Science and Technology

Maturita topic 20, general part, at Cambridge B2 First level. The specific part of this topic is Word Processing, Image Editing.

What to talk about

• important inventions and discoveries and how they changed our lives
• technology in everyday life – at home, at school, at work
• smartphones, the internet and artificial intelligence
• advantages and dangers of technology – addiction, privacy, cybercrime
• science and the future – medicine, space, energy

Model answer

Science and technology have changed the world more in the last two hundred years than in all the centuries before. Some of the most important inventions are the steam engine, which started the Industrial Revolution, electricity, the telephone, the car, antibiotics, which have saved millions of lives, and of course the computer and the internet, which have changed the way we work, learn and communicate.

Technology is part of almost everything I do. My smartphone wakes me up, shows me when my bus is coming, lets me pay for things and keeps me in touch with my friends. At school we use computers in almost every lesson, and as an IT student I spend a lot of time programming. At home we have a smart speaker, a robot vacuum cleaner and a heating system that we can control from our phones.

The biggest technological change of recent years is artificial intelligence. AI tools can write texts, translate, create images, help doctors to diagnose diseases and programmers to write code. I use them myself for learning, but I always check the results, because they sometimes make mistakes. AI brings great opportunities, but also questions: will it take people’s jobs, how can we recognise deepfakes, and who is responsible when an AI makes a wrong decision?

Technology has its dark side too. Many people, especially teenagers, are addicted to their phones and social media. Companies collect enormous amounts of personal data, and cybercrime – hacking, phishing and ransomware – is a growing threat. That’s why it’s important to protect our data and to think critically about what technology does to us.

When it comes to the future, I’m optimistic. Scientists are working on new treatments for cancer and on gene therapy, on cleaner sources of energy and on space exploration – people may land on Mars in my lifetime. I believe that technology itself is neither good nor bad; it depends on how we use it.

Vocabulary

Grammar worth showing

• passive with inventions: The World Wide Web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989.
• future forms and probability: Robots will probably… / By 2050 we will have…
• third conditional: If penicillin hadn’t been discovered, millions of people would have died.

Useful phrases

• One of the most important inventions in history is…, because…
• I can’t imagine my life without…
• On the one hand, AI…; on the other hand, …
• There’s a risk that…
• It all depends on how we use it.

Speaking practice

Part 1 – about you

Part 3 / 4 – discussion