The World Wide Web, an enormous collection of Internet addresses or sites, all of which can be accessed for information, has been mainly responsible for the increase in interest in the Internet in the 1990s. Before the World Wide Web, the `Net was comparable to an integrated collection of computerized typewriters, but the introduction of the `Web in 1990 allowed not only text links to be made but also graphs, images and even video.
A Web site consists of a `home page , the first screen of a particular site on the computer to which you are connected, from where access can be had to other subject related `pages (or screens) at the site and on thousands of other computers all over the world. This is achieved by a process called `hypertext . By clicking with a mouse device on various parts of the screen, a person connected to the `Net can go traveling, or surfing through a of the screen, a person connected to the `Net can go traveling, or `surfing through a web of pages to locate whatever information is required.
Anyone can set up a site; promoting your club, your institution, your company s products or simply yourself, is what the Web and the Internet is all about. And what is more, information on the Internet is not owned or controlled by any one organization. It is, perhaps, true to say that no one and therefore everyone owns the `Net . Because of the relative freedom of access to information, the Internet has often been criticised by the media as a potentially hazardous tool in the hands of young computer users. This perception has proved to be largely false however, and the vast majority of users both young and old get connected with the Internet for the dual purposes for which it was intended - discovery and delight.
TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN
1.Everyone is aware of the Information Superhighway.
2.Using the Internet costs the owner of a telephone extra money.
3.Internet computer connections are made by using telephone lines.
4.The World Wide Web is a network of computerised typewriters.
5.According to the author, the Information Superhighway may be the future hope of education.
6.The process called`hypertext requires the use of a mouse device.
7.The Internet was created in the 1990s.
8.The `home page is the first screen of a `Web site on the `Net .
9.The media has often criticised the Internet because it is dangerous.
10. The latest technological revolution will change the way humans communicate.
Practice 4
The Australian political scene is dominated by two major parties that have quite different political agendas. However, the policies of the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party have become much more difficult to tell apart in recent years. In fact, it would be true to say that both parties consist of conservative, moderate and radical elements, and therefore the general public is often perplexed about which party to vote for. Nonetheless, it is usual to find that an Australian will lean towards supporting one of these two parties and remain faithful to that party for life.
The Labor Party was formed early in the twentieth century to safeguard the interests of the common working man and to give the trade unions political representation in Parliament. The Party has always had strong connections with the unions, and supports the concept of a welfare society in which people who are less fortunate than others are financially, and otherwise, assisted in their quest for a more equitable slice of the economic pie. The problem is that such socialist political agendas are extremely expensive to implement and maintain, especially in a country that, although comparatively wealthy, is vast and with a small working and hence taxpaying population base. Welfare societies tend towards bankruptcy unless government spending is kept in check. The Liberal Party, on the other hand, argues that the best way to ensure a