PART-A

Drawing Inferences

College students are familiar with the initials, WWW, whichstand for World Wide Web. But do you know who invented this? According to the magazine Time, Tim Berners-Lee was the creator.

Tim Berners-Lee is extremely intelligent but not good at"random connection", such as linking names and faces. In order tokeep track of such links, he wrote some software -- "a memorysubstitute" -- in 1980. A decade later, it took a great leap, growing tocover the world. It is today's World Wide Web, which could prove as importantas the printing press. Yet so far, most of the wealth and fame coming from theWeb have gone to people other than him. He has not appeared on the cover of anymagazine. He has a small office at M.I.T., where his nonprofit group helps andguards the Web.

PART-B

The Story of the Walkman

Akio Morita, chairman of Sony, was annoyed because hischildren constantly played loud music. He told his company engineers to devisesome machine to make the music only audible to the user. They did, and theWalkman was born. This totally changed the way we listen to music. Moritapersonally insisted on using the name "Walkman" for the new machine.His advisers said the phrase meant nothing in English. But he knew it was easyto pronounce the word in nearly every language. It was also short, catching andsummed up the importance of the new device!

Now the personal stereo is used by everyone. There are newdesigns such as CD Walkmans, recording Walkmans, etc. As size, weight and costget smaller, quality gets bigger.

Socially, however, the Walkman habit may not be so good. Byplaying their personal stereos at full volume in small spaces, listeners maydisturb others. The repeated loud beat can also be annoying. That is why inLondon's Underground Railway System there are signs saying, "Keep YourPersonal Stereo Personal." Furthermore, drivers listening to Walkmans maysometimes cause road accidents to happen. And the rise in hearing problems isoften blamed on their misuse.

There is no doubt that modern society has a love-haterelationship with the Walkman. Yet even criticism proves how popular theWalkman has become. Rather like the television or the computer, it is hard toimagine how we ever lived without them.

PART-C

The Camera Man

Do you own a camera? Undoubtedly you do, and you probablyuse it often, too. Just slip the camera in your backpack pocket, and you're setto record your activities on film. But before 1888, you would have needed awagon to carry all the necessary equipment just to take one photograph. Earlycameras were the size of microwave ovens! But George Eastman changed the waythe world took pictures.

Born in upstate New York on July 12, 1854, George Eastmanwas the youngest of three children. His father died when George was a youngboy. He was forced to quit school at 14 and work to support his family. In1874, he got a job as a junior clerk at a bank for $15 a week.

A friend introduced George to photography when he was 24.George loved taking pictures, but he didn't like the complicated process. Heworked for years to invent something to replace the old machine. When hesucceeded, he started a company to produce his "film" -- Kodak. Thenhe worked on developing a simple camera.

When he introduced his camera in 1888, George coined theadvertising slogan, "You push the button, we do the rest." Peoplebegan buying the cameras, and Kodak soon grew to be very large.

George Eastman was also a great philanthropist. He gavemuch of his fortune to establish hospitals, clinics, universities, museums andperforming arts centers. When he died in 1932 at the age of 77, an editorial inThe New York Times said he would be remembered for giving generously for thegood of mankind. And, of course, for putting a Kodak smile on the faces ofpeople around the world.