Part 2. Network and networking.

A. keywords. connection, systems, broadcasting, television, computers, relations,

Vocabulary. costly.

A1. Listen to a report about the word "network".

Supply the explanation for the word.

New things in this world changed as fast as languages.

Everyday, new words are created to deal with new ideas or new technology.

New meanings also are added to existing words.

A dictionary published years ago may show one or two meanings for a word.

A dictionary published today may list several more meanings for the same word.

"Network" is one such word.

It combine two words: the first is "net", it means materials that are connected; the second is "work", one meaning of "work" is a system.

"Network" means a connection of systems that work together.

The systems that networks connected can be very different.

For example, radio and television stations can be connected in the network, so can computers, and even people.

Word expert Milford Matthew found written uses of the word "network" in the late 1800's.

The word then was used as a verb, a word that shows action.

At that time, "network" meant the connection of real roads or other vehicles used for travel.

One publication said it is only a question of time when the railroads will network an area of the American West called the "Pan Handle".

Another publication of the time said complete areas are network by trolley cars, which are a kind of electric train.

Now we often hear network used in connections with broadcasting.

The Barnhart Dictionary of New English says that as early as 1914, people used it to mean a connected system of radio stations.

This meaning continues to be popular.

A more modern use of the word "network" is linking to computers.

A network is a system that links a number of computers together.

Network make it possible for people who use computers to share information in costly equipment.

Many companies and government agencies share the same computer network.

The computers are linked through a main computer or through special lines.

Some people are able to do their jobs from their home computers.

Computer network also permit an exchange of unofficial information and discussions between computer users.

By linking their computers to telephones, people can buy goods through their computers.

They can send messages to friends in many countries.

Another modern use of the word "network" concerns relations between people.

Ideas and information are exchanged by people who network to share interests and goals.

Many Americans network to get better jobs or to meet new friends.

Meeting new friends by networking is not work though is fun.

A2. Now listen again, focus on the original use and modern use of the word "network".

Supply the missing information.

B. Keywords. wire, dormitories, high-speed Internet access, a top priority.

Vocabulary. merger, pipeline, envision, priority, meager, budget, fraction,

bulk, toll, mow down, simultaneously, antiquated.

B1. Listen to a report about the Internet.

Focus on the areas and examples that the Internet will bring changes in.

Supply the missing information.

The proposed merger of America Online and Time Warner anticipates an age when high-speed Internet access is everything.

It will be a pipeline for almost all the entertainment, communications and information that people consume.

It is an era so distant to most Americans that they can hardly envision it.

And yet it already exists.

In fact, it's the only world today's college students know.

Colleges across the United States have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years wiring dormitories for high-speed Internet access.

When admissions people go out and talk to students these days, the students always ask: "Do you have a high-speed network? "

Indeed, for today's students, having high-speed Internet access is top priority.

They base their housing decisions on it, and restructure their meager student budgets to afford it.

College administrators acknowledge that academic pursuits are just a fraction of the activity on their campus networks.

The bulk of the traffic consist of data containing music files, instant messages, toll-free phone calls, e-commerce orders, online games and just about anything.

At a high-rise dorm at the university of Southern California, walking down the hallway on the eighth floor almost any time of the day, you're likely to hear students in seperate rooms shouting at each other: "you killed me."

As they mow each other down in online games played over the network.

Friends from the opposite ends of the floor simultaneously make for the elevators.

They've just messaged each other by computer that "it's time to head off to the dining commons."

To them, knocking on someone's door is a antiquated 20th century tradition.

Today students register for classes, get the homework assignments, research papers and attend professors' "virtual office hours" on line.

Some universities even post course lectures on the net, so that students can review them any time they wish.

Just as one of the students put it: "We live our lives over the Internet."

B2. Now discuss the following questions after you've heard the report.

1. When you choose a university, will you consider high-speed Internet access a top priority? Why or Why not?

2. What facilities do you think are a must that a university should offer in the future?

3. What do you think of attending professors' "virtual office hours" on line? It is better than the traditional way?