Dave: I see you’ve still got your brick, Ken.

Ken: My what?

Dave: Your brick. Your 1990s mobile. Isn’t it too heavy to carry?

Ken: Ha ha, very funny. It still works fine, you know. It’s not the latest model, like yours, but unlike you I know I don’t need a mobile phone that can take pictures or access the internet. I don’t need to check my emails when I’m on the bus, and nor do you. No one does. Did you feel your life was empty before they invented the phone you have now? Of course you didn’t.

Dave: You’re a dinosaur, Ken. Don’t you think technology’s a good thing?

Ken: That depends. Some stuff’s really useful, like the high tech equipment in hospitals that saves people’s lives, but as for the electronic gadgets people buy in the shops these days, most of them are so unnecessary. Satnav, for example – why do I need a computer to tell me where I am when I’m driving? I can read a map. I can even stop and ask another human being.

Dave: I find satnav very handy. It saves time.

Ken: I bet it’s never saved you more than five minutes. You love wasting your money, don’t you?

Dave: You won’t want to know what I bought at the weekend, then?

Ken: A phone that can make you breakfast?

Dave: No, an e-book reader. It’s amazing. It stores the words of hundreds of books electronically, and you can just hold it in your hands. Now I can have my whole book collection right there in front of me.

Ken: So can I. On the bookshelves in my house.

Dave: No, but with an e-book reader you can access any of your books at the touch of a button.

Ken: And I can access any of my books by getting off the sofa and walking about three metres. It’s not difficult, and it’s a lot cheaper.

Dave: Oh, Ken, you just don’t understand.

Ken: No, you’re right, I don’t.

Answer the questions below.

1. What do you think Dave means when he jokes that Ken’s mobile phone is a ‘brick’?

2. How old does Dave say Ken’s mobile is?

3. What word does Ken use to describe the electronic gadgets people buy in the shops these days?

4. What example of useful technology does Ken give?

5. What two things does Ken suggest people who are driving can do instead of using satnav?

6. Ken jokes that Dave has bought something that doesn’t really exist – what is it?

7. What did Dave really buy at the weekend?

8. Where does Ken say his whole book collection is?

9. What do you think Dave means when he calls Ken a ‘dinosaur’?

10. What do you think Ken means when he says at the end of the conversation that he doesn’t understand?

Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F), or if the text doesn’t say (D).

1. Dave has a mobile phone.

2. Ken would like to have a camera on his mobile.

3. Dave often travels by bus.

4. Ken can drive a car.

5. Ken doesn’t believe satnav saves Dave much time.

6. Dave is unhappy with his new e-book reader.

7. Ken would like an e-book reader too.

8. Dave lives in a house, not a flat.

5. TELEPHONE ETIQUETTE.

Put each of the following words or phrases into its correct place in the passage below.

1. Know the right number before making a … . when in doubt, consult a …, your personal number list, or the information … .

2. Allow time to … . Give the person you are calling enough time to … his telephone. A little patience may … you a second call.

3. Speak distinctly and in a normal … of voice. Your lips should be about an inch away from the … .

4. Answer promptly. Try to answer your telephone on the first … . otherwise the … may hang up and you might miss an important message.

5. … yourself when you answer the … . Do not merely say “Hello”. Give your name, your telephone … , or the name of your firm.

6. Take messages for people who are not there. Write down the name and telephone number of the person calling. Place the … where it can be seen.

7. … gently. Slamming the … down is discourteous. Be sure the receiver is always … properly. Otherwise no calls can … to you.

Lesson 41.

1. BASIC VOCABULARY

Read the following information and translate it into Ukrainian.

As well as the hardware (= the machines), you also need software (= the programs needed to work the machines). These programs are often on discs, e.g. the hard disc inside the computer, or floppy disc or on CD-ROMs (=Computer Disc Read Only Memory, a CD on which you can put a large amount of information).

Date: 2015-01-29; view: 2244