PRE-READING:

Look at the title and pictures and predict the main ideas of the article. Then, write down three wh-questions about the text.

Ex: When will be able to travel to other planets?

WHILE READING: Set a time limit to read this article. An average reader can read at the speed of 250 words per minute. Note down your reading speed regularly to check your progress.

SKIMMING:

Within the time limit, read and summarize the main ideas of the paragraphs with your own words. Do not worry about unfamiliar vocabulary.

FUTURE TECHNOLOGY

The future is here...

Some of the technology that will shape our lives in the future is already here in embryonic form. Here we look at 3 areas currently being developed which are expected to change the way we live.

Travel to the stars

Here we are, 6 billion people stuck on a tiny planet with limited space and depleted resources. The solution? Go to the stars. The only problem is how can we traverse such huge distances? The answer could be by sailing!

During the first part of the twentieth century Einstein demonstrated that light was made up of particles, called photons, and that these particles exerted a force. As long ago as 1924, the Russian space engineer Fredrich Zander hypothesized that this force could be harnessed to propel a spacecraft without fuel. More recently, scientists such as Geoffrey Landis of NASA, have suggested that a spaceship could make use of large sails which would propel the ship by the force of light from the sun or a laser. He predicts that such a craft could travel at perhaps 10% of the speed of light.

Last year, a team of Japanese scientists put the theory to the test. Launched in May 2010, IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) used the force of the sun's radiation on a 20m ultra-thin (0.0075mm thick) sail to propel itself past Venus.

Talking about the idea of an interstellar sailship, Landis said that, “I think that ultimately we are going to do it, it's just a question of when and who.”

Cyborgs: the fusion of machine and man

In 1990 RoboCop, a film about a half-man, half-machine police officer, took the movie world by storm. Now cyborgs, beings with biological and man-made parts, are already becoming reality. Luis Elias is an American sergeant who lost his right hand in a grenade accident I July 2009. Now he has a robotic arm which can feel and has fingers.

But Kevin Warwick, professor of cybernetics at the University of Reading in the UK, is taking the technology further. He has implanted electrodes into his body which can connect his nervous system to the Internet. While in New York, he used these to control a remote robotic arm located in the UK and to communicate with his wife, whose nervous system was also hooked up to the Internet for the experiment.

In addition to helping the disabled (he has shown it is possible to control a wheelchair with the mind) Kevin Warwick believes that the technology could be used to enhance healthy humans and even make thought communication possible. “I feel this is something we will see generally available in the future,” he said in an interview with Future First magazine. “A new way of communicating (bit like when the telephone was introduced).”

The Internet of Things

The Internet has already revolutionized the way we communicate and network with other people. Things like phones and cars are becoming smarter. Put them together and we have the Internet of things: an Internet enabling objects to communicate with each other and with us.

How it will work is this. The first step is to tag things with an RFID tag (Radio Frequency Identification). These can interact with computers via the Internet so that computers know where the object is and what it is. The computers use that information to help us out.

And it is already happening. A hotel in Seattle uses the technology to automatically bill customers for their minibar drinks. More seriously, Geiger counters in Japan have been linked to the Internet to pool their data and build up a picture of fallout from the damaged nuclear reactors at Fukushima.

Internet companies are already providing more connections to things than to people these days. Jim Zemlin of the Linux Foundation believes that two trillion devices could be connected to the Internet over the next ten years. So in the future we could have a car that books itself into the garage for a service or a refrigerator that orders your groceries for you.

Word count: 681 words

SCANNING:

Use your notes to identify where you can find the answers to the questions you have made in the pre-reading stage.

POST-READING:

Glossary:

Pay attention to how the word is combined with other words in context. Do not learn the meaning of the word without sentences. Vietnamese should be the last resort after you have tried all the learning strategies.

• In embryonic form (adj): in its very early stages, not fully developed (Trong tình trạng sơ khai)

• Depleted (resources) (adj): reduced, used up so that there is not much left (Cạn kiệt)

• To traverse (v): to go across (Đi xuyên qua)

• Particle (n): a very small piece of matter (Phân tử)

• Photon (n): light particle (Phân tử ánh sáng)

• To exert (a force) (v): to apply (a force) (Tác động (một lực))

• To hypothesize (that + clause): (v): to make a theory (Đặt giả thuyết)

• To harness (v): to bring some power under control and use it for a specific purpose (Chuyển hóa (năng lượng))

• NASA (n): National Aeronautics and Space Administration: a US government body that researches space and space travel. (Cơ quan hàng không vũ trụ Hoa Kỳ)

• To launch (v): to send something into space (also to put a newly-built ship in the sea, or to put a new product on the market) (Phóng (tên lửa))

• Ultra- (prefix): prefix meaning extremely e.g. ultra-thin = extremely thin (Cực kỳ)

• Cyborg (n): a being part human, part machine (Sinh vật nửa người nửa máy)

• Fusion (n): the joining together of two things (Sự kết hợp)

• (hand) grenade (n): a small bomb thrown by hand (Lựu đạn)

• Cybernetics (n): a field of study that examines communication and control in humans, animals and electronic devices (Ngành điều khiển học)

• To implant (v): to put something artificial into the body (Cấy ghép)

• Electrode (n): a point which is used to receive or transmit electricity (Điện cực)

• Nervous system (n): the system of long threads (= nerves) that carry messages from our brain to different parts of our body, enabling us to feel and move (Hệ thần kinh)

• To hook (something) up (phrasal verb): to connect (something) to some equipment (Nối kết thiết bị)

• To enhance (v): to improve something, to make something better (Thúc đẩy) • To tag (v): to label (Đặt tên)

• Minibar (n): a small refrigerator containing drinks in a hotel room (Tủ lạnh mini)

• Geiger counter (n): a device used to measure radiation (Thiết bị đo phóng xạ)

• To pool (v): to collect together and share (Tập họp, thu thập (dữ liệu))

• Fallout (n): radioactive dust from a nuclear explosion or accident (Bụi phóng xạ)

Idioms and expressions:

• To shape someone’s life: to have a significant effect on someone’s life, to change the way someone lives (Ảnh hưởng đến cuộc sống (một người nào đó))

• To put something to the test: to try something out to see if it works (Thử nghiệm)

• To take something by storm: to become very successful in a short time (Nhanh chóng thành công)

• To build up a picture of something: to gain an overall understanding of something from individual pieces of data (Hiểu ra một sự viêc từ những dữ liệu được kết nối)

Grammar:

Look at these three predictions:

Geoffrey Landis: “I think that ultimately we are going to do it (build an interstellar spaceship), it’s just a question of when and who.”

Kevin Warwick: “I feel this (thought communication) is something we will see generally available in the future.”

Jim Zemlin: “Two trillion devices could be connected to the Internet over the next 10 years.”

Who is:

1. making a prediction based on his opinion, but which he is fairly sure about?

2. talking about something he thinks is a future possibility?

3. sure about his prediction, because the technology is available now?

Look at Dr Grammar ‘Making predictions and certainty’ if you need help.

Answers:

1. Kevin Warwick

2. Jim Zemlin

3. Geoffrey Landis

Discussion:

Find a study friend to summarize your story. Try to use the vocabulary learned in the article in speaking and writing your summary.

How likely do you think the above predictions are? Share your ideas with your friend.

Follow up:

Choose one of the following technological developments

• artificial intelligence

• cloning

• graphene

• cryonics

or another development you are interested in.

Read some articles on the Internet about it. Ask yourself these questions and take notes as you read.

• What is it?

• How does it work?

• What can the technology do now?

• What developments in the technology might occur in the future?

• How will this technology affect our lives in the future?

Using your notes, tell your study friend or write a paragraph about the technological development.

This material is provided by the Australian Centre for Education and Training (ACET).