Episode 6B

EPISODE 6
LEVEL B1 – B2

 

READING COMPREHENSION

 

SOCIAL NETWORKS

Facebook is an example of a social networking website (= a website designed to promote social contacts). It allows users to join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region in order to interact with other users. Many people use it as a way to stay in touch after finishing school, or as a way to share their life publicly. Using the service, people can add friends to their personal networks and send them messages. They can also update (= give current information) their personal profiles to notify (= inform) friends about themselves: what they have been doing, how they feel, what they plan to do, and so on. Users create profiles that often contain photos and lists of personal interests, exchange private or public messages, and join groups of friends.

Facebook has a number of features (= tools, mechanisms) for users to interact with. The Wall is a space on every user’s profile page that allows friends to post (= send and display) messages for the user to see. In Photos, users can upload albums (= sets of photos) and photos for others to see. The service called Status allows users to inform their friends of their whereabouts (= where they are) and actions. A user’s Wall is visible to anyone who is able to see that user’s profile, which depends on their privacy settings. The website is free to use, but it generates revenue (= gives income) from advertising, especially banner ads (= advertisements that appear across the top of a web page).

 

 

More contexts for the new words:

• She has a small office which is used for private discussions.
  (= only for one person or group, not for everyone)

 

• I go to a private dentist – you have to wait forever to get an appointment with a public healthcare dentist.
  (= controlled by a person or a company, and not by the government)

 

• Can I talk to you in private ?
  (= without other people being present)

 

 

EXERCISE 1

Give words for these definitions. Try to remember the words from the text without looking back at it.

 

1. ………………………… = the place where you currently are
2. ………………………… = synonym of ‘income’
3. ………………………… = a tool, a mechanism
4. ………………………… = a synonym of ‘to inform’
5. ………………………… = a phrase meaning ‘not to lose contact’
6. ………………………… = to give current information

 

 

EXERCISE 2

Complete the questions with the correct prepositions and then answer them.

 

1. Do you notify your friends …………….. yourself over the internet? If so, how?
2. Are you good at keeping …………….. touch with your friends?
3. What does your company generate revenue …………….. ?

 

ENGLISH IN USE 

 

Look at this sentence from the text:

 

The Wall is a space on every user’s profile page that allows friends to post messages for the user to see (=so that the user can see them / in order to make the user see them).

This way, the word ‘for’ can be used to express the purpose of an activity which is directed at another person. Take a look at some other examples:

 

I took a leaflet for you to read.

They brought the report for us to copy.

Perhaps he left it for you to find.

 

 

IDIOM CLOSE-UP

 

A/ I’m losing hope. I no longer believe I can do this on my own.

B/ No problem. Let’s PUT OUR HEADS TOGETHER and try to solve this.

 

If people put their heads together, they discuss something, plan something or solve a problem together, combining their ideas.

 

 

 

PHRASAL VERBS CLOSE-UP

 

1. If you PUT UP WITH someone, or someone’s behaviour, you tolerate it.

 

I find it harder and harder every day to put up with him.

I’m not going to put up with you forever, you know?

 

2. If you PUT FORTH an idea, you propose it and offer it for consideration.

 

 Who put forth the idea of using personalised marketing?

 

 

EXERCISE 3

Match the two columns to make meaningful sentences with the idiom and phrasal verbs you have learned.

 

1. She’s so childish, I only put                     a. their heads together for this task?
2. Why am I the only one to put                  b. forth any new ideas?
3. Why don’t they put                                    c. up with her because she seems so innocent at this.

 

 

 

NEWS

 

THE FARMVILLE PHENOMENON

 

Are you one of those 60-80 million people who sit down in front of their computers every day to plant and harvest crops and raise livestock? Even if you don’t play FarmVille, you probably have some idea of what it is – it has become a multi-national phenomenon. Over 10% of all Facebook users play the game.

So what’s so special about it? Well, first of all, it very much goes along the lines of social networking. Progress in the game heavily depends on the number of your friends who are active players. Second, you spend small amounts of time playing a few times a day. Say, during a short break from work at your desk at the office… Third, people simply say it is ‘cute’.

FarmVille has been awarded the 2010 ‘Social Networking Game of the Year’ award. It was up against a few other popular Facebook and MySpace games, but being far and away the largest of all, it easily outshines all competition.

GLOSSARY

– to go along the lines of something – to be similar, to follow the same rules

– cute – very pretty, sweet

– to be up against something – to be confronted with something

– far and away – by a large margin, with a large difference

 

 

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