Vocabulary and reading comprehension exercises

Exercise 1. Put the items in the box into one of the following cetegories:

a) gadgets that will never be invented in your lifetime

b) gadgets you’ve got

c) gadgets you’d like to have

d) gadgets you we’ll never need

mobile phone linked-up to Internet heli-bike TV games console (eg. Playsttion) miniature TV screens in wrap-around sunglasses palmtop computer relaxation cocoon CD Walkman fully programmable housework robot electronic shoe-shine voice-operated car external memory boost for your brain transparent bodysuit for safer sunbathing wrist phone with visual display language microchip implanted directly in the brain automatic ice-cream maker ergonomic office chair with inbuilt massage function

Exercise 2. Read the text below. For questions 1-6 choose the correct answer A, B, C or D.

Microsoft's new search engine, Bing, 1) ___________ in a major ad campaign. The company hopes it 2) ___________ competitors like Yahoo and Google.

Microsoft has had a search engine for many years. It's gone through a number of incarnations but the problem was relatively few people ever 3) _________ it. The world's largest software developer wants to change that with the launch of Bing.

Described as a "decision engine", Bing promises to make shopping, booking a flight or searching for a restaurant online easier and faster than other sites. But some experts are asking why people would stop using Google, one of the world's most used search engines, and start using Bing?

Microsoft says it's because 40% of search queries on their competitor's site 4) __________ unanswered - something they can improve on. And while it remains to be seen how 5) ____________ users will be about Bing, many advertisers already are. Bing is stylish. Some of its features, like previewing videos without 6) ____________ the site, surpass what is offered by Google. Microsoft is taking a major financial risk with Bing. It's spent $100m on the advertising campaign alone.

1 A launched B was launched C has launched D was launching

2 A rival B rivalled C will rival D is rivalled

3 A use B using C uses D used

4 A go B goes C going D is gone

5 A excite B exciting C excited D was excited

6 A leave B left C leaved D leaving

Exercise 3. Read the article and find out what Stephen Hawking’s predictions are.

A brief history of the future

Will we colonise the universe? Are aliens out there? Can computers outsmart us? In a unique interview, Professor Stephen Hawking, who has spent a lifetime applying his formidable intellect to the big questions, gives NIGEL FARNDALE his predictions for the human race

I have come here - to Cambridge University's Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, where Hawking holds the professorial chair once held by Isaac Newton - on the turn of the Millennium to ask him what he thinks the future has in store for the human race.

If the world's population continues to grow at its present rate - doubling every 40 years - there isn't going to be enough room for us all on Earth by the year 2600. So will we, I ask, be able to spread out to other planets? His hands go into action. The only sounds in the room are the clicking of the pressure pads and the whirring of the computer. The electronic voice delivers the answer five minutes later. ``We shall probably manage a manned or, should I say, personned, flight to Mars in the next century,'' Hawking says. ``But Earth is by far the most favoured planet in the solar system. Mars is small, cold and without much atmosphere, and the other planets are quite unsuitable for human beings. We either have to learn to live in space stations or travel to the next star. We won't do that in the next century.''

I ask whether we humans will keep on changing, or will we eventually reach an ultimate level of development and knowledge? Click click click. ``In the next 100 years, or even in the next 20, we may discover a complete theory of the basic laws of the universe (the so-called Theory of Everything in which quantum theory is unified with Einstein's theory of general relativity), but there will be no limit to the complexity of the biological or electronic systems we can build under these laws.''

I'm just about to ask a supplementary question when the hands start up again. A few minutes pass before Hawking adds: ``By far the most complex systems we have are our own bodies. There haven't been any significant changes in human DNA in the past 10,000 years. But soon we will be able to increase the complexity of our internal record, our DNA, without having to wait for the slow process of biological evolution. It is likely that we will be able to redesign it completely in the next 1,000 years - by increasing our brain size, for example. Of course, many will say genetic engineering on humans will be banned but I rather doubt that they will be able to prevent it. Genetic engineering on plants and animals will be allowed for economic reasons and someone is bound to try it on humans - unless we have a totalitarian world order, someone will improve humans somewhere.''

``We also need to become more complex if biological systems are to keep ahead of electronic ones. At the moment, computers have an advantage of speed but they show no sign of intelligence. This is not surprising as our present computers are less complex than the brain of an earthworm, a species not known for its intellectual powers. But computers' speed and complexity double every 18 months, and this will probably continue until computers have a similar complexity to the human brain.''

But will computers ever show true intelligence, whatever that might be? ``It seems to me that if very complicated chemical molecules can operate in humans to make them intelligent, then equally complicated electronic circuits can also make computers act in an intelligent way. And if they are intelligent, they can presumably design computers that have even greater intelligence and complexity.''

``On the biological side, the limit of human intelligence up to now has been set by the size of the human brain that will pass through the birth canal,'' Hawking says. ``Having watched my three children being born, I know how difficult it is to get the head out. But in the next 100 years I expect we will learn how to grow babies outside the human body so this limitation will be removed. But ultimately, increases in the size of the human brain through genetic engineering will come up against the problem that the chemical messages responsible for our mental activity are relatively slow-moving - so further increases in the complexity of the brain will be at the expense of speed. We can be quick-witted or very intelligent, but not both.''

It's time to ask the big one: will we make contact with aliens in the next millennium? Hawking smiles. His fingers click the pressure-pads. The answer comes seven minutes later. ``The human race has been in its present form for only the past two million years out of the 15 billion or so since the Big Bang. So even if life developed in other stellar systems, the chances of catching it at a recognisably human stage are very small.

``Any alien life we encounter will be much more primitive or much more advanced than us. And if it's more advanced, why hasn't it spread through the galaxy and visited Earth? It could be that there is an advanced race out there which is aware of our existence but is leaving us to stew in our own primitive juices. However, I doubt they would be so considerate to a lower life form. There is a sick joke that the reason we have not been contacted by extra-terrestrials is that when a civilisation reaches our stage of development it becomes unstable and destroys itself. But I'm an optimist. I think we have a good chance of avoiding nuclear war and Armageddon.''

Work in groups and answer the questions:

1. Does anything Stephan Hawking says surprise you?

2. Do any of his predictions scare you?

3. What would you like to know about the future? What do you think might happen?

Look at these extracts from the text. Use prepositions to complete the sentences.

1. I’ve come here…on the turn ______ the millennium to ask him what he thinks the future has in store _______ the human race.

2. …there isn’t going to be enough room for us all on Earth _____ the year 2600.

3. …there will be no limit ______ the complexity of biological or electronic systems.

4. ______ far the most complex systems we have are our own bodies.

5. Genetic engineering on plants and animals will be allowed _______ economic reasons.

6. We need to become more complex if biological systems are to keep ahead ______ electronic ones.

7. …genetic engineering will come up ______ the problem that the chemical messages responsible for our mental activity are relatively slow-moving – so further increases in the complexity of the brain will be _______ the expense _____ speed.

8. I think we have a good chance ______ avoiding nuclear war.

Exercise 4. Do the quiz and find out.

1. When was the first computer invented?

a) 1936 b) 1951 c) 1974

2. Which company was the first to develop personal home-use computer?

a) IBM b) Macintosh c) Microsoft

3. What does WWW mean?

a) Working with the Web b) Well Worked Web c) World Wide Web

4. Which country does the following site come from? http://www.outandabout.co.nz

a) Norway b) New Zealand c) The Netherlands

5. What does the ‘e’ in e-mail stand for?

a) electrical b) electronic c) efficient

Exercise 5. Complete these sentences with words from the box.

hyperlink log on graphics home page server attachment inbox search engine

1) When I turn on my computer I had five new e-mail in my ____________.

2) _______ can take up a lot of space. Some pictures can be as big as 10 Megabytes.

3) If you want to go to the page about the cinema just click on the ________ and you’ll go straight to the page.

4) I didn’t know any websites with information about inventors so I went to a ______ and typed in the word ‘Inventors’.

5) When you ___________ to your computer you need to type in your password.

6) When you create a website you must send all your pages to a ___________ and that way other people can access your site.

6) He has changed his __________. When you go to his site the first thing you see is a picture of his latest book and a menu list.

7) He added the picture to the e-mail and sent it as an ________________.

A PRACTICAL ENGLISH GRAMMAR: Comparing and contrasting

1) The following words or short phrases compare two items or ideas:

like, likewise, same as, as well as, also, too, likewise

Here is a short paragraph using some of these expressions:

You'll find that time like money is a limited resource. You can't buy everything you want, likewise you don't have enough time to do everything you want to do. Our time is the same as our money: it's limited. Also, time is a resource when work needs to be done.

2) The following words or short phrases contrast two items or ideas:

unlike, in contrast to, as opposed to, different from, whereas

Here is a short paragraph using some of these expressions to contrast:

Unlike time or money, desire is an unlimited resource. Think about it: in contrast to money which can run out, your desire for new experiences and ideas will never end. Whereas there is never enough time to do everything you want, your desire will always come up with something new and exciting.