Listening

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Helpful Words and Phrases

Listen and repeat.

  1. an outage
    • ex. During the power outage, we used candles to light up the room.
  2. prompt
    • ex. The loud noise prompted the dog to bark in the middle of the night.
  3. in search of (someone/something)
    • ex. We are in search of a new player to join our soccer team.
  4. a disruption
    • ex. The heavy snow caused a disruption in the bus schedule, so we had to wait longer.
  5. likely
    • ex. It is likely that we will go to the park if the weather is nice tomorrow.

Article

Read the article below and answer your tutor's questions.

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One of Denmark’s largest cellphone networks experienced an outage last December, causing major problems across the country. People were not able to contact emergency services. And this prompted security teams in some areas to patrol the streets in search of anyone needing help. At least one hospital had to reduce services for non-critical medical care due to the disruption.

The network provider TDC Net explained that the problem was likely caused by a system update. The company said it was not caused by hackers. TDC said it had fixed the issue so people could make calls again, although call quality was reduced. The company advised customers who had to call the emergency number to remove their SIM card before calling.

Danish media reported that public transportation in some parts of the country also experienced issues on the same day of the outage. Trains and buses were delayed due to signaling issues. This caused confusion at stations, and passengers got stuck on trains. However, the Centre for Cyber Security and the Danish Defense Intelligence Service could not confirm whether the signaling issues are related to the network outage.

Discussion

Choose a topic and discuss the questions with your tutor.

Cellphone Network Outage

  • The cellphone network outage in Denmark affected emergency services and medical care. In your opinion, how serious is such an outage? Discuss.
  • How common are cellphone network outages in your country? Discuss.
  • Do you think it's important for people to have access to a cellphone network all the time? Why or why not? Discuss.

Emergency Services and Disruptions

  • How would you describe your country’s emergency services (ex. very good, needs improvement)? Discuss.
  • Why do you think it’s important for people to be able to contact emergency services during an outage? Discuss.
  • In your opinion, what could be done to make emergency services more reliable during disruptions? Discuss.