Did you know that Britain is a world leader when it comes to innovation? Some of the world's fastest cars, cleverest gadgets and even the technology inside this phone are made here. Britain is full of new ideas and cutting-edge technology and I'm hoping to see some of it.
The British love gadgets. And when it comes to innovators, James Dyson is world-class. He invented the bagless vacuum cleaner and this is his headquarters, where all the magic happens.
It took five years, over 5,000 prototypes and a lot of hard work and imagination to design Dyson’s Bagless Vacuum Cleaner.
…..
Tom Crawford is a senior engineer.
Richard: How do Dyson push the boundaries of innovation and technology?
Tom: We employ over 650 engineers and scientists to look at every aspect of our machine. We develop our own motors. We have microbiologists, fluid experts, noise experts, to really optimise every aspect of the performance of these machines.
Richard: How do you meet the needs of the international market?
Tom: Well, we sell our machines in over 50 different countries, so we have a really good understanding of what they want and what they need and, for example, for Japan, we know that their rooms are much smaller and we design a product to suit their demands, which is much smaller than the European models.
Richard: Excellent. Can you show me round your latest technology?
Tom: Yeah, please.
…..
Richard: Ah. I've used one of these before. Yeah, they're excellent.
Tom: Dyson Airblade is the fastest, most hygienic hand dryer. It uses a Dyson digital motor which rotates at over 5 times the speed of a Formula 1 engine. It pushes air out up to 400 miles an hour and dries your hands in under 10 seconds.
Richard: Awesome. What about this here?
Tom: OK. Experts in moving air. We've looked at the domestic fan and we've produced a bladeless fan which pulls air through the middle. It's very smooth, non-buffeting airflow and very safe.
Richard: That's excellent, isn't it? Ooh, it doubles up nicely as a hairdryer, too... How are you going to go into the future for Dyson?
Tom: Well, I can't tell you what our secrets are, obviously.
Richard: Go on!
Tom: No! But we've got a very exciting plan of products for the next 10 years, a plan of research for the next 20 years and we're also, obviously, looking to launch fantastically exciting products, like the new Dyson Digital Slim. Now this uses another Dyson digital motor, which is very lightweight and powerful.
Richard: No cord?
Tom: No cord. Cordless. Batteries. Have a go.
Richard: Got to. Got to have a go. Smooth. Loving that. Tell you what, Tom, thank you very much for showing me round. While I'm here, do you want me to just quickly... um...?
Tom: Yeah, just tidy up for us.
Richard: Feel free. No worries. Thank you. Cheers.
Tom: Thanks. OK.
Comments
I like gadgets and technology which make your life simpler and more interesting instead of making you lazier and less productive. I partly agree that for the majority of people internet is a source which opens the whole world locking up in one room.
I prefer some running gear and a watch with GPS and heart monitor is my favourite gadget so far. А smart phone is another one that I like because of its versatility. I would definitely like to own a GoPro camera or even two.
I really like cool Dyson's fan and a cordless vacuum cleaner. It would be great to become an owner of the ones.
Hello The LearnEnglish Team!
These two sentences seem strange to me (Task1):
'Which of these things is Richard shown in the video?';
'Choose the gadgets that Richard is shown in the video.'
Is the word order correct here according to the usage of Passive Voice or the sentences aren't meant to be passive?
Thank you in advance!
Dima
Hello Dima,
Both sentences have passive verb forms, but the sentences have different structures.
The first sentence is a 'normal' question. It is a subject question with a passive verb form. For information on subject questions see this page.
The second sentence is not a question. It has an imperative verb form ('Choose') with an object ('the gadgets'), followed by a relative clause describing the object ('that Richard is shown...').
I hope that clarifies it for you.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Sorry, but they're still unusual to me. I would say 'Which of these things is shown by Richard in the video?' and form the second one using the same structure in the relative clause 'that is shown by Richard'.
Best regards,
Dima
Hello Dima,
Double object verbs such as 'show', which can be followed by two objects (i.e. a direct and indirect object), can be rendered in the passive in two different ways. In the first, the indirect object becomes the subject of the passive verb, whereas in the second, the direct object becomes the subject.
For example, take the sentence 'Tom shows Richard two gadgets.' 'Richard' is the indirect object and 'two gadgets' is the direct object. This sentence can be made passive in the two ways I mentioned above:
I expect that the first passive form above is the one that looks strange to you. It is indeed a bit unusual compared to other European languages, but it is perfectly normal in English, though this only happens with double object verbs.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Now I totally understand where I was mistaken! I somehow kept thinking that those actions were performed by Richard and not towards him. Excuse me for that foolish mistake and thank you for the support!
Best wishes,
Dima
Technology is important because it helps us to have a good orientation to everything we handle daily
Hello,
''The British love gadgets.'' Is it the use of definte article necessary in this sentence? It doesn't refer to somethig general?
Hello Liviu86,
You're right when you say that the definite article isn't generally used to refer to something general, but when referring to a nationality, i.e. the people of a nation, the definite article 'the' is used, e.g. 'The British drink a lot of tea', 'The French make good bread', etc.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Thank you very much for replying to my question.
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