100 Chapters

1. What is the subject of the passage?

2. What are the roots of Internet?

3. What is specific about «smilies» or «emoticons»?

4. What are the obvious advantages of e-mail? Are there any limitations?

5. What is specific about FidoNet?

6. What is specific about the World Wide Web?

Exercise 1. Give English equivalents of:

світ електронних комунікацій; велика кількість послуг; безкоштовні послуги; секретний проект; програмне забезпечення; апаратне забезпечення; електронна пошта; засіб передачі інформації; ухвалити стандарт; портативні комп'ютери; запит; розповсюджувати результати; обмірковувати; багатогранна проблема; гіпертекст; вигадати простий засіб.

Exercise 2. Render the following passages into Ukrainian. Discuss the points with your colleagues.

A.

The age of the so-called information highway is beginning. This highway starts with computer operators in the 50s who begin to communicate among themselves using specialized languages and protocols. Today we think that electronic communications world (since it is digital) must be accurate, reliable, and low cost. Perhaps. In some cases. At times. Yes, e-mail is transferred across the Internet in seconds. However, if it crosses a boundary between the Internet and a relatively restricted network there can be delays of seconds, minutes or hours — just like leaving a superhighway and encountering road construction or customs checkpoint.

Perhaps, your e-mail is delivered promptly. Who will read it? Maybe that person is busy, out of town, or simply doesn't know what is needed to answer you. We need to distinguish between our expectations of the communications technology and our expectations of the people with whom we communicate.

B.

Historians of technology often tell us how long it takes for technological innovations to enter widespread use. They say that 25 years is the expected interval. The telephone, television, and fax machine, for example, all took 25 years to reach popularity. But what about the Web? It became ubiquitous all of a sudden, and this ubiquity is growing, changing our view of *all of a sudden == suddenly information, society, and business. Is another Web-like thing on its way?

Chapter 6 101

Exercise 3. Translate the following table.

102 Chapters grammar: modal verbs and their equivalents (phrasal modals)

Modal verbs are used when we say that we expect things to happen, or that events are possible (necessary, improbable, impossible), or when we say that things did not happen, or when we are not sure whether they happened.

Modal verbs have no -s ending for the third person singular, they are followed by the infinitive WITHOUT to (except for ought to).

Modal verbs can be used with perfect infinitives to talk about things that did not happen, or which we are not sure about in the past.

Modal verbs make questions and negative forms WITHOUT using do/did.

Modal verbs are: can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must, ought to, dare. In British English need can be both a modal verb and an ordinary verb. In American English it is NOT used as a modal.