Welcome to the computer world. Practice materials for 1st year students. Еранина Т.И - 36 стр.

                                       36

                                UNIT 5

           New computer models and the global network

Task 1. Read and translate the text:

            Introduction to the WWW and the Internet

                    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 in-
        formational exchange. They share information and make commercial
        and business transactions. All this activity is possible because tens of
        thousands of networks are connected to the Internet and exchange
        information in the; same basic ways.
                    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 hyperlinks 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.
                    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.