to go shopping online from our homes. Miniature cameras that patients can swallow permit doctors to diagnose medical conditions without surgery. "Smart homes" operated by computers turn lights on and off as people enter or leave rooms and enable homeowners to "call their houses" to turn on the heat or air conditioning.

Many people feel, however, that technology has its price. With automated supermarket checkout lines, ATMs and online banking, and Internet shopping, we can meet our daily needs without having contact with other people. Life with technology can be very lonely! Also, many people are concerned about privacy. Technology makes it possible for companies or the government to monitor our use of the Internet. Our credit card numbers, bank account information, medical information, and other personal data are all stored on computers. Protecting that information will be an important issue in the years ahead. Bliss.

IV. Comprehension Check.

Match the words and their meanings by placing a proper letter on each blank.

__1. to pick (up)                   a. to collect and keep for future use

__2. to fit in                                b. to take hold of or lift

__3. to punch (on)                      c. to make holes on surfaces

__4. to turn on (off)         d. be in a suitable relation; be in

__5. to store                               e. to start (on, off)

Use the words from each line to make word partnerships

technological, medical, daily, email, cellular, computerized, automated, personal telephone, register, lines, needs, information, changes, messages, computer

Choose the best alternative to fill in the blank in each of the following sentences.

1. Cellular telephones …..in our pockets.

a. suite            b. go               c. fit

2. The computerized cash registers … the prices of products.

a. say                       b. write           c. record

3. Modern technology has improved our… of living

a. pass            b. method       c. way

4. Many people can do their bank …at home on line.

a. conditions   b. protections c. transactions

5. Personal computers can… information.

a. swallow      b. store           c. scan

What do you think?

1. What was the way people communicate with each other in the 60s?

2. What were the drawbacks of the early telephones?

3. What jobs can computer do for us? Make a list of jobs.

V. Discuss with your groupmates.

1. New information you have got from the text.

2. Speak about your experience in using the Internet.

 

IV.Comprehension Check.

IV. Comprehension Check.

IV. What do you think?

1. When did Henry Ford begin to build “racing cars” for publicity?

2. What was technical characteristic of the Model-T in 1908?

3. How did they call the Model-T when its production was ended in 1927?

4. How much did Ford earn during the years of the Model-Т production?

Radio

I. First thoughts

How do you think a radio operates? Do you know anyone who likes to make different electrical goods such as radios, computers, etc.?

II. Study these words. Make sure you know them.

transmitter, electromagnetic, broadcast, equipment, frequency, message, to invent, receiver, wire.

III. Read the text and do the tasks following it:

Do you have a favorite radio station? What do you like about it? Have you ever wondered how your radio is able to produce the sounds and the music that you like to hear?

Radio programs are sent by a machine called a transmitter to your radio which is called a receiver. The programs don't travel through wires like telephone messages do. They are sent through the air over long distances by electromagnetic waves. These waves are called radio waves and were discovered by a German scientist named Heinrich Hertz. He discovered that these waves could carry sound signals. He also discovered that radio waves have different lengths.

Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian, invented a microphone that changed sound waves into electronic signals, and then he developed a receiver that turned them back into sound again. He also found a way to keep waves of the same length together and keep those of different wave lengths separate. On his equipment, a radio wave looked like a letter "s" lying on its side. Short waves curved up and down more times each second than longer ones, so he divided all the waves by how many times they curved each second or by how frequently they curved. He called each group a frequency. The numbers on your radio dial are different frequencies. Different stations can broadcast their programs at the same time using different frequencies.

Later, scientists found that by using only the top half of a radio wave they could reduce static and other noise that interfered with clear sound. This kind of radio transmission is called FM broadcasting because the frequency has been modulated or changed.

IV. Comprehension Check.

1. Match the words with their meanings placing a proper letter on each blank.

__1. microphone      a. an apparatus which changes radio waves into sounds

__2. to invent           b. the metal in the form of thread

__3. receiver            c. having a magnetic force produced by an electric current

__4. curve                d. an instrument that receives sounds and changes sounds

into electrical energy

__5. to discover       e. to find something for the first time

__6. electromagnetic f. to make or produce something for the first time

__7. wire                  g. a line of which no part is straight and which contains no angles

IV. What do you think?

1. What is the difference between radio broadcasts and telephone messages?

2. In order for radio programs to be broadcast, what equipment are needed?

3. How are several hundred radio stations able to broadcast at the same time?

4. Who first discovered electromagnetic waves?

5. What is FM broadcasting?

6. What country was Marconi from? And what was he famous for?

Television is Developed

I. First Thoughts:

What does the word “television” mean?

What language does this word originate from?

What country succeeded in applying the first television camera?

II. Study the following words. Make sure you know them:

transmit, image, broadcasting, convert, tube, resolution, regular, apply for, run experiments, frame.

IV. Comprehension check

Vacuum Cleaner

I. First thoughts.

Do you always keep your flat (room) clean? Do you have a vacuum cleaner? Do you think the vacuum cleaner is one of the most useful machines in your house?

IV. Comprehension check.

What do you think?

1. What was the drawback of early vacuum cleaners?

2. What is Booth’s principle all modern vacuum cleaners are based on?

3. Who inspired Jim Kirby to develop the concept of vacuum cleaner?

4. Whose design of vacuum cleaner was the first?

V. Discussion.

1. One of you is Hurbert Booth, the other is a newspaper journalist. 1901. Hurbert Booth is giving an interview about himself and his invention.

2. One of you is Jim Kirby, the others are George Scott, and Carl Fetzer. 1960. The famous inventor and two businessmen are talking part in a TV program devoted to their work on vacuum cleaning machines and their production.

 

 

Clothes Washer

I. First thoughts.

Would you name any household duties? What about washing clothes? Do you wash your clothes yourself? Do you wash clothes by hand or with a clothes washer?

IV. Comprehension Check.

Refrigerator

I. First thoughts.

How do people manage to keep the products fresh? How did they do it in the earliest times?

The Microwave Oven

I. First thoughts.

What is your understanding of these words: magnetron, microwave, pop-corn, radar-set.

II. Study the words. Make sure you know them.

bar, snack, kernel, explode, inch, pocket, consumer, useful, generate

III. Read the text and say why the microwave oven is a big help to busy men and women.

Shortly after the end of World War II, Percy Spencer, already known as an electronics and war hero, was touring one of his laboratories at the Raytheon Company. He stopped momentarily in front of a magnetron, the power tube that drives a radar set. Feeling a sudden and strange sensation, Spencer noticed that the chocolate bar in his pocket had begun to melt. Spencer, who obtained 120 patents in his lifetime, knew how to apply his curiosity. So he did what any good inventor would – he went for some popcorn. Spencer didn't feel like having a snack, he asked for unpopped popcorn. Holding the bag of corn next to the magnetron, Spencer watched as the kernels exploded into white morsels.

From this simple experiment, Spencer and Raytheon developed the microwave oven. The first microwave oven weighed a hefty 750 pounds and stood five feet, six inches. At first, it was used exclusively in restaurants, railroad cars and ocean liners - places where large quantities of food had to be cooked quickly. But culinary experts quickly noticed the oven's shortcomings. Meat refused to brown. French fries turned white and limp. To make matters worse, Raytheon chairman Charles Adams cook quit because Adams demanded to prepare food with a microwave oven. In fact, it took decades after the invention of the microwave oven for it to be refined to a point where it would be useful to the average consumer. Today, Percy Spencer's radar boxes melt chocolate and popcorn in millions of homes around the world.

IV. Comprehension Check.

1. Fill in the blanks with the words given below.

consumers, exploded, generate, useful, pocket

1. I couldn’t find my keys but suddenly remembered that I had left them in my ___________.

2. I’ve heard a loud noise as if something ___________.

3. There were a lot of ________ in the grocery.

4. Electronic geniuses make _______ things we apply every day.

5. Microwave ovens _________ radiowaves inside.

Machines in Space

I. First thoughts: What are “satellites”? Mention some satellites that you know about. What are man-made satellites used for?

II. Study the following words. Be sure you know them:

the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, Comsat, Satnav;

accurate, navigate, speed, shuttle, man-made, military, survey, launch, data, attack, entire, satellite.

IV. Comprehension check.

SPACE AGE BEGAN

I. First thoughts:

Read the following words: orbit, sputnik, spaceship; Yuri Gagarin, Vostok-1, April 12, 1961. What associations do these words call to mind?

IV. Comprehension check.

First Electronic Computer

I. First thoughts. Can you imagine how the first computer looked like?

II. Study the words. Make sure you know them:

Calculate, typewriter, vacuum tube, punch, decipher, process, enormous, enter.

III. Read the text and do the tasks following it:

The first fully automatic large-scale calculator was built by Howard Aiken of Harvard University working with engineers from International Business Machines Corporation. It was called Harvard Mark I and was completed in 1944. Data were entered on punched cards, and output was on punched cards or processed on an electric typewriter. It was a large machine - 15 meters long and 2.4 meters high.

The first generation of what can be called a real computer, not just a calculator, was the Colossus, put in operation in 1943 in Bletchley Park, near London, England. It was used to decipher German codes in World War II. The Colossus, however, was built only for this task. The distinction of the first general-purpose computer goes to a machine known as ENIAC - Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator - designed and built by J. Presper Eckert and John W. Mauchly of the University of Pennsylvania in 1946.

These Machines were enormous by today's standards, but they were less powerful than today's computers. They used hundreds of vacuum tubes. The invention in 1948 of the more efficient and much smaller transistor which does the same work as vacuum tube, helped make today's personal computers possible.

IV. Comprehension Check

What do you think?

1. Who built the first automatic calculator?

2. When and where was the first computer put into operation? What was it used for?

3. What was the first distinction of a general-purpose computer? Who built it?

4. What new information about first computers have you learnt?

5. Can we call the man who designed the first computer a genius?

Personal Computer

I. First Thoughts

Who are Bill Gates and Paul Allan? Are these names familiar to you?

What do you think.

1. Who built Altair?

2. Did Altair look like PC?

3. What did Bill Gates and Paul Allen offer for users?

4. What companies appeared at that time?

5. Who created Microsoft Corporation?

6. When was IBM created?

IV. Comprehension check.

1. Find the synonyms for the following words:

1. commonplace   a) necessary           b) usual  c) simple  d) free

2. granted       a) guaranteed b) ordinary      c) accepted              d) common

3. utterly           a) usually      b) simply  c) completely       d) surely

4. to earn          a) to work              b) to give  c) to win           d) to get

What do you think?

1. Who was the first to design a computer mouse?

2. When and where was it first demonstrated?

3. What impression did it make?

4. Why were the conference participants astonished?

5. What was the prototype of the computer “mouse”?

Technology in Our Lives

I. First Thoughts

The world has incredibly changed, hasn’t it? What made the world change so greatly in the past years. Give examples.

II. Study the words. Make sure you know them.

operator, register, cashier, scanner, home-owner, miniature.