22
IN THIS UNIT
GRAMMAR
• past continuous
• relative pronouns
VOCABULARY
• the media
• nouns (
photography/
photographer
)
• TV programme genres
SCENARIO
• making suggestions
• designing a show
STUDY SKILLS
• collaboration: working
with others
WRITING SKILLS
• a TV programme review
The media
3.1
THE INTERNET
‘Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.’
Gertrude Stein, 1874–1946, US writer
3
VOCABULARY
THE MEDIA
1
a
Put these words into three groups: A (newspapers
and magazines), B (television and radio) and
C (computers and the internet). Some words can
go in more than one group.
advert article blog celebrity channel
drama email front page headline
homepage journalist presenter programme
social networking site spam video
1
b
Use the words above to make collocations with
these verbs.
1
to read
an article …
5
to use/go on
2
to watch
an advert (on TV), …
6
to like/respect
3
to write
7
to upload
4
to listen to
1
c
Are these statements true for you? Discuss them
with a partner.
1
I don’t read newspapers.
2
I don’t read articles about celebrities.
3
I like watching adverts on TV.
4
I think computer games are violent and expensive.
5
I read a lot of blogs.
6
I think journalists usually tell the truth.
1
d
Now use words from Exercise 1a to write two true
statements about yourself. Then compare with a partner.
I don’t like adverts on social networking sites.
READING
2
a
When (and why) do you think the first email was sent?
Discuss with a partner, then read the text to check.
THE FIRST TIME
These days, email is the most commonly used form of
communication. It is estimated that the number of worldwide
email accounts will be over 4.9 billion by the end of 2017.
But how did it all begin, more than 40 years ago? Who sent
the first email, and why? What was the inventor hoping
for when the first successful message came across on a
computer?
In the late 1960s, technology graduate Ray Tomlinson was
working at a research and development company in the
USA. In those days, computers were very expensive, and
several people shared one computer. People were already
using a computer program that allowed them to send
messages to each other – as long as they were all working
on the same computer. While Tomlinson was making
improvements to this program, he got the idea to modify it
so that people could start sending messages to different
computers. In October 1971, he managed it.
Tomlinson said in an interview that he didn’t remember the
exact message, but that it travelled
a distance of one meter, from one
computer to another! It wasn’t until the
1990s, with the birth of the Internet,
that email became quite so popular.
However, that first message in 1971
was the start of something nobody
ever thought would become such an
essential part of their everyday lives.
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