Presentation activity

«The secret is: have a good beginning, a good ending and keep them as close together as possible!» George Burns Closing How you finish your presentation is almost as important as how you open your presentation ….. we all know that first and last impressions are crucial in what others remember when we communicate with them. Closing your presentation means that you bring your talk to a logical conclusion that your audience will be able to follow. An effective presentation closing summarizes your main argument(s), resolves loose ends, is memorable, and (when appropriate) gives a clear and compelling call-to-action. A poor presentation closing is usually one that is absent altogether, one that drags on for half the speech, or one that fails to make any sort of conclusion at all.

Exercise 31. Which of the following should you do as you close your presentation? You may choose more than one answer.

• connect your concluding thought to ideas you mentioned in the opening

• give the audience a quiz

• say that you can answer only one or two questions

• apologize for taking up the audience’s valuable time

• apologize for something you didn’t have time to include

• indicate topics for future research

• thank the audience for their attention

• conclude by repeating the most important point you have made

• leave the audience with a question to think about

• end with a recommendation

• end with a humorous statement related to your topic

• summarize what you have already stated

Exercise 32. In which order should these stages take place?

• asking for questions

• conclusion

• summing up

Unit 5 Output devices reading and comprehension

Exercise 1. Read the text. Answer the questions.

Text 1 Displays

Displays, often called monitors or screens, are the most-used output device on a computer. They provide instant feedback by showing you text and graphic images as you work or play. A monitor is sometimes called a VDU, or visual display unit. There are two main types of display screen.

Inside the computer, there is a video card which processes images and sends signals to the monitor. CRT monitors use a VGA (video graphics adapter) cable, which converts digital signals into analogue signals. LCD monitors use a DVI (digital video interface) connection.

When choosing a monitor, you have to take into account a few basics.

Type of display - the choice is between a CRT or an LCD screen. The first, the CRT (the Cathode Ray Tube), is quite large and looks like a conventional TV. It has three electron guns (one for each primary colour: red, green and blue) that strike the inside of the screen, which is coated with substances called phosphors, which glow and create colours. CRTs are cheap, but they are heavy, can flicker and emit radiation. They have largely been replaced by the LCD monitor.

The second, the flat screen (or LCD monitor), is slim, takes up little space and uses the same technology as that used for screens on laptop computers or notebooks. A Liquid Crystal Display is made from flat plates with a liquid crystal solution between them. The crystals block the light in different quantities to create the image. Active-matrix LCDs use TFT (thin film transistor) technology, in which each pixel has its own transistor switch. They offer better quality.

Screen size - the viewing area is measured diagonally; in other words, a 17" screen measures 17 inches from the top left corner to the bottom right.

Resolution - the clarity of the image depends on the number of pixels (short for picture elements) contained on a display, horizontally and vertically. A typical resolution is 1,024 x 768. The sharpness of images is affected by dot pitch, the distance between the pixels on the screen, so a dot pitch of 0.28 mm or less will produce a sharp image.

Brightness - the luminance of images is measured in cd/m² (candela per square metre).

Colour depth refers to the number of colours a monitor can display. This depends on the number of bits used to describe the colour of a single pixel. For example, an old VGA monitor with an 8-bit depth can generate 256 colours and a SuperVGA with a 24-bit depth can generate 16.7 million colours, so is ideal for photographic work and video games. Monitors with a 32-bit depth are used in digital video, animation and video games to get certain effects.

Refresh rate - the number of times that the image is drawn each second. If a monitor has a refresh rate of 75 Hertz (Hz), it means that the screen is scanned 75 times per second. If this rate is low, you will notice a flicker, which can cause eye fatigue.

PCs can be connected to video projectors, which project the image onto a large screen. They are used for presentations and home theatre applications.

In a plasma screen, images are created by a plasma discharge which contains noble (non-harmful) gases. Plasma TVs allow for larger screens and wide viewing angles, making them ideal for movies.

(S.R. Esteras and E.M.Fabre “Professional English in Use”

S.R.Esteras “Infotech English for computer users”)

1. What is a display? What is it used for?

2. What types of displays exist? How do they differ from each other? What is a preferable type?

3. What characteristics of a display do you know? Speak about each of them.

4. What can be considered the most important? What should we pay attention first of all when choosing a monitor?

5. What monitor would you advise to the following people: a) your friend to play video games/ b) your father’s friend to work with graphics applications/ c) your teacher to work with word processing applications?

Exercise 2. Give Russian equivalents for the words and word combinations from the text.

an output device to provide instant feedback a graphic image to process an image to convert digital signals into analogue signals an electron gun to strike the inside of the screen to be coated with

to emit radiation to block the light in different quantities to offer better quality to produce a sharp image to refer to to get certain effects to cause eye fatigue to allow for

Exercise 3. Complete the sentences using the information from the text.

1. Displays, often called monitors or screens, provide … .

2. A video card processes … .

3. A VGA cable stands for … and converts … .

4. CRT stands … .

5. CRTs are … .

6. A Liquid Crystal Display is made … .

7. Resolution is … .

8. Colour depth refers to … .

9. Refresh rate is … .

Exercise 4. Read the text. Answer the questions