VIII. Construct other sentences in this pattern (compound adjectives)

1. He is seeking a computer-related career.

2. Typewriter-sized computers became available in the 1970s to replace the room-sized computers of the 1960s.

3. Children tend to like sugar-based cereals.

4. Whereas an integrated circuit is thumbnail-sized, the vacuum tubes in earlier computers were cigar-sized.

5. We are shopping for a precision-built car.

6. They lived near a tree-edged lake.

7. Jobs and Wozniak were self-taught computer experts.

 

IX. In pairs or small groups, discuss each of the following questions:

1. Imagine that you just moved into an empty house. What can you use for a makeshift table? a makeshift pillow? a makeshift hammer?

2. Here are five gadgets found in many kitchens. Describe the functions of each: can opener, ice crusher, apple peeler, cheese grater. Name some other gadgets that are found in many kitchens.

3. If you were to design a state-of-the-art product, how would you improve the following products: toothbrush, bathtub, notebook, hairbrush?

4. Which of the following do you find intimidating? Why? (a teacher, a large truck on the road a policeman, an automatic bank teller, a school counselor, a telephone-answering machine)

5. What marketing techniques would you use if you wanted to sell a new soft drink product? What market would you focus on?

6. Which would be preferable for each of the following buildings, muted colors or bright? Why? (a restaurant, a post office, a hospital a high school, a music store, a day-care center)

7. What are the components of each of the following: a good marriage? a modern kitchen? a good stereo system?

8. Describe another entrepreneur whose investments led to fame and fortune.

9. Under what circumstances does a business thrive? a tree? a young child? a marriage?

10. Name a notable pioneer in each of the following fields, (manufacturing, science, art, architecture, medicine, social services)

11. What is a practical application of the personal computer in business? In the home?

 

X. Complete the paragraph below:

Although Jobs and Wozniak have become known as two of the most brilliant innovators in the technological revolution, not all of their (1)... were as successful as the Apple I and the Apple II. They (2)... the Apple II Plus in 1980 when they (3)... that small businesses would have a need for a more professional and integrated system than the Apple I or II. The Apple II Plus was an advanced version of the Apple II that they aimed at the small business (4)... Unfortunately, they did not (5)... the competition of the IBM Personal Computer. Although IBM was not the original (6)... of the personal computer, they had been the leader in the business machine industry for several decades, and theysoon (7)... as the primary competition in the personal computer (8)... IBM had many advantages over Apple: their engineering was done by a more experienced engineering staff, and their advertising was done by their more experienced (9)... staff. Since Apple had been so successful with the Apple I and the Apple II, the failure of their (10)... with the Apple II Plus was both (11)... and disappointing.

 

TEXT II. DEEP BLUE

 

1. Special-purpose machines, DEEP BLUE and its predecessor DEEP THOUGHT, were originally created to explore how to use parallel processing to solve complex problems. DEEP THOUGHT was a first computer to defeat a chess grandmaster, thanks to its ability to analyze 750,000 positions per second. But in 1990, an experimental 6-processor version of DEEP THOUGHT, capable of searching 2 million positions per second, played against Kasparov and lost. Kasparov went on to defeat DEEP BLUE by winning 3 games and 2 draws. Six IBM employees used a hefty machine to win a chess game against the reigning world champion in the rematch in 1997. No other tool of human invention could leverage their talents so magnificently. DEEP BLUE now has the ability to calculate 50 to 100 billion moves within 3 minutes. But DEEP BLUE is not mimicking human thought.lt does not anticipate, it only reacts.DEEP BLUE is a 32-node IBM power Parallel SP2 high performance computer. Each node of the SP2 employs a single microchannel card containing 8 dedicated VLSI chess processors for a total of 256 processors working in tandem. DEEP BLUE's programming code is developed in С and runs under the AIX operating system.

2. To the uninformed advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. We must continue to develop these machines and methods of harnessing them to human needs. Computers amplify our cogni­tive and reasoning abilities.

 

Exercises

I. True or false?

1. The Intelligent Computer is a myth.

2. It were actually Deep Blue's designers, programmers, and builders who had beaten Kasparov, not the machine itself.

3. The world will be overtaken by silicon-based life forms.

4. Chess playing is to logic and calculation what intelligence is to relationships and negotiations.

5. Chess is social; intelligence is abstract.

6. The Deep Blue has inhuman logico-mathematical capability.

7. There are 7 dimensions of intelligence: linguistic, logico-mathemati­cal, spatial, musical, kinesthetic, intrapersonal, and interperson­al.

8. The Deep Blue has all these dimensions.

9. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". (A.C. Clarke)