IV Write the annotation to the text.

 

UNIT 4

Alan Turing

Alan Turing was born in 1912 in London. He studied mathematics at Cambridge University. In 1937, he wrote a report which talked about a Turing Machine. This was a machine that could read programs and follow any number of instructions. It was only an idea, and he did not have plans to build the machine, but his 1937 report was very important in the history of computing.

In 1939, Turing began to work for the British Government. During the Second World War (1939-1945), the Germans often sent messages from one group of soldiers to another. These messages gave important information and instructions, so of course they were secret. Although the British could get the messages, at first they could not understand them because they were written in a secret code. Turing began working on a computer to break this code.

Turing worked with other mathematicians at a secret place called Bletchley Park. They knew that the Germans were using machines called Enigma machines to send messages in code. To read and understand these messages you had to have another Enigma machine -and, of course, only the Germans had these.

Turing and the other people at Bletchley built a machine called the Bombe. (Some Polish mathematicians had already built a machine called Bomba to try to break the Enigma code. They worked with the British to build a new and better machine.) By 1942, the workers at Bletchley Park could read and understand all the German messages which used the Enigma code.

In 1943, the Germans started using a different code. The British called this code 'Fish'. It was much more difficult to understand than the Enigma code. The Bombe machine could not break this code, so the workers at Bletchley Park needed a new computer. In one year, they built Colossus. This was one of the world's first electronic computers which could read and understand programs.

Colossus got its name because of its size: it was as big as a room. It was able to understand difficult codes because it could do thousands of calculations every second. Without Colossus, it took three people six weeks to understand a message written in the 'Fish' code; using Colossus, the British needed only two hours to understand it. A modern PC from the year 2000 cannot do the work any faster.

 

Tasks

I Answer the following questions to the text:

1. Who was Alan Turing?

2. What kind of invention did he do?

3. What kind of machines were Enigma machines?

4. Where was the machine that could read and understand all the German messages which used the Enigma code built? How was it called?

5. What machine could read the code “First”?

6. How much time did it take to understand the “First” code?

 

II Put the sentences in the right order:

1. A modern PC from the year 2000 can not do the work any faster than Colossus.

2. In 1943 the Germans started using a different coded, the “First” code.

3. Alan Turing was born in 1912 in London.

4. Turing worked with other mathematician at a secret place called Bletchley Park.

5. Colossus got its name because of its size: it was as big as a room.

6. During the Second World War, the Germans often sent messages from one group of soldiers to another.

 

III Translate the text

IV Write the annotation to the text.

 

V Read Chapters 3 and 4, then circle a, b or c:

1. At first, the word “computer” meant a …

a) book b) person c) machine

2. The machine invented by Charles Babbage in the 1820s weights about three …

a) grams b) kilos c) tonnes

3. Ada Lovelace’s father was the … Lord Byron.

a) engineer b) poet c) mathematician

4. Ada Lovelace was the first computer … in the world.

a) programmer b) designer c) builder

5. Konrad Zuse made programs for his machines using ….

a) paper b) glass c) cinema film

6. Alan Turing built a machine to understand the … code.

a) Enigma b) Bletchley c) Bomba

7. The computer Colossus was the size of a …

a) desk b) room c) house

UNIT 5

The history of the PC

In 1957, IBM made a computer called the 610 Auto-Point. They said that it was the 'first personal computer'. But it was not a PC like the ones millions of people have in their homes today. It was large and expensive (55,000 dollars). It was called a personal computer because it only needed one person to work it. The first real PCs were not made until fifteen years later.

The first computers (like Colossus) did not have computer chips; they used glass tubes. That is why they were so big. But in the 1960s, technicians found a way to make chips with thousands of very small transistors on them. In 1971, Intel made a computer chip called the 4004. It had 2,250 transistors. Three years later, they made the 8080, a better and faster chip with 5,000 transistors. An American inventor called Ed Roberts used the Intel 8080 chip to make one of the first PCs. He called his PC the Altair 8800. (The name comes from the film Forbidden Planet.) When you bought an Altair 8800, you got a box of parts that you put together at home to make your PC. It cost less than 400 dollars, and Ed Roberts sold 2,000 in the first year. The personal computer was on its way.

 

In 1976, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs started the Apple Computer Company. In 1977, their second computer, the Apple 2, appeared. It was popular, and the company made 700,000 dollars that year. The next year, the company made 7 million dollars! Even IBM knew that personal computers were here to stay. They made their first PC in 1981.

Since Intel made the 4004 chip in 1971 with 2,250 transistors, computer chips have become much faster. In fact, the computer technician Gordon Moore made this prediction in 1965: 'The number of transistors on computer chips will double every eighteen months.' This prediction is often called 'Moore's Law' and it seems to be true. The Intel Pentium 4 chip, made in the year 2000, has 42 million transistors! Because today's computer chips are so fast, modern PCs can do amazing things. They can put music onto CDs, and videos onto DVDs, and they can even understand spoken language. A modern PC is much faster than the very large and expensive computers from the 1970s.

 

Tasks

I Answer the following questions:

1. Which company did Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs start in 1976?

2. What did the first computer use?

3. What did an American inventor called Ed Roberts made?

4. Who made the first Personal Computer in 1981?

5. What can modern computers do?

6. What is the idea of “Moore’s Law”?

 

II Complete the sentences:

1. In 1957, IBM made a computer called the ___________.

2. When you bought an Altair 8800, you got a ___________.

3. In 1977 second computer of the Apple Computer Company, ___________, appeared.

4. In 1974, Intel made the 8080, a better and faster chip with ___________.

5. The computer technician Gordon Moore made this prediction in 1965: “The number of ___________”.

 

III Put the sentences in the right order:

1. A modern PC is much faster than the very large and expensive computers from the 1970s.

2. An Altair 8800 cost less than 400$.

3. In 1978, the Apple Computer Company made 7 million dollars!

4. It was called a personal computer because it only need one personal to work it.

5. IBM made a computer called the 610 Auto-Point.

6. The Intel Pentium 4 chip, made in the year 2000, has 42 million transistors.

 

IV Translate the text