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Vital Part of Daily Life for Many People

When I was searching for some data in the Cyberspace I visited www.britishcouncil.org and found a very interesting article titled "Mobile Phones". I liked the contents of the article and decided that it could exist very informative and useful to English language learners. I accept made up some tasks which can exist done after reading the material.

MOBILE PHONES

When Scotsman Alexander Graham Bell invented the phone in 1876, information technology was a revolution in advice. For the start time, people could talk to each other over bang-up distances almost as conspicuously as if they were in the aforementioned room. Nowadays, though, we increasingly apply Bell'south invention for emails, faxes and the internet rather than talking. Over the last two decades a new means of spoken advice has emerged: the mobile phone.

The modern mobile phone is a more circuitous version of the ii-manner radio. Traditional 2-mode radio was a very limited ways of communication. As shortly as the users moved out of range of each other's broadcast area, the signal was lost. In the 1940s, researchers began experimenting with the idea of using a number of radio masts located around the countryside to pick upward signals from two-manner radios. A caller would always be within range of ane of the masts; when he moved too far away from one mast, the next mast would pick upward the signal. (Scientists referred to each mast's reception surface area equally being a separate "prison cell"; this is why in many countries mobile phones are chosen "cell phones".)

However, 1940s engineering science was notwithstanding quite primitive, and the "telephones" were enormous boxes which had to exist transported by car.

The first real mobile phone call was made in 1973 by Dr. Martin Cooper, the scientist who invented the modern mobile handset. Equally soon every bit his invention was complete, he tested information technology by calling a rival scientist to announce his success. Within a decade, mobile phones became available to the public. The streets of modern cities began to characteristic abrupt-suited characters shouting into behemothic plastic bricks. In Britain the mobile phone quickly became synonymous with the "yuppie", the new breed of young urban professionals who carried the expensive handsets as status symbols. Effectually this time many of usa swore that nosotros would never, ever own a mobile telephone.

But in the mid-90s, something happened. Cheaper handsets and cheaper calling rates meant that, almost overnight, information technology seemed that everyone had a mobile phone. And the giant plastic bricks of the 80s had evolved into smooth little objects that fitted nicely into pockets and bags. In every pub and eating place y'all could hear the bleep and buzz of mobiles ringing and registering letters, occasionally breaking out into archaic versions of the latest pop songs. Cities suddenly had a new, postmodern birdsong.

Moreover, people's timekeeping changed. Younger readers will be amazed to know that, non long ago, people made spoken arrangements to meet at a sure place at a sure fourth dimension. In one case a time and identify had been agreed, people met every bit agreed. Somewhere around the new millennium, this do started to die out. Coming together times became estimate, subject to modify at any moment under the new social club of advice: the Curt Message Service (SMS) or text message. Going to be late? Send a text message! It takes much less effort than arriving on fourth dimension, and information technology's much less awkward than explaining your lateness contiguous. Information technology'south the perfect communication method for the busy modern lifestyle. Similar email before information technology, the text bulletin has altered the style we write in English, bringing more abbreviations and a more lax approach to language construction. The160-character limit on text messages has led to a new, abbreviated version of English for fast and instantaneous communication. Traditional rules of grammer and spelling are much less important when y'all're sitting on the double-decker, hurriedly typing "Will B 15min late - C U @ the bar. Sorry! :-)".

Mobile phones, once the preserve of the loftier-powered businessperson and the "yuppie", are at present a vital part of daily life for an enormous amount of people. From schoolchildren to pensioners, every department of society has establish that it's easier to stay in touch on when you've got a mobile. Over the last few years mobiles accept go more than and more than avant-garde, with built-in cameras, global positioning devices and internet admission. And in the next couple of years, nosotros can expect to come across the arrival of the "third generation" of mobile phones: powerful micro-computers with broadband cyberspace admission, which will allow us to watch TV, download internet files at high speed and send instant video clips to friends.

Alexander Graham Bell would exist amazed if he could come across how far the scientific discipline of telephony has progressed in less than 150 years. If he were around today, he might say: "That's gr8! But I'm v busy rite now. Volition call U 2nite."

By Craig Duncan

Vocabulary.

email – a arrangement that allows you to send and receive messages by computer or a message that is sent from 1 person to another using the electronic mail arrangement.
fax – a letter or bulletin that is sent in electronic form downwardly a phone line and so printed using a special car.
the Cyberspace – a computer system that allows millions of reckoner users around the world to exchange data.
mast – a tall metallic tower that sends out radio and television signals.
enormous – very big in size or in amount.
handset – the part of a mobile phone that yous agree in your manus.
available – something that is able to exist used or tin can easily exist bought or found.
to evolve – to develop and change gradually over a long period of time.
bleep – a brusk high sound fabricated by a piece of electronic equipment.
buzz – a continuous racket like the sound of a bee.
abbreviation – a short form of a discussion or expression.
lax – non strict or careful enough.
instantaneous – happening immediately.
broadband – a system of connecting computers to the Cyberspace and moving information, such as messages or pictures, at a very high speed.
to download – to motion information or programs from a reckoner network to a small computer.

Task 1. Say if these statements are truthful or false.

1) When Scotsman Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, his invention was considered to exist unimportant. T/F
two) The mod mobile phone is a more circuitous version of the two-manner radio. T/F
3) In 1940s the "telephones" were polish trivial objects that fitted nicely into pockets and bags. T/F
4) Dr. Martin Cooper tested the modernistic mobile handset past calling his friend to announce his success. T/F
5) In the mid-90s handsets and calling rates became more expensive, that'due south why very few people could afford a mobile phone. T/F
6) After mobile phones had been invented people's timekeeping changed. T/F
seven) Every section of society has found that it's easier to stay in touch when you've got a mobile. T/F

Task 2. Write the words and word combinations under the headings beneath. Summarize the contents of the article using them.

Task 3. Answer the questions.

1) Why do people use mobile phones?
2) Why are mobile phones called "cell phones" in many countries?
three) What were the first telephones similar?
4) When was the first existent mobile phone call made?
v) What was the mobile phone synonymous with in Britain?
six) What were mobile phones like in the 80s? How did they change in the 90s?
7) How has the text message altered the way we write in English?
8) Why are mobile phones a vital part of daily life for many people?
9) What opportunities do modern mobiles requite to their users?
10) What volition the "third generation" of mobile phones be like?

Task 4. Read what different people say about mobile phones. Give your own pros and cons.

"I tin can't live without my mobile telephone. Thank you to it I tin can be reachable everywhere and I can never miss something of import. If I need some assistance, I just call my friends and they rush to rescue me. If I have a meeting and I'm tardily, I can send an SMS with my excuses. Information technology is very fast and convenient. I'm fond of taking photos and sending them to my friends. The only problem is that I spend too much coin on my mobile phone."

Ann, 22, educatee

"I have 2 children and a mobile phone makes my life much easier. If I worry virtually my kids, I can call them and make sure they are all right. Just I begin to detest my mobile phone on weekends and on holidays. I experience that I have no privacy when I know that every infinitesimal my friends, colleagues and my dominate can telephone call me and find me wherever I am. Sometimes I feel and so exhausted that I go to bed earlier and forget to turn off my mobile phone. As a rule I'm awakened as soon as I fall asleep because somebody has forgotten to tell me something unimportant or to ask me to render him a service. Some people don't understand that I'm not obliged to reply their calls 24 hours a day."

Katherine, 35, shop assistant

Task 5. Read some quotations by famous people about mobile phones and comment on them.

• "I dearest the freedom of movement that my phone gives me. That has definitely transformed my life." (Richard Branson)

• "You'd be surprised how difficult it is to relinquish a prison cell telephone." (Adrien Brody)

• "Would I buy a cell phone for my 12-year-sometime?... No. I should take closer control over my child than that. He really shouldn't be in places where he needs to contact me by cell." (Stephen Baker)

• "I would say xc percent of my mail and telephone calls are from people who want some kind of aid or succor or delivery from me to practice something." (Peter Coyote)

• "Information technology's getting harder and harder to differentiate between schizophrenics and people talking on a jail cell phone. Information technology still brings me up short to walk by somebody who appears to be talking to themselves." (Bob Newhart)

• "To be happy in this world, first y'all need a cell phone and then you need an airplane. Then you're truly wireless." (Ted Turner)

By Svetlana Yunyova ,
Moscow Regional Pedagogical College, Serpukhov

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Source: https://eng.1sept.ru/article.php?ID=200802019

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