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Date: Aug 14 2009

Themes: Tech

Grammar: Adverbs

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Thanks to websites like Facebook and Twitter, keeping a secret isn’t as easy as it used to be. The minute you get dumped or start dating someone new, for example, status updates on Facebook let the whole world know. And Twitter can keep perfect strangers informed of your every move. These days, information travels incredibly fast.

The comedian Dave Chappelle recently came to Marni’s town. He wanted to put on a secret, free show in the middle of the night, so he shared the news with just a few lucky people. Listen to Marni tell Dale why Chappelle’s big secret didn’t remain a secret for long.

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Marni

Marni

Dale

Dale

Marni:  So, last night I went and saw Dave Chappelle.

Dale:  I didn’t know he was in town.

Marni:  Well, what happened is, somebody found out he was in town and literally within social networking sites and just texting from one person to the next, close to 5,000 people descended on…into downtown to see him.

Dale:  What did he do?

Marni:  Well, about an hour after he was supposedly supposed to go on, he came out onto the stage that was set up in the middle of town, and he had a very tiny, tiny speaker with him. And he talked, and barely anyone could hear him.

Dale:  There was no advertising?

Marni:  No advertising.

Dale:  No TV, no radio?

Marni:  Nothing.

Dale:  So how did this actually transpire?

Marni:  You could say word of mouth, but it was all just via texting and just…people sending each other information on Twitter and on Facebook. Things like that. People just got the word out.

Dale:  I am just amazed that let’s say a year ago, maybe not more than two years ago, that sort of information or way of communicating never existed.

Marni:  It never would have happened.

Dale:  And now, everything you do it’s just play with your thumbs, and…

Marni:  It’s instantaneous.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Marni went out in the middle of the night to see Dave Chappelle give a free, secret performance. Unfortunately, she wasn’t the only one who showed up. Thousands of people heard about Chappelle’s plan via Twitter, texting, and Facebook. There were so many people that when the comedian showed up, most of the audience couldn’t hear him.

Dale is surprised that so many people heard about the performance even though there were no ads for it on TV or the radio. He agrees that news travels a lot faster now than it used to. It’s much easier to communicate instantaneously than it was before texting and social networking sites became popular.

Do you think that texting and social networking sites have improved our lives? Do you agree that it’s harder to keep a secret than it used to be?

 

Comments

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n.k

Saudi Arabia

I want to learn English with you, May I

07:38 PM Aug 15 2009 |

n.k

Saudi Arabia

hi

07:36 PM Aug 15 2009 |

salinger

Germany

honestly i dont know  that spreading information this way is it good or bad,people share everything about their life and approve by others.people want to belongs to a group.i think this situation arise from lonely…

12:01 PM Aug 15 2009 |

the golfer

the golfer

United Kingdom

absolutely

11:26 AM Aug 15 2009 |

sukya

sukya

China

yeppp,Internet is making the world become smaller and smaller!!!if u really don't like ur secret being shared with others,u should keep it firmly…hehe…or it will be spreaded out!!!

07:54 AM Aug 15 2009 |

FromVietNam

Viet Nam

It is not amazing ^^ IT, it is great<!-Session data->

05:06 AM Aug 15 2009 |

sun_tieliang

China

yes,I think it 's harder to keep a secret now!because the internet is very strong enough!

03:12 AM Aug 15 2009 |

Ca_Brazil

Ca_Brazil

Brazil

Keeping in touch with somes relatives and friends, sometimes boyfriend, letting them know whats going on in my life, sharing informations, these are some good advantages from social networking sites and texting, its way fast and its free, or quite cheap. but i know that some dont use them right. secrets can be kept if u dont talk with anybody else, if u tell so its not a secret  anymore. if i dont want anybody knows something i just keep it with me.

11:25 PM Aug 14 2009 |

))~~#~~RO$E~~%~~((

Saudi Arabia

I think network sites have both advantages and disadvantages,,,

10:40 PM Aug 14 2009 |

natasha8965

China

i like the cellphone~

03:59 PM Aug 14 2009 |

dadac123

dadac123

China

It's been a long time since I 've been here…Now,I am back again! I really enjoy learning here :)

I think that texting and social networking sites have improved our lives,it makes we get closer,you can make friends easily,and you can find a lot of interesting and funny message there.But sometimes,you may waste too many times on there。。。

It is true that it's harder to keep a secret tha it used to be.Nowadays,you can express yourself in various way,twtter,blog,ect.Sometimes you just can't resist the temptation to spit it out.

03:06 PM Aug 14 2009 |

clutchmann

clutchmann

Hungary

I think the social networking sites can get closer the people to each other. You can look the life changes of your friends' but they don't improve our life. We have to continue our life on the same way.

Secrets are secrets forever. If you decide that you would like to keep something secret, you can do it. Certainly, there are some risks if you have any secret. More serious the secret you keep, more risky to avoid the showing up.

12:32 PM Aug 14 2009 |

Madam Butt

Madam Butt

Pakistan

ya

08:23 AM Aug 14 2009 |

michaelm;yself

China

we must distinguish the reallife and the netlife,for the netlife is make the realife is more colourful but no upset.

08:08 AM Aug 14 2009 |

Ritalin

China

Internet  take me into a wonderful world,but  i dont think it is  really  necessary in my life.

07:56 AM Aug 14 2009 |

mardyyang

China

i like internet,i almost has became  blind without it,i use baidu more frequent than google,google in china is not so popular.

07:07 AM Aug 14 2009 |

Christoph07

Germany

Twitter and social networks like Facebook, MeinVZ, and others are growing and growing. A lot of these networks have shitty regularies and you have to keep care what informations you will give in your profile and so on. They can sell your informations and profiles and make money with this and you will getting much of spam and futile informations about products and companies. This is not dangerous. More dangerous situations are when other freaks are hacking your profile and writing wild stuff in it. We had this cases in Germany. A politician sayed at Twitter "I am so drunk" and one Twitter acount from a party was in the hand of hackers for 48 hours and the right owner could do nothing. Maybe this is funny. But you can distroy exists person very easy if you are criminal. But the fortunes are more heavy than the dangerous side. Its like driving cars. At last a question: is it right that facebook and twitter doesn't work in China?

06:53 AM Aug 14 2009 |

Denny500

Denny500

Australia

It's amazing how the hi-tech changing our life.One of my friends gave his daughter a digital camera for her six years ole birthday. When I was six, I could only expect a photo. 

 

I didn't count how many time I am on google everyday, but for most of the time, at least one of the tab of my browser will be google.

 

I am not using Facebook or Twitter everyday, but many of my friends do.

04:31 AM Aug 14 2009 |

blueskun

blueskun

China

englishbaby   may  be   crazzy today

02:45 AM Aug 14 2009 |

blueskun

blueskun

China

one  month ago ,I  knew twitter  in the network.but  it  could not been used  now.FACEBOOK  is  cannot   too .so  many of  ours  login  the  websit . find  the   news    is  always   out

02:44 AM Aug 14 2009 |

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