The Internet

1. The Internet, a global computer network which embraces millions of users all over the world, began in the United States in 1969 as a military experiment. It was designed to survive a nuclear war. Information sent over the Internet takes the shortest path available from one computer to another. Because of this, any two computers on the Internet will be able to stay in touch with each other as long as there is a single route between them. This technology is called packet switching. Owing to this technology, if some computers on the network are knocked out (by a nuclear explosion, for example), information will just route around them.

2. Most of the Internet host computer (more than 50%) are in the United States, while the rest are located in more than 100 other countries. Although the number of host computers can be counted fairly accurately, nobody knows exactly how many people use the Internet, there are millions, and their number is growing by thousands each month worldwide.

3.The most popular Internet service is e-mail. Most of the people, who have access to the Internet, use the network only for sending and receiving e-mail messages. However, other popular services are available on the Internet: reading USENET News, using the World-Wide Web, telnet, and Gopher.

4. In many developing countries the Internet may provide businessmen with a reliable alternative to the expensive and unreliable telecommunications systems of these countries. Commercial users can communicate over the Internet with the rest of the world and can do it very cheaply. When they send e-mail messages, they only have to pay for phone calls to their local service providers, not for calls across their countries or around the world. But who actually pays for sending e-mail messages over the Internet long distances, around the world? The answer is very simple: a user pays his / her service a monthly or hourly fee. Part of this fee goes towards its hosts to connect to a larger service provider. And part of the fee got by the large provider goes to cover its cost of running a worldwide network of wire and wireless stations.

5. But saving money is only the first step. If people see that they can make money from the Internet, commercial use of this network will drastically increase. For example, some western architecture companies and garment centers already transmit their basic designs and concepts over the Internet into China, where they are worked and refined by skilled – but inexpensive – Chinese computer-aided-design specialists.

6. However, some problems remain. The most important is security. When you send an e-mail message to somebody, this message can travel through many different networks and computers. The data are constantly being directed towards its destination by special computers called routers. Because of this, it is possible to get into any of computers along the route, intercept and even change the data being sent over the Internet. In spite of the fact that there are many strong encoding programs available, nearly all the information being sent over the Internet is transmitted without any form of encoding, i.e. “in the clear”. But when it becomes necessary to send important information over the network, these encoding programs may be useful. Some banks and companies even conduct transactions over the Internet. However, there are still both commercial and technical problems which will take time to be resolved.

VI. Say whether the following statements are true or false.

1. The number of the Internet users is growing each month worldwide. 2. The Internet was designed to survive a nuclear war. 3. Nearly all the information being sent over the Internet is encoded. 4. You have to pay for calls across your country or around the world when you send e-mail messages. 5. Some banks and companies are known to conduct transactions over the Internet. 6. The Internet began in the USA in 1989 as a military experiment.

VII. Complete the following sentences choosing the most suitable variant.

1. The technology of the Internet is called ….

a) step-by-step switching

b) message switching

c) packet switching

2. Information sent over the Internet takes….

a) the shortest path available from one computer to another

b) the longest path available from one computer to another

c) any path available from one computer to another

3. If your messages sent are to be confidential you have to use ….

a) decoding programs

b) encoding programs

c) entertainment programs

4. The most important problem of e-mail service is ….

a) security

b) cost

c) size

5. Most of the Internet host computers are in ….

a) Belarus

b) Australia

c) The USA

VIII. Read the first sentence of the text and mark pauses. Divide it into sense groups, find out the means of connection between these sense groups and between the words in each group.

IX. In paragraphs 2 and 3 find English equivalents of the following words and word combinations.

Доступ, узловой компьютер, точно, услуга, получать, остаток, размещаться, сообщение, имеющийся в распоряжении, сеть, возрастать.

X. Read paragraphs 4-5 and answer the questions.

1. What does the Internet supply commercial users with?

2. Are telecommunications systems reliable and cheap in comparison with the Internet?

3. What do the users of e-mail actually pay for?

4. Part of the fee goes towards its hosts to connect to a local service provider, doesn’t it?

5. Do you know the ways of making money from the Internet?

XI. In paragraphs 6 find information about consequences of “clear” data transmission over the Internet.

XII. Make an outline of the text.

XIII. Speak about the worldwide use of e-mail service.

Part B

I. Look through the list of words and make your predictions about the content of it.

II. Define the meaning of the “x” words.

1) develop: development = развивать:х

2) process: processing = обрабатывать: х

3) connect: connection = соединять: х

4) employ: employment = нанимать: х

5) depend: dependence = зависеть: х

6) require: requirement = требовать:х

7) provide: provision = обеспечивать: х

III. Complete the sentences with the given words:

computer technology, advantage, includes, suitable, introduced, effort, employer, teleworkers.

1. Teleworking ….. the whole range of work activities.

2. The results of the processed information are sent to the …...

3. The advances in the ….. gave a lot of opportunities for people.

4. Not all jobs are ….. for teleworking.

5. The main …. to teleworkers is that less time, money and ….are spent.

6. ….. are typically computer professionals, who can work at home.

7. Teleworking was ….. to overcome the problem of rural isolation.

IV. Study the following word and choose:

a) nouns

b) adjectives

c) adverbs

V. Read the title and make your predictions about the content of the text.