BBC 6分钟英语 拒绝死亡的科技

6 min English from BBC learning english dot com.

Hello. This is six minute English from BBC Learning English.

I'm Phil and I'm Georgie. The exciting thing about

technology is that it's always changing.

Can you remember when computer floppy disks, hand held gameboys and fax machines were in fashion?

Do you still have a Walkman Casser player from the 1980s?

Today, technology progresses so quickly that old tech soon becomes obsolete, no longer in use, having been replaced by something better or more fashionable.

So you might be surprised to hear that until recently, the government of Japan still used three and a half inch floppy disks to store official documents.

That around the world, music cassettes and walkmans are making a comeback, and even the world famous Swiss CERN Physics Laboratory uses old fashioned magnetic tape reels to record its data.

Yes, it seems that some old technology just refuses to die, maybe because people still love it, or maybe because of the old English proverb If it ain't broke, don't fix it, meaning that things should only be changed if they don't work.

So in this program, we'll be hearing about old tech, which continues to be used today, and as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

But 1st, I have a question for you Georgie computers have seen some of the biggest advances in technology, but what was the name of the 1st computer developed for home use in the UK?

Was it A, the Commodore 64?

B, the Sinclair Zedex 80? Or see the BBC micro?

MM I guess it was the Commodore 64.

OK, georgie, we'll find out if that's the correct answer later in the program.

One reason for not updating tech is if the original design still works well.

NASA engineer Jonathan Salder designed Harvey, a mechanical rover able to survive the inhospitable conditions on Venus, where temperatures reach 460 degrees Celsius.

Here's Jonathan talking to BBC World Service Program Tech Life Venus has a very long night.

It's actually about 60 days long that you're in total darkness.

So that's where we came up with the concept for Harvey, a mechanical clockwork rover that could be powered by venus's winds in order to allow it to survive.

Venus's long, hot night conditions on Venus mean that ordinary electronics simply won't work.

That's why Jonathan built a clockwork rover, a machine with springs and wheels inside, which works when it's wound up, with a key clockwork technology from the 1st century being used in 2024 by NASA.

Other tech which refuses to die.

It's just too much trouble to change.

E.G. countries around the world use different electrical plugs, which would be better to standardize.

But imagine the work involved. Here.

Chris Balance, presenter of BBC World Services Tech Life, discusses a similar example with Doctor Tasty Phillipson, science curator at the National Museum of Scotland.

Another piece of tech that people say refused to die is the quirty keyboard, the layout of keyboards that we all have, and is perhaps not the most efficient layout in terms of the speed of typing.

It's the layout we're all really, really used to, though, and if you see court repositors denographers, they have special keyboards and can type so fast to take down for Bay term.

But they also look very complicated, and I don't actually want to learn to use one of those, so I'll stick with Queerty for the moment.

Chris and Casey discussed quirty, the traditional typewriter arrangement of keys on a computer keyboard, in which the top line begins with the letters Q-W-E-R-T and y.

In terms of being able to type quickly, quarty isn't the best.

In fact, court reporters type much faster with alternative keyboards.

Court reporters need to type fast to record cases forbet him using exactly the same words that were originally spoken.

But because everyone is used to Quirtie Gilbert, the tech lives on, that's why Tasy says she'll stick with quirts, and she'll continue using it and not change to something else.

And speaking of quetti keyboards, has reminded me of my question.

Georgie, yes, you ask me the name of the 1st home computer released in the UK, and I guessed it was the Commodore 64, which was the wrong answer, I'm afraid.

In fact, the uk's 1st home computer was the Sinclair Zebex 80, which was released in 1980 and used a warping four killer bike memory.

That's about half an email. OK, it's time to recap the vocabulary we've learned in

this program, starting with obsolete meaning no longer in use, having been replaced by something newer or better.

The idiom if it ain't or isn't broke, don't fix it.

Is used to say that if something is working, there's no reason to try to change it.

Clockwork machinery uses metal springs and wheels, which move when they're wound up with a key.

Quoti refers to the traditional typewriter arrangement of keys, in which the top line begins with the letters Q-W-E-R-T and y.

If you say something verbatim, you use exactly the same words that were originally used.

And finally, to stick with something means to continue using or doing it.

Once again. I 6 min are up, but remember to join us again next time for more trending topics and useful vocabulary.

Here at Six Minute English. Goodbye for now.

Bye. Six minute English from BBC learning English dot com.

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