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Susan Maushart ‘ unplugged ’ her teenagers and for six months the family lived without their devices. Family rooms were no longer lit up by the light of screens and no electronic noises could be heard through the night. Maushart decided to unplug the family because nothing was ever properly switched off. She'd constantly told her children to turn their devices off when doing their homework, but even when they should have been switched off, they were bleeping away in the background. So what happened? Once the children had been made to turn off their technology, the family rediscovered small pleasures like board games, books and listening to music together. Susan Maushart's son was given a saxophone and took up music seriously. If the Internet was needed for homework, her older daughter just went to the library. The youngest daughter hated being unplugged, but Susan Maushart believes her children became more focused thanks to being less dependent on technology. She now believes all families need to be encouraged to unplug periodically. What do you think the author means by ‘unplugged the teenagers’? What are the benefits of ‘unplugging’ yourself from technology? What would happen in your home if all screens were banned for 6 months?
1. Which of these machines would you trust in place of a human and which you would not? a self-driving car a robotic surgeon a virtual teacher a robot police officer a computer-generated online friend 2. Imagine you are going to a science and technology exhibition. Look at the posters and discuss which you would rather visit and why.
“Voice messaging” – sending recorded voice messages to recipients using apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Telegram – is having a moment. In some ways, it’s a throwback to the 1980s era of answering machines. But unlike with voicemail, there’s no opportunity for the recipient to pick up and chat, and you can mix voice messages in with regular chat messages. Nowadays calling is seen by some as an intrusion – forcing people to talk to you when they might not be ready or prepared. As we’ve been able to tailor our public image ever more finely – thanks to social media and smartphone apps that remove every our blemish – we have become control freaks. For some people a freewheeling phone conversation is like stepping into a linguistic hornet’s nest. It’s the reason that the number of texts sent by American users has eclipsed the number of phone calls made 10 years ago. Voice messaging, its proponents argue, provides the best of both worlds. 1.5 min 1.5 min Do you usually text or leave voice messages? How do you react when your friend spams you with voice messages? Why do some people hate listening to voice messages? Have you ever pretended to listen?
The modern smartphone has taken a long 26-year journey to reach us in 2019, and it’s changed a lot along the way. It’s an evolution that’s taken the market by storm! What were once large and bulky luxury items have become small, compact devices we can’t live without. The history and evolution of the smartphone is important to understand, because it gives us a glimpse of where we’ve come from, and of what’s coming. That goes for improvements in technology as well as consumer trends. In 1992, IBM revealed a revolutionary device that had more capabilities than its preceding cell phones. This prototype smartphone was known as the Simon Personal Communicator, but it wouldn’t see its way to consumers until 1994. The device had many of the modern elements we attribute to current smartphones and mobile devices. Highlights included: touch screen, email, fax, notes and calendar, apps and other widgets that would become widespread decades later. 1.5 min 1.5 min Do you have a smartphone? What do you mostly use it for? How have phones changed over the years? What do you think about phone addiction? Is it a serious problem? smartphone / phone / mobile addiction - a form of psychological or behavioral dependence on cell phones and overuse of social media.
Robots are taking over more and more aspects of our lives and jobs. The _____________ occupation to feel threatened by the march of technology is carpentry. For thousands of years, skilled carpenters _____________ furniture from wood. However, the next generation of master craftsmen may be robots, not humans. Researchers _______________ a robot recently that can create customized wooden furniture. They said the robots ____________________ humans. The researchers said the goal of their project was to let robots do the more dangerous tasks, so carpenters could focus on design. Do you know what holography is? It is a technique __________ on lasers, which enable 3D (three-dimensional) images to be made. In 1962, Soviet physicist Yuri Denisyuk __________ up with the first reflection hologram also known as the “Denisyuk hologram”. It was the first to allow multicolour image reproduction in holograms. Nowadays the technology __________ in most holographic displays all over the world. late make invent not replace base come use latest have made have invented would not replace based came is used
On New Year’s Day, 1985, Michael Harrison phoned his father, Sir Ernest, to wish him a happy new year. Sir Ernest was chairman of Racal Electronics, the owner of Vodafone, A __________. At the time, mobile phones weighed almost a kilogram, cost several thousand pounds and provided only 20 minutes of talktime. The networks themselves were small; potential of wireless communication and the dramatic impact B __________. Hardly anyone believed there would come a day when mobile phones were so popular C __________. But in 1999 one mobile phone was sold in the UK every four seconds, and by 2004 there were more mobile phones in the UK than people. The boom was a result of increased competition which pushed prices lower and created innovations in the way that mobiles were sold. When the government introduced more competition, companies started cutting prices to attract more customers. Cellnet, for example, changed its prices, D __________. It also introduces local call tariffs. The way that handsets themselves were marketed was also changing and it was Finland’s Nokia who made E __________. In the late 1990s Nokia realised that the mobile phone was a fashion item: so it offered interchangeable covers which allowed you to customise and personalise your handset. The mobile phone industry has spent the later part of the past decade reducing its monthly charge F __________, which has culminated in the fight between the iPhone and a succession of touch screen rivals. trying to persuade people to do more with their phones than just call and text that there would be more phones in the UK than there are people and relying instead on actual charges that mobile phones would have over the next quarter century the leap from phones as technology to phones as fashion items and his son was making the first-ever mobile phone call in the UK the move to digital technology, connecting machines to wireless networks 6 4 2 1 5 3
It’s very rare that a week can pass without some new _______________ advance making the headlines of articles, and _______________ a kitchen robot has been appearing in the news. At a technology fair last month, the world’s first robo -chef was announced. A top chef has been working with robotics engineering company to _______________ that the machine can measure and add ingredients and cook a meal like an expert professional. In _______________, the robo -chef is a pair of metal arms which have been programmed to copy a real chef’s _______________ when mixing, stirring etc., so that it can cook perfect meals again and again. An obvious _______________ of the robo -chef is that, unlike a real person, it cannot taste the food it cooks! However, a good result might be a _______________ in the number of repetitive injuries that chefs can suffer from. Will the robo -chef revolutionise cooking? As this branch of science progresses over the next decade, robots will _______________ invade our kitchens to some extent. But, at the current cost of 10, 000, today’s robo -chef is _______________ to be found in the average household just yet. technology late sure real move advantage reduce deny like unlikely technological lately ensure reality movement disadvantage reduction undeniably
Let’s do some talking Task 2. You are going to buy a laptop in a local electronic store and now you’d like to get more information. In 1.5 minutes you are to ask four direct questions to find out about the following: location models available if delivery is possible sales and discounts 1.5 min 4 0 sec
Let’s do some talking Task 4. Imagine that you are doing a project “Getting news” together with your friend. You have found some illustrations and want to share the news. Leave a voice message to your friend. In 2.5 minutes be ready to tell the friend about the photos: give a brief description of the photos, justifying the choice of the photos for the project; say in what way the pictures are different, justifying the choice of the photos for the project; mention the advantages and disadvantages (1–2) of the two ways of getting news; express your opinion on the subject of the project – whether you consider the Internet to be the most reliable source of news and why. 2.5 min 3 min
