Appendix

Tapescript

Unit 5 Faces of the Internet

Lead in, listening, exercise 1

1.

I'm terrible on the Net, I'm really, really bad at it, but I really enjoy it. I kind of start off surfing, looking for something specific. I might want some information on a particular, on a particular subject, but I get carried away, I get diverted, I end up looking at something completely unrelated, and inevitably, um, actually I have to confess I end up shopping, or window shopping anyway, which is, um, well, it's, it's, it's quite seductive on the Net because there's some really, really, really, funky shopping sites. You can pick up all sorts of different things and you can go through it and normally the graphics are like really good and, um, I've downloaded I think nearly all the, all the kind of sound software that you need, so I end up watching film bites on different products, and getting kind of, well, getting completely carried away. But I never get my credit card out, so that's quite good but on the other hand, I do tend to do it in the middle of the day which makes it a bit expensive, but, um, I really enjoy it.

2.

I work as a doctor in a very busy medical practice, um, and I never thought I'd have time to use the Internet, but I discovered of course, how useful it is for e-mailing and sending messages, um, particularly work related messages, and also I've, I've discovered that I can find information out much quicker than by looking up the telephone book for instance, or, or the newspaper to find out train times or maybe what's on at my local cinema, and if I have a problem, um, a professional problem, I can also get in touch with colleagues and find out their opinions. I don't use it socially though -I hardly ever use it to talk to friends. Frankly I still like the old-fashioned telephone.

3.

Er, I'm fairly new to the whole kind of computer thing, but I have started to use the e-mail, um, mainly for personal use and, um, I find it very handy if I forget someone's birthday, I can just sort of quickly send an e-mail, send a card which is quite nice, um, but I rarely use the Net, um, I have yet to work out how to do that, but I'm sure in the next couple of weeks I'm going to give it a go.

4.

I use the Net for a couple of reasons, one because I have family that are scattered all over the world and I find that's a quite a good way to keep in touch with them and again it's quite cheap, but I primarily use it because I'm doing a degree part-time and I find it really helpful for various reasons and probably the best thing is that I can get in touch with the lecturers and the professors without actually having to speak to them in person which I find to be a plus. They are very hard to track down and they seem to be, it seems to be easier for them to communicate with me or with students in that way so, so that's one advantage and I suppose the other advantage is that on the Net you have access to various different libraries and so it is very easy to track down materials and books and reserve them or find out where they are anyway and, and find out if you have, you can gain access to them, so that's primarily why I use the Net.

Exercise 1:

a) I kind of start off surfing, looking for something specific. I might want some information on a particular, on a particular subject, but I get carried away, I get diverted, I end up looking at something completely unrelated…

b) … there's some really, really, really, funky shopping sites. You can pick up all sorts of different things…

c) …I've downloaded I think nearly all the, all the kind of sound software that you need, so I end up watching film bites on different products, and getting kind of, well, getting completely carried away.