Internet: The information age - Part 1

Internet: The information age - Part 1 - audio    

  

1. I'm Barbara Klein. And I'm Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we present the second part of our series about communications. We tell how computers are linking people around the world.
 

2. Last week, we told about the early history of the communication of information. We described how the telegraph was the first important device that could move information quickly from one place to another. And we discussed early radio and television broadcasts and the beginning of satellite communications.
 

3. In the early nineteen seventies, the American Department of Defense began developing a new project. It began linking major research universities across the United States.

4. Professors at many American universities do research work for the United States government. The Department of Defense wanted to link the universities togetherto help the professors cooperate in their work. Department of Defense officials decided to try to link these universities by computer.
 

5. The officials believed the computer would make it easier for researchers to send large amounts of information from research center to research center. They believed they could link computers at these universities by telephone.

6. They were right. It became very easy to send information from one university to another. University researchers working on the same project could share large amounts of information very quickly. They no longer had to wait several days for the mail to bring a copy of the research reports.

7. This is how the system works. The computer is linked to a telephone by a device called a modem. The modem changes computer information into electronic messages that are sounds. These messages pass through the telephone equipment to the modem at the other end of the telephone line. This receiving modemchanges the sound messages back into information the computer can use.

8. The first modern electronic communication device, the telegraph, sent only one letter of the alphabet at a time. A computer can send thousands of words withinseconds.

9. The link between universities quickly grew to include most research centers and colleges in the United States. These links became a major network. Two or more computers that are linked together form a small network. They may be linked by a wire from one computer to another, or by telephone. A network can grow to almost any size.

10. For example, let us start with two computers in the same room at a university. A wire links them to each other. In another part of the university, two other computers also are linked using the same method. Then the four are connected with modems and a telephone line used only by computers. This represents a small local network of four computers.

11. Now, suppose this local network is linked by its modem through telephone lines to another university that has four computers. Then you have a network of eight computers. The other university can be anywhere, even thousands of kilometers away.

12. These computers can now send any kind of information that can be received by a computer - messages, reports, drawings, pictures, sound recordings. And, the information is exchanged immediately.

13. Since it began, this system of computer networks has had several different names. It is now called the Internet. In nineteen eighty-one, this communication system linked two hundred thirteen computers. Only nine years later, it linked more than three hundred fifty thousand computers. Today, experts say more than one billion people around the world are linked by computers to the Internet. And, they say, this number will continue to grow.

14. Almost every major university in the world is part of the Internet. So are smaller colleges and many public and private schools. Magazines, newspapers,libraries, businesses, government agencies, and people in their homes also are part of the Internet.

     Vocabulary

1. Across = de um lado a outro
2. almost = quase
3. Also = também
4. amounts = quantidades
5. any size = qualquer tamanho
6. anywhere = em qualquer lugar
7. at a time = de uma vez
8. away = distante
9. became = tornou-se (presente = “become”)
10. Began = começou (presente = “begin”)
11. between = entre
12. bring = trazer
13. Broadcasts = transmissões
14. called = chamado
15. changes = altera, muda
16. colleges = faculdades
17. Described = descrevemos
18. Device = mecanismo, dispositivo
19. drawings = desenhos
20. Early = recente
21. even = até mesmo
22. every = todos(as)
23. exchanged = trocada
24. experts = especialistas
25. grew = cresceu (presente = “grow”)
26. has had = tem tido
27. kind of = tipo de
28. let us start = vamos começar
29. letter = letra
30. Libraries = bibliotecas
31. linked to = conectado a
32. Linking = unindo
33. Magazines = revistas
34. mail = correio
35. Major = importante
36. make it easier = tornar mais fácil
37. network = rede
38. Newspapers = jornais
39. no longer = não mais
40. now = agpra
41. pass through = passam através
42. Place = lugar
43. Present = apresentar
44. private = particular
45. Quickly = rapidamente
46. received = recebida
47. reports = relatórios
48. Research = pesquisa
49. right = certo(a)
50. same = mesmo
51. send = enviar
52. several = diversos
53. several = vários
54. share = compartilhar
55. Since = desde
56. smaller = menor
57. suppose = suponha
58. Together = junto(a)
59. Try = tentar
60. wire = cabo, fio
61. within = dentro de
62. words = palavras
63. works = funciona