全新版大学英语听说教程第二册 Unit12

2-12-A

Drawing Inferences 1

College students are familiar with the initials 2, WWW, which stand for World Wide Web. But do you know who invented this? According to the magazine Time, Tim Berners-Lee was the creator.

Tim Berners-Lee is extremely intelligent but not good at "random 3 connection", such as linking names and faces. In order to keep track of such links, he wrote some software -- "a memory substitute" -- in 1980. A decade later, it took a great leap, growing to cover the world. It is today's World Wide Web, which could prove as important as the printing press. Yet so far, most of the wealth and fame coming from the Web have gone to people other than him. He has not appeared on the cover of any magazine. He has a small office at M.I.T., where his nonprofit group helps and guards the Web.

2-12-B

The Story of the Walkman

Akio Morita, chairman of Sony, was annoyed because his children constantly played loud music. He told his company engineers to devise some machine to make the music only audible to the user. They did, and the Walkman was born. This totally changed the way we listen to music. Morita personally insisted on using the name "Walkman" for the new machine. His advisers 4 said the phrase meant nothing in English. But he knew it was easy to pronounce the word in nearly every language. It was also short, catching 5 and summed up the importance of the new device!

Now the personal stereo 6 is used by everyone. There are new designs such as CD Walkmans, recording 7 Walkmans, etc. As size, weight and cost get smaller, quality gets bigger.

Socially, however, the Walkman habit may not be so good. By playing their personal stereos 8 at full volume in small spaces, listeners may disturb others. The repeated loud beat can also be annoying. That is why in London's Underground Railway System there are signs saying, "Keep Your Personal Stereo Personal." Furthermore, drivers listening to Walkmans may sometimes cause road accidents to happen. And the rise in hearing problems is often blamed on their misuse 9.

There is no doubt that modern society has a love-hate relationship with the Walkman. Yet even criticism proves how popular the Walkman has become. Rather like the television or the computer, it is hard to imagine how we ever lived without them.

2-12-C

The Camera Man

Do you own a camera? Undoubtedly 10 you do, and you probably use it often, too. Just slip the camera in your backpack pocket, and you're set to record your activities on film. But before 1888, you would have needed a wagon 11 to carry all the necessary equipment just to take one photograph. Early cameras were the size of microwave ovens! But George Eastman changed the way the world took pictures.

Born in upstate New York on July 12, 1854, George Eastman was the youngest of three children. His father died when George was a young boy. He was forced to quit school at 14 and work to support his family. In 1874, he got a job as a junior clerk at a bank for $15 a week.

A friend introduced George to photography when he was 24. George loved taking pictures, but he didn't like the complicated process. He worked for years to invent something to replace the old machine. When he succeeded, he started a company to produce his "film" -- Kodak. Then he worked on developing a simple camera.

When he introduced his camera in 1888, George coined the advertising 12 slogan, "You push the button, we do the rest." People began buying the cameras, and Kodak soon grew to be very large.

George Eastman was also a great philanthropist. He gave much of his fortune to establish hospitals, clinics, universities, museums and performing arts centers. When he died in 1932 at the age of 77, an editorial 13 in The New York Times said he would be remembered for giving generously for the good of mankind. And, of course, for putting a Kodak smile on the faces of people around the world.