The Many Features of Mobile Phones

Once used simply as a means of communication, cellular phones have developed into quite useful tools. With the advent of recent advances in technology cell phone us­ers now have more features than ever to enjoy on their phones. Mobile phones have, inessence, become minicomputers allowing a user to connect to the Internet and check their email or even the score of last night's hockey game. Individuals even have the abil­ity to send and receive text messages with their phones in situations where it is more convenient to do so than to actually call the person with whom they wish to get in touch.

Striving off of the recent booming success of MP3 players, cell phones have adapted the capability of importing and playing back songs as well. One can simply download songs onto their phone and play them with the touch of a button. Some cellu­lar phones allow a user to record sound clips as well, which can subsequently be used as personal ringtones. Furthermore, the ringtone industry has become quite large as mobile phone customers frequently pay for downloadable sound clips of their favorite songs or favorite television shows.

If you happen to be at a social gathering and you have no means of recording a special moment or documenting the event via pictures, a mobile phone can suddenly be­come an even more valuable tool. Many cellular devices have picture and video capa­bilities, which would certainly allow for sufficient documentation. Supposing you find yourself in a situation where you have to wait for an extended pe­riod of time and you eventually grow tired of just sitting there. Having a cell phone can help to relieve you of this boredom.

5. Ответьте на вопросы к тексту:

1. Cellular phones have developed into quite useful tools, haven't they?

2. What do cell phone users now have?

3. Have mobilе phones become minicomputers allowing a user to connect to the Internet and check their email or even the score of last night's hockey game?

4. What have cell phones adopted?

5. What do cellular phones allow a user to do?


Variant 3

1. Переведите следующие предложения на русский язык, определите время и за­лог подчёркнутых форм:

1. Two British inventors invented the first electric telegraph.

The First electric telegraph was invented by two British inventors.

2. Transoceanic cables have linked the continents telegraphically.

The continents have been linked telegraphically by transoceanic cables.

3. The telephone followed the electric telegraph. The electric telegraph was followed by the telephone.

4. Telecommunication systems transmit information via wire, optical fiber, terrestrial radio.

Information is transmitted by telecommunication systems via wire, optical fiber, terres­trial radio.

5. The secretary told them to come in time.
They were told by the secretary to come in time.

2. Употребите глаголы, стоящие в скобках в нужной временной форме. Переведи­те предложения на русский язык.

1. A new invention________ in industry by the end of the year (implement).

2. We already________ this letter after his departure (receive).

3. Engineers_______ computers in all the branches of the economy (use).

4. The manager returned before the typist________________ all the letters (type).

5. As the equipment was getting old we_______________ to replace it (decide).

3. Перестройте данные предложения из прямой речи в косвенную. Переведите
преобразованные предложения на русский язык:

1. She said:" The policy of the government has changed".

2. She declared:"The files are being transmitted but they are not arrived in the same form".

3. He said:"We send a 10 page contract to a client in France".

4. She added:"A lot of our clients are overseas and we are having problems with the lines".

5. She added:"Call charges on international lines are high".

4. Переведите текст на русский язык:

Types of communication

Signals, signs, and symbols, three related components of communication processes found in all known cultures, have attracted considerable scholarly attention because they do not relate primarily to the usual conception of words or language. Each is apparently

an increasingly more complex modification of the former, and each was probably de­veloped in the depths of prehistory before, or at the start of, man's early experiments with vocal language.

Signal may be considered as an interruption in a field of constant energy transfer. An example is the dots and dashes that open and close the electromagnetic field of a tele­graph circuit. Such interruptions do not require the construction of a man-made field; interruptions in nature (e.g., the tapping of a pencil in a silent room, or puffs of smoke rising from a mountain top) may produce the same result. The basic function of such signals is to provide the change of a single environmental factor in order to attract atten­tion and to transfer meaning.

A code system that refers interruptions to some form of meaningful language may easily be developed with a crude vocabulary of dots, dashes, or other elemental audio and visual articulations. Taken by themselves, the interruptions have a potential breadth of meaning that seems extremely small; they may indicate the presence of an individual in a room, his impatience, agreement, or disagreement with some aspect of his environ­ment or, in the case of a scream for help, a critical situation demanding attention. Coded to refer to spoken or written language, their potential to communicate language is ex­tremely great.

5. Ответьте на вопросы к тексту:

1. What are three related components of communication processes?

2. What may be considered as an interruption in a field of constant energy transfer?

3. Such interruptions do not require the construction of a man-made field, do they?

4. What may interruptions in nature produce?

5. What do the interruptions have?


Variant 4