2008年ESL之商务英语 07 Surfing the Internet

 

 

07 Surfing the Internet

GLOSSARY

to surf the web – to browse or navigate the internet; to spend time visitingwebsites* How many hours do you spend surfing the web each day?

Big Brother – the idea that the government, large companies, or individuals arewatching what people do when they think they are alone* At work, I often feel like Big Brother is watching my every move.

blog – a website that has information written on a single topic, often by oneauthor or one group of authors, so that each time they make a new entry, it is listed at the top of the page* Julie started a blog so that all her friends and family members can read abouther international travels.

forum – a website where many people who are interested in the same topic canexchange ideas, questions, and answers, posting their text on the same site* Do you know if there is a forum for professional musicians in this city?

history – a record of all the websites that one has visited in a certain period oftime, stored in an Internet browser* I found a great website last week, but now I can’t remember the URL.  Let mecheck to see if it’s still in the history.

cache – temporary computer memory; a place on a computer where data is stored temporarily* Don’t forget to delete the cache after you finish working on a public computer.

to check up on (someone) – to monitor someone’s behavior, often without his or her knowledge, especially to find out whether he or she is doing what he orshe is supposed to be doing* Marybeth put a hidden camera in the living room to check up on the babysitterwhile she was at work.

to install – to put a software program on a computer so that it can be used atany time* Have you installed the latest version of Skype?

plug-in – a part of a software program that makes the program work better or ina new way* These plug-ins let you record macros within the browser you’re using.

to download – to save something from the Internet onto one’s computer* How often do you download music files from the Internet?

scare tactic – a way to make someone afraid of doing something; a way to makeother people do (or not do) something by making them scared or frightened* Paolo told his daughter that if she ever died her hair pink or blue, he would cut itoff, but it was just a scare tactic.

to mess around – to spend time doing something that is silly or not productive,especially when one should be doing other things* Mike thinks that if he doesn’t keep his children busy in classes and camps, they will spend their whole summer messing around, not doing anything useful.

to dig (one’s) own grave – to do something that will create future problems foroneself* If you tell your wife a lie about where you were last night, you’ll be digging yourown grave.

questionable – probably not good, truthful, useful, or helpful; of doubtablequality or truthfulness* The medical value of those herbal teas is questionable.  Ask your doctor beforeyou start drinking them.

pop-up – pop-up window; a small window that opens in one’s Internet browserwhen one opens other pages, usually when one doesn’t want them to* When she visited the news website, a pop-up appeared, asking her to completea short customer survey.

tab – the area in which one of several websites opens within a single browserwindow* This browser lets users open websites in several tabs, instead of needing toopen multiple windows.

in hot water – in trouble; in a difficult situation* Brianna knew she was in hot water when she lost her aunt’s credit card.

to cover (one’s) tracks – to hide what one has done; to do something so thatother people cannot see what one has done* The accountant was stealing money from the company and tried to cover hertracks, but eventually the business owner found out what she was doing.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS1.  Who is Big Brother?

a)  The government.

b)  The employer.

c)  Nancy’s older brother.

2.  How can Nancy cover her tracks?

a)  By clearing the cache.

b)  By messing around.

c)  By digging her own grave.

______________WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

forumThe word “forum,” in this podcast, means a website where many people who areinterested in the same topic can exchange ideas, questions, and answers,posting their text on the same site: “Which online forums do you subscribe to?” Or, “This forum needs a better moderator, because too many people are postingirrelevant information on the site.”  A “forum” is also a meeting where people candiscuss something in public: “The university invited famous scientists toparticipate in an interesting forum about global warming.”  Or, “The mayor’s officeis organizing a special forum where local business owners can discuss the city’s business development plans.”  Finally, in ancient Rome, a “forum” was anoutdoor place that was used for public discussions: “What would it have been liketo be in a Roman forum with Julius Caesar?”

tabIn this podcast, the word “tab” means the area in which one of several websites opens within a single browser window: “Kiran always has at least three tabs openat once: one for email, one for the news, and one for his favorite sports team.”  A“tab” is also the amount of money that one owes, especially at a restaurant orbar: “I don’t have enough cash to pay you today, so can you please put this onmy tab?”  The phrase “to pick up the tab” means to pay for something, especially something that someone else has used: “Bill picked up the tab for the morningcoffee for all of his employees.”  Finally, a “tab” can be the small metal ring thathas to be lifted up to open a can of soda or another kind of can: “Cheryl brokeher nail while lifting the tab on her soda.”

CULTURE NOTEThe “notion” (idea or concept) of “Big Brother” comes from Nineteen Eighty-Four,a novel written by George Orwell in 1948. It is about the future year 1984 and aman who works for the Ministry of Truth in a “totalitarian” (very controlling)government.  People are surrounded by posters of Big Brother with “captions”

(the words that describe a photograph) saying, “Big Brother is watching you.” The man’s job is to rewrite history so that it “matches” (is the same as, or goes along with) the government’s policies, so that the government always appears tobe correct.

The Thought Police monitor what people are thinking, saying, and doing.  Any anti-government thoughts must be hidden.  If they are “discovered” (found), thepeople will be “arrested” (put into jail).  The man is very good at hiding his “rebellious” (anti-authority) thoughts, but one day he falls in love with a woman,which is not allowed.  Their relationship is eventually discovered and they areboth “brainwashed” (made to think a certain way) into loving Big Brother.

The book made the idea of Big Brother and constant “surveillance” (beingwatched) very “commonplace” (well known).  In fact, a television show called BigBrother began in 1999. In the show, a group of “strangers” (people who do notknow each other) live in a house together and are not allowed to have any contact with the outside world.  They are filmed all the time and their actions areshown on TV.  In most of the versions, the “housemates” (people who livetogether in a home) vote each week to decide who should be “evicted” (notallowed to live in a place anymore).  The person who is left at the end wins money and other prizes.

______________Comprehension Questions Correct Answers:  1 – b; 2 – a

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPTWelcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 358: Surfing theInternet.

This is ESL Podcast episode 358.  I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming toyou from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles,California.

Visit our website at eslpod.com.  You can download the Learning Guide for this episode, an 8 to 10 page guide we provide for all of our current episodes thatgives you a complete list of the vocabulary words, definitions, new sentencesusing these words that you will learn on this episode, comprehension questions,cultural notes, and a complete transcript of this episode.

This episode is called “Surfing the Internet.”  It’s a dialogue between Isaiah andNancy about surfing the web.  Let’s get started.

[start of dialogue]

Isaiah:  Aren’t you supposed to be working?

Nancy:  I just thought I would take a break and surf the web a little. Isaiah:  You’d better be careful which sites you visit.  You know that Big Brotheris watching.

Nancy:  The boss told us that, but I don’t believe it.  They’re not going to care if Iread a blog or check out a forum once in a while.

Isaiah:  That may be, but I would suggest clearing your history and your cacheafter you do that.  You never know when someone is going to be checking up onyou.

Nancy:  Listen, I’ve installed plug-ins and downloaded programs I’m notsupposed to onto this computer, and I’ve never gotten into trouble.  I think theboss is just using scare tactics to keep us from messing around when we’resupposed to be working.

Isaiah:  Like I said, you can dig your own grave if you want to.  Vivian was shopping on the Internet on her work computer a couple of weeks ago, and somequestionable pop-ups opened when she moved to a new tab.  She didn’t notice it, and when the boss went onto her computer to get a document while she was at lunch, he saw it.  She was in hot water. Nancy:  Don’t worry.  I know what I’m doing.  I know how to cover my tracks.

[end of dialogue]

Our conversation between Isaiah and Nancy begins by Isaiah asking, “Aren’t yousupposed to be working?”  Isaiah’s saying, “You should be working Nancy, why aren’t you?”  Nancy says, “I just thought I would take a break and surf the web alittle.”  “To take a break” means to stop working for a short period of time.  “Tosurf the web” means to browse or navigate the Internet, to spend time visitingdifferent websites.  Usually we use that expression to describe activity that we’redoing for fun. Isaiah says, “You’d better be careful which sites you visit.  You know that BigBrother is watching.”  “Big Brother” is the idea that the government or largecorporations are watching what people do when they think they’re alone.  Thephrase comes from a novel by George Orwell called 1984, a famous novel abouta totalitarian society – a dictatorship in the future.  Nowadays, we use theexpression to mean that someone could be spying on you or someone could bewatching you when you don’t realize it.

Nancy says, “The boss told us that (told us that we should not be surfing theweb), but I don’t believe it.  They’re not going to care,” she says, “if I read a blogor check out a forum once in a while.”  A “blog” is short for “weblog.”  It’s awebsite that has information usually on a single topic, usually with one person,and each time the person wants to add something new to their web page, they can “post” to their blog about it.  A “forum” is a website where many people whoare interested in the same topic can exchange ideas.  Another word for “forum” is “discussion group,” many years ago, we called these “bulletin boards,” it was thesame idea.

Isaiah says, “That may be (meaning that may be true, you may be correct), but Iwould suggest clearing your history and your cache after you do that (after yousurf the web).”  “To clear your history” means to eliminate a record of all thewebsites that you have visited.  Your “cache” is your temporary computermemory, a place where the computer “stores” data, or keeps data temporarily. Isaiah says, “You never know when someone is going to be checking up on you.” “To check up on someone” means to watch someone, to monitor their behavior,to look to see what they’re doing, usually to find out if they’re doing somethingwrong – if they’re doing something they should not be doing.  A parent might check up on their son or daughter to make sure that they are doing theirhomework instead of watching music videos or surfing the Internet – like theirparents do at work!

Nancy says, “Listen (meaning pay attention – listen to me), I’ve installed plug-ins and downloaded programs I’m not supposed to onto this computer.”  “To install”

means to put a software program on your computer.  A “plug-in” is a part of asoftware program that makes the program work better or work in a new way. “Download,” you may know, means to save something from the Internet ontoyour computer.

I should point out that the pronunciation of the word “Internet” depends on howquickly you hear someone saying it.  Many people just say “innernet,” as if therewere no “t”.  If they’re pronouncing it more carefully, they may say “Internet,” butin normal conversation, many people say “the innernet,” without a “t” sound.

Nancy says, “I’ve never gotten into trouble.  I think the boss is just using scaretactics to keep us from messing around when we’re supposed to be working.”  A“scare tactic” is a way of doing something that makes someone afraid to do acertain thing; it makes them scared or frightened.  A “tactic” is a method, astrategy, an approach to something.  So, a “scare tactic” is something thatsomeone does so that you, for example, will not drink while you are driving;they’ll tell you that you will go to jail.  Actually, that’s not a scare tactic; that willhappen in the United States if the police officer sees you.  We don’t recommendthat!

Nancy says, “the boss is using scare tactics to keep us (to prevent us) frommessing around.”  “To mess around” means spend time doing something that is not work, not productive, something that is silly, especially when you aresupposed to be doing something else.  So, “The kids were not doing theirhomework.  They were messing around and playing games.”  They were doingsomething that was not what they were not supposed to do – not productive. Nancy is, of course, correct, probably.  She is surfing the Internet when she’s supposed to be working, so the boss, I think, was right.

Isaiah says, “Like I said, you can dig your own grave if you want to.”  Theexpression “to dig your own grave” means to do something that will create futureproblems for you.  The “grave” (grave) is the place where they put a body after aperson has died.  “To dig” means to remove the dirt from the hole, so that youhave a hole for a grave.  “To dig your own grave,” then, is to cause somethingthat will make you die or that will cause you problems.

Isaiah says that Vivian had “some questionable pop-ups open when she movedto a new tab.”  “Questionable” means probably not good, something that is nothelpful.  It’s not true, for example.  “He has questionable tactics,” meaning whathe does – his strategies are, perhaps, dishonest or not ethical.  Vivian had “somequestionable pop-ups.”  A “pop-up” is short for a “pop-up window.”  To “pop-up”

means to rise up quickly – to come up quickly.  On the Internet, it means havinga small window open when you open another page, usually something that youdidn’t want.  These are often advertisements, as you probably know.  Vivian’s pop-up opened “when she moved to a new tab” (tab).  A “tab” is when you havemore than one web page open on your web browser.  You can switch betweenpages by creating these tabs.  “Tab” has a couple of different meanings inEnglish, as does the word “forum.”  Take a look at our Learning Guide for someadditional explanations.

Isaiah says that the boss went to her computer – to Vivian’s computer, and hesaw these questionable pop-ups.  Later, Vivian “was in hot water.”  “To be in hotwater” means to be in trouble, to be in a difficult situation, usually because youdid something wrong.  If you came home late last night after staying with yourfriends until 1:00 in the morning, you would be in hot water with your wife,meaning your wife would not be very happy.

Nancy says, “Don’t worry.  I know what I’m doing.  I know how to cover my tracks.”  “To cover your tracks” means to hide what you have done, to make it sothat no one can see what you did.  Usually, it’s something that you did wrong;something that you were not supposed to do, like surfing the Internet on yourcomputer at work instead of working.  You wouldn’t do that, I know!

Now let’s listen to this dialogue, this time at a normal speed.

[start of dialogue]

Isaiah:  Aren’t you supposed to be working?

Nancy:  I just thought I would take a break and surf the web a little. Isaiah:  You’d better be careful which sites you visit.  You know that Big Brotheris watching.

Nancy:  The boss told us that, but I don’t believe it.  They’re not going to care if Iread a blog or check out a forum once in a while.

Isaiah:  That may be, but I would suggest clearing your history and your cacheafter you do that.  You never know when someone is going to be checking up onyou.

Nancy:  Listen, I’ve installed plug-ins and downloaded programs I’m notsupposed to onto this computer, and I’ve never gotten into trouble.  I think theboss is just using scare tactics to keep us from messing around when we’resupposed to be working.

Isaiah:  Like I said, you can dig your own grave if you want to.  Vivian was shopping on the Internet on her work computer a couple of weeks ago, and somequestionable pop-ups opened when she moved to a new tab.  She didn’t noticeit, and when the boss went onto her computer to get a document while she was at lunch, he saw it.  She was in hot water. Nancy:  Don’t worry.  I know what I’m doing.  I know how to cover my tracks.

[end of dialogue]

The script for this episode was written by the never questionable Dr. Lucy Tse. From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan.  Thank you for listening.  We’llsee you next time on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse,hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan.  This podcast is copyright 2008.