Focus on Words

UNIT 7 Scientific Progress:
Benefit or Disaster?
Before you read
1. What is meant by the Industrial Age?
2. What is meant by the Information Age?
3. What does the global telecommunication network mean?
4. When did the mobile phones receive high speed connections?
5. Are you sceptical or positive of the claims made by scientists about their
discoveries?
6. Do you believe their claims that their new developments are safe?
Read the text and do the exercises.
The Age of Computer
Smaller, faster and smarter Progress in science and technology sometimes gives
name to the century such as, for instance, the Industrial Age. Not surprisingly, the 21st
century is already being described as the Information Age or the Computer Age, since
communication and information technologies are widespread - in our homes,
workplaces, and universities. Many of us have access to the mobile phone, television,
the Internet, the global telecommunication network. These forms of communication
seem very modern, and yet the Information Age has a long and fascinating history.
Car-sized to pocket-sized computers. From 1950 on, the development of
computers has been extremely rapid.
In 1958, the integrated circuit or ‘chip’ was invented and computers started
decreasing in size.
In 1962, the first computer game, Spacewar, was sold, and computers became
more popular.
83