Discuss these questions. 1 What does the journalist emphasise about obtaining information online? 2 What do you understand ‘general knowledge’ to mean here? 3 What are the parallels between the internet and writing in the story of Thoth? How do you think the writer will conclude the article? Do you think he will agree that general knowledge is now dead? Read the final paragraph on p. 209. Are you surprised by the ending? Why? / Why not? Cover the article. 1 Which of these verbs collocated: with information or facts? with knowledge? 2 Which verbs have a similar meaning? 3 Which could collocate with both information and knowledge? 4 Can you remember how these other verbs were used? Read the article again to check. Listen to three people discussing the ideas in the article. Which of these topics do they talk about? ■■ going out ■■ travelling to work ■■ going on a long journey ■■ knowing historical facts Are they generally in favour of, or against technology? Listen again and match the opinions with the speakers, Liam (L), Olga (O) or Jane (J). 1 Technology is convenient for tourists to find a good place to eat. 2 It makes going out less interesting. 3 It can be as unreliable as the long-term weather forecast. 4 It can make people passive. 5 It saves you time when travelling. 6 It saves you having to memorise useless information. 7 It doesn’t always help you to understand things in greater depth. Which opinions do you agree with? Why? Discuss these questions. 1 Think of some information you looked up online. Was it easy or difficult to find? Were you satisfied with the result? 2 How often have you found information online that turned out to be unreliable? Read the blog post on the right. Write a blog comment in which you: ■■ describe how ways of accessing information have changed over time ■■ explain your preferred methods of research ■■ speculate about the consequences of information being so easily available Write around 250 words. 1 Writing guide: Blog comment, p. 196. 3 a Who wants to be a millionaire finalist David Swift, responding to the same question, recognises that there is a problem of young people saying: “I don’t need to know that,” but he is far more excited about the educational potential of the internet. “There is so much more info out there, giving people far more opportunities to boost their general knowledge.” b c Language focus Talking about information and knowledge 4 a value look up commit (to memory) know acquire find out absorb pick up hand over key in click on outsource boost b Liam Olga Jane Listening 5 a 9km57r 19 b c Speaking 6 Jen Griffith Anytime, anywhere Our smartphones provide access to everything all the time – at the same time giving our data away to more companies than we’ll ever know. So where is this going? Writing 7 Language skills Extras Explore 5 It’s an online world 63 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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