Текст для чтения – Intermediate – Online avatars – ЕГЭ

Источник: учебник Choices – Intermediate
Тип задания: Чтение
Подготовка к ЕГЭ

VOCABULARY:

• weird = strange – странный
• two-dimensional – в 2-х измерениях (ширина и длина, не 3Д)
• brand-new = completely new – совершенно новый
• well-off = rich = wealth – обеспеченный, богатый
• a fortune = a big amount of money – состояние (денег)
• playful = lively + cheerful + active – игрвый (часто о животых)
• laid-back = relaxed – спокойный / неторопливый
• easy-going = not shy + flexible + talkative + extravert – лёгкий на подъём

Simon Boswell investigates the weird and wonderful world of online avatars.

1 When you are online you can be anyone or anything -you can create your own image and a new personality, you can be anyone you want to be.

2 The first, simple two-dimensional avatars appeared in the mid 1980s in role-playing computer games. By the late 1990s, they were in web chats like Instant Messenger. Nowadays, avatars are everywhere. In most chats, people use simple, ready-made images or upload their own images but you can also use dynamic avatars that move around and talk when you type in your message.

3 Avatars in online worlds like Second Life can talk, walk and fly around, meet people, go shopping or go to classes. There is lots of room for creativity and you can get a brand-new identity. If you’re well-off, you can spend a fortune on buying virtual clothes and jewellery for your well-dressed, fashionconscious avatar.

4 Of course, the avatar you choose says a lot about your personality. If your blog avatar is a picture of a kitten, your message is ‘Inc a playful, laid-back person.’ Well-known cartoon characters or laughing chimpanzees say ‘I’m a really funny person.’

5 Surprisingly, most people create avatars that look more or less like them and behave like them. However, nearly all avatars are tall, young and nice-looking to people obviously make a few improvements to their bodies and they also experiment with things like long hair, tattoos and piercings. Many people have more than one avatar, a sensible one for work, a good-looking, easy-going one for meeting people and a silly one for having fun.

6 Soon, over eighty percent of interne users will have at least one avatar and in some countries there will be more avatars than real people. Some people say that we spend too much time in virtual worlds and will become afraid of meeting people in the real world. Others look forward to the time when their avatar will look and act just like a real person and be able to travel around bigger, more exciting virtual worlds.

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