Improve your study skills
How do you usually look for information on-line? Read the following recommendations. Using your personal experience add some other points to the list below.
How to Find Information Online (from http://www.Wikihow.Com/Find-Information-Online
Many people have been frustrated by searching up a simple query online and not getting right results. But the World Wide Web is a big place! It will definitely have anything you're looking for. Unfortunately, sometimes that's just the problem: there are too much results. There are a lot of clever ways of finding information online without getting frustrated over search engines.
Steps
Try simple search queries. For example, if you're looking for an old actor who's not popular today, type in his or her name in a search engine such as Google. If your results are useless, move on to other search engines (a complete list of good engines in external links section).
Learn some searching shortcuts. This way, you don't have to use advanced search all the time. For example, on Google, if you're looking for a specific phrase, type the phrase inside the quotes ("the phrase") and search it. Most of search engines have this option.
Be sure to bookmark useful results. For example, if you're looking for something and you find another thing that is totally different, but you happen to find it interesting, bookmark the site. Maybe it has lots of other good content and when you are looking for something related to that topic, you have it safely stowed away in your bookmarks.
Try alternate words. Use synonyms and put a query in a different form. You might find something exciting.
Search in different languages. Google translator is a good tool to translate some web-pages and text. This lets you search the internet in different languages and then have the results translated into English.
Practice
1. Summarize what changes happen to the following things from the list given below. You may develop the list using the information from the Internet.. Your own ideas are welcome!
trade restrictions and limitations;
innovations;
domestic markets;
telecommunications (as well as other means of communication);
money in the form of investment and transactions;
usual people;
businesses and businessmen;
horizons (opportunities and prospects).
2.2 Is Globalization a Benefit or a Problem?
Lead-in
Define the word “globalization”. Refer to your own experience. Exchange opinions.
List its advantages and disadvantages.
Reading and Vocabulary
Globalization is a very controversial issue today. Opinions vary considerably over its pros and cons. You can find some of them below. Read the text in detail.
PROs
Goods and people are transported with ease and speed;
the possibility of war between developed countries decreases;
free trade between countries is stimulated;
competition rises thus reducing prices and improving the quality of production;
global mass media connects all people all over the world;
as the cultural barriers reduce, the global village dream becomes more realistic;
there is a spread of democratic ideals;
growth of interdependence of the nation-states;
developed countries can invest in developing ones;
flexibility of corporations to operate across borders rises;
the communication between individuals and corporations in the world increases;
environmental protection in developed countries grows.
CONs
Outsourcing of manufacturing and white-collar jobs to the Third-World with a low labour cost;
increase in activities such as child labour and slavery;
growth of terrorism and criminality;
ecological problems, especially in developing countries – these areas turn into garbage-dumps where all industrial waste is accumulated and pollution levels are sky-high;
spread of consumption junk food as fast food chains like McDonalds and KFC are expanding fast all over the world;
poverty in developing countries rises;
spread of deadly viruses and diseases like AIDS on a global scale;
environmental degradation and devastation of natural reserves of the planet Earth.