AgainstI’ve got an iPad but I’m not keen on it. The keyboard is good but you can’t type very quickly on it. The screen is OK, but it’s hard to read outside because of the glare from the sun. You can read ebooks on it, but I’m not sure I could read a whole novel and I think my eyes would get tired after about 15 minutes. Another problem with the screen is its size. Basically, many of the applications are for the iPhone, which is smaller than an iPad. But the real problem for me is that there’s nothing an iPad can do that my laptop can’t do. For example, with my laptop I can watch movies, listen to music, read PDFs of books, and go online. Can an iPad do anything else? No, I don’t think so. I say, if you’ve already got a laptop, save yourself the money and don’t bother buying an iPad!
Exercise 2. Answer the questions: 1. What is iPad? 2. What can you do, having iPad? 3. What special application does it have? 4. What about other opportunities of iPad? 5. What is the main reason against iPad? 6. What about eBooks? Is it good? 7. Is there a difference between laptop and iPad? 8. Do you have iPad? Do you want it? 9. How do you think is it good for teenagers to have it? 10. What can you say in favour of iPad? 11. What can you say against iPad? 12. What other similar technical objects do you know? Exercise 3. Read and translate the text: The 21-st century: What does it hold? Bruce Sterling, science fiction writer, says about the future: "Now, I work at home and I work on a computer, so I spend all day in front of a screen. And then to relax I will often move into the other room, and approach another screen, this time the television screen. But with one, I sit right before it, close enough to touch it: and with the other I sit across the room and I address it with a remote control. Now, these two screens have the same images and they will increasingly share data. The question is: under what circumstances will I sit before them, and under which will I lie down before them? And I think you will find the two merging as time goes on: you will find yourself doing more and more work on your television and more and more work that is almost indistinguishable from play in a lot of ways. Already I find many of my social relations electronic. The way I talk to people is very electronic it takes place through networks; it takes place through telephones, through fax machines; eventually I will be seeing them on the television, and it will be difficult for me to tell work from play, and work from parties. One day you will find yourself doing more and more work on your television, and more and more work that is almost indistinguishable from play in a lot of ways. I suspect that by the year 2025 we may have forgotten all about the concept of nations. I really believe that we will have moved to the concept of trading blocks by 2025. And it's true that nationalism seems surprisingly powerful at this point in time, but I suspect that will not last, that, we will have moved to a society where national boundaries and even cultural boundaries are increasingly meaningless. It'll have less and less to do with people's loyalties, less and less to do with people's daily lives. I suspect that by 2025, the United Nations will have become a much more powerful force, but perhaps not under the same name. I think we will see some kind of environmental police force: an international force which has the power to interfere in local affairs, if it feels that it serves the interests of the global environment.
eventually - врешті-решт circumstances - обставини, умови meaningless- незначущий force – сила affairs – справи
Exercise 4. Answer the questions: 1 Does Bruce travel to work? 2. What is "very electronic"? 3. Is it true to say that Bruce talks to friends from a distance? 4. For Bruce, in what way will work and play change? 5. What won't last in the world of the future? 6. What will be able to stop pollution in any area? 7. What screens does Bruce mention? 8. What does Bruce do to relax?
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