File Sharing and Topic Searching

Task  1. Read and translate the text:

Задание 1. Прочитайте и переведите текст:

One of the original Internet goals was global information sharing. The teacher mentioned in the previous article located another educator on the Internet who was willing to share already developed course materials. Within minutes the files were transferred, despite a 2,000-mile distance.

Just as we locate a phone number by using a telephone directory, a user may find locations of interest on the Internet by first gaining access to what are known as search sites. The user supplies a word or a phrase; the site then replies with a list of Internet locations where information can be found. Generally, the search is free and takes only a few seconds! The farmer mentioned earlier had heard of a new technique called precision farming, which uses computers and satellite maps. By entering that phrase at a search site, he found the names of farmers who were using it as well as detailed information about the method.

Task  2. Answer the following questions:

Задание 2. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. What is “one of the original Internet goals”?

2. What help is available when one does not know where a subject may be located within the Internet?

Task  3. Read this text to find the answers to these questions.

1. What does MP3 stand for?

2. What is the difference between MP3 and WAV files?

3. What kind of sound does MP3 strip out?

4. What kind of information is included in the tag?

Understanding MP3

The name comes from MPEG (pronounced EM-peg), which stands for the Motion Picture Experts Group. MPEG develops standards for audio and video compression. MP3 is actually MPEG Audio Layer 3.

MP3 competes with another audio file format called WAV. The key difference is that MP3 files are much smaller than WAV files. An MP3 file can store a minute of sound per megabyte, while a WAV file needs 11 or 12 megabytes to hold the same amount. How does MP3 achieve this compression? CDs and audio files don’t reproduce every sound of a performance. Instead, they sample the performance and store a discrete code for each sampled note. A CD or WAV file may sample a song 44,000 times a second, creating a huge mass of information.

By stripping out sounds most people can’t hear, MP3 significantly reduces the information stored. For instance, most people can’t hear notes above a frequency of 16kHz, so it eliminates them from the mix. Similarly, it eliminates quiet sounds masked by noise at the same frequency. The result is a file that sounds very similar to a CD, but which is much smaller. An MP3 file can contain spoken word performances, such as radio shows or audio books, as well as music. It can provide information about itself in a coded block called a tag. The tag may include the performer’s name, a graphic such as an album cover, the song’s lyrics, the musical genre, and a URL for more details.

Task4. Complete the gap in each sentence with the correct form of the verb in brackets.

LESSON 17

The World Wide Web

Task  1. Read and translate the text:

Задание 1. Прочитайте и переведите текст:          

    The part of the Internet called World Wide Web (or Web allows authors to use an old-fashioned idea - that of footnotes - in a new way. When an author of a magazine article or a book inserts a footnote symbol, we scan the bottom of the page and are possibly directed to another page or book. Authors of Internet computer documents can do essentially the same thing using a technique that will underline or highlight a word, a phrase, or an image in their document. The highlighted word or image is a clue to the reader that an associated Internet resource, often another document, exists. This Internet document can be fetched and displayed immediately for the reader. The document may even be on a different computer and located in another country. David Peal, the author of “Access the Internet”, notes that this technique "links you to actual documents, not just references to them." The Web also supports the storage and retrieval, or playing, of photographs, graphics, animations, videos, and sounds. Everyone can obtain and play a short color movie of the current theories regarding the universe and hear the narration through computer's audio system.

Task  2. Answer the following questions:

Задание 2. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. Describe the advantages of the World Wide Web.

2. Read the text “The World Wide Web” and discuss the main idea of the text:

Task 3. Read the rest of this text to find the answers to these questions:

1) How do you play MP3 files?

2) What does the Windows Media Player file do with an MP3 file?

3) What is a standalone player?

4) What special features can players offer?

5) What information can you obtain by clicking on the   track info button?

6) What does a skin enable you to do?

7) How do you play music from a CD-ROM on an MP3 player?

8) What hardware and software do you need to make your own in CDs?

Task 4. Describe the function of these features using ‘enabling’ verbs.

In a window, the vertical scroll bar.

The Find command.

The Undo command.

Cut and paste.

Print Screen.

Menus.

Recycle bin.

Tooltips.

LESSON 18

Surfing the Net

Task  1. Read and translate the text:

Задание 1. Прочитайте и переведите текст:

    By using a Web browser, a person can easily and quickly view information and colorful graphics that may be stored on computers in many different countries. Using a Web browser can be similar in some ways to actual travel, only easier. One can visit the Web exhibits of the Dead Sea Scrolls or the Holocaust Memorial Museum. This ability to move nimbly back and forth from one Internet Web site to another is commonly called surfing the Net. Businesses and other organizations have become interested in the Web as a means to advertise their products or services as well as to offer other kinds of information. They create a Web page, a sort of electronic storefront window. Once an organization's Web page address is known, potential customers can use a browser to go "shopping," or information browsing. As in any marketplace, however, not all products, services, or information provided on the Internet are wholesome. Researchers are trying to make the Internet secure enough for confidential and safeguarded transactions. We will talk more about security later.

Task  2. Answer the following questions:

Задание 2. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. Have you got the Internet connection at home?

2. How often do you surf the net?

Task  3. Find the answers to these questions in the text below.

Задание 3. Найдите ответы на вопросы в тексте, приведённом ниже:

1) How do you pay for the applications provided by an ASP?

2) What two main services does an ASP provide?

3) How does an ASP ensure that they have enough storage space for the changing needs of customers?

4) What types of applications are available from ASPs?

5) Why is it useful for a small business to be able to rent specialist tools from an ASP?

6) What is one of the best established areas of ASP use?

Application

Service Provide is

    If your hard disk is packed to bursting point, the IT department is far too busy to fix your email problems, and your business can’t afford to buy the tools that you’d like to develop the company s website, then it’s time to think about using an application service provider (ASP). Rather than installing software on each machine or server within your rganization, you rent applications from the ASP, which provides remote access to io the software and manages the hardware required to run the applications.

    There are a lot of advantages to this approach. The havoc caused by viruses makes the idea of outsourcing your email and office suite services is an attractive option. It also gives you more flexibility – you pay for applications as and when you need them, rather than investing in a lot of costly software which you’re then tied to for years. Not having to worry about upgrading 20 to the latest version of your office suite or about battling with the complexities of managing an email system, leaves businesses with more time. Time to focus on what they do best.

    However, there are some potential pitfalls. To 25 use applications remotely requires a lot of bandwidth, which is only really available from a broadband connection or a leased line to the ASP itself. It is also important to ensure that the ASP will be able to provide a secure, reliable 3o service which will be available whenever you need if.

    Providing applications and storage space for vast numbers of users requires some powerful technology on the part of the ASP. This includes 35 security controls and data storage as well as providing the physical links to customers. For the most part, ASPs don’t own the data centres that store the information. Instead, they lease space from data storage specialists. In this way, 40 they can be confident of meeting customers’ increasing storage requirements by buying more space as it’s needed.

    There’s a wide variety of applications available for use via ASPs. Office suite applications and 45 email services are two of the most generic applications available through ASPs. Large, complex business applications such as enterprise resource planning tools like SAP are another popular candidate for delivery through so an ASP. Other business services, such as payroll and accounting systems are also available. This is particularly beneficial to small businesses which are likely to grow quickly and don’t want to deal with the problems caused by 55 outgrowing their existing system and having to move to a high-end package. ASPs also offer a means of using specialist tools that would otherwise prove prohibitively expensive. Small businesses have the opportunity to use such во tools for short periods of time as and when they need them, rather than having to buy the software as a permanent investment.

    One of the major barriers for small businesses which want to make a start in e-commerce is 65 ensuring that they have sufficient resources to cope with sudden large increases in customers. This means not only having adequate storage for all your customers’ details, but ensuring that you have the technology in place to handle 70 stock levels, efficient delivery and large volumes of traffic. It’s very rare for an e-commerce business to handle all of these elements by itself, making this one of the best-established areas of ASP use. Being able to respond 75 rapidly to changes in the size of your customer base and the type of product that they want to order from your business, demands more flexibility than traditional software can provide.

Task  4. Using information from the text, mark the following as True or False:

• Software from an ASP must be installed locally on a user’s computer.

• You need a high bandwidth connection to use an ASP service.

• ASPs usually use their own storage space for customers.

• Using an ASP gives you more flexibility.

• An e-commerce business usually provides all of the required technology itself.

LESSON 19

What Is "Chat"?

Task  1. Read and translate the text:

Задание 1. Прочитайте и переведите текст:

    Another common service of the Internet is the Internet Relay Chat, or Chat. Chat allows a group of people, using aliases, to send messages to one another immediately. While used by a variety ofage groups, it is especially popular among young people. Once connected, the user is brought into contact with a large number of other users from all around the world. So-called chat rooms, or chat channels, are created that feature a particular theme, such as science fiction, movies, sports, or romance. All the messages typed within a chat room appear almost simultaneously on the computer screens of all participants for that chat room. A chat room is much like a party of people mingling and talking at the same general time, except that all are typing, short messages instead. Chat rooms are usually active 24 hours a day.

Task  2. Answer the following questions:

Задание 2. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. Do you have a “nickname”?

2. Do you think it is possible to find your second half through the Internet dating offices?

3. Do you visit chats? How much time do you spend there?

4. Describe the effects of these actions using an /У-sentence.

Task  3. Complete these definitions with the correct participle of the verb given in brackets.