15 years of the World Wide Web

　　Amber¹:  Hello, I'm Amber, and you're listening to bbclearningenglish.com.

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　　Today, since we are a website, we join in celebrations for the 15  birthday of

　　the World Wide Web!

　　The World Wide Web has changed the lifestyle and working environment of

　　people all over the world. In this programme, we listen to a short interview

　　about how the internet has changed our lives.

　　Ian Pearson is a futurologist - he studies 'futurology'. He's concerned with

　　trying to say correctly what will happen in the future. In the first part of his

　　interview, Ian Pearson lists both good things and bad things about the internet.

　　Can you catch any of these?

　　And he begins by saying that he does not believe the World Wide Web has

　　made our lives completely happy, or blissful. And he uses an unusual

　　expression - using the prefix³ 'cyber' - to describe the condition of being made

　　extremely happy by the internet! What is this unusual expression? Cyber –

　　what?

　　Ian Pearson

　　'I don't believe in cyber bliss². I think that the future is very much the same as today, where

　　you've got good things and bad things, you know, we've got email but we've got junk mail

　　along side. In the future, we'll have lots of new ways of doing things, but we'll have some

　　misuse⁴ as well. It's never going to be Utopia, but, you know, if we get it right, it won't be hell

　　either.'

　　Amber:  Did you catch it? Ian Pearson says he doesn't believe in 'cyber bliss' –

　　'cyber' means 'relating to computers, especially to messages and

　　information on the internet', and 'bliss' means 'perfect happiness' or

　　'enjoyment⁵'. Cyber bliss. And he says the positive things about the internet

　　are 'email' and that in the future 'we'll have lots of new ways of doing

　　things'. However, the negative things are 'junk mail' and future 'misuse' of

　　the internet. When you listen again, notice how Ian Pearson balances his

　　sentences to list 'good things and bad things'.

　　Also, at the end of this extract, Ian Pearson uses two terms to describe how

　　the internet will never be perfect, but if we 'get it right', and work to

　　improve the World Wide Web, it won't be a harmful or unpleasant thing

　　either. Can you catch either of these two terms, describing two completely

　　opposite situations?

　　Ian Pearson

　　'I don't believe in cyber bliss. I think that the future is very much the same as today, where

　　you've got good things and bad things, you know, we've got email but we've got junk mail

　　along side. In the future, we'll have lots of new ways of doing things, but we'll have some

　　misuse as well. It's never going to be Utopia, but, you know, if we get it right, it won't be hell

　　either.'

　　Amber:   'It's never going to be Utopia, but, you know, if we get it right, it won't be

　　hell either.' 'Utopia' is an imaginary perfect world where everyone is

　　happy. If a situation, experience or place is very unpleasant, an informal

　　word to describe it is 'hell'. 'It's never going to be Utopia, but, you know, if

　　we get it right, it won't be hell either.'

　　Next, Ian Pearson suggests we can celebrate certain features of the World

　　Wide Web – after all, not many of us would like to go back to 1990 and live

　　without email and text messaging! And generally, technology does help us

　　to be productive with our lives and to organise⁶ them! Can you catch the

　　expression he uses to say that he doesn't want to go back in time to a world

　　without the World Wide Web?

　　Ian Pearson

　　'I certainly wouldn't want to wind the clock back. I don't think very many people would.

　　There's a battle between people who want to use these things to make our lives better and

　　people who want to, basically, be parasitic⁷ on all of that to make money by making our lives

　　misery⁸. You know, people are sent junk mail and stuff like that. We have to find ways of

　　dealing⁹ with those people and still allow the benefits to come through to people that want to

　　use it for good things.'

　　Amber:  Ian Pearson says: 'I certainly wouldn't want to wind the clock back'. This is

　　an informal way of saying that you don't want to go back to a previous

　　situation. 'I certainly wouldn't want to wind the clock back'.

　　Ian Pearson also says there's now 'a battle', a fight, between people who use

　　the internet for good and those 'parasitic' people who use the internet for

　　bad purposes. If you say someone is 'parasitic', you mean they don't work

　　and depend on other people instead. And Ian Pearson says such people are

　　'making our lives a misery' – another useful informal expression. Listen

　　again.

　　Ian Pearson

　　'I certainly wouldn't want to wind the clock back. I don't think very many people would.

　　There's a battle between people who want to use these things to make our lives better and

　　people who want to, basically, be parasitic on all of that to make money by making our lives

　　misery. You know, people are sent junk mail and stuff like that. We have to find ways of

　　dealing with those people and still allow the benefits to come through to people that want to

　　use it for good things.'

1 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

2 bliss   

n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福

参考例句：

• It's sheer bliss to be able to spend the day in bed.整天都可以躺在床上真是幸福。
• He's in bliss that he's won the Nobel Prize.他非常高兴，因为获得了诺贝尔奖金。

3 prefix   

n.前缀；vt.加…作为前缀；置于前面

参考例句：

• We prefix "Mr."to a man's name.我们在男士的姓名前加“先生”。
• In the word "unimportant ","un-" is a prefix.在单词“unimportant”中“un”是前缀。

4 misuse   

n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用

参考例句：

• It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能，使我深感不安。
• He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。

5 enjoyment   

n.乐趣；享有；享用

参考例句：

• Your company adds to the enjoyment of our visit. 有您的陪同，我们这次访问更加愉快了。
• After each joke the old man cackled his enjoyment.每逢讲完一个笑话，这老人就呵呵笑着表示他的高兴。

6 organise   

vt.组织，安排，筹办

参考例句：

• He has the ability to organise.他很有组织才能。
• It's my job to organise all the ceremonial events.由我来组织所有的仪式。

7 parasitic   

adj.寄生的

参考例句：

• Will global warming mean the spread of tropical parasitic diseases?全球变暖是否意味着热带寄生虫病会蔓延呢？
• By definition,this way of life is parasitic.从其含义来说，这是种寄生虫的生活方式。

8 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

9 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。