Lesson 2

Listening

1. Listen to an interview with a history teacher and check your answers.

We will be able to study the printed letters and map, but perhaps we won’t be able to study the email or computer map.

It means that we won’t be able to read a lot of our information because new technology won’t be able to read it.

2. Listen again. Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)?

1. Professor Shabana is worried about the future of technology. T

2. We do not know much about the Dark Ages because people did not write much about it. T

3. There will be another Dark Age in the future because computers will stop working. F, it will be because we lose information.

4. We will not copy important information onto new technology in the future. F, we will copy it (but probably not all of it).

5. We will lose a lot of information because people will forget their passwords or not think it is important. T

6. Professor Shabana thinks we should print more information from our computers. T

7. Professor Shabana’s father kept all the emails he sent to his mother before they married. F, he kept all the letters he sent her.

8. Professor Shabana thinks no one will use computers in the future. F, he thinks we should keep information on computers as well as printing it.

Language

3. Complete these sentences from the recording with a, the or –.

1. Today I’m talking to - Professor Marwan Shabana, a history teacher at the University of Cairo.

2. He’s just written a very interesting book about the future of technology.

3. Will the software that we use today be on the computers of tomorrow?

4. I don’t have any of the emails I sent to my wife, because we don’t usually keep - emails!