Page 154 - TOEFL_Basic-3

Transcript

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W: Today when people hear the term Silicon Valley they think of technology. Silicon Valley is not the name of
an actual valley. It is a term used to define a region of Northern California ‘ Silicon Valley sits on the southern
part of San Francisco Bay. It is near the city of San Jose

Silicon Valley got its name from two places. One is from its location. The other is from what was invented
there. The federal government used this area to test important technology after World War 11. Stanford
University also needed more space. It had too many students. They put them in the area

Two Stanford graduates named William Hewlett and Oavid Packard then started a computer company there ‘
This company became Hewlett-Packard. It soon became the biggest computer company in the world ‘
People also began working on the microchip at this time. They learned that microchips work best with silicon.
Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore later started the company Intel
The microchip was a monumental invention. AII technology now uses the microchip. The microchip attracted
lots of smart people to the area. The area soon exploded with technology and commerce. Hundreds of new
companies started to inhabit Silicon Valley.
These companies needed money. Venture capitalist firms began to set up in Silicon Valley. They put money
into these companies. Many companies grew and grew. Lots of people got really rich
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M: The lecture and the passage were about Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley is located on the southern part of
the San Francisco Bay. It got its name from two things. One was from its location, the other from what was
invented there. Many Stanford graduates started businesses in this area. Two of them started a company
called Hewlett-Packard. It soon became the biggest computer company in the world. People were also
working on the silicon microchip. This was a monumental invention. Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore used
this invention to start the company Intel. Soon companies quickly came because modern technology is
reliant upon the microchip. Other companies set up. These companies needed money to grow. They got
money from venture capitalists. People became really rich
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M: Silicon Valley is still synonymous with the microchip. However, Silicon Valley is now also synonymous with
other kinds of technology. Intel and Hewlett-Packard were the original big technology firms , although later
other huge technology firms began to inhabit Silicon Valley as well
The first in the second wave of technology was Apple. Apple was able to raise over one billion dollars from
investors. This caused the venture capitalists to start their own investment companies
The 1990s saw the Internet explode. Companies such as Netscape, Yahoo, Adobe, Cisco, and Oracle all
led to a long period of growth. It was one of the greatest economic growth periods in history. E-commerce
also started to grow. Companies like E-bay, Google, and Verisign all started there. They allowed people to
search for an item, buy that item, and pay for the itemall on the Internet
The success of these companies led to the American stock market becoming reliant upon Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley went through a difficult time in 2000. There were too many companies. This caused a huge
decrease in their values. This caused a big decrease in the American stock market
Now, Silicon Valley is doing well again. It continues to innovate and conduct commerce. It continues to be
involved in technology. But it is also growing into medicine. Technology and medicine have combined. This
will create the next great wave in Silicon Valley. No one knows which company will explode next
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