Close-up p 52. The Virtual Revolution. Extra Listening

Episode 4 part 2+Mp3+Tape 134 h2’00’’11+ DVD '8''37

Dr Aleks Krotoski concludes her investigation into how the world wide web is transforming our lives.

In the fourth programme in the series, she looks at how the internet is changing our very behaviour - and even our brain functions.

Joined by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Al Gore and the neuroscientist Susan Greenfield, Aleks examines the popularity of social networks such as Facebook.

How are they changing our relationships? Do they bring us together - or do they end up leaving us more isolated?

1.            Jim says that the kids come home and are on Facebook while they are having their ____________.

2.            When Jackie was young they didn’t even have __________.

3.            Jackie says that it would be like _______________ if you took her daughter’s Facebook site away from her.

4.            Louis (Jackie’s son) thinks that before the web people just ___________

5.            Using a data sample of eight million people we can reveal how far the UK population ________________________________ the orbit of the online social networks.

6.            Bebo is for __________________.

7.            More than half of UK Facebook members ______________ daily.

8.            Facebook is so ______________ that it has become the main target of parents’ angst

9.            CLAY SHIRKY: People my age, mid 40s and up, are _____________ over what kids are doing, teens are doing on Facebook, as if we would not have done those things had Facebook existed when we were young.

10.         The key criticism of Facebook is that it makes friendship meaningless and that ________________ society

11.         The label of friendship is just as easily attained by lifelong buddies as it is by total strangers _________________ connections.

12.         On the 24^th May 2007, just ten days after his 23^rd birthday, Mark Zuckerberg ________________ into this hall and explained the secret of Facebook’s triumphant success

13.         Zuckerberg’s aim was that Facebook would become the destination to connect to friends and share information, text, photos or social events. All that you need to do is sign up, create a profile, find your mates and___________________ to become your Facebook friend.

14.         In this way, each Facebook member ______________ their own group of friends, all within the larger network

15.         Zuckerberg: We are building a massive network of real connections between people, through which information can flow more _________ than it really ever has in the past. And it’s changing the way the world works

KEY

1.            first cup of tea

2.            a home telephone

3.            removing her arm

4.            read books

5.            has been sucked into

suck sb in | suck sb into sth[usually passive] to involve sb in an activity or a situation, especially one they do not want to be involved in.

6.            The early teens.

7.            log on

8.            pervasive

pervasive: adjective. Existing in all parts of a place or thing; spreading gradually to affect all parts of a place or thing (Sp. generalizado, dominante, penetrante):
a pervasive smell of damp

A sense of social change is pervasive in her novels.

9.            wringing their hands

angst noun[U] (from German) a feeling of anxiety and worry about a situation, or about your life:
songs full of teenage angst

wring your hands: to hold your hands together, and twist and squeeze them in a way that shows you are anxious or upset, especially when you cannot change the situation

wring  verb (wrung, wrung)

1 wring sth (out) to twist and squeeze clothes, etc. in order to get the water out of them

2 if you wring a bird’s neck, you twist it in order to kill the bird

10.         undermines

undermine  verb [vn]

1 to make sth, especially sb’s confidence or authority, gradually weaker or less effective. E.g. Our confidence in the team has been seriously undermined by their recent defeats.  This crisis has undermined his position.

11.         hoarding

Hoard: verb. To collect and keep large amounts of food, money, etc., especially secretly. Sp. Almacenar

12.         shuffled

shuffle verb. To walk slowly without lifting your feet completely off the ground (Sp. caminar arrastrando los pies). E.g. He shuffled across the room to the window.  The line shuffled forward a little.

13.         have them agree

14.         carves out

carve sth (out) (for yourself) to work hard in order to have a successful career, reputation, etc. (Sp. forjarse algo):
She has carved a place for herself in the fashion world.

 He succeeded in carving out a career in the media.

15.         efficiently