General understanding

1. What is software?

2. In what two basic groups software (programs) could be divided?

3. What is system software for?

«INTRODUCTION TO THE WWW AND THE INTERNET»

Millions of people around the world use the Internet to search for and retrieve information on all sorts of top­ics in a wide variety of areas including the arts, business, government, humanities, news, politics and recreation. People communicate through electronic mail (e-mail), discussion groups, chat channels and other means of in­formational exchange. They share information and make commercial and business transactions. All this activity is possible because tens of thousands of networks are con­nected to the Internet and exchange information in the same basic ways.

The World Wide Web (WWW) is a part of the Internet. But it's not a collection of networks. Rather, it is information that is connected or linked together like a web. You access this information through one interface or tool called a Web browser. The number of resources and serv­ices that are part of the World Wide Web is growing ex­tremely fast. In 1996 there were more than 20 million users of the WWW, and more than half the information that is transferred across the Internet is accessed through the WWW. By using a computer terminal (hard­ware) connected to a network that is a part of the Internet, and by using a program (software) to browse or retrieve information that is a part of the World Wide Web, the people connected to the Internet and World Wide Web through the local providers have access to a variety of information. Each browser provides a graphi­cal interface. You move from place to place, from site to site on the Web by using a mouse to click on a portion of text, icon or region of a map. These items are called hyperlinks or links. Each link you select represents a document, an image, a video clip or an audio file some­where on the Internet. The user doesn't need to know where it is, the browser follows the link.

All sorts of things are available on the WWW. One can use Internet for recreational purposes. Many TV and radio stations broadcast live on the WWW. Essentially, if something can be put into digital format and stored in a computer, then it's available on the WWW. You can even visit museums, gardens, cities throughout the world, learn foreign languages and meet new friends. And, of course, you can play computer games through WWW, competing with partners from other countries and continents.

Just a little bit of exploring the World Wide Web will show you what a lot of use and fun it is.

Vocabulary:

World Wide Web — «Всемирная Паутина»

to retrieve — извлекать

variety — разнообразие, спектр

recreation — развлечение

network — сеть

to share — делить

humanities — гуманитарные науки

business transactions — коммерческие операции

access — доступ

to browse — рассматривать, разглядывать

browser — браузер (программа поиска ин­формации)

to provide — обеспечивать (чем-либо)

provider — провайдер (компания, предоставляю­щая доступ к WWW через местные телефонные сети)

broadcast live — передавать в прямом эфире site — страница, сайт

to link — соединять

hyperlink — гиперссылка

to compete — соревноваться

General understanding:

1) What is Internet used for?

2) Why so many activities such as e-mail and business transactions are possible through the Internet?

3) What is World Wide Web?

4) What is Web browser?

5) What does a user need to have an access to the WWW?

6) What are hyperlinks?

7) What resources are available on the WWW?

8) What are the basic recreational applications of WWW?