О. В. Фёдорова е. В. Мезина е. В. Хамис английский язык в сфере информационных технологий и коммуникаций учебное пособие

If it fits inside the pocket, keeps you (0) A as well in touch with your office, your mother and your children, it is (1) _____worth having. This is the (2)_____ of the (3)_____ ranks of female mobile-phone users who are beginning to (4)_____ the consumer market.

Although Britain has been (5)_____ to be one of the most expensive places in the world to (6)_____ a mobile phone, both professional women and (7)____ mothers are undeterred. At first, the mobile phone was a rich man plaything, or a businessman’s (8)-_____ symbol. Now women own almost as many telephones as men do – but for very different reasons.

The main (9)_____ for most women customers is that it (10)____ a form of communication back-up, wherever they are, in case of (11)_____ . James Tanner of Tancroft Communications says: “The (12)_____ of people buying phones from us this year were women – often young women – or men who were buying for their mothers, wives and girlfriends. And it always seems to be a questionof (13)____ of mind.

Communicating over long distances has been a challenge throughout history. In ancient times, runners were used to carry important messages between rulers or other important people. Other forms of long-distance communication included smoke signals, chains of searchlights and flags to send a message from one tower to another, carrier pigeons, and horses. Modern telecommunications began in the 1800s with the discovery that electricity can be used to transmit a signal. For the first time, a signal could be sent faster than any other mode of transportation. The first practical telecommunications device to make use of this discovery was the telegraph.

Beginning in the mid-1800s, the telegraph delivered the first intercity, transcontinental, and transoceanic messages in the world. The telegraph revolutionized the way people communicated by providing messages faster than any other means provided at the time. American art professor Samuel F. B. Morse pursued an interest in electromagnetism to create a practical electromagnetic telegraph in 1837. Morse partnered with Alfred Vail and was able to commercialize the technology with financial support from the U.S. government. In 1843 Morse built a demonstration telegraph link between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. On May 24, 1844, the network was inaugurated for commercial use with the message, "What hath God wrought!"

Telegraph use quickly spread; the first transcontinental link was completed in 1861 between San Francisco, California, and Washington, D.C. Railroad companies and newspapers were the first major telegraphy users. Telegraph lines were constructed parallel to railroad beds. Telegraphy helped the railroads manage traffic and allowed news organizations to distribute stories quickly to local newspapers. Within a few years, several telegraph companies were in operation, each with its own network of telegraph wires. Consolidation occurred in the telegraph industry (as it has in numerous telecommunications industries), and by the 1870s the Western Union Telegraph Company emerged as the dominant operator.