Part 2. The Internet Unit 1. The Internet in general

Reading 1

Task 1. Before reading the text decide whether the following statements are true or false, then read the text and check.

1. The Internet resources are not so important to people as the telephone and the post office.

2. The Internet is the first global forum.

3. The Internet has laws and policy.

4. The Internet has no army.

5. The Internet appeared in the last decade.

What is the Internet?

If you have watched the news much in the past years, undoubtedly, you’ve noticed all the hoopla over the Internet. Although the Internet, or its forerunner ARPAnet, has been around since the late 1960s, you would think that the worldwide network of computers magically became connected during the last decade. The Internet has been the hot topic lately, and it doesn’t seem likely that the topic will cool down in the near future.

In the past few years the Internet has experienced phenomenal growth, not only in the amount of information and services that are available online, but also in the number of people accessing that information. However, there’s more to the Internet than just information, facts, and figures. The Internet has been invaded by entertainment promoters and entrepreneurs. Hundreds of businesses are now investigating ways of advertising their names and products online because of the potential audience they can reach.

Today, just about everyone wants to get on board the Internet express. A decade ago, it seemed like you would need a doctoral degree in computer science to figure out the vagaries of connecting to the Internet. You had to know UNIX and how to set up and configure TCP/IP protocols, SLIP/PPP connections, and IP addresses. Thank goodness those days are long gone.

Task 2. Do you agree with everything that is written in the text? Aren’t there controversial sentences?

Task 3. Find in any sources of information what the following abbreviations mean: PPP , SLIP, TCP/IP

1. In networking, the Point-to-Point Protocol, or PPP, is a data link protocol commonly used to establish a direct connection between two networking nodes. It can provide connection authentication, transmission encryption privacy, and compression.

2. The Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) is a mostly obsolete encapsulation of the Internet Protocol designed to work over serial ports and modem connections.

3. The Internet Protocol Suite (commonly known as TCP/IP) is the set of communications protocols used for the Internet and other similar networks. It is named from two of the most important protocols in it: the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), which were the first two networking protocols defined in this standard.

Task 4. Match the words/phrases (1-6) to the definitions (a-f)

1. the Internet (с)	a. moving from one document or web site to another, to find information
2. the Web(е)	b. copying information from a web site to your own computer
3. a web site(d)	c. a network of computers all over the world, joined by phone lines, satellite or cable
4. surfing the net(a)	d. a system linking millions of documents stored on Internet computers around the world
5. e-mail(f)	e. the place on the Internet where a company/organization/etc stores its documents.
6. downloading(b)	f. electronic messages sent to someone over the Internet

Reading 2

Before reading the text answer the questions:

1. How many parts of the Internet do you know?

2. Which of them are used more often?

3. Which of them do you use most of all?