Тексты для самостоятельного чтения и перевода потеме «сми»

Massmedia.

Mass media (that is the press, the radio and television) play an important role in the life of people. They inform, educate and entertain people. They also influence the way people look at the world and make them change their views. Millions of people in their free time watch TV and read newspapers. Everybody can find something interesting for him there. On the radio you can listen to the music, plays, news and discussions or commentaries of events. A lot of radio or TV games and films attract a large audience. Newspapers uses in different ways, but basically they are read. There is a lot of advertisement on mass media. Some of the TV and radio stations and newspapers are owned by different corporations. The owners can advertise whatever they choose. Mass media try to raise cultural level of the people or to develop their artistic taste. Mass media brings to millions of homes not only entertainment and news but also cultural and educational programs. There are more than twenty TV channels and lots of radio stations and newspapers now in the Russian Federation.

Advertise – рекламировать, помещать рекламу

Advertisement – объявление, реклама

Entertainment – развлечение, зрелище

The mass media

The press, the radio and TV play an important role in the life of society. They inform, educate and entertain people. They also influence the way people look at the world and make them change their views. Mass media shapes public opinion. Millions of people in their spare-time read newspapers. It is impossible to imagine our life without newspapers. Millions of copies of them appear every day. Many people subscribe to two or more newspapers, others buy newspapers on the news-stands. There are national daily newspapers such as "The News" and "The Economic newspaper". There are also national weekly newspapers such as "The arguments and the facts". Most national newspapers express a political opinion and people choose them according to their political beliefs. Most newspapers contain news, detailed articles on home and international affairs, reviews of book are and TV-shows. Mane of them cover sport events. There are local newspapers in every city and town of Russia. The most popular local newspapers in Moscow are "The Moscow Komsomolets" and "Evening Moscow", in Kazan - "Evening Kazan. It is a local paper, because it is circulated only in our city. It is a daily paper because it is issued for times a week. The circulation of this paper is more than 80 thousand copies. This paper is delivered to our house. I am fond of reading it because it gives a full coverage of the events at home and abroad. One can also find newspapers for teenagers and children, for sportsfans and people of different professions. In Britain there are great differences between the various daily newspapers - in the type of news they report and the way they report it. On the one hand there are "quality" newspapers: "The Times", "The Guardian ", "The Daily Telegraph". These concern themselves, as far as possible, with factual reports of major national and international events, with the world of politics and business, and with the arts and sport. On the other hand there are the popular and tabloids, so-called because of their smaller size. The tabloids - the most widely read of which are "The Daily Mail", "The Daily Express" and "The Sun" - concentrate on more emotive reporting of stories often featuring violence, the Royal Family, film and pop stars and sport. The tabloid press is much more popular than the quality press. In addition to the national daily newspapers there are some national papers which are published on Sundays. Most of the Sundays contain more reading matter than daily papers. Besides, nearly every area in Britain has one or more local newspapers. The British are one of the biggest newspaper-reading nations in the world. Millions of people watch TV. In our technological age TV has become a part of daily life. It broadens our horizons and enriches our mind because there are different programs on the arts, history, archeology, technical inventions. The strength of our television lies in its high quality, in its willingness to experiment and its ability to please most tastes. But a peculiar feature of modern TV is a soap-opera. It is s sentimental serial drama dealing with domestic problems. Most people find soap-operas boring. There is a lot of advertising on TV. The same advertisements are repeated dozens of times every day which bores the viewers. In my opinion some new American films pull the rest of the people down to their own intellectual level. But it hardly fair to say that our media do not try to raise the cultural level of the people or to develop their artistic taste. Many of the TV programs are excellent, they are made in a good taste and with a great professional skill. The radio is turned on most of the time. It doesn't interfere with your activities. You can listen to the radio while doing some work about the house, reading a book or driving a car. On the radio one hear the music, plays, news and various commentaries and discussions. Radio and TV bring into millions of homes not only entertainment and news but also cultural and educational programs. For instants you can take a TV course in history, political, economy, management and many other subjects, learn a foreign language by radio. My favorite is "Current affairs". This program deals with political and social problems of modern society. Its aim is to give an analysis of the problems and to show different view points.

And now I want to say some words about computers. The computer is a data storage system created by man. A human tells the machine what to do, when to do and how it should be done. And there is no magic involved. The machine is programmed to process data fast and accurately. Computers do a lot of useful operations, calculations, keep records of our financial affairs, create charts and drawings, and process the results of different experiments. They are applied in weather forecasting, medicine, manufacturing and research. They save a lot of energy and time.

There is a global network the Internet we use as Mass Media. It helps us to find new information, news. We can communicate with other people. Let’s read the text “What is the Internet today?”and do the tasks.

“What is the Internet today?”

The Internet is the world largest computer network. It appealed in our country not many years ago, but it has become known to many people not only in the capital of Russia but also all over the country. And the same thing happens in many developing countries. People can find out a lot of useful information, and give information about themselves there. But why do people want to be "on the Internet"?

It seems to me that people like to do it because they can feel freedom on the Internet. But what does this freedom of the Internet include? Firstly it is equality. It does not matter what your race or age or nationality or wealth is, you can post your message to the Internet and you will be heard. You will find a lot of people who will support you and who will not support you. You will find your allies and enemies there. And this is the freedom to express your opinion, which is next to the freedom of choice. On the Internet you can choose information to your own taste or need. Nobody can make you look at something that you do not need or do not like. If do not like something, you just type another address and in a second you are already there where you want to be. But what can you choose from these different resources? It may be pornography or silly games. But it seems to me that very few people view pornography on the net. So these people will not influence all "inhabitants".

And now about the games: there are "tons" of very useful games, which will help you to understand the economy of the city, improve your language skills and vocabulary, or at least give you better skills in using the "mouse".

There is also a freedom of movement. There are no borders on the Internet and you can travel all over the Internet without any prohibitions. If you need some information about some foreign" country, you can get it. You do not need any visas to explore web sites in foreign countries.

Also you can vote on the Internet. There are a lot of questionnaires where you can express your attitude towards something. So the main principles of democracy are kept on the Internet.

The fact is that we can use all these resources for our educational purposes. And, as I said previously, anyone can find information of his own choice. The Internet makes it easier to find books (for example for your research paper) or articles, and now even to listen to and watch famous people.

Now teachers, students, professors, scientists, librarians and lawyers use the Internet to search for useful information because it is the fastest and the most convenient way to do it. We can get data for our research in just seconds after pushing a few buttons. This is no small deal, since entire books can be transferred through the Internet in a matter of minutes. Today millions of such files are available to anyone who asks for them.

But unfortunately there are some problems concerning the Internet. I think that it is not good that internet users communicate only with the people on the Internet. They stop talking with their relatives and friends because they have only virtual friends. So the Internet destroys real human communication.

Maybe someone's interpersonal communication was destroyed, but now technology can give us an opportunity to communicate with our relatives and friends as if we are in the same room. People can be close to each other even being on different continents. And if a person is mentally normal, he\she will never prefer communication with computer to relatives.

In the conclusion I'd like to say that the Internet will help to develop our educational level due to its democracy and freedom. And after the people will find out what freedom is, they will develop in their country. After the Internet will guide us to the one open society, there will be no borders on the Earth any more; and we will live in peace and will respect each other like on the Internet. '

ЗаданияктекстуWhatistheInternettoday?

Задание 1.III. Read the text and say if you agree or disagree with the following statements: true or false.

1. The Internet appeared in Russia many years ago.

2. The Internet can help you to choose what you need and want.

3. The Internet is used by many people of different professions.

4. there are not problems with The Internet

5. The Internet destroyed the interpersonal communication

6. The Internet helps to develop our educational level.

Задание 2. Найдите в тексте преимущества (advantages) и недостатки (disadvantages) интернета.

advantages	disadvantages

Задание 3. Найдите английские эквиваленты в тексте данным словам и словосочетаниям.

Голосовать, образовательный уровень, файлы, анкеты, нажатие клавиш, использование мыши, компьютерная сеть, развитые страны, равенство, свобода движения, ваш вкус и необходимость, улучшать знания по языку, за секунду, полезные игры, без запрещений, главные принципы демократии, ресурсы, исследовательская работа, доступный, границы, человеческое общение, виртуальные друзья, самый удобный способ, веб сайты, благодаря, глупые игры, уважать друг друга, влиять, выражать свое мнение, союзники и враги.