4. Переведите текст письменно.
Information Society.
Once upon a time societies were organised around religion, farm-ing, trade or industry. In many parts of the world today this is still true, but something else is becoming more important – the exchange of infor-mation, and the technology that we use to do this. Twenty-four hour news, e-commerce, international call-centres, mobile phones, Global Po-sitioning Systems … all these are making the world smaller and faster. The growth in telecommunications is now giving more and more people access to democratic ideas, to the principles of international law and human rights, to the science that will help their country to develop or to the medical knowledge that can fight disease. But how can everybody in the world share the recent technological advances? Millions of people cannot read these words because they don’t have access to a computer. They don’t understand English either, the lan-guage that 80 % of the information is written in. They are more worried about how far they will have to walk today to get clean water or if they can feed themselves and their families. For most people on this planet, information is not a priority. The contrast between countries that have information technology and those that don’t is called the ‘digital divide’. Scandinavia and South East Asia have a high number of people who use Information Communica-tion Technologies (ICT). Central Africa and the Pacific have almost none. The United Nations is trying to make the information society a re-ality for more of the developing world. It wants to see rich countries transfer new technology and knowledge to poorer nations. This will improve medical care and education, science and agricul-ture, business opportunities and employment. At the same time, they say, local communities, languages and cultures will become stronger. Just a dream? Certainly there are some contradictions. Does only good come with freedom of information? If information is power, why will people share it? Doesn’t more technology mean fewer jobs? And how can the exchange of information keep local cultures alive if most of that information is only in one language? It is much easier to get people connected to broadband or put gov-ernment online in Europe than in South America or the Middle East. However, developing countries often leapfrog the process which richer nations went through, and avoid their mistakes. Brazil collects most of its taxes online these days. There are cyber cities in Dubai and Mauritius. And Taiwan and Hong Kong have better access to ICT than the United Kingdom. Maybe the English language isn’t so important after all.

5. Ответьте письменно на вопросы и составьте 5 специальных вопросов (why, what, where, how much, etc.)
1. What is important for the organisation of societies in the world today?
2. How can the growth in telecommunications help people in the modern world?
3. Why is it impossible for everybody in the world to share the re-cent technological advances?
4. What are the contradictions of transferring new technology and knowledge to poorer nations?
5. When did the United States introduce internet technology?