English Unlimited HAK/HUM 4/5, Schulbuch mit Audio-CD und CD-ROM (mit Handelskorrespondenz)

57 It’s an online world 05 LANGUAGE SKILLS EXPLORE EXTRAS Discuss these questions. 1 What does the journalist emphasise about obtaining information using new technology? 2 What do you understand ‘general knowledge’ to mean here? 3 What are the parallels between technology and writing in the story of Thoth? How do you think the writer will conclude the article? Do you think he will agree that general knowledge is now dead? Read the final paragraph on p. 199. Are you surprised by the ending? Why? Cover the article. 1 Which of these verbs collocated: with information or facts ? with knowledge ? value  look up  commit (to memory)  know  acquire  pick up  absorb 2 Which verbs have a similar meaning? 3 Which could collocate with both information and knowledge ? 4 Can you remember how these other verbs were used? hand over  key in  click on  outsource  boost Read the article again to check. Listen to three people discussing the ideas in the article. Which of these topics do they talk about?   going out   going on a long journey   travelling to work   knowing historical facts Are they generally in favour of, or against technology? Now listen again and match the opinions below with the speakers. 1 Technology is convenient for tourists to find a good place to eat. ( ) 2 It makes going out less interesting. ( ) 3 It can be as unreliable as the long-term weather outlook. ( ) 4 It can make people passive. ( ) 5 It saves you time when travelling. ( ) 6 It saves you having to memorise useless information. ( and ) 7 It doesn’t always help you to understand things in greater depth. ( ) Which opinions do you agree with? Why? Discuss these questions. 1 Think of some information you looked up online. Was it easy or difficult to find? Were you satisfied with the result? 2 How often have you found information online that turned out to be unreliable? a 3 b c LANguAgE FOCuS 4 Talking about information and knowledge 5 LiStENiNg 6 a TCD  2/01 b 7 SPEAKiNg 8 Who wants to be a millionaire finalist David Swift, responding to the same question, recognises that there is a problem of young people saying: “I don’t need to know that,” but he is far more excited about the educational potential of the internet. “There is so much more info out there, giving people far more opportunities to boost their general knowledge.” Liam Olga Jane Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv