Unit 1 Living with Technology

Welcome to the unit

What electrical and electric products do you have at home?

----Microwave ovens, refrigerators, TV sets, air conditioners,washing machines, vacuum cleaners,CD players, electric fans,mobile phones, digital cameras….

Picture 1: Compare the TV in the picture with the TV in your home:

1.antennae on top / 2.the small screen /3.only black and white pictures/ 4.no remote control(the control panel was on one side of the screen)

How did people record music in the past?

---put the tapes into the recorder, then play the tape with music at one side and play the record button at the other side to record the music onto the blank tape.

How do people record music using a computer?

Copy the music from a CD to the computerusing recording software.The music will then be digitalized and stored in and played by an MP3 player.

How do you look up a word in a paper dictionary?

The words in a paper dictionary are arranged in alphabetical order from ‘A’ to ‘Z’. We need to look at the first letter of the word and use it to search in the dictionary. If two words start with the same letter, we look at the second letter to decide the alphabetical order. If the first and the second letters are the same, we look at the third letter and so on.

How do you look up a word in a electronic dictionary?

We key in the word we want to look up andclick the button’Enter’. Then the word entry will appear on the screen.

What else can be stored in your electronic dictionary ?

There can be a calendar, a list of addresses and phone number, memos or a clock. More recent electronic dictionary have large memory space and some can be used as electronic books with hundreds of books stored inside.

How did people keep in touch in the past?

---by letter/telegraph/telephoneHow do people keep in touch now?

---most by mobile phone

What recent developments have been made to mobile phones?

--- have more and more functions. 1)send text messages 2)be used as a digital camera to take still or even moving pictures.People can send the pictures to other mobile phones or e-mail addresses. 3) Mobile phones can be connected to the internet and people can look at web pages with mobile phones. 4)More advanced mobile phones can receive TV signals so that people can watch live TV.

Discussion:Do the electronic devices bring us advantages or disadvantages?

Advantages: meet people’s needs improve people’s lives to some degree

Disadvantages: 1)radiation may be harmful to people’s health 2)when people buy new electrical or electronic devices,they throw away the old ones, which not only cause waste,but also be harmful to the environment

Thank you!