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TS 5
World Language
Did you know that the year 2000 celebrated 1,000 years of spoken English, a language born on a wet cold island off the coast of the European continent which is now the second most widely used language in the world?
The 20th century saw the enormous development in the learning of English as a foreign language. Today the English language is in a curious position. There are about 372 mln native speakers of English but nearly 20% of the world's population use English in their lives. So non-native speakers of English greatly outnumber the native speakers. Did you know that:
• the year 2000 was announced the European year of languages?
• 80% of the world's computer information is in English?
• half the world's telephones ring in English-speaking countries?
• an Italian pilot in an Italian airplane speaks to an Italian airport in English?
• 157 countries use English for air traffic control?
• 75% of the world's letters and postcards are in English?
• over half the world's 10,000 newspapers are in English?
TS 6
The Development of Communication
Paintings and drawings were the first steps toward a written language. Prehistoric artists used a series of pictures to tell a story, such as the history of a good hunting trip. Gradually, people developed a system of small pictures that stood for most common objects and ideas. Such a system is known as pictographic writing. It was developed about 3500 ВС.
During ancient times, the chief means of long-distance communication was writing. Professional messengers carried letters on foot, on horseback or by ship. Military leaders also used homing pigeons to carry messages.
The start of printing in the Western world happened during the Renaissance. It was learned by Europeans only in 1477. Printing quickly became the most important means of mass communication. Books, magazines and newspapers brought information to more and more readers.
Communication at today's speeds began with the invention of the electric telegraph. After years of experimenting, the American painter and inventor Samuel F. B. Morse and his partner, Alfred Vail, developed a simple telegraph. It sent messages in a code of dots and dashes known as Morse code. Morse patented his invention in 1840.
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell, a Scottish-born teacher of the deaf, patented a kind of telephone.
In 1895, the Italian inventor Marconi combined the ideas of others to send signals through space. Marconi called his device the wireless telegraph. We call it radio.
Television, like many other inventions, originated from the research and thinking of many people. In 1925, John Logie Baird, a Scottish engineer, gave the first public demonstration of television.
Videotape recorders came into use during the 1950s. But videocassette recorders (VCR's), developed in the 1970s, made such recording cheap enough for home use. The development of the 1980s is the compact disc (CD). A CD records signals in digital form. A machine called a CD player uses a small laser to play the disc. CD's were introduced in Japan and Europe in 1982, and in the United States in 1983. By the early 1980s, several companies had begun to sell cellular telephones.
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