节目资讯
刊物:生活知识家
日期:2009-03-14
难易度:High
关键字:deploy, workstation, readily, backup, TECHNOLOGY
(Music).
Hi, friends.
Welcome back from the break.
Wow.
We are talking about a revolution.
But like most things, cloud computing has its good points and its not-so-good
points.
What are critics of cloud computing saying?
Before we find out, we should preview the word:
backup.
It’s an adjective.
And it’s example sentence reads:
The police department keeps backup copies of their records in a separate
building.
OK.
Time to get back to our lesson.
Our reading continues on line two in the right-hand column.
Please follow along as we read.
Life in the Clouds.
Users don’t need to install or manage software; it’s all handled automatically.
And data and applications are available on any computer connected to the
Internet.
Critics of cloud computing argue that it is a bad idea to lose total control of
information.
They argue that if companies like Google were to suddenly disappear,
users could lose all of their valuable data.
These days, however, people seem comfortable with experts handling important
matters.
They keep money in banks after all.
Is data on the Internet so different?
Still, if you do ”work in the clouds,” you might want to keep a backup copy,
just in case.
Welcome back.
Well, let’s finish up our lesson now. And before the break,
we were talking about why cloud computing is becoming so popular?
And a big reason is the convenience factor.
It’s convenient for people.
And we live in a world where people want convenience.
They want things to be easy for them.
Yes.
And our text says that one of the ways that this is convenient is that users
don’t need to install or manage software.
Now that’s a bonus for me right there.
I am not very good at technology.
So if I don’t really need to do anything complicated like install something,
that’s good for me.
Right.
I think it’s good for everybody um, because those software programs on your
computer can... I mean,
they fill up your memory and they make your computer... they can make the
computer slow.
And the cloud computing makes it possible to do all of that on the Internet.
I love that.
You can do it all automatically.
It also seems like with software or programs, they want to update the software
all the time and it just gets kind of annoying.
So if you can handle your information automatically, wow, it makes life a lot
easier.
And we see here that data and applications are available on any computer
connected to the Internet.
So we’ve said this before, right, Chelsea?
But the key here is you have to be connected or linked to the Internet.
Yes. As long as you have a computer hooked up to the Internet, you can do cloud
computing.
Not everyone agrees that cloud computing is the newest and best thing to come
along for the computer though.
There are some critics or people who think that it might be a bad thing.
So our text says what, Chip?
Well, yeah, these critics or people who are critical of cloud computing think
that it’s a bad idea uh, to lose control of that kind of information.
Well, I can understand this.
With all of the pros to cloud computing, there have to be some cons.
There have to be some negative things as well as the positive.
And so these critics say you might lose control of the information.
What if the information is really uh, important and somebody gets ahold of it or
it gets lost and you lose it completely?
Sure.
For me to save important documents there in my G-mail account,
you know, what happens if G-mail suddenly disappears?
Then all of my important information is gone.
I think it’s a good question to ask.
And I think it’s something important to think about.
You need to realize that if you are involved in cloud computing that it’s not
something that has been perfected yet,
and there could be something that goes wrong.
But a lot of people seem to think that it works well and that it’s a good idea
to use.
Exactly.
I was wondering if it was a little bit risky.
Let’s say somebody gets your password and all of a sudden they have uh, access
to all of your documents.
To me that... seems a little bit risky.
But there are a lot of things in life that are risky, right?
Our author gives us an example of banks.
You know, we put our money in banks and we don’t lie awake at night thinking our
money is going to disappear.
Well, probably most of us don’t.
That’s right.
We trust the experience of banks to take care of our money, to hold it in a safe
place.
And so in the same way, perhaps we could trust these experts or these
organizations on the Internet with our important information.
We see here that our author says these are experts handling important matters
and...
and people are comfortable with that.
Hopefully Google won’t disappear or Yahoo won’t disappear.
And so our author makes the point and he asks the question:
Is data on the Internet so different from the money that we put in the bank?
You know,
I think when the Internet first came out and people first started investing
their money on the Internet and buying things with credit cards over the
Internet,
it was kind of scary and it seemed more risky than maybe it seems today.
Today I think it’s pretty common.
I think more people are willing to try new things like cloud computing.
And they trust the Internet more and the computer system more.
So I think that this cloud computing thing is something that might really take
off.
I agree.
And I think there are things we can do to protect ourselves.
We’ve had a lot of different lessons here at Studio Classroom about how to be
safe when you’re using the computer,
and doing things like buying things online.
So if you do decide to ”work in the clouds,” you might want to keep a backup
copy, just in case.
I guess that’s the safe way to go.
A backup copy or a copy of the original,
just in case something bad happens to the original copy.
That’s right.
It’s better to be safe than to be sorry.
And since this is kind of a new idea,
you might want to do all that you can to make sure your documents are safe.
So back them up.
Have a backup copy.
I always do this with my pictures.
Just in case I were to lose all the pictures saved on my computer, I make a
backup copy of those pictures.
Well friends, we hope you’ve enjoyed today’s lesson, that you’ve learned
something new.
Let’s watch our Review Skit right now.
Cloud computing.
That’s a great idea.
Yes.
But it isn’t a new idea.
When computers were big and expensive, businesses use workstations connected to
a mainframe.
Yeah.
But modern computers are smaller, cheaper, more powerful and readily available.
So why the shift toward cloud computing?
Well, for one thing, all your software is handled on the web.
No more downloading and installing software.
And all your data and applications are available on any computer that’s online.
That’s smart.
Wait, no!
That’s not smart.
You could lose control of your information.
What if the company handling your data disappears?
You could lose all of it!
Yes, but I’m not worried.
I’m comfortable letting experts manage my work.
Yeah, but...
And besides, I always keep a backup copy, just in case.
Ooh.
Hi, everyone.
I’m Michelle.
(Chinese).
And that concludes our Language Tips today.
Keep up the good work.
Bye-bye.
Thank you, Michelle.
Friends, we want to challenge you to look at our key points on page twenty-two.
Try to create sentences with the words that are given,
and then compare them to the suggested sentence models on page seventy-one.
Well, every year in March, the United States is overcome with a kind of madness.
People just go crazy.
What are we talking about?
Find out next week.
Right now it’s time to say goodbye.
All of us here at Studio Classroom hope that you have a great weekend.
We’ll see you on Monday.
Bye-bye.
(Music).