Список статей на английском языке телекоммуникации. Устные темы (топики)

The public"s right to know is one of the central principles of American society. The men who wrote the Constitution of the United States resented the strict control that the American colonies" British rulers had imposed over ideas and information they did not like. Instead, these men determined, that the power of knowledge should be placed in the hands of the people.

"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance," asserted James Madison, the fourth president and an early proponent of press freedom. "And a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives."

THE FIRST AMENDMENT

To assure a healthy and uninhibited flow of information, the framers of the new government included press freedom among the basic human rights protected in the new nation"s Bill of Rights. These first 10 Amendments to the Constitution of the United States became law in 1791. The First Amendment says, in part, that "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ..."

That protection from control by the federal government meant that anyone - rich or poor, regardless of his political or religious belief - could generally publish what he wished. The result, Madison declared, was that the power to decide what was harmful behavior "is in the people over the Government and not in the Government over the people."

Ever since, the First Amendment has served as the conscience and shield of all Americans who reported the news, who wished to make their opinions public, or who desired to influence public opinion. Over the past two centuries, however, the means of communication - what we now call the "media" - have grown immensely more complex. In Madison"s day, the media, created by printing presses, were few and simple - newspapers, pamphlets and books. Today the media also include television, radio, films and cable TV. The term "the press" has expanded to refer now to any news operation in any media, not just print. These various organizations are also commonly called the "news media."

This media explosion has created an intricate and instantaneous nerve system shaping the values and culture of American society. News and entertainment are beamed from one end of the American continent to another. The result is that the United States has been tied together more tightly, and the media have helped to reduce regional differences and customs. People all over the country watch the same shows often at the same time. The media bring the American people a common and shared experience - the same news, the same entertainment, the same advertising.

Indeed, Americans are surrounded by information from the time they wake in the morning until the time they sleep at night. A typical office worker, for instance, is awakened by music from an alarm-clock radio. During breakfast, he reads the local newspaper and watches an early morning news show on TV. If he drives to work, he listens to news, music and traffic reports on his car"s radio. At his office, he reads business papers and magazines to check on industry developments. Perhaps he helps plan an advertising campaign for his company"s product. At home, after dinner, he watches the evening news on TV. Then he flips through the over 20 channels offered by cable TV to find his favorite show or a ballgame or a recent Hollywood movie. In bed, he reads himself to sleep with a magazine or a book.

Our typical office worker, like most Americans, takes all this for granted. Yet this dizzying array of media choices is the product of nearly 300 years of continual information revolution. Technological advances have speeded up the way information is gathered and distributed. Court cases have gradually expanded the media"s legal protections. And, because the news media in the United States have been businesses which depend on advertising and sales, owners have always stressed appealing to the widest possible audiences.

Communicating over long distances has been a challenge throughout history. In ancient times, runners were used to carry important between messages rulers or other important people. Other forms of long-distance communication included smoke signals, chains of searchlights and flags to send a message from one tower to another, carrier pigeons, and horses. Modern telecommunications began with the discovery that electricity can be used to transmit a signal. For the first time, a signal could be sent faster than any other mode of transportation. The first practical telecommunications device to make use of this discovery was the telegraph.

1. The Telegraph

Beginning in the mid-1800s, the telegraph delivered the first inter-city, transcontinental, and transoceanic messages in the world. The telegraph revolutionized the way people communicated by providing messages faster than any other means provided at the time. American art professor Samuel F.B. Morse pursued an interest in electromagnetism to create a practical electromagnetic telegraph in 1837. Morse partnered with Alfred Vail and was able to commercialize the technology with financial support from the U.S. government. In 1843 Morse built a demonstration telegraph link between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. On May 24, 1844, the network was inaugurated for commercial use with the message, "What hath God wrought!"

Telegraph use quickly spread; the first transcontinental link was completed in 1861 between San Francisco, California, and Washington, D.C. Railroad companies and newspapers were the first major telegraphy users. Telegraph lines were constructed parallel to railroad beds. Telegraphy helped the railroads manage traffic and allowed news organizations to distribute stories quickly to local newspapers. Within a few years, several telegraph companies were in operation, each with its own network of telegraph wires. Consolidation occurred in the telegraph industry (as it has in numerous telecommunications industries), and by the 1870s the Western Union Telegraph Company emerged as the dominant operator.

2. Commercial Growth of the Telephone

In 1876 American inventor Alexander Graham Bell ushered in a new era of voice and sound telecommunication when he uttered to his assistant the words, "Mr. Watson, come here; I want you," using a prototype telephone. Bell received the patent for the first telephone, but he had to fight numerous legal challenges to his patent from other inventors with similar devices. Bell was able to make his prototype telephone work and attract financial backers, and his company grew. The telephone was a vast improvement over the telegraph system, which could only transmit coded words and numbers, not the sound of a human voice. Telegraph messages had to be deciphered by trained operators, written down, and then delivered by hand to the receiving party, all of which took time. The telephone transmitted actual sound messages and made telecommunication immediate. Improved switching technology (the technology used to transfer calls from one local network to another) meant individual telephones could be connected for personal conversations.

The first commercial telephone line was installed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1877. Early telephones required direct connections to other telephones, but this problem was solved with telephone exchange switches, the first of which was installed in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1878. A telephone exchange linked telephones in a given area together, so a connection between the telephone and the exchange was all that was needed. Telephones were much more convenient and personal than telegrams, and their use quickly spread. By 1913 telephone lines from New York City to San Francisco had been established, and by 1930 radio signals could transmit telephone calls between New York and London, England. Eventually, long-distance telephone service in the United States was consolidated into one company, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (now known as AT&T Corp.), which was a regulated monopoly.

I would like to tell you about telecommunications and their developing.
We can not deny the role of telecommunications in our life. The Internet, phones, telegraph, cell phones, radio, television are all the means of communication or telecommunication. Nowadays we live in information era, when information is the key and engine of progress. Our society needs perfect means of information exchange that is why all types of telecommunication are under the permanent developing.
Currently hundreds of millions of people use wireless communication means. Cell phone is no longer a symbol of prestige but a tool, which lets to use working time more effectively. Considering that the main service of a mobile connection operator is providing high quality connection, much attention in the telecommunication market is paid to the spectrum of services that cell network subscriber may receive.
Today we can easily connect to the Internet using our cell phone or to take a picture or to take a short movie, using our video cell phone.
Late in the nineteenth century, communication facilities were augmented by a new invention - telephone. In the USA its use expanded slowly and by 1900 the American Telephone and Telegraph Company controlled 855,000 telephones.
After 1900, telephone installations extended much more rapidly in all the wealthier countries. The number of telephones in use in the world grew at almost 100 per cent per decade. But long-distance telephone services gradually developed and began to compete with telegraphic business. A greater contribution to long-range communication came with the development of wireless technology.
Before the outbreak of the First World War wireless telegraphy was established as a means of regular communication with ships at sea and provided a valuable supplement to existing telegraph lines. In the next few years the telephone systems of all the chief countries were connected with each other by radio. Far more immediate was the influence that radio had through broadcasting and by television, which followed it at an interval of about twenty-five years.
Telephones are as much a part of infrastructure of our society as roads or electricity, and competition will make them cheaper. Losses from lower prices will be countered by higher usage. Most important of all, by cutting out the need to install costly cables and microwave transmitters, the new telephones could be a boon to the remote and poor regions of the earth. Even today, half the world"s population lives more than two hours away from a telephone.
Satellite phones are not going to deliver all their benefits at once.
Lots of other new communication services - on-line film libraries, personal computers that can send video-clips and sound-bites as easily as they can be used for writing letters, terrestrial mobile-telephone systems cheap enough to replace old sets - are already technically possible.

Развитие телекоммуникаций

Я хотел бы рассказать вам о телекоммуникациях и их развитии.
Мы не можем отрицать роль телекоммуникаций в нашей жизни. Интернет, телефон, телеграф, сотовый телефон, радио, телевидение - все это средства связи. В настоящее время мы живем в информационной эре, когда информация - это ключ и двигатель прогресса. Наше общество нуждается в совершенных средствах информационного обмена, именно поэтому все типы телесвязи находятся в процессе постоянного развития.
В настоящее время сотни миллионов людей используют беспроволочные средства связи. Сотовый телефон больше не является символом престижа, а стал инструментом, который позволяет более эффективно использовать рабочее время. Принимая во внимание тот факт, что оператор мобильной связи предоставляет связь высокого качества, на рынке телекоммуникаций больше внимания теперь уделяется ассортименту предоставляемых услуг, которые клиент сети может получить.
Сегодня, используя свой сотовый видеотелефон, мы можем запросто подключиться к интернету, сфотографироваться или снять короткий фильм.
В конце девятнадцатого столетия средства коммуникаций пополнились новым изобретением - телефоном. В США развитие телефона шло медленно, и к 1900 году американская Телефонная и телеграфная компания управляла 855 000 телефонов.
После 1900 года во всех богатых странах установка телефонов продвигалась быстрыми темпами. Количество используемых каждые десять лет телефонов вырастало почти на 100 %. Постепенно развивались и услуги дальней телефонной связи, которые начали конкурировать с телеграфным бизнесом. Большой вклад в развитие дальней телефонной связи внесло развитие радио.
Перед тем как разразилась Первая мировая война, радиотелеграф стал регулярным средством связи между кораблями на море и существенным дополнением к уже существующим телеграфным линиям. В последующие несколько лет телефонные системы всех мировых держав были связаны друг с другом радиосвязью. Гораздо более сильное влияние радио оказало через радиовещание и телевидение, которое появилось приблизительно через двадцать пять лет после появления радио.
Телефоны являются такой же частью инфраструктуры нашего общества, как дороги или электричество, и конкуренция делает их дешевле. Потери из-за низких тарифов будут компенсироваться большим числом пользователей. Самым важным является то, что из-за отсутствия необходимости проводить дорогостоящий кабель и микроволновые передатчики, новые телефоны стали «большим подарком» для отдаленных и бедных районов. Даже сегодня, половина всех жителей планеты живет более чем в двух часах от ближайшего телефона.
Все выгоды использования спутниковых телефонов не проявятся сразу.
Большое количество других новых услуг связи, таких как онлайновые библиотеки фильмов, персональные компьютеры, которые могут посылать видеоклипы и звуковые файлы так же легко, как и печатать письма, земные мобильные телефонные системы, достаточно дешевые, чтобы заменить старые системы - все уже технически возможно.

Questions:

1. What means of telecommunication do you know?
2. Why do we try to develop all types of telecommunication?
3. Can we connect to the Internet using our cell phone today?
4. What was invented late in the nineteenth century?
5. What technology made a great contribution to a long-range communication?
6. Was there wireless telegraphy as a means of regular communication before the outbreak of the First World War?
7. What new telecommunication services do you know?

Vocabulary:

telecommunication - телекоммуникация, дальняя связь; телефон, телеграф, радио
to develop - развивать, совершенствовать
to deny - отрицать, отказываться от.
cell phone - мобильный телефон
exchange - обмен
permanent - постоянный
tool - инструмент
effectively - эффективно
to consider - считать, полагать
operator - оператор
to provide - обеспечивать, снабжать
network - сеть, система
subscriber - подписчик, клиент
to receive - получать, принимать, воспринимать
facility - рЬоборудование, аппаратура, приспособления
to augment - увеличивать, прибавлять
invention - изобретение
to expand - расширять, увеличивать
installation - установка, размещение
to extend - распостранять, расширять
to grow (past grew, p.p. grown) - расти, увеличивать
gradually - постепенно, понемногу
to compete - конкурировать, соревноваться
contribution - содействие, вклад
wireless - беспроволочный, дистанционный
outbreak - (зд) внезапное начало
to establish - основывать, создавать
valuable - ценный, полезный
supplement - дополнение, добавление
immediate - внезапный, безотлагательный, немедленный
influence - воздействие, влияние
to broadcast (past broadcast, p.p. broadcast) - передавать в эфире, вещать
interval - промежуток, интервал
infrastructure - инфраструктура
electricity - электричество
microwave - микроволновый
transmitter - предатчик
boon - благо, дар; перимущество, удобство
remote - отдаленный, далекий
benefits - услуги, выгоды, привилегии
terrestrial - земной, наземный