Six Minute English from BBC Learning English.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,

handheld game boys and fax machines were in fashion.

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

Today technology progresses so quickly that old tech soon becomes, no longer in use having been replaced by something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 3.5 inch floppy disks to store official documents.

That around the world music cassettes and walkmen are making a comeback and that 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 first I have a question for you Georgie.

Computers have seen some of the biggest advances in technology but what was the name of the first computer developed for home use in the UK?

Was it A, the Commodore 64?

B, the Sinclair ZX80, or C the BBC Micro.

Mm, I guess it was the Commodore 64.

Okay, 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 Souda designed Harvey,

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