mbridge two they will tell us that r con Id university but how do we know if that itis true? Just thiak Hiroshima, Chemoby! or September 11. In my Sm seally optimistic about the OPition, the furace will be a really dangerous ume.” are disarming. Polincians George, 19. ‘I don’t care about the furure. Tm young and I just want to go out with my friends to so great progres play Sports or dance with girls and have a good ld see a cure for time, OF course, my parents think about it all the time: “You must work hard and pass your exams, otherwise you won't be able to graduate and get a good job.” they say. Probably they are sight, bur 7%. “The farure seems dark to me what is really important to me is today, not 48 changing so quickly: bombs, pollu tomorrow.” echnological changes can we expect in our modern wor'd in the near future? How will they affect our way List five things at least and compare your ideas with a partner. A. The Thinking Car Task 1. Scanning. Read the text below very quickly to find this information. IL ‘The amount of moncy which could be saved each year if there were less traffic jams in Europe. 2. The number of people who die in road ace 3, The percentage of accidents that could be prevented if people had “thinking cars. 4, Thetecm that describes the new technology applied to this type of eas. plan your journey © show you the quickest route on a video-screen 6 give you information about where to find hotels, restaurants or phone boxes. © tell you about traffic jams on the road ahead. © automatically slow down if you are too close to the car in front © warn you about engine problems before they cause a breakdown ‘ence fact. Engineers have developed an ‘on-board inteligent system’ for cars. the cae picks up elecrconic information from other computers which ace beside the road, [ights. This information chen appears on a small video screen beside the steesing fits of thinking cars will be enotmous in the furure. For example, ith in fuel could be saved each year, Even more im.-a small video sereen b “The part of the car th a. directs the vehicle those accidents would be avoided, a. increased bps B. Smart Houses L, Skimming. Read these short summaries, then quickly skim read the article below and sel Which does not correspond to its content. ihe houses of the furare will be environmentally friendly and technologically implemented to provide security, comfort and entertainment under a glass cover The smart house of the furure will be clegant, big. enough for Imany people to live in, with televisions and computers in each oom and servants to make life casicr Future houses will be designed to make good usi e making rooms smaller or bigger according (o the needs; 1 will hhave interior gardens, clean air and controlled temperature CAN YOU IMAGINE A HOUSE which cleans itself, wht fobots, and where cleaning, cooking and washing sate things Weather-proof, solar-powered house which is heated by the enexy {B45 cooker ring, a house in which you could actually go s Science fiction? No, it’s science fact! “To begin with, the Home of the Future will be built indoors under a gigantic glass ame surrounded by trees and plants where tropical birds will be flying around. It will be any style Or size you want and it will need only a tiny amoms of energy to heat or cool because it will be well insulated. The power will be generated by solar panels in the dome — the round roof. als ace prepared by the past? Imagine a equivalent to just one Door keys will not be needed anymure. Your door will be opened automatically as S000 as electronic sensors recognise your voice. Your space-age, electronic servant —the hate home computer will control everything: from security, temperature, humidity ‘ ining to houschold gadgets and cleaning tasks. He will pay bil Youc holidays tickets, order library books, even play chess with you! ‘future houses will be designed by imapinarive engineers who will consider the and place the garden on the roof. They can also think of designing ‘an be expanded t contracted depending on what you use them for. For | you have a party, you will just push a button and the walls will move muards, so you can make the living room lhrger and make it smaller again tive. Your video-phone will let you sce the person you are talking (0. tric sockets. Instead, each room will have a ‘power wall’ where advanced televisions, videos and computers, e& } ‘wit order food, reserve‘connected directly to the walls, gised by sun power. iluminacién (Para. 3) ene no mis (Para. 3) : conectados (Para. 4) . escasez (Para. 4) atris y adelante (Para, 4) espacio (Para. 4) — -artefactos (Para. 3) aparatos (Para. 4) C. Space Stations Task 1. whet do you know about the Earth's nearest neighbo tick the ones you think are true. Check your answers the Moon?. Read these statements and ith the class. 1. American astronaut Neil Arm rong became the first man to set foot on ¢ Moon in July, 1969 2. As there is no rain or wind on the Mo. an footprints will not disappear for millions of years. 3. On average, Earth’s nearest neighbour, the Moon, is 384,000 kilomerres away. A train travelling at 161 Kilometres per hour would take just 100 days to travel that distance. 4. So far, astronauts have brought back 382 kilos of cock and dust from the Moon. 5. The lunar surface area is 25% larger than Africa 6 The first man-made object to hit the Moon wasa Russian spacecraft, Lana 2, in 1959 7. Ittakes the Moon 27.3 days to travel around the Hart “Task 2. Read the article below and find the answers to the following questions. 1. What is Freedom? 2 How wilt be launched smo race?good idea’. : ons and moon bases seemed totally impossi joing’ stage, both are ready to happen, so anor +t0 Mars — is on the way. on Freedom is a $30 billion American-European project. Ie will pace station which will be launched in five year’s nme, but not in of » sections will be sent 300 miles into orbit via a series of 20 space shuttle &l ynauts have connected all the sections, Freedom will weigh over 200 ton ‘living modules’, These 16 metre x 5 metre modules will be home for 10 asteo “ime —some Amecican, some European. Each crew will stay in the station for se and they will carry our scientific experiments, service and cepair satellites and 0f Moon bases. There are three main reasons for building lunar bases. © to carry out really big scientific experiments in ‘zero gravity’ © tolook for valuable metals and minerals like ion and aluminium (© asa staring point for longer journeys into the solar system Mihe fisst base should be complete by 2015 and only 20 or 30 scientists: will lve in it, The Base will have its own oxygen and water under a large roof or dome. This will maker Spossible for the astronauts to live and work without spacesuits. The dome will also enable them to grow food. Mf bases like this are a success, lunar caries will quic follow. These will have schools; leinemas, laboratories, coads, offices and universities. Thousands of people wil travel from Barth to live on them and some ‘ns may even be born, live and die on'the Moon. ©3. Contextual Reference. Using the line references given, iinitalics refer to. The first one has been done for you as an example k back at the text and find what the: Arthur €. Clarke. ies that they go through thece stages: (Line 2 bath ate ready to happen... (Line 7) be the first permanent... (Line 9) will be launched in five year's time... (Line 10) dl they will carry out scientific experiments... (Line 15) fonly 20 or 30 scientists will ive in z (Line 21) will have its own oxygen and... (Line 22) ‘will also enable chem to grow food. (Line 24)YS most powerful computer is Pitian veaia can learn, be translate, adapr to new situations, and ern | comparison, early computers were huge je. Basically they could only. store ation and respond to simple problems Gradually, they have become smaller, faster and more complex and reliable. Eve nov, most Computers can only do what they are told, but all ‘thar could change in the next few years. Tet us take a look at some of today’s new ideas aand at some of tomorrow's incredible possibilities: We can see compurers in banks, offices and supermarkets. There, they deal with facts and figures. But that is not alll they can do. In modern computers are amazingly versatile. For exanph, they are now being extensively used in the film industry to create catice imaginary worlds, aanimals and places, which sccm so rcal that it 1s Aiflicult to notice any difference to the actual thin S are alo used to fight crime and For instance, a British computer ailled Faves is making ir easier to identify progam can store 50,000) - Hach one is stored 3. Whatimprovements will the nest genecation of computers have? appear on the screen in groups of 12 and as a tal, witnesses of 4 came oniy see the photos which fi the description they have given. This saves alot of time and effort and leads to more positive identification, Computer science has developed at an incredible speed. In 1940, the first computer built in Manchester filed a big room. Today, amulions of people have PCs which are no bigger than televisions. It is said that if car technology developed as fast as computers, a Ferrari would fit ‘on top of a pin. Bur there is still a long way to go. Here, we look at two exciting goals which engineers are working on very hard. Thinking Machines. The next generation of puters will be able co think by chemselvest How will ths be possible? Because tomorrow's Computers will work like the human mind: inside brains there are millions of nerve cells or ‘ncurones’ which are connected together like all the tecets ina city. Beawoe of this complex. nctwork: we can think, analyse information, remember, have mmunicate, decide things, and so on. Not we can do several of these things simul ly. Furure computers will contain lectronie ‘neural networks’ which will be a tor simpler than human brains. Even so, it will be a big acd. For example, these neural computers will help to diagnose illnesses, understuind and control the world’s money markets, find minerals and other valuable sesousces, and x forth ‘Translation. Imagine two people talking, one in. Spanish and the other in Japanese, They speak ot type into a pocket-sized Computerised ‘translator. The computer processes what has been said and translates it to the other personts I easy, but in reility, computer translation is very difticult. Firs, there is the problem of languape analysis. The computer has to understand thousands ‘of ‘ules about vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, spelling and meaning. Then there is a second problem: everybody uses in a unique way, so computers also have to understand accents, dialect, different voices, grammatical ‘mistakes and others. Dae these problems ‘computer translation is still ata very early stage, experts believe it will be possible one day.Task 3. Understanding Ideas. Match these sentence halves to check your understanding of the text First computers were so big huge sets of data and take decisions. ‘The human bran, the most powerful computer, of criminals to fac ientifcation ‘Translating machines encble people to _ ‘elated fo complex areas such as medicine and economy Future computers neural networks __ because ianguages have thousands of complex rules ‘Faces is @ computer program which stores photos can perform several actions atthe same fime. Film sceneries are created by computers, so J that they filled a large room. ‘Human neurones enable us to analyse under specific nsttuctios. = Compute ianslaton systems are not possible yet will not be 28 complex as human brains. |. ___ speak in their own language and understand another. _ itis not necessary o travel to original places Working in small groups, discuss about the following: are better done by robots? 2. What can human beings do that robots cannot? below and check if your answers to Task 1 are covered. like ancient Rome, Greece or Egypt had thousands of servants. ‘Shasters. Asa result, rich people had mote time for leisure, Ossible to happen again, but this time the slaves are3. How is the programming done? Tn various ways. One is called ‘teadihrough' program allows the cobot to be physically mc step-by-step, through a new task. Each step is then recorded and stored ia its computer memory. After that, when the progeam is played back, the robot knows what to do. Another way is fo use am electronic control box. This moves the robor from a distance and then stores each movement. Thirdly, it is possible to simply wnre a computer program for @ particular task. This is then fed into the robot, telling it everything it needs to know 4, Wow many robots are at work nowadays? More and more robots enter the world of work every year. In faet, they are particuladly useful om production lines (or assembly lines), where a car, a TV or any other gadget is put together piece by Piece: Production line work is very tiring and boring for human workers because they would have to, do the same thing thousands of times everyday. But, of course, robots never get tied or bored. 5. What do factory robots look: like? There are two main types. One is basically a long, metal arm with several different joints which can urn and twist like the shoulders, elbows, wrists and fingers in a human arm. This type of robots are lised to work on production lines. They can either move an object from A to B or use tools in their hhands, The second type of factory robot is more mobile. ‘These robot-transporters lift and cacty objects Ground the factory floor by following the route of a painted line, or a buried electronic cable, or by hhaving special ‘maps’ programmed into their computer G, How does a rabot transporter know if tere is an obstacle im its path? By sendicg out beams of sound of light. When these beams are broken the eobot auromaseally stops. J. Can modern rabots respond to their environment in any other mays? Certainly. In fact, today’s robots ace me at than ever before. Some even have mini TV ¢ameras which allow them to ‘see’. In the furure, robots like these will not be limited to controlled environments and they will be able to work in homes, offices, shops, etc: G Dues that mrean that one day every fartly could have a computerised servant Possibly, but not for a Jong time. Robors are clever, but still not dever enough to do a lot of totally different ticks, for example, washing the dishes, making, the beds, cuting the grass, cooking, ete Iris tore likely thachomes in the years «0 come will hive several different robots one for each job, G, Meanwhile, what else can robots do apart from working in factories? ‘nds of jobs which ace difficult or dangerous for human beings. Here are just a few exumples: Robots can help to defose bombs, work underground :o find metals and minerals, control Aying weapons like cruise missiles, work under the sea (robot divers and submarines can be used, for tuamnple to sepaie o-cgs. and find wrecks), lit sarelites out ofa space erat and put them on ogbitg 0s and rocks on planets like Mars without risking human life, and many other uses.9. Robots are still very expensive ro make 10. Funure cobots will be able to work independently almost anywhere. TL. Today's robots are used in war industry and space research JAGEFOCUS: Passive Structures , i English where an impersonal effect and an objective reporting are Be fesie of soe newspaper headlines, reports, notices and ‘Lookat these examples: Ap AIDS wiccine has been tried on laboratory rats very snecesst Two UFOs seen ducing a football game. (newspaper headline) Ths experiment was conducted first by a team of Russian sc The 5:30 tein will be delayed one hou. famnouncemens) Tabosodes must be kept clean at all ies. (notice) often used forthe following reasons: focus on what is done rather than who does it Apexi public library i< being built next to the museum. Me new library's more important than tne people who are Hebets teed becalse, at the time of speaking, the doer is not important or not known. ~The poor man was killed in a mist atick 1g fact that he was Killed is more impx tant than the identity of th fe ’s fa ortant than the identity ofthe killer. In fact, the Kfler’s iy ribet beknown s (scientific report) s. (report) building it.) st Participle of the main verb: Tense Present simple Past simple Present continuousnes Gutenberg “Ghar Chaplin i Pablo Picasso 4 ‘Henry Ford Bill Gates, “William Shakespeare Albert Einstein h. the words and expressions in column A with those in.B and then make sentences, using the in the box in the passive voice. - Microsoft, chibi ner — internal epmbustion cars —— the printing press — the Theory of Relativity ‘invent * discover * make found * introduce * waite produce * develop ‘Romeo and Juliet” computer smpany gL America great silent fe Example: America wa discovered by Christopher Columbus ‘Task 3. Read the article below and underline all the passive structures you can find. Then decide what tense: they are. When the word laser is mentioned to a group of teenagers, their natual Present, reaction is to, think of discotheques, coloured Eoncens, and super-destnictive weapons shown in science fiction Sms, bur the tenth is that much more things can be done by lasers than the ones mentioned Above, For instance, a laser beam is used in a compact disc player. In this ease the “Maisie is ‘read? from a point just below the surface of the disc. That is why the ‘sound quality 1s unaffected by dust or scratches as would be the case with an ordinary music record. "Phe word Taser’ is an acconyen foe “ight amplifiewion shrew) stinnilated emission of hutin’ Lasers have so many uses nowadays that itis haed to imagine th dd without them. However, the most important recent advances b nthe field of medicine. Lasers are increasingly used in the 1 -cheumaroid arthritis, tora muscles and dental problems. machine has recently been developed by Omega Universal of “saith low intensity light which is applied ro alleviate pain and oin, The healing process can also be accelerated by as much as ‘can real isnot fully understood. Apparently it his absorbed by chemicals in the skin, so the production ofthat. clewly understood that... should be considered that. ae qs RDS on this table are very useful to help you understand technical English materials, so you n Tevise them regularly using a dictionary if necessary. Write any other new words and § ithe spaces provided. Remember that a good vocabulary is essential for reading, avoid [issue [[diseases powe plea ed led foot = spacecraft, spaceship shuiile crew reliable speed = poal, aim, objective E network - spelling mistake leisure assembly Tine et 10.research, investigation ‘weapon nowadays field skin issue thus LANGUAGE SUMMARY Here are the things you studied in this unit: Recognizing Reference Words: “Arthur C. Clarke, had a theory about new ideas. He said that they go through three stages: ‘= Using Sentence Connectors: Even now, most computers can only do what they are told, However, all hat could change in the next few years. For example, computers are now being extensively used in the filam industry frag entre magiasy ‘worlds, animals, places, and so on. » Using Passive Structures: me of the furuse sai be built indoors sams are used for countless applications now. Passive Beginnings: