4 Modern technology

READIN G SKILLS Identifying the main m essage-topic sentences

W R IT IN G SKILLS Organizing ideas (1) • Linking ideas (2) • W riting a discursive essay

VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT Avoiding repetition (1)

R E A D IN G Innovations
1 Skim the articles and letters on page 23. Answer the questions.
1 Where would you expect to find a page like this?
2 How many articles are there?
3 W hat is the topic of each article?
4 How many letters are there?
5 W hat piece of technology is each letter about?
2 Scan the text The Silent Plane and the
STUDY SKILL
readers’ letters opposite. Pay attention to topic sentences only.
Identifying the main message - topic sentences
Are the statements true (T ) or false (F )?
1 M aybe one day planes w on’t make a noise. T Stu d en ts are aften required to do a large am ou nt o f reading.
To save tim e and to select th e b est tex t(s) fo r yo u r needs, it
2 Noise is being reduced in tw o ways,
is im p ortan t to id e n tify th e m ain m essage as q uickly as
3 The project to build the plane hasn’t begun yet. possible.
4 M r Campbell is happy w ith his computer. To do this;
5 The w riter o f the third letter wants help. ■ look a t th e title .
6 Paula Adams’ opinion is th e same as an earlier letter writers. ■ q uickly skim th e te x t to find th e to p ic sentences. They are
usually th e firs t sentence in each paragraph. They
sum m arize w h at th e paragraph is about.

3 Read the summaries a -d of the paragraphs in the article The Car that Drives
Itself. Match them with topic sentences 1-4. Do not read the article.

Summaries Topic sentences

a describing how th e car works 1 □ A car m anufacturer has designed and built a car th at drives itself.

b predicting future developm ents 2 □ Despite these disadvantages, car m anufacturers see driverless cars as th e future.

c outlining som e problems 3 EH However, there are still tw o main drawbacks.

d introducing th e subject 4 EHThe car works using tw o main devices.

4 Skim the article to match topic sentences from exercise 3 to paragraphs A-D.
Use the summaries to help.

22 Unit 4 • Modern Technology

 Issue 27
Technology Today
IN N O V A T IO N S

THE SILENT PLANE

Annoyance from aeroplane noise could be a thing o f the past as plans are announced to
design a silent aircraft. The aim is to reduce the noise from a plane so th at city-dwellers
w ill no longer hear it passing overhead once it has le ft the airport.

This noise reduction w ill be achieved in three main ways. Firstly, the plane is being
designed as a single, w ide wing. Secondly, the engines w ill be placed above th e wing,
inside th e plane, rather than under th e wings and outside, and thirdly the airplane w ill
be flow n differently, fo r exam ple at a reduced speed when it is near the a irp o rt

The aircraft is just a design concept a t the m om ent and m any technological challenges
w ill have to be m et before w e have silent planes overhead.

THE CAR THAT DRIVES ITSELF

A It can steer itself and control its speed. This is the

latest developm ent in the tong history o f the autom obile industry.

B ____________________________________ The first is a radar sensor in the front o f the car. It

scans the road in front o f the car, looking fo r other vehicles. It then speeds the car up or
slows it down according to the traffic conditions. The second device is a camera below
the rear-view mirror which watches the w hite lines in the road. It uses these lines as a
guide to steering the car

C ____________________________________ Firstly, the system can only work on motorways,

and secondly, cars still need a driver. If the driver doesn’t touch the steering wheel
every 10 seconds, the devices can stop working.
Google self-driving car.
D They are already working on new models that will
be able to drive on city roads. So, perhaps one day soon, we will be able to jum p into
our cars and sleep or read a book as we are driven to work!

Opinions and Questions: the Readers Write!

Sir, Dear Sir, Sir,

Is anyone else fed up with tlieir computer?
I bought one to make my life easier and it
has done exactly the opposite! Everyone told
me that it would be easy to se t up. 'A child
could do it!' they said. So, I tried and it has
been a disaster. It crashes constantly and
instead of saving me time, I seem to spend
all my fre e time trying to make it work. If
this is an example of modern technology,
give me an old-fashioned typewriter
anytime!
I strongly disagree with the previous
correspondent about CD players being
better than M P3 players. For most o f us,
who are busy and on-the-move, an M P3
player is ideal. It is light, portable and
convenient. You can store thousands of
songs on it to listen to wherever you are.
W hat's more, most M P3 players now allow
you to watch videos, look at photographs and
connect to the Internet. Brilliant!
Yours faithfully,
I am writing to ask fo r some advice about
memory sticks. I use mine to keep a copy of
my data, in case something goes wrong with
my computer. However, I was told that
memory sticks are unreliable and are easily
damaged by anything magnetic, or by going
through scanners, a t airports, fo r example.
Could you please clarify for me whether this
is true? I have a new Job that requires me to
travel regularly, and I have to take my
memory stick on trips.

Yours Paula Adams Yours,

W .F. Campbell (M r) A. Jefco ate

Unit 4 • Modern Technology 23

5 Read the essay title. Do you agree or disagree with it?
Discuss with a partner.

Access to satellite and Internet television does m ore harm than good.

6 Divide arguments 1-6 into those that support the essay title ( against
satellite /Internet TV), and those that disagree with it (for satellite/Internet
TV). Add one more argument to each list.

People (especially children) have access to programmes w ith unsuitable content.

It gives people access to programmes around the world - the opportunity to learn about other cultures.
A huge choice o f programmes is available - something fo r every interest, fo r example sport, music, film,
docum entary channels.
M ore access to TV encourages people (especially children) to watch m ore TV, so there is less tim e for hobbies or family.
Programmes in other languages, fo r example English, can support language learning.
The programmes available may not be culturally appropriate.

for satellite TV against satellite TV

The program m es available may not be

cu ltu ra lly ap p rop riate.

W riting a discursive essay

7 Complete the essay using the arguments from exercise 6. Link ideas with
words and phrases from exercise 4. Follow the organization in the box. Write
about 200 words.

T itle Access to satellite and Internet television does more harm than good.
In tro d u ctio n
Many people have strong feelings about the value of television, especially now that
programmes are available through satellite and over the Internet. There are those
who suggest that increased access to these programmes does more harm than good.
However, there are those who insist that it is a good thing.
Paragraph 2 satellite and Internet TV does harm + examples
Paragraph 3 satellite and Internet TV is good + examples
Paragraph 4 conclusion and your opinion

Unit 4 • Modern Technology 25

 V O C A BU LA R Y D EVELO PM EN T Varying vocabulary (1)
1 Match the linking words or phrases with their synonyms.
1□ fin ally a but

2 □ firstly b fo r instance

3 □ fo r exam ple c in contrast

4 □ h ow ever d in th e first place

5 □ in conclusion e lastly

6 □ on th e o th e r hand f to conclude

2 Replace the word(s)in bold in each sentence with a synonym from the box.

drawbacks essential im m ediately made illegal rise

1 There are three disadvantages to your suggestion.

2 Smoking at work has been outlaw ed in many countries.
3 Most car owners believe their car is necessary for their work and leisure.
4 If there has been a car accident, you should call the police straight away.
5 There has been a huge increase in mobile phone ownership.

Read STUDY SKILL Use your dictionary to find synonyms for these words
from the unit.

STUDY SKILL A v o id in g r e p e titio n (1)

To avoid sounding rep e titive in yo u r w ritin g, try n o t to use th e sam e

w ords to o o ften . W h e re possible, use a synonym . A good d ictio n ary w ill
o fte n give you a synonym w ithin th e d efin itio n o f a w ord, o r th e sym bol
SY N next to a w ord w ith th e sam e m eaning. This e n try is from th e
Oxford Students Dictionary.
finally /ˈfaɪnəli/ adv. 1 after a long time or delay: It
was getting dark when the plane finally took off.
[SYN] eventually 2 used to introduce the last in a list
of things: Finally, I would like to say how much we have
all enjoyed this evening. [SYN] lastly 3 in a definite
way so that sth will not be changed: We haven't
decided finally who w ill g e t the jo b yet.

ideal w onderful m anufacture autom obile

accelerate steal rude discover

4 Replace the words in bold in the paragraph with synonyms.

Use your dictionary to help.

Smart cards, that is, credit cards, mobile phone SIM cards, and so on,
which contain a very small computer microprocessor, have their
origins in the 1970s. A Frenchman, Roland Moreno, manufactured a
circuit that could store electronic data. Since then, this idea has
grown into a multi-billion-dollar business.

26 Unit 4 • Modern Technology

R E V IE W
1 Look at the essay titles. Brainstorm and write down three arguments for
and three arguments against each title.

Using com puters saves a lot of time.

Cars should be banned from city centres.
Young people spend too much time playing com puter games.
People have becom e too dependent on m odern technology.

2 Write a topic sentence which states the main idea for each paragraph below.

Laptop com puters

M a n y p e o p le n o w tra v e l th e w o rld on business and th e y n ee d to b e a b le t o use

a co m p u te r a t a ll tim es. Firstly, it is im p o rta n t th a t th e y can w rite and answ er
im p o rta n t em ails w h e n th e y are aw ay fro m th e ir o ffic e s . Seco n d ly, having a
la p to p m eans th a t p e o p le d o n ’t w a ste tim e w h e n th e y are tra ve llin g , as th e y
can w o rk w h ile th e y are on a p lan e o r train , fo r exam ple. Lastly, a la p to p can
also h elp busy businessm en and w o m e n to relax. T h e y can listen
t o m usic o r w a tc h th e ir fa v o u rite m o vie w h ile th e y are hundreds o f kilo m etres
fro m hom e!

Voice-controlled technology

A lre a d y so m e p e o p le have in stalled vo ice- co n tro lled te c h n o lo g y in th e ir hom es.

T h ey use th e ir m o b ile p h ones t o 't e ll’ th e ir lights to sw itch on,

o r to ‘o rd e r’ th e ir te le v is io n to tu rn o f f H ow ever, in th e fu tu re m ore and m ore
o f us w ill b e using th is te c h n o lo g y to c o n tro l o u r h eating, o u r ligh ting, and
s e c u rity in o u r hom es. Perhaps o n e d ay w e w ill b e a b le t o T e ll’ o u r o ven s to
co o k o u r dinners!

3 Divide the vocabulary from Unit 4 into two topics; cars and aeroplanes.

airport fly m otorways plane rear-view mirror

steering w heel traffic wing

4 Add four of the words in the box to the two topics. Use your dictionary to
help. Record these words in groups using a method from the Study Skill box
on page 14.

accelerator brakes clutch cockpit

em ergency exit pilot take o ff tyres

U n it 4 • M o d e rn T ech n o lo g y 27