Vocabulary Practice: World Wide Web

Read the text again and answer the questions with some of the words in bold.

Millions of users all over the world surf the Internet on a daily basis and you are probably no exception. What exactly is the Internet? It is a world-wide network of connected computers which can be accessed via a laptop or a smartphone. Many people think that the Internet and the World Wide Web (www) are the same thing. In fact, they are not.

The www started out as a project that was supposed to make it possible for scientists to access their research data via linked hypertext documents. The idea quickly became popular and soon after the World Wide Web became an information system available to anyone, anywhere in the world.

All you need to navigate any of the many webpages available on the Web is a device with access to the Internet and a web browser. The browser sends a command to the server to locate the page or content you are searching for. To go to the page you can type the URL address (uniform resource locator) of the page directly into the browser or simply click on a particular link to open the page you requested. Once you follow a hyperlink you will be able to download files, upload images or videos, share content with your friends, post comments on forums, book flights, make reservations, send instant messages (IMs), listen to the radio, watch clips – the possibilities are endless!