UNIT 10.

COMMUNICATION IN THE FUTURE

B. VOCABULARY
I. Complete the sentences with the words in the box.
video conference tablets emojis webcam internet connection
telepathy machine translation face-to-face social media holography
1. I have a laptop and it comes with an 8-megapixel ______________ and microphone built-in.
2. I can quickly and easily translate my content using a ______________ tool.
3. With ______________, people communicate entirely in the mind without saying anything.
4. When a(n) ______________ is held for informal purposes, it is called a video call or video chat.
5. Is your ______________ strong enough for you to be able to attend online classes?
6. Most ______________ are smaller and lighter than laptop computers, making them easy to manage and
carry around.
7. Today, ______________ and emoticons are used to convey tone and other emotions through texting, online
chat, and social media apps.
8. Facebook is the biggest ______________ site, with some billion people using it every month.
9. ______________ learning methods usually only involve traditional learning materials such as textbooks
and lecture notes.
10. ______________ is the science and technology of making a three-dimensional image of an object using
the special light from a laser.
II. Choose the better option to complete the sentences.
1. Today, there are a few ways to read (voice / text) messages without the phone.
2. The days of sending a hand-written (email / letter) with a stamp affixed to it are gone.
3. If you want to make a (group / private) call with this app, you need to invite at least three participants.
4. People are relying on the Internet to get news rather than buying traditional (social network / printed
newspaper).
5. His (smartphone / telephone) is equipped with a 200MP camera that can capture videos in 8K resolution.
6. Does your phone camera (zoom / hold) in when you switch from photo to video mode?
7. YouTube Shorts will be available and watched on smart (television / radio) models, game consoles, and
streaming devices.
8. With training, (pigeons / holography) can carry up to 75g on their backs, and they have been used for
communication for a long time in China.
9. An alternative to a regular keyboard, a (real / virtual) keyboard is a software-based keyboard used with
touch screen devices.
10. A (video conference / face-to-face meeting) gives you real activities such as entering the room, shaking
hands, etc. that electronic communication can’t provide.
III. Choose the best answer to complete the sentences.
1. My grandpa still have a __________ with a curly cord, letters and numbers on physical dial ring.
A. smartphone B. tablet C. webcam D. telephone
2. When I make a __________ to my mother with my smartphone, I can see her on the phone screen.
A. text message B. phone call C. video call D. voice call
3. At the current time, humans do not have the __________ capacity to communicate by thought.
A. telepathy B. holography C. telephone D. face-to-face
4. While machine translation has improved significantly, it still can’t match the accuracy of a(n) __________
translator.
A. human B. computer C. robot D. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
5. Kazuha’s parents are Japanese, so her __________ is Japanese.
A. second language B. mother tongue C. foreign language D. multimedia
6. Students can call or __________ the school for information about the academic year.
A. blog B. post C. email D. code
7. A(n) __________ is one where all the participants are physically in the same place.
A. video conference B. online discussion
C. social media D. face-to-face meeting
8. __________ is small digital image or icon used to express an idea, emotion, etc.
A. Voice B. Text C. Word D. Emoji
9. The school has a variety of internal __________ such as message boards, blogs and newsletters.
A. social network B. communication channels
C. modern devices D. technologies
10. A __________ refers to an obstacle in communications between different languages or dialects.
A. language barrier B. body language
C. communication failure D. cultural difference
C. GRAMMAR
II. Rewrite the sentences. Use possessive pronouns.
1. Jack is one of her cousins.
Jack is a _____________________________________________________________________.
2. Is this one of his tablets?
Is this a _______________________________________?
3. CanI borrow a pencil of yours?
Can l borrow ________________________________________________?
4. You look like Nick and Peter. Are you one of their relatives?
You look like Nick and Peter. Are you a _________________________________________?
5. Last year, two of our classmates won scholarships to the US.
Last year, ________________________________________ won scholarships to the US.
6. That dictionary belongs to them.
___________________________________________________________________________________
7. That pencil belongs to me.
___________________________________________________________________________________
III. Choose the correct word to fill in the blanks.
1. That’s _________ (our/ ours) phone line, not theirs.
2. A friend of _________ (our/ ours) is calling.
3. A friend of _________ (her/ hers) mother’s called.
4. That’s not _________ (my/ mine) book. It’s your student’s.
5. I don’t like _________ (their/ theirs) way of greeting.
6. Mr. Dawson is _________ (our/ ours) family doctor.
7. Is Michael one of _________ (your/ yours) new friends?
8. That’s not my fault. It’s _________ (yours/ your).
9. Your laptop is new, while _________ (my/ mine) is old.
10. Does my computer run more slowly than _________ (their/ theirs)?
IV. Choose the correct preposition of place to complete the sentences.
1. Look at the picture (above/ on) the wall.
2. Who is your sister (at/ in) this picture?
3. She waited (at/ by) the corner of the street.
4. The book is (beside/ in) the lamp on the desk.
5. The fish are swimming (between/ under) the water.
6. Your little cat is sleeping (on/ in) the basket.
7. The flight (between/ from) Ha Noi to Da Nang was delayed.
8. They were sitting (by/ on) the fire and and singing.
9. The restaurant is (over/ between) a school and a bank.
10. Da Lat is located 1,500 meters (above/ at) sea level.
V. Choose the correct preposition of time to complete the sentences.
1. They had a big party (on/ in) their anniversary.
2. It rained cats and dogs (since/ for) two hours last night.
3. Wait here. I’ll be back (at/ in) ten minutes.
4. He should return (on/ by) the end of July.
5. We always go to church (on/ at) Christmas.
6. Did they invent the Internet (in/ for) the 1960s?
7. I’m calling to confirm the meeting (by/ on) May 15.
8. We were waiting for you (for/ at) an hour.
9. They don’t talk to each other (in/ during) meals.
10. I can complete the report (by/ on) 4 pm. At 4 pm it will be finished.
VI. Fill in the blanks with at, in or on.
1. It’s inconvenient to call someone _________ midnight.
2. Was the Internet developed _________ the 1970s?
3. The conference starts _________ 8:30 tomorrow morning.
4. Do people really need more sleep _________ winter?
5. I think saying goodnight _________ the early morning is weird.
6. Why do I have to send cards _________ Christmas?
7. It’s a tradition to sing Auld Lang Syne _________ New Year’s Eve.
8. _________ the first day of class, the students usually feel excited.
9. May you enjoy the company of your family _________ Thanksgiving.
10. Girls are more likely to check their social media _________ night.
E. READING
I. Read the passage and answer the questions.
Imagine living in a world in which verbal communication is no longer required, a society in which telepathy is
the norm, where people would be able to “speak” to each other using only their thoughts.
Scientists have long been contemplating the possibilities of brain-to-brain communication in humans, and it
appears as though their dreams could become a reality within the next year or so. Such a system would be
made possible via major advances in the technology that have been achieved via recent trials involving
animals.
Recently, the research has focused on humans. In one study, researchers placed two people in separate rooms
and gave them the task of playing a game of 20 questions on a computer using only their minds. They
transmitted “yes” or “no” answers with the help of an EEG cap, which tracked the brain activity of one person
and triggered an electrical current in the other person’s brain.
One day, we could attempt to take it up another level in order to detect individual thought processes. These
thoughts could be transmitted to another person, influencing the decisions they make.
1. Do people use verbal communication at the current time?
___________________________________________________________________________________
2. What would people be able to do with telepathy?
___________________________________________________________________________________
3. What subject did scientists experiment brain-to-brain communication on first?
___________________________________________________________________________________
4. What did two people in separate rooms do in the study?
___________________________________________________________________________________
5. What does an EEG cap help people to do?
___________________________________________________________________________________
A. Pronunciation
I. Choose one word (A, B, C, or D) whose stress pattern is different from the others.
1. A. trainee B. between C. Chinese D. seafood
2. A. engineer B. wonderful C. refugee D. referee
3. A. Vietnamese B. guarantee C. Bhutanese D. committee
4. A. degree B. obese C. coffee D. Maltese
5. A. employee B. Japanese C. Taiwanese D. absentee
I. Choose the correct option A, B, C, or D to complete each sentence.
1. Please leave a _____________ on my phone if you are unable to reach me.
A. message B. call C. letter D. note
2. Many people think _____________ will replace human translators in the future.
A. voice messages B. translation machines
C. dictionaries D. emojis
3. Parents should pay due attention to their children’s use of _____________.
A. social networking sites B. real time
C. telepathy D. holography
4. We made a(n) _____________ to discuss our project.
A. group call B. social network C. emoji D. family member
5. I think there will be no language _____________ in the future. People will speak a common language.
A. use B. development C. skin D. barrier
6. She sent me a(n) _____________ message to ask about the homework.
A. warning B. heartfelt C. instant D. strong
7. If _____________ becomes popular in the future, it will save communicators a lot of travelling time and
money.
A. private messaging B. holography
C. language barrier D. translation
8. Video conferencing is a technology that allows _____________ communication.
A. private B. social C. real-time D. smartphone
II. Choose the option which is CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined phrase in each sentence.
1. Hold on! I think this isn’t the right road. Let’s turn back.
A. Continue! B. Move back! C. Keep to the right! D. Wait!
2. She can do telepathy? You’re kidding! It’s impossible.
A. I don’t believe it. B. You’re a kid.
C. She can do telepathy. D. It doesn’t work.
3. Learning to speak English is not a piece of cake. It requires lots of practice and hard work.
A. delicious B. easy C. fun D. hard
4. The picture is so large that it doesn’t fit the computer screen. Can you zoom out of it?
A. make it smaller B. make it bigger C. make it sharper D. make it stronger
5. Lan: Kien is in a bad mood today.
Jack: That’s exactly what I feel. He got angry with me for nothing this morning.
A. What do you mean? B. Can you repeat it?
C. He said that to me this morning. D. I completely agree with you.
III. Complete the text with the words and phrases from the box.
hours face to face instant messages
person convenient social networking sites
How do young people communicate today?
Nowadays, teenagers seem to communicate with their peers more on electronic devices than in (1)
_____________. They chat with their friends using messaging applications and (2) _____________. They
chat about almost everything, from homework and games to music trends. Their conversations tend to be short
but can last for (3) _____________. Many teenagers prefer this way of communicating to talking (4)
_____________. They say that it is more (5) _____________, and they can do many things while chatting.
They may be exchanging (6) _____________ with several friends and playing their favorite games at the
same time.
IV. Circle the correct preposition in each sentence.
1. We arrived (at / on / in) New York earlier than we expected.
2. Be careful! There’s a piece of glass (on/under/in front of) the grass.
3. Jane’s classmates held a birthday party for her (on/ at /for) a bubble tea shop.
4. Many people chat (in / by / for) hours on the Internet because it is free.
5. (By/ On/ For} 2030, smartphones will become supersmart and super thin.
6. The man sitting (next to / from /along) me on the plane said that he could do telepathy.
7. I think robot carrier pigeons will become popular (on/in/at) twenty years’ time.
8. Lan’s house is (opposite/by/next to) mine, just across the street.
V. Circle a mistake in each sentence below.
1. I will be in the countryside on two weeks this summer holiday.
A. in B. on C. this
2. The video conference starts at 10:15 a.m. Please be ready by 10:10 a.m. so that it can start for time.
A. at B. by C. for
3. Let’s meet for coffee by Wednesday afternoon. I'll be busy in the morning.
A. for B. by C. in
4. After starting the test, the teacher asked us to remove our phones from the test room.
A. After B. to C. from
5. A friend of my got a virtual reality device as a birthday gift.
A. my B. a C. as
6. I always bring a charger because my smartphone’s battery doesn’t last in long.
A. always B. my C. in
7. Two of Ron’s brothers are twins, and they study at the same class at my school.
A. Ron’s B. at C. at
8. Be quick, Lisa! We need to leave by a few minutes; otherwise, we’ll miss the train.
A. Be B. by C. the
C. Speaking
I. Choose the most suitable response A, B, C, or D to complete each of the following exchanges.
1. A: Ms. Mai is an excellent teacher. Her lessons are always interesting.
B: ______________________________
A. I agree with Ms Mai.
B. That’s exactly how I feel.
2. A: We’ll turn right at the traffic light and ...
B: ______________________________
A. Thank you for your help.
B. Hold on. Google map says that we must turn left.
3. A: All groups must submit their school fair plan to me by Thursday so I can...
B: ______________________________
A. Sorry for interrupting, but I think the deadline is Friday.
B. The school fair is a good idea.
4. A: Nick is going to be the new class monitor next semester!
B: ______________________________
A. You’re excellent. Congratulations!
B. You’re kidding. He’ll be in America then.
5. A: Is it hard to cook French food?
B: ______________________________
A. It’s not a piece of cake if you are an inexperienced cook.
B. Yes, anyone can do it.
II. Harry and Lam are talking about Harry’s brother’s problems with writing. Choose A - E to
complete their conversation. Then practise it with a friend.
Harry: My brother’s writing is terrible. A. Well, it seems like he is mixing
Lam: Really? (1) _____________________ up his writing and speaking styles.
Harry: First, his handwriting is really bad, but he always says B. There’s an app called TeensWrite.
that there’s no need to improve it. It teaches sentence building in a fun
Lam: Maybe it isn’t a problem. (2) and effective way.
______________________ C. In the future, he will mostly type
Harry: But he’s only in grade six now, and he still has to write on the computer and ...
by hand a lot. D. What’s the problem with it?
Lam: That’s exactly how I felt. (3) ______________________ E. At least he should try to make his
Harry: And he writes very short sentences. Sometimes his handwriting readable.
essays sound like a conversation.
Lam: (4) ______________________
Harry: Yeah ... I know that learning writing is not a piece of
cake but...
Lam: Hold on. (5) ______________________. How about
asking him to try it?
Harry: Sounds good. I’ll ask him.
III. Make a similar conversation. Use the information given below or your own ideas.
Topic: Problems with speaking French
Problem 1: Lack vocabulary - Don't want to learn new words using traditional ways
Solution 1: Use online flash cards and vocabulary learning apps
Problem 2: Have no one to practise speaking French with
Solution 2: Join a French learning forum on the Internet and find a speaking partner
D. Reading
I. Choose the correct option A, B, or C to fill in each blank in the following passage.
In a recent survey, TechNews asked young people to (1) _____________ how they will talk to each other in
30 years' time. The results are not (2) _____________. Only 10% of the respondents think people will still
send letters and postcards to each other (3) _____________ 2050. About 30% think holography and telepathy
technologies will allow them to communicate in (4) _____________ time with their friends. Most people say
that they will connect through supersmart devices (5) _____________ of in person. Meanwhile, more than
half of the respondents express their (6) _____________ about future communication. They say that if
children spend most of their time (7) _____________ on the Internet, they may also not be able to
communicate face to face very well (8) _____________ 30 years.
1. A. expect B. predict C. check
2. A. surprising B. surprised C. surprise
3. A. on B. by C. for
4. A. personal B. private C. real
5. A. more B. instead C. rather
6. A. concerns B. feelings C. gratitude
7. A. interacting B. surfing C. using
8. A. for B. by C. in
II. Read the passages and tick () the way of communication for each sentence. Sometimes you can tick
both.
Future Ways of Communication
Video conferences
With the development of webcams, video conferences are becoming more and more popular. Thanks to this
technology, people from different corners of the world can meet online for discussion and learning. It saves
them a lot of time and money while travelling. However, there are some drawbacks to video conferences.
First, participants need high-speed Internet connections to clearly experience the meeting’s sound and images.
Second, it is easy to set up a video meeting, so companies may require their employees to meet outside of
office hours.
Translation machines
Advances in artificial intelligence has increased the accuracy of machine translation. Translation devices can
translate in real time, so they help people from different countries communicate more quickly and easily. As a
result, many people think that language barriers will disappear soon. However, this situation might lead to
interpreters losing their jobs. Besides, people may not feel the need to learn a new language. This may also
make them less likely to learn more about other cultures.
A video A translation
conference machine
1. It makes distant communication easier.
2. It makes use of a webcam.
3. It may affect the job market.
4. It may lead to employees working overtime.
5. It saves time.
6. It may decrease people’s motivation to learn a new language.
III. Read the passage and do the exercises.
When Smartphones Become Even Smarter
Mobile phone technologies have developed rapidly over the last decades, and experts are making interesting
predictions about smartphones of the future. They say that by 2035, smartphones will be able to change their
shapes to meet the users’ needs. For example, you can fold your phone like a sheet of paper and put it in your
wallet. Similarly, you can bend it and wear it as a watch. Moreover, new generations of smartphones can send
and receive holographic pictures. By using holography, you will be able to participate in meetings without
having to be at the meeting venue in person. You will also be able to interact in computer games as if you
were a character in it. Besides, smartphones will have super strong sensors to read your mind and complete
some tasks, such as making to-do lists and shopping online. They will be able to sense your mood, give advice
and play suitable music. In the near future, many people may consider their smartphones their best friend, and
they may interact with them even more than they do with their human friends.
a. Choose the correct answer A, B, or C.
1. The passage describes predictions about future smartphones offered by _____________.
A. companies B. experts C. users
2. According to the passage, what can a user do to his / her smartphone by 2035?
A. Change its shape. B. Wear it as a necklace. C. Make it into a wallet
3. According to the passage, future smartphones may use _____________ to help their users interact in
computer games.
A. sensors B. generators C. holography
4. Which of the following tasks can a super smartphone NOT do for its users?
A. Check to-do lists. B. Shop online. C. Give advice.
5. According to the passage, people may treat their super smartphones as _____________ in the near future.
A. their servants B. their colleagues C. their best friends
b. Complete each gap in the note below with no more than THREE words.
 Smartphones of the future can ...
+ (1) _____________ according to their users’ demand.
+ exchange (2) _____________ pictures.
+ (3) _____________ their user’s mind.
+ sense their users’ (4) _____________ and play appropriate music.
 In the near future, people may interact with their phones more than they do with their (5) _____________.
E. Writing
I. Make sentences using the words and phrases below to help you. You can make changes to the words
and phrases, and add more words if necessary.
1. we / talk / phone / more / an hour / yesterday
___________________________________________________________________________________
2. near future, / mobile phones / run / solar energy.
___________________________________________________________________________________
3. telepathy devices / become / popular / 30 years.
___________________________________________________________________________________
4. if we use / our phones / much, / become dependent / them.
___________________________________________________________________________________
5. many teenagers / prefer / chat / Internet / meet / their friends / person.
___________________________________________________________________________________