Read this article adapted from the Financial Times and answer the questions.

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Hi, I'm on the plane at 39,000 ft

 

What do you do when you are flying on business? How do you use the time? Do you work? Or do you use the journey to relax before a meeting or conference? At the moment it can be difficult for businesspeople to work on the flight. They cannot use the same technology that they have in their office. But that is about to change. New technological developments allow passengers to send, and receive e-mails and text messages on some flights. A new system called Connexion allows travellers to use the Internet, too. Anything you can do on your computer at home, you can now do in the sky,' says Scott Carson, president of Connexion by Boeing. The technology can also help passengers relax by listening to their own music and watching favourite videos.

Why are airlines investing in this technology? Air Canada's market research shows that business travellers want to work any time, any place. Last year Air Canada asked frequent fliers what technology they were carrying on flights: 83 percent had mobile phones, 70 percent had laptops and 46 percent had palm pilots. Perhaps we want our office to travel with us everywhere we go.

 

From the Financial Times

Number the paragraph summaries in the correct order.

a) The things people carry on planes

b) New technology helps passengers work and relax on flights.

c) Why business travellers find it difficult to work on planes

Use words from the text to complete the sentences.

Paragraph 1

a) It isn't easy for business people to work on a plane.

b) A ----n-- is when you travel from one place to another.

Paragraph 2

c) New technological -e-e----e--- can help people to work when they travel.

d) People can ----x by listening to music or watching videos.

Paragraph 3

e) When you want to discover what customers want, it is a good idea to do some --r---r----r--.

f) People who often travel by plane are called f------- f -----.

 

Over to you

What things do you always take with you when you travel? Do you prefer to relax or work on the journey?

TEXT XII.THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET

Reading & speaking

1 What is the future of the Internet? Read the article below and complete it with

the words in the box.

 

airlines television jungle technology telephone shopping mobile voting revolution Chinese

TEN PREDICTIONS FOR TOMORROW’S WEB

 

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 2010 (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-technology (g) ---------------------. People will prefer to do other things like going for a walk in the park.

8 Online shopping will replace high-street stores. We will stop going (h) ------------------------------ and buy everything on the Internet.

9 The new Internet services on (i) ------------------------- phones will be a failure. People won't want to browse on their mobile phones. They won't want to pay for these services.

10 The Internet will become a (j) -------------------, ruled by hackers and virtual pirates.

 

2. Work with a partner. Talk about the 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.

3 What about your own life, country and work? Work with a partner. Make one prediction about each of the following and add some ideas of your own:

- your company

- your job

- the political and economic situation in your country

- the football league in your country

 

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How good is your technology?

Answer these questions.

a Do you use technology in your work? What for? Make sentences using the prompts.

 

I use a computer to send e-mails.

I don't use a mobile surf the Internet.

a notebook write letters.

a palmtop calculate figures.

the radio get the news.

the television check on the stock market.

find information, relax.

keep in contact with the office.

 

b Does your computer ever go wrong? What do you do about it? Do you fix it yourself or call a technician?

 

 

TEXT XIII. A DANGEROUS CRIMINAL

 

hack (v): to try to get unauthorised access to computer systems in order to steal data.

 

A. Match the words and phrases a-e to the definitions 1-5.

a hacker 1 an error

b fugitive 2 limits on what you can do

с mistake 3 tell someone he/she can't do something

d prohibit 4 a person wanted by the police

e restrictions 5 a person who hacks

 

 

B. Read the introduction to an article below and answer these questions.

a Who is Kevin Mitnick?

b Why is he famous?

с What kind of child and teenager was he?

 

THE MOST FAMOUS HACKER IN HISTORY

 

According to the Guinness Book of Records, Kevin Mitnick is the most famous computer hacker in the world. He was once on the FBI's 'Most Wanted' list of dangerous criminals, and was also the inspiration for a Hollywood film. Here is the story of his life. His parents divorced when he was three but he says his childhood was happy. He lived with his mother in the suburbs of Los Angeles. He was a genius with electronic devices and computers soon attracted his attention. By the age of 17 he was an expert in telephone and computer systems, but there was a criminal side to his interests. In 1981 the police arrested him for stealing computer manuals from the Pacific Bell telephone company. This was only the first of many problems with the authorities.

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Complete the gaps in the text using the verbs in the past form. They are all regular past verbs.

Order hack continue appear escape

Mitnick's name first (a) ----------------------- in the papers in 1982 when

he (b) --------------------- into the North American Defence Command (NORAD). Over the next ten years he was often in trouble with the law, but (c) -------------------- his activities. In 1992, he hacked into the company Pacific Bell and the federal government (d) ------------------------------ his arrest. He (e) --------------------- from the police, but from that moment he was a fugitive.

Help estimate hack use

During his time on the run he(f) --------------------- the name 'Condor',

the Robert Redford character in the film Three Days of the Condor. He(g) --------------

into computers at Motorola, Nokia Mobile Phones, Sun Microsystems and other companies. Some reports (h) -------------------------------- the damage to be over $80 million. His big mistake was hacking into the home computer of a Japanese computer expert, Tsutomu Shimomura. Shimomura was very angry and (i) ---------------------

the FBI to catch Mitnick. Mitnick was in prison for five years.

 

Travel last prohibit work

On his release, in 2000, the judge (j)------------------- him from using

computers. He (k) -------------------- round the world giving lectures on computer security. He also (1)--------------------- for Newsweek, CNN and Fox. The restrictions on using computers (m) ----------------------- until January 20, 2003. Nowadays he has a business consultancy called Defensive Thinking and speaks at conferences organised by the BSA -Business Software Alliance - dedicated to the fight against software piracy.