Computer Terms: Good Hackers, Bad Hackers and Busy Bloggers

Now, the VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories.

Computer technology has become a major part of people’s lives. This technology has its own special words. One example is the word mouse. A computer mouse is not a small animal that lives in buildings and open fields. It is a small device that you move around on a flat surface in front of a computer. The mouse moves the pointer, or cursor, on the computer screen.

Computer expert Douglas Engelbart developed the idea for the mouse in the early nineteen sixties. The first computer mouse was a carved block of wood with two metal wheels. It was called a mouse because it had a tail at one end. The tail was the wire that connected it to the computer.

Using a computer takes some training. People who are experts are sometimes called hackers. A hacker is usually a person who writes software programs in a special computer language. But the word hacker is also used to describe a person who tries to steal information from computer systems.

Another well known computer word is Google, spelled g-o-o-g-l-e. It is the name of a popular search engine for the Internet. People use the search engine to find information about almost any subject on the Internet. The people who started the company named it Google because in mathematics, googol, spelled g-o-o-g-o-l, is an extremely large number. It is the number one followed by one hundred zeros.

When you Google a subject, you can get a large amount of information about it. Some people like to Google their friends or themselves to see how many times their name appears on the Internet.

If you google someone, you might find that person’s name on a blog. A blog is the shortened name for a Web log. A blog is a personal Web page. It may contain stories, comments, pictures and links to other Web sites. Some people add information to their blogs every day. People who have blogs are called bloggers.

Blogs are not the same as spam. Spam is unwanted sales messages sent to your electronic mailbox. The name is based on a funny joke many years ago on a British television show, “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.”

Some friends are at an eating place that only serves a processed meat product from the United States called Spam. Every time the friends try to speak, another group of people starts singing the word Spam very loudly.

This interferes with the friends’ discussion – just as unwanted sales messages interfere with communication over the Internet.

(MUSIC)

This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Jill Moss. I’m Faith Lapidus.

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Ask students to listen to the text once more to check their answers and then ask them to read their answers loudly.

Ask students to try to tell a connected story about just written terms.

SPEAKING PRACTICE

Explain students the difference between the Present Perfect Tense and the Past Simple Tense. You may use it as a self-study activity. Additional information students can find in “Essential Grammar In Use. Raymond Murphy”.

I. Ask students to work in pairs and act the following dialog in parts and then perform it to the class. Give them 5 minutes for preparation.

Henry: Hello Sheila. I didn't expect to see you here.

Sheila: Oh, I've been here for quite a while.

Henry: When did you arrive?

Sheila: Just after lunch.

Henry: Did Patrick pick you up from the station?

Sheila: No, it was a nice day so I walked.

Henry: Have you eaten anything since you've been here?

Sheila: Yes, I had afternoon tea with the girls.

Henry: What did you think of Penny?

Sheila: She's grown up a lot since I last saw her.

Henry: And how did you find Rebecca?

Sheila: She didn't join us. I haven't seen her yet.

Essential Grammar in Use. Raymond Murphy

II. Mini-conference. Answering questions.

One student answers the questions of his/her groupmates on the following points:

• What type of computers does he/she use?

• What does he/she use a computer for?

• What components does it contain of? And what does he/she want to add?

• What is more preferable a computer or a laptop?

III. Divide students into groups (2 or 3 students) and ask them to make a short summary on topics under consideration (main computer parts, computer usage purposes, advantages and disadvantages of using a computer).

Homework

Ask students to refresh vocabulary from the first 4 lessons of the section.

Ask students to refresh grammar information about the Present Perfect Tense and the Past Simple Tense.