Every citizen to have personal webpage

Everyone in the country is to be given a personalised webpage for accessing Government services within a year as part of a plan to save billions of pounds, Gordon Brown is to announce.

The Prime Minister has previously hailed the potential for the internet to slash costs by reducing paper forms, face-to-face contact with officials, postage, phone calls and building costs. He is now set to use a speech on Monday to unveil plans to give every voter a unique identifier allowing them to apply for school places, book GP appointments, claim benefits, get a new passport, pay council tax or register a car.

Within another three years, the secure site would include an interactive service allowing people to ask medical advice of their doctor or consult their children's teachers.

The move could see the closure of job centres and offices dealing with tax, vehicle licensing, passports and housing benefit within 10 years as services are offered through a single digital ''gateway''.

But the proposals came under fire from union leaders who complained that thousands of public sector workers would be made jobless and pointed to the Government's poor record of handling personal data. Questions have also been raised about the impact on some older people unable to use the internet.

Among the Prime Minister's advisers on the drive to put services online is World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee. ''I don't want to go to a government office. It should all be online. That saves time for people and it saves money for the Government - the processing of a piece of paper and mailing it back costs many times more than it costs to process something electronically,'' he told the newspaper.

Question 1 (2 points)

Indicate whether the following statements are true or false and write down which part of the text justifies your answer.
a) People will need a different username and password for each online service.
b) This is the first time that the Prime Minister has talked about the benefits of
online bureaucracy.
c) With the new service, it will be possible to arrange to see a doctor.
d) Some senior citizens might have problems using this service.

Question 2 (2 points)

Answer the following questions in your own words.
a) What will users of the online government service be able to do in 3 years’
time?
b) What complaints have trade union leaders made?

Question 3 (1.5 points)

Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.
a) to announce, reveal (Paragraph 2)
b unemployed (Paragraph 5)
c) history (Paragraph 5)

Question 4 (1.5 points)

Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.
a) Processing paper documents is much more expensive than processing documents electronically.
Processing documents electronically is far …………
b) The changes in the way official documents are handled could see the closure of job centres and offices.
Job centres and offices may close ….
c) The plan could save the government billions of pounds.
If the plan goes ahead, billions ………..

Question 5(3 points)
Write a short essay (120 to 150 words) on the following topic:
• Does the Internet make everybody’s life easier?

Every citizen to have personal webpage

KEY
Question 1
a) False Everyone in the country is to be given a personalised webpage … to give every voter a unique identifier …
b) False The Prime Minister has previously hailed the potential for the internet to slash costs
c) True .. plans to give every voter a unique identifier allowing them to …. book GP appointments,
d) True Questions have also been raised about the impact on some older people unable to use the internet.

Question 2
a) They will be able to contact their doctor about illnesses and treatment or to speak to their children’s teachers about their education.
b) Trade union leaders have expressed their concerns that numerous people who work in public administration will lose their jobs and have mentioned that in the past, the Government has had problems when dealing with people’s information.

Question 3
a) to unveil
b jobless
c) record

Question 4
a) Processing documents electronically is far cheaper than processing paper documents.
b) Job centres and offices may close because of/as a result of the changes in the way official documents are handled.
c) If the plan goes ahead, billions of pounds could be saved by the government.

The rise of the portmanteau words

EVER SINCE THE SMOKING BAN in enclosed public places came into force last July, there has been a marked upsurge in smirting, proving that the British public can adapt and adopt new words.

‘Smirting’ is a portmanteau word, formed by packing parts of two words together to create another, combining the sense of each (‘smoking’ and ‘flirting’). Smirting is a cousin of smog (smoke + fog).

A portmanteau was a suitcase that hinged in the middle like a book, allowing you to carry clothes in one side and anything else in the other. The word is itself a portmanteau, formed by combining ‘porter’, the French for ‘to carry’, with ‘manteau’, meaning ‘coat’ or ‘cloak’.
In 1896, Punch invented “brunch”, combining breakfast and lunch.

Today the portmanteau is probably the most fertile vehicle for neologisms. Countries have been formed by packing two place names together: Tanzania, for example, was formed in 1964, linguistically speaking, by combining Tanganyika and Zanzibar.
This is only a guesstimate (guess + estimate), but the internet (international + network) has produced thousands of new portmanteau words: blog (web and log), webinar (a web-based seminar), wikipedia and so on.

Combining the names in a famous couple can be a way of implying that they are a brand, indistinguishable as individuals: Billary (Bill and Hillary Clinton); the famous actor couple Brangelina.

Portmanteau words

1 Find the portmanteau words in the text formed from the two words on the right.
Example
blog web + log
…………………………………. guess + estimate
…………………………………. smoke + fog
…………………………………. international + network
........................................... web + seminar

2 Which words have been used to make these portmanteau words?
Brangelina …………………………………. ………………………………….
fanzine …………………………………. ………………………………….
heliport …………………………………. ………………………………….
email …………………………………. ………………………………….
internet …………………………………. ………………………………….
infocommercial …………………………………. ………………………………….

3 Which words are made from these two words?
…………………………………. breakfast + lunch
…………………………………. emotion + icon
…………………………………. Spanish + English
…………………………………. motor + hotel
…………………………………. situation comedy
…………………………………. shopping + alcoholic

4 Use a portmanteau to complete each of these sentences.

1 One of the best places for ………………………………… in our city is the restaurant at the Central Hotel. They offer a wide variety of food in their buffet and you can eat as much as you like.

2 Every evening, the sports presenter on the news presents an …………………………………. Often, cars are advertised.

3 You won't want to miss this one! Take a moment to register for our next …………………………………. Robert Plant will share tips for improving reading speed.

4 The company directors took off and landed at the hotel ……………………………………….. .

5 When we checked into the …………………………………… it was already dark.


Key

1. guesstimate, smog, internet.
2. Brad Angelina, Fan magazine, Helicopter airport, electronic mail, international network, information commercial.
3. brunch, emoticon, Spanglish, motel, sitcom, shopaholic.
4. 1 brunch 2. infocommercial 3. webinar 4. heliport 5. motel

Buckinghamshire library emptied in cuts protest

Library-users emptied a town's library of books in protest against plans to close it down. People took their maximum allowance of books from Stony Stratford library, Milton Keynes - clearing all 16,000 volumes from its shelves. Milton Keynes Council is considering closing the library to save £26m in 2011/12.

Friends of Stony Stratford Library (FOSSL) said they were amazed at how everyone had pulled together. Emily Malleson of FOSSL added that she calculated that books had been taken out at a rate of around 378 per hour. "A local resident mentioned the idea, maybe as a joke, but we thought it was a great idea," she said. "I put it on Facebook and emailed everyone I could think of and it's just gone absolutely mad.
I think it's a very simple but clever idea and it's given something that people can act on and make their voice heard. It shows it's such an important part of the community and well-used by everyone and not just for books - for DVDs, computers, spoken work. The amount of support is just staggering."

More than 500 supporters have joined a Facebook page and there are also written and online petitions against the proposed closure. The council's final budget is due to be decided on 22 February.
In other libraries across the UK, protesters held "read-ins" and storytelling sessions to campaign against planned branch closures. At one library in south London the event turned into an all-night sit-in involving about 35 protesters.
Doncaster is planning to axe 14 out of 26 branches. Doncaster's mayor, Peter Davies, said he regretted having to cut funding to libraries, but said he was morally obliged to continue other vital services. More than 450 libraries and mobile services across the country are currently threatened with closure. Some councils have said keeping libraries open would put services for vulnerable and elderly people at risk.

Question 1 (2 points)
Indicate whether these sentences are true or false. Justify your answers with evidence from the text.
a) There were no books left in Stony Stratford library at the end of the campaign.
b) The success of the Stony Stratford campaign was expected.
c) Emily Malleson used her computer to advertise the campaign.
d) Doncaster plans to close all of its libraries.

Question 2 (2 points)
Answer the following questions in your own words.
a) In what different ways did people show their opposition to the closures of libraries?
b) Which people would suffer if these libraries remain open?

Question 3 (1.5 points)
Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.
a) to work hard in a group to try to do something (paragraph 2)
b) a protest when people occupy a public building (paragraph 4)
c) money given by an organization for an event or activity (paragraph 5)

Question 4 (1.5 points)
Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.
a) People took their maximum allowance of books from Stony Stratford library, Milton
Keynes.
The maximum allowance ……………….
b) Emily Malleson said “It is a very simple but clever idea and it's given
something that people can act on and make their voice heard.”
According to Emily Malleson, it
c) Protesters held "read-ins" and storytelling sessions to campaign against planned
branch closures. At one library in south London the event turned into an all-night
sit-in involving about 35 protesters.
Not only …………………………………. ….., but also

Question 5 (3 points)
Write a short essay (about 120-150 words) on the following topic:
“Protests do not need to be big to be effective.” Do you agree?

Doncaster library protest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIEYP9z5QVQ

Watch the video about the protest against the closure of Doncaster libraries.
Which person (1 – 8) says these things (a – h)?

1 Simon Barron, Voices for the Library

2 David Blythe, Author

3 Lauren Smith, Librarian

4 Katie Marshall, Student

5 Older, blonde woman

6 Man in black woolen hat

7 Man in black and blue woolen hat

8 Little girl in library


a goes to the library every evening.

b thinks the council should think again about the logic of closing all these libraries.

c. is worried about people becoming isolated if libraries close.

d had two heroes when he was young: his father and Doctor Who (the hero of a lot of
books)

e thinks libraries are part of education.

f thinks that children and pensioners will miss libraries tremendously.
g thinks that if libraries close now, they will never reopen again.

h considers that libraries are particularly important for kids to do their homework and
learn.

Buckinghamshire library emptied in cuts protest

Key

PAU text

Question 1

a) True: Library-users have emptied a town's library of books AND/OR: People have taken their maximum allowance of books from Stony Stratford library, Milton Keynes - clearing all 16,000 volumes from its shelves
b) False: Friends of Stony Stratford Library (FOSSL) said they were amazed at how everyone had pulled together.
c) True: "I put it on Facebook and emailed everyone I could think of
d) False: Doncaster is planning to axe 14 out of 26 branches.

Question 2

a) Members of the library in Milton Keynes joined together to take all the books out of Stony Stratford library using their cards. They have also set up a Facebook page which has 500 members and asked people to sign paper or electronic petitions. At other libraries, people occupied the libraries and told stories to each other. In South London,, one library was occupied all night.
b) Older people and those in need of protection would suffer if libraries remain open.

Question 3

a) pull together/pulled together
b) a sit-in
c) funding

Question 4

a) The maximum allowance of books was taken from Stony Straford library, Milton Keynes.
b) According to Emily Malleson, it was a very simple but clever idea and it had given something that people could act on and make their voice heard.
c) Not only did protesters hold “read-ins” and storytelling sessions to campaing against planned branch closures, but also at one library in south London, the event turned into an all-night sit-in involving about 35 protesters.

Video

1 Simon Barron, Voices for the Library b
2 David Blythe, Author d
3 Lauren Smith, Librarian c
4 Katie Marshall, Student h
5 Older, blonde woman e
6 Man in black woolen hat f
7 Man in black and blue woolen hat g
8 Little girl in library a