CLASS 22.1

Prévia do material em texto

Computers: Reading 
 
Rui “I have a second-hand desktop IBM which I bought from my 
office last year. Although it’s very old now it works fine, but very 
few people I know have their own computers because they’re too 
expensive. When I look at magazines showing the kind of 
computers that you can buy nowadays I’m amazed at how small they are compared 
to mine! 
Not only do I have a computer, but I also have access to the Internet. Surprisingly 
perhaps for Mozambique there are a lot of ISPs to choose from, more than ten. 
Access is via dial-up and there are a number of choices but I opted for the full 
Internet. As a journalist it’s important to know what’s happening around the world. I 
particularly like the weblogs that many journalists use. Blogging allows real news to 
travel fast and to more people. The only drawback is that when I want to use the 
Internet I have to get up very early in the morning, around 4 or 5. It’s the only way I 
can guarantee that the service is not slow, well not too slow anyway. As soon as 
there are lots of people using it at the same time it becomes very slow. I only have a 
bandwidth of 128 Kbps. 
It’s not cheap either. I pay $30 for the full Internet, some friends pay less just to 
have email. However, most of the people I know prefer to go to a cyber café, and 
there really are quite a lot here in Maputo now. Perhaps that’s not surprising for a 
capital city, even in a developing country. I suspect there are very few places around 
the world where you can’t find a cyber café. It’s still a bit expensive though for us, 
about $3 an hour, but they’re really popular. I feel that it’s important for people to 
have computer skills, it helps to get a job and the Internet keeps us in touch with the 
rest of the world.” 
 
 
Cho-Mi “I have two computers, well I use three in fact if you count the one at work 
but that’s not mine. The desktop is an Acer with 160 GB hard drive and my Sony Vaio 
laptop, which I use when I’m working and travelling at the same time, has a 80 GB 
hard drive. 
I love using computers and have been using them for many years now. They’ve made 
a huge difference to my work. I can access information much more quickly and 
contact people so much more easily too. If my boss says he wants some sales 
information, I can get that within minutes, no need to open drawers in a cabinet and 
rifle through files. I have everything at the touch of my fingertips, it’s great. 
The whole family uses computers, my son uses his mainly for playing online games. I 
get a little worried about how many hours he spends playing but he has fun. My 
youngest daughter loves the chat rooms, and again she spends hours in her room 
staring at the screen and typing furiously. On the other hand my eldest daughter, 
Jun Ji-hye, uses hers for more educational purposes. She loves learning English and is 
doing very well at school, but it’s her listening which has improved so much because 
she listens to English programmes on the Net. There are some special podcast sites 
which have recordings for learners of English and she listens to those. Our apartment 
is wired up for broadband and we have a 10 Mbps connection so it’s very quick and at 
 
” Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007 
Taken from the Skills section in www.onestopenglish.com 
 
$33 a month for unlimited access it’s not expensive – so no more huge phone bills 
which is good! 
I think we are a typical South Korean family, our country has the world’s highest 
percentage of high-speed Internet subscribers – about 25 for every 100 inhabitants. 
It’s definitely a positive thing but getting my husband and children to sit down and 
eat together is another matter!” 
 
 
Miguel “One minute nobody knew much about computers and the Internet here and 
the next minute cyber cafés and computer shops are opening up everywhere – it’s 
amazing. Broadband is one of the fastest growing markets in Mexico, especially since 
2005 when dial-up accounts started to decrease and broadband soared. We’re still 
way behind our neighbour of course, we have about 1 broadband subscriber for every 
100 inhabitants whereas the US has at least 13 – but we’re catching up! We also have 
a choice of over 50 ISPs. 
However, because computers are still expensive for us, and paying $30 a month for 
broadband each month is too, most people prefer cyber cafés. There are so many 
now that competition has brought the cost down to $1 an hour which is affordable for 
many people - there’s often a queue of people waiting for a computer. Luckily we 
can have a coffee while we wait! 
I’m very keen to learn more about computers and the different programmes but 
technology has advanced so quickly that it’s very difficult to understand how it all 
works sometimes. I buy magazines to help me but they’re full of jargon and acronyms 
that it’s sometimes just far too baffling. Also the ‘Help’ button on the programmes 
should be called the ‘Unhelp’ button – it’s useless sometimes! 
It’s not just computers that are developing and changing so fast, the Internet is too. 
There are some amazing websites and I love the fact that it’s like having a huge 
library in your own home. Blogging is becoming very popular in Mexico. In 2005 there 
were almost 3,000 Mexican web logs, now there are almost 8,000! I think it’s because 
we love to communicate and have so much to say! Podcasting is popular too – it’s like 
having hundreds of different radio programmes on various topics. The problem is 
finding time to browse, watch and listen to it all. I can sometimes spend hours on the 
computer at night without realising it - the Internet never sleeps! 
 
” Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2007 
Taken from the Skills section in www.onestopenglish.com 
	Computers: Reading