Прочитайте текст и выполните задания: THE EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS ON SOCIETY
Technology changes the world around it. Technological change touches almost every area of society. From the time that man first picked up a pointed stick to use in the hunt, to the day when computers took over many of the trading tasks on the stock market, technological change has steadily increased in speed and impact.
Improvements in health, through advances in
farming technology that increase the availability of nutritious food and advances in health care technology in both drugs and treatment, have changed the demographics of the world population. Even a hundred years ago, far fewer children survived childhood. Surging population growth has driven up land usage, consumed resources such as water, oil and minerals and forced emigration. As cities spread, they cover up arable land, reducing the total amount available to grow food.
As technology has advanced in the work place, laborer jobs have tended to disappear. Factories that once provide a living for many people now run on automated production lines. Farming in developed countries is now performed by fewer people running larger machines. In the past, mining and logging were labor-intensive, but much of the labor is now performed by machines. While this had made these industries much safer work environments, it has also resulted in less need of actual people. Automation in these traditional labor-based industries means that more education is needed to get a well-paying job.
Economics used to be driven by local production of food and goods. With the advent of large-scale, motorized transport, it became possible to move more goods from distant places. This has often resulted in the disappearance of local jobs when the goods could be made for lower cost elsewhere. At a higher level, the computerization of global finance systems has allowed the flow of money in extremely complex transactions around the globe. While this has created wealth, it has also created vulnerabilities, as several stock market crashes and the recent recession of 2009-2011 have shown.
Advances in technologies have come with increases in environmental degradation. From the clear-cutting of forests for building, to strip mining for metals and coal, to the ever-increasing footprints of cities and roads, the landscape has changed. Many technologies produce toxic waste: vehicles and homes consume power which produces airborne toxins, and factories and cities produce human and industrial waste that can pollute waterways and land. This breeds new technologies to help clean up the messes.
Задание 1. Перепишите 1 абзац текста, сделайте письменный перевод.
Задание 2. Определите соответствуют ли ниже приведенные высказывания прочитанному тексту - True, False, I don’t know (верно/неверно/в тексте нет информации):
1. Technological change touches different spheres of people's life.
2. As technology has advanced in the work place, laborer (automated) jobs have tended to disappear.
3. Farming in developed countries is still labor-intensive and not performed by machines.
4. With the advent of large-scale, motorized transport, it became possible to move more goods from distant places.
5. Modern factories and cities don't produce human and industrial waste and don't pollute waterways and land.
Задание 3. ответьте письменно на вопросы к тексту.
What spheres of life does modern technology touch?
How has technology changed since primitive times?
Are there any disadvantages in global computerization?
What influence do modern technologies have on environment?
Homework: Выполните все задания по маршрутному листу
