VALLE STATE UNIVERSITY INGLÉS CON FINES GENERALES Y ACADÉMICOS II

READING
a. Complete the following passage with modal verbs.

We often hear and read about controversial issues in science and technology. For example, _Could_
radiation from electronic equipment negatively change or destroy the environment? _Can_ DNA
testing solve the mystery by proving the guilt or innocence of a murder (assassination) suspect?
_Should_ medical scientist change gene structure to prevent genetic disease or to create “more perfect”
human beings? While people are arguing about these and other controversial subjects, technology
continues to influence every aspect of everyday life: home, health and education, entertainment and
communication, etc.

Some people carry on active social lives with computers. Communicating with others on bulletin
boards they get to know people they _Could_ never meet in traditional ways. They call these people
their “net friends” or network contacts. With modern telephone technology, many people stopped
writing letters. But now, writing to communicate has been coming back in electronic form or e-mail,
which is a way of sending messages from one computer to another. Delivery time from the sender of
the message to the receiver is no more than a few seconds, even from one country to another.

Computer technology has also helped make to run a home easier. Many families have a personal
computer or PC in their homes, which they use for everything from keeping household records and
writing letters to playing computer games. In addition, many modern machines (e.g., entertainment
equipment, kitchen appliances) contain computer chips that allow their owners to program them. For
instance, you can “tell” a TV set which programs to record and when, and you can “instruct” a
microwave oven to how to cook a certain dish.

Largely because of the computer, technology continues to advance in the medical sciences. One
example is the use of computer information in an ambulance before a patient even gets to the hospital.
Emergency medical technicians _Can_ attach small sensors to the patient (e.g., heart attack victim) to
get information about electrical activity in the heart and the brain. By radio and computer, they
_Can/could_ send the information to the hospital so that medical specialists _Can_ get ready for the
patient’s arrival.

Although much of the technology in our everyday lives has only positive effects, there are some uses
raising controversial issues and questions. For example, are interactive media (i.e., a combination of
television, telephone and computer) going to control minds, destroy privacy, and cause people to
forget about family life and personal relationships? What effects _Could_ genetically changed foods
(e.g., fruits and vegetables created in a laboratory) have on people´s health? _Can_ High-tech medical
treatments (organ transplants, changing gene structure, etc.) increase the longevity of individuals or
improve the health and happiness of human beings in general? Only time will tell, but in the meantime,
science and technology will continue to move forward.