Teleworking

1. Teleworking includes the whole range of work activities, all of which mean working remotely from an employer or normally expected place of work. Such work generally includes the electronic processing of information, the results of which are sent to the employer, usually by a telecommunications link.

2. The advances in the computer technology since the early 1960s gave a lot of opportunities for people working in this field. They are typically computer professionals, such as system analysts and programmers, who can work at home. And teleworking is perfect for them. Some parts of Britain are isolated from the rest of the country and teleworking was introduced in order to overcome the problem of rural isolation. British Telecom is supporting the development of such telecommunication centers in Derbyshire and the Highlands and islands of Scotland.

3. Not all jobs are suitable for teleworking. The jobs that depend on personal “face-to-face”contact or need “hands on” operation cannot be done by a teleworker. This includes jobs such as receptionist, counter clerk and makers of goods that require complex machinery to produce. Jobs suitable for teleworking are mostly those that are connected with the handling, processing and transforming of information. In Britain the number of people employed in this type of information intensive job is growing significantly from day to day.

4. The main advantage to teleworkers is that less time, money and effort are spent on travelling to and from the workplace. It provides a wider choice of areas to live if the job is not connected with a certain geographical area. The flexibility that teleworking will give you with working hours is a great advantage for parents with young children. It can also be attractive for those who care for elderly or disabled relatives. Retired people may also use teleworking as a way of working part-time.

VI. Say if the following statements are true or false. Correct the false statements.

1. Teleworking means working remotely from an employer.

2. Specialists employed in the field of teleworking are usually office workers who cannot work at home.

3. Teleworking appeared in Brifain to maintain rural isolation.

4. Jobs done by teleworkers are connected with the electronic processing of information.

5. The main advantage is that more time, money and effort are spent on travelling to and from the workplace.

6. In Britain the number of people working in this field is decreasing significantly.

7. Teleworking provides people with flexibility.

VII. Divide the text into logical parts and find the topical sentences in each part.

VIII. Give a short summary of text B.

Part C

I. Read the following text and entitle it.

1. Millions of people around the world use the Internet to search for and retrieve information on all sorts of topics in a wide variety of areas including the arts, business, government, humanities, news, politics and recreation. People communicate through electronic mail (e-mail), discussion groups, chat channels and other means of informational exchange. They share information and make commercial and business transactions. All this activity is possible because tens of thousands of network are connected to the Internet and exchange information in the same basic ways.

2. The World Wide Web (WWW) is a part of the Internet. But it’s not a collection of networks. Rather, it is information that is connected or linked together like a web. You access this information through one interface or tool called a Web browser. The number of resources and services that are part of the World Wide Web is growing extremely fast. In 1996 there were more than 20 million users of the WWW, and more than half the information that is transferred across the Internet is accessed through the WWW. By using a computer terminal (hardware) connected to a network that is a part of the Internet, and by using a program (software) to browse or retrieve information that is a part of the World Wide Web, the people connected to the Internet and World Wide Web through the local providers have access to a variety of information. Each browser provides a graphical interface. You move from place to place, from site to site on the Web by using a mouse to click on a portion of text, icon or region of a map. These items are called hyper-links or links. Each link you select represents a document, an image, a video clip or an audio file somewhere on the Internet. The user doesn’t need to know where it is, the browser follows the link.

3. All sorts of things are available on the WWW. One can use Internet for recreational purposes. Many TV and radio stations broadcast live on the WWW. Essentially, if something can be put into digital format and stored in a computer, then it’s available on the WWW. You can even visit museums, gardens, cities throughout the world, learn foreign languages and meet new friends. And of course you can play computer games through WWW, competing with partners from other countries and continents. Just a little bit of exploring the World Wide Web will show you what a much of use and fun it is.

Notes:

retrieve – извлекать

recreation – развлечение

business transactions – коммерческие операции

broadcast live – передавать в прямом эфире

II. Read the text and answer the questions.

1. What is the Internet used for?

2. Why are so many activities such as e-mail and business transactions possible through the Internet?

3. What is the World Wide Web?

4. What does a user need to have an access to the WWW?

5. What are hyper-links?

6. What are the basic recreational applications of the WWW?

III. Find the place in paragraph 2 containing the information about facilities required to have an access to the WWW.

IV. Give the main points of the text in 5-6 sentences.

UNIT 7

Part A