2. Complete each of these sentences, using a phrasal verb expression from the table above.

1. Should I … that graph now, if you find it hard to see in details.

2. There were pages of computer … all over the desk.

3. Sometimes web pages are a little too big or too small and it would be nice to be able to … or … to make the page easier to read.

4. Although I’ll be working away from the office for a couple of weeks, I’ll still be … my e-mails every day.

5. If you … to the bottom of the page, you’ll find the data you want.

6. I … to this brilliant new website last night. Let me give you the address so that you can check it out.

7. On these disks you’ll find a … of all the data connected with the project.

8. Do you think you could let me have a … of that screen? I don’t have the time to write down all the details.

WRITING

Write a short composition (about 100-150 words) entitled “My vision of the future”. Consider the future in terms of technology, engineering and society.

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What are the best and the most useful inventions of the mankind in the 20^th and 21^st centuries?

2. What famous inventors do you know? What were their inventions?

3. What would you invent if you were a scientist?

UNIT 15

Distance learning

LEAD-IN

Exercise 1. Answer the following question.

1. What are any reasons why people sometimes can’t study English outside of their home country?

2. What are the benefits of studying a language online?

3. What are your favorite Websites for learning English? Why do you like them?

Exercise 2. Match the words from two columns to get expressions.

distance postal entry correspondence group course shorthand satellite admission widely

broadcast courses interviews learning qualifications fee sessions system used work

Exercise 3. Find synonyms to the following verbs.

To receive, to represent, to attend, to adapt, to establish, to include, to defy.

Comprehensive reading

A Brief History of Distance Learning

Distance learning – a method of study that involves using electronic means (computers, Internet, etc.) to receive and send work rather than going to a school or university “Knowledge”, according to the proverb “is power”. And nowadays more and more of our information is gained not in the classroom, but via media such as the Internet, CD-ROM and cable TV all of which are playing a key part in the distance learning revolution. Here are three figures in this key educational change which is transforming our lives in the 21^st century.

Sir Isaac Pitman

Those who think that distance learning is a relatively new idea might be surprised to learn that English educator, Sir Isaac Pitman, had the same idea – only then they were called correspondence courses – more than 150 years ago. Taking advantage of the development of a reliable postal system in 1840, Pitman began teaching shorthand (a system for writing down what people are saying using special signs to represent letters, words and phrases) by mail to thousands of students who did not have time to attend school. “Lessons” consisted of copying short passages of the Bible in shorthand, and posting them to Mr. Pitman to be corrected. His brother, Benn Pitman, introduces the idea to the United States, and the Pitman shorthand system – which has been adapted to fifteen other languages – is still one of the most widely used shorthand system in the world.

The Open University

When it was established in 1969, the Open University offered courses via mail, with the back-up of regular TV and radio programmes shown outside normal broadcast times. Each student was assigned a tutor who discussed the course work over the phone, and in group sessions in the evenings or weekends. Forty years on, the Open University has expanded to include the Internet, videoconferencing, satellite broadcast and e-mail. There are no entry qualifications or admission interviews, and anyone over the age of 18 can follow one of their courses. It is now Britain’s largest single teaching institution, with more than 200,000 people studying its courses every year, with another 16,000 in other countries around the world.

John Hendricks and the Discovery Channel

After a successful career in university education, John S Hendricks entered the TV business and launched the Discovery Channel – the first cable TV channel exclusively devoted to documentaries and nature programmes – in June 1985. Today the company’s programmes reach over 150 million subscribers in more than a hundred countries. In an age where competition for TV audience has never been tougher, the Discovery Channel’s high-quality, educational approach continues to defy those who believe that TV is only about mindless entertainment. The BBC programme Walking with Dinosaurs became the most-watched documentary in TV history when it was shown on the Discovery Channel in 2000.