Lesson 3. The computer revolution

I. Read and memorize the following words and word combinations:

complexity – сложность

to run – управлять

forecast – прогнозировать, прогноз

exploration – исследование, разведка

generation – поколение

attitude – зд. позиция

to encounter – сталкиваться

hazard – опасность

menace – угроза, угрожать

variety – множество, разнообразие

to plot – наносить на карту, чертить

signpost – указатель

to furnish – предоставлять

essential – существенный, неотъемлемый

to quantify – считать, определять количество

valid – правильный, обоснованный

 

II. Read and translate the text.

Without the computer space programs would be impossible and the 21^st century would be impossible. The incredible technology we are building, the complexity and the knowledge we are amassing, are all beyond the unaided mind and muscle of man. More than any other single invention, perhaps even more than a wheel, the computer offers a promise so dazzling and a threat so awful that it will forever change the direction and meaning of our lives.

Computers today are running our factories, planning our cities, teaching our children, and forecasting the possible futures we may be heir to.

In the new age of exploration the computer is solving in milliseconds the problems a generation of mathematicians would need years to solve without its help. The small, fifty-nine-pound computer, which takes up only one cubic foot of space in the vehicle will do all of the mathematics needed, to solve one billion different space-maneuvering and navigation problems. Moreover, it translates the answer into simple numbers and tells the astronaut the altitude to which he must bring the spacecraft before firing the thrusters, and indicate to him exactly how long they must be fired.

Even before a rocket is launched, it is flown from ten to a hundred times through space-computer-simulated space-on flights constructed of mathematical symbols, on trajectories built of information bits, encountering hazards that are numbers without menace. For one of the computer’s greatest assets is its ability to simulate one or a million variants of the same theme. “What if?” is the question the computer can answer accurately, swiftly, and over and over again. From this variety of possibilities, a trip from the Earth to the Moon can be simulated as often as necessary, with every possible trajectory plotted and every mile of the journey through space marked with symbolic signposts that will provide assurance that, mathematically at least, man has travelled this way before.

The computer can do far more than simulate the mechanics of space flight; it can furnish accurate models of life itself. In computer simulation, then, there may come the great breakthrough needed to convert the inexact social sciences — the studies of man as a social being — into exact sciences. The one absolutely essential tool of science is the measuring device. Anything that can be counted, measured, quantified, can be studied with scientific accuracy. Now it becomes possible to perform controlled experiments, in which every factor that goes in is known in advance and the answers that come out are then valid.

 

Notes

The computer offers a promise so dazzling and a threat so awful firing – компьютер предлагает надежду столь блестящую и угрозу столь ужасную; to fire the thrusters– запускать двигатель; there may come the great breakthrough – может произойти большой прорыв.

 

III. Give the Russian equivalents.

The incredible technology, beyond the unaided mind and muscle of man, to forecast, be heir to; only one cubic foot of space, fifty-nine-pound computer, space-computer-simulated space-on flights, ability to simulate one or a million variants of the same theme, anything that can be counted, measured, quantified.

 

IV. Give the English equivalents.

Управлять заводами, планировать города, учить детей; поколения математиков; имитация, моделирование; сталкиваться с опасностью; аккуратно, быстро и снова и снова; множество возможностей; предоставлять точные модели самой жизни; управляемый эксперимент, где каждый фактор известен заранее.

V. Fill in the blanks.

1. The incredible technology /которую мы строим/ is beyond the unaided mind and muscle of man. 2. Computers today /управляют/ our factories, /планируют/ our cities, /учат/ our children. 3. The computer /решает/ in milliseconds the problems a generation of mathematicians would need years to solve without its help. 4. Even before a rocket /запущена/ it is flown through space-computer-simulated flights. 5. A trip from the Earth to the Moon /может быть смоделирован/ as often as necessary. 6. The computer /может предоставлять/ accurate models of life itself.

 

VI. Answer the following questions.

1. In what important field of science are computers used today? 2. How fast does a modern computer solve mathematical problems? 3. How much space does modern computer take in a vehicle? 4. What is made with a rocket before it is launched into space? 5. What is one of computer’s greatest assets? 6. What important question can computer answer over and over again? 7. What great breakthrough may come in computer simulation? 8. What experiments can be performed now?

 

VII. Give a brief summary of the text.

VIII. Read the text and translate it without a dictionary. Give a short summary of it.

The history of computers

The concepts of digital computing and representing information in binary form can be traced back to the 1800s. Mechanical devices using these techniques were large, expensive, noisy, slow and unreliable. It was not until the first electronic digital computer, ENIAC, appeared in the late 1940s that practical digital computing was possible. ENIAC, which used vacuum tubes, was still large, expensive, noisy, and unreliable, but it was faster. Much more work could be performed in a much shorter time. As capability of these devices grew, computer makers kept stuffing more into their products. Soon computers were so complicated and expensive that only very large businesses could afford them. The idea of many smaller, inexpensive computers doing much of the work of the larger ma­chines started the “revolution”. Transistors reduced size and power consumption and further increased reliability and speed of operation.

Computers have been around for many years, but it is the development of large-scale integrated circuits (LSICs), however, that hаs let the computer affect everyone’s life. They have been one of the dominant factors in the growth of electronics. Without them we would not have so much capability in so little space. Integrated circuits (IC) gave us further improvements, and LSICs put the computer into general public’s hands. Large-scale integration has actually been able to put a complete computer on a single IC. These ICs are called microprocessors, and when combined with input and output devices, are called microcomputers. Now we encounter the microcomputer daily. The computer can be programmed to do almost any task involving decisions and actions.

Notes

ENIAC – Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator; computer makers kept stuffing more into their products – изготовители компьютеров продолжали укомплектовывать свою продукцию все более сложными элементами; complicated – сложный.

 

UNIT 2. HARDWARE