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getting (2) _____ on the actors in the film at the same time! To enter (3) _____ ad-
dresses and write (4) _____ you use a remote control and an (5) _____ keyboard or
an optional wireless keyboard. By clicking a button, you can also read adverts, (6)
“_____” with a friend, plan your holiday and play your favourite (7) _____ games. In
the future you’ll be able to change the plot of the film you’re watching and meddle in
the private lives of the characters. The next (8) _____ of Internet TVs will also have a
smart card for shopping, banking and other (9) _____ activities.
III. Retell the text ‘The language of computers’ in English.
Text C. SOCIALIZING ON THE INTERNET
Over the past two decades, as the price of the computing has plunged, the per-
sonal computer enabled people to be more productive and gain better access to in-
formation. Now, as the price of communications falls, the PC makes it easier for peo-
ple to reach each other, too.
Electronic inboxes are flooded with e-mail. Electronic “chat” and community partici-
pation are on the rise. Chat is a fascinating phenomenon. It takes place in imaginary
“rooms”, where like-minded people congregate.
Typically, people type messages back and forth; usually to correspondents
they’ve never met in person. Numerous people can communicate with each other si-
multaneously, and there are no long-distance charges the way there would be with a
telephone. Compared to a telephone conversation, the technical quality of chat seems
low. But it’s a raging success despite its limitations because the human drive to con-
nect with other people is so strong.
Actually, the fact that people must type their messages – and can edit what they
say before firing back a reply – is an attraction of chat. A version that allowed voice
communication was a flop. Perhaps, people were intimidated when they had to speak
in a nice, intelligible fashion.
Chat rooms are filled with all kinds of people who ap-
preciate or need the convenience of socializing from home
– easily, safely, and without getting dressed up.
“We’ve had a breakdown of neighborhoods in many
societies, with everything becoming generic,” one student
of chat rooms told. “People are looking in cyberspace for
new avenues of self-expression.”
Although I don’t get to spend much time in chat
rooms, I know people who do. One is a friend who is pas-
sionate about Beanie Babies – the craze for miniature
stuffed animals. She spends an amazing amount of time chatting about them and trad-
ing them online.
A Microsoft manager who designs tools for online socializing told she had
started researching chat rooms and soon found herself engrossed for two or three
hours a day – to her utter surprise. “You end up having very real relationships,” she
said.
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