Variant 1. Read the text and decide whether these statements are true or false.

Internet: voice recognition takes off

Speech recognition (also known as automatic speech recognition, computer speech recognition, speech to text, or just STT) converts spoken words to text. The term "voice recognition" is sometimes used to refer to recognition systems that must be trained to a particular speaker—as is the case for most desktop recognition software. Recognizing the speaker can simplify the task of translating speech.

Speech recognition is a broader solution that refers to technology that can recognize speech without being targeted at single speaker—such as a call system that can recognize arbitrary voices.

Speech recognition applications include voice user interfaces such as voice dialing (e.g., "Call home"), call routing (e.g., "I would like to make a collect call"), domotic appliance control, search (e.g., find a podcast where particular words were spoken), simple data entry (e.g., entering a credit card number), preparation of structured documents (e.g., a radiology report), speech-to-text processing (e.g., word processors or emails), and aircraft (usually termed Direct Voice Input).

You don’t need a sophisticated cell phone to surf the Internet when you’re on the road – just your own voice. That’s the idea behind a new breed of voice service that is popping up all over the place. Subscribers dial a toll-free phone number and use spoken commands to listen to anything from weather conditions to stock quotes, or flight information to news stories. Half a dozen of these services – such as Audiopoint, BeVocal, TellMe and TelSurf Networks – have already gone live or are testing their systems.

These launches are all happening because two crucial technologies have come of age. Speech recognition software firm companies such as Lucent, Nuance and Speechworks can now understand a wide range of accents and diction without having to be trained to a specific voice. And computer languages such as VoiceXML make it as easy to write voice services as HTML has made it to write web pages. With VoiceXML, the human voice becomes a substitute for a computer mouse and the spoken command for a click. It doesn’t, however, call up conventional web pages, but content which is specially composed for a telephone: sound clips, numbers, music, spoken texts.

1. Speech recognition inverts spoken words to text.

2. The case for most desktop recognition software – the system must be trained to an average speaker.

3. To surf the Internet when you are on the road you need not only a sophisticated cell phone.

4. The task of translating speech can be simplified by the process of the speaker recognizing.

5. About 5-6 voice services have been functioning.

6. HTML has made it easy to write voice services.

7. The human voice becomes a substitute for a computer.

8. Now people have an ability to call up conventional web pages.

9. Modern speech recognition software haven’t provided the understanding of different accents and diction yet.

10. Subscribers can use spoken commands to listen to anything they are interested in.

Variant 2. Read the text and insert the missing words from the box:

a) security	b) analyst	c) test	d) systems	e) troubleshooting
f) malware	g) analyze	h) maintain	i) networks		j) skills