Before reading the text match the following words and word expressions to their definitions

 CLICK HERE TO GO TO PREVIOUS EXERCISE

ANSWER
KEY

CONTENTS

Unit 1	History of computer engineering: Hardware History Overview
Unit 2	Information Is A Fundamental Property Of The World Around: What Is Information?
Unit 3	Measuring Amount Of Information: How Bits & Bytes Work
Unit 4	Microsoft Office: Microsoft Software Suit
Unit 5

Vocabulary

1. Match the words with their definitions:

1) cipher (n.) also cypher	[‘saɪfə]	a)  present, appearing, or found everywhere
2) non-volatile (adj.)	[nɔn’vɔlətaɪl]	b) a tube with a nozzle and piston or bulb for sucking in and ejecting liquid in a thin stream
3) inefficient (adj.)	[ˌɪnɪ’fɪʃ(ə)nt]	c) taking up much space, typically inconveniently; large and unwieldy
4) bulky (adj.)	[‘bʌlkɪ]	d) an annual calendar containing important dates and statistical information such as astronomical data and tide tables
5) domain (n.)	[dəu’meɪn]	e) a table or device designed to assist with calculation
6) almanac (n.)	[‘ɔːlmənæk]	f) not achieving maximum productivity; wasting or failing to make the best use of time or resources
7) abacus (n.)	[‘abəkəs]	g) unreasonably high
operand (n.)	[‘ɔpər(ə)nd]	h) retaining data even if there is a break in the power supply
9) exorbitant (adj.)	[ɪg’zɔːbɪt(ə)nt]	i) a simple device for calculating, consisting of a frame with rows of wires or grooves along which beads are slid
10) syringe (n.)	[sɪ’rɪnʤ]	j) write-protected
11) reckoner (n.)	[‘rek(ə)nə]	k) an area of territory owned or controlled by a ruler or government
12) read-only (adj.)	[ri:dəunli]	l) the quantity on which an operation is to be done
13) ubiquitous (adj.)	[juː’bɪkwɪtəs	m) a secret or disguised way of writing; a code

Watching

1.
Now watch a video ‘Computer history in 140 seconds’ and say what
computer is.

BEFORE
YOU READ

1. Discuss
with your partner the following questions.

• What
  do you know about the computers?

• What
  are the reasons for inventing things?
  

READING

2. Skim¹
the text to check your ideas.

HARDWARE
HISTORY OVERVIEW

The
first computers
were people!
That
is, electronic computers (and the earlier mechanical computers) were
given this name because they performed the work that had previously
been assigned
to people. «Computer» was originally a job title: it was
used to describe those human beings (predominantly women) whose job
it was to perform the repetitive calculations required to compute
such things as navigational tables, tide charts, and planetary
positions for astronomical almanacs.
Imagine you had a job where hour after hour, day after day, you were
to do nothing but compute multiplications. Boredom would quickly set
in, leading to carelessness, leading to mistakes. And even on your
best days you wouldn’t be producing answers very fast.
Therefore,
inventors have been searching for hundreds of years for a way to
mechanize (that is, find a mechanism that can perform) this task
[John Kopplin © 2002].

The
abacus
was an early aid for mathematical computations. Its only value is
that it aids the memory of the human performing the calculation. A
skilled abacus operator can work on addition and subtraction problems
at the speed of a person equipped with a hand calculator
(multiplication and division are slower). The abacus is often wrongly
attributed to China. In fact, the oldest surviving abacus was used in
300 B.C. by the Babylonians.

I

n
1617 an eccentric Scotsman named John Napier invented logarithms,
which are a technology that allows multiplication to be performed via
addition. The magic ingredient is the logarithm of each operand,
which was originally obtained from a printed table. But Napier also
invented an alternative to tables, where the logarithm values were
carved on ivory sticks which are now called Napier’s
Bones.

Napier’s
invention led directly to the slide
rule,
first built in England in 1632 and still in use in the 1960’s by the
NASA engineers of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs which
landed men on the moon.

L
eonardo
da Vinci (1452-1519) made drawings of gear-driven calculating
machines but apparently never built any.

T
he
first gear-driven calculating machine to actually be built was
probably the calculating
clock,
so named by its inventor, the German professor Wilhelm Schickard in
1623. This device got little publicity because Schickard died soon
afterward in the bubonic plague.

I
n
1642 Blaise Pascal, at age 19, invented the Pascaline
as an aid for his father who was a tax collector. Pascal built 50 of
this gear-driven one-function calculator (it could only add) but
couldn’t sell many because of their exorbitant
cost and because they really weren’t that accurate (at that time it
was not possible to fabricate gears with the required precision). Up
until the present age when car dashboards went digital, the odometer
portion of a car’s speedometer used t
he
very same mechanism as the Pascaline to increment
the next wheel after each full revolution of the prior wheel. Pascal
was a child
prodigy.
At the age of 12, he was discovered doing his version of Euclid’s
thirty-second proposition on the kitchen floor. Pascal went on to
invent probability theory, the hydraulic press, and the syringe.

Just
a few years after Pascal, the German Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
(co-inventor with Newton of calculus) managed to build a
four-function (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division)
calculator that he called the stepped
reckoner
because, instead of gears, it employed fluted drums having ten flutes
arranged around their circumference in a stair-step fashion. Although
the stepped reckoner employed the decimal number system (each drum
had 10 flutes),
Leibniz was the first to advocate use of the binary number system
which is fundamental to the operation of modern computers. Leibniz is
considered one of the greatest of the philosophers but he died poor
and alone.

I

n
1801 the Frenchman Joseph Marie Jacquard invented a power loom
that could base its weave (and hence the design on the fabric) upon a
pattern automatically read from punched wooden cards, held together
in a long row by rope. Descendents
of these punched
cards
have been in use ever since (remember the «hanging chad»
from the Florida presidential ballots of the year 2000).

Jacquard’s
technology was a real boon (benefit) to mill owners, but put many
loom operators out of work. Angry mobs smashed Jacquard looms and
once attacked Jacquard himself. History is full of examples of labor
unrest
following technological innovation yet most studies show that,
overall, technology has actually increased the number of jobs.

B
y
1822 the English mathematician Charles
Babbage
was proposing a steam driven calculating machine the size of a room,
which he called the Difference
Engine.
This machine would be able to compute tables of numbers, such as
logarithm tables. He obtained government funding for this project due
to the importance of numeric tables in ocean navigation. By promoting
their commercial and military navies, the British government had
managed to become the earth’s greatest empire. But in that time frame
the British government was publishing a seven volume set of
navigation tables which came with a companion volume of corrections
which showed that the set had over 1000 numerical errors. It was
hoped that Babbage’s machine could eliminate errors in these types of
tables. But construction of Babbage’s Difference Engine proved
exceedingly difficult and the project soon became the most expensive
government funded project up to that point in English history. Ten
years later the device was still nowhere near complete, acrimony
abounded between all involved, and funding dried up. The device was
never finished.

Babbage
was not deterred,
and by then was on to his next brainstorm, which he called the
Analytic
Engine.
This device, large as a house and powered by 6 steam engines, would
be more general purpose in nature because it would be programmable,
thanks to the punched card technology of Jacquard. But it was Babbage
who made an important intellectual leap regarding the punched cards.
In the Jacquard loom, the presence or absence of each hole in the
card physically allows a colored thread to pass or stops that thread.
Babbage saw that the pattern of holes could be used to represent an
abstract idea such as a problem statement or the raw data required
for that problem’s solution. Furthermore, Babbage realized that
punched paper could be employed as a storage mechanism, holding
computed numbers for future reference. Because of the connection to
the Jacquard loom, Babbage called the two main parts of his Analytic
Engine the «Store» and the «Mill», as both terms
are used in the weaving industry. The Store was where numbers were
held and the Mill was where they were «woven» into new
results. In a modern computer these parts are called the memory
unit
and the CPU. The Analytic Engine also had a key function that
distinguishes computers from calculators: the conditional statement.

Babbage
befriended Ada
Byron,
the daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron. Though she was only 19,
she was fascinated by Babbage’s ideas and through letters and
meetings with Babbage she learned enough about the design of the
Analytic Engine to begin fashioning programs for the still unbuilt
machine. While Babbage refused to publish his knowledge for another
30 years, Ada wrote a series of «Notes» wherein she
detailed sequences of instructions she had prepared for the Analytic
Engine. The Analytic Engine remained unbuilt but Ada earned her spot
in history as the first computer programmer. Ada invented the
subroutine
and was the first to recognize the importance of looping. Babbage
himself went on to invent the modern postal system, cowcatchers
on trains, and the ophthalmoscope, which is still used today to treat
the eye.

T
he
next breakthrough occurred in America. The U.S. Constitution states
that a census
should be taken of all U.S. citizens every 10 years in order to
determine the representation of the states in Congress. While the
very first census of 1790 had only required 9 months, by 1880 the
U.S. population had grown so much that the count for the 1880 census
took 7.5 years. Automation was clearly needed for the next census.
The census bureau offered a prize for an inventor to help with the
1890 census and this prize was won by Herman Hollerith, who proposed
and then successfully adopted Jacquard’s punched cards for the
purpose of computation.

Hollerith’s
invention, known as the Hollerith
desk,
consisted of a card reader which sensed the holes in the cards, a
gear driven mechanism which could count, and a large wall of dial
indicators to display the results of the count.

The
patterns on Jacquard’s cards were determined when a tapestry
was designed and then were not changed. Today, we would call this a
read-only
form of information storage. Hollerith had the insight to convert
punched cards to what is today called a read/write
technology. While riding a train, he observed that the conductor
didn’t merely punch each ticket, but rather punched a particular
pattern of holes whose positions indicated the approximate height,
weight, eye color, etc. of the ticket owner. This was done to keep
anyone else from picking up a discarded ticket and claiming it was
his own. Hollerith realized how useful it would be to punch (write)
new cards based upon an analysis (reading) of some other set of
cards. Complicated analyses, too involved to be accomplished during a
single pass through the cards, could be accomplished via multiple
passes through the cards using newly printed cards to remember the
intermediate results. Unknown to Hollerith, Babbage had proposed this
long before.

H
ollerith’s
technique was successful and the 1890 census was completed in only 3
years at a savings of 5 million dollars.

Hollerith
built a company, the Tabulating Machine Company which, after a few
buyouts, eventually became International Business Machines, known
today as IBM.
IBM grew rapidly and punched cards became ubiquitous.
Your gas bill would arrive each month with a punch card you had to
return with your payment. This punch card recorded the particulars of
your account: your name, address, gas usage, etc.

M
odern
computing can probably be traced back to the ‘Harvard Mk I’ and
Colossus. Colossus was an electronic computer built in Britain at the
end 1943 and designed to crack the German coding system — Lorenz
cipher.
The ‘Harvard Mk I’ was a more general purpose electro-mechanical
programmable computer built at Harvard University with backing from
IBM. These computers were among the first of the ‘first generation’
computers.

First
generation computers were normally based around wired circuits
containing vacuum valves and used punched cards as the main
(non-volatile)
storage medium. Another general purpose computer of this era was
‘ENIAC’ (Electronic
Numerical Integrator and Computer)
which was completed in 1946. It was typical of first generation
computers, it weighed 30 tones contained 18,000 electronic valves and
consumed around 25KW of electrical power. It was, however, capable of
an amazing 100,000 calculations a second.

The
next major step in the history of computing was the invention of the
transistor in 1947. This replaced the inefficient
valves with a much smaller and more reliable component.
Transistorized computers are normally referred to as ‘Second
Generation’ and dominated the late 1950s and early 1960s. Despite
using transistors and printed circuits these computers were still
bulky
and strictly the domain
of Universities and governments.

The
explosion in the use of computers began with ‘Third Generation’
computers. These relied Jack St. Claire Kilby’s invention — the
integrated circuit or microchip; the first integrated circuit was
produced in September 1958 but computers using them didn’t begin to
appear until 1963. While large ‘mainframes’ such as the I.B.M. 360
increased storage and processing capabilities further, the integrated
circuit allowed the development of Minicomputers that began to bring
computing into many smaller businesses. Large scale integration of
circuits led to the development of very small processing units, an
early example of this is the processor used for analyising flight
data in the US Navy’s F14A `TomCat’ fighter jet. This processor was
developed by Steve Geller, Ray Holt and a team from AiResearch and
American Microsystems.

On
November 15th, 1971, Intel released the world’s first commercial
microprocessor, the 4004. Fourth generation computers were developed,
using a microprocessor to locate much of the computer’s processing
abilities on a single (small) chip. Coupled with one of Intel’s
inventions — the RAM chip (Kilobits of memory on a single chip) — the
microprocessor allowed fourth generation computers to be even smaller
and faster than ever before. The 4004 was only capable of 60,000
instructions per second, but later processors (such as the 8086 that
all of Intel’s processors for the IBM PC and compatibles are based)
brought ever increasing speed and power to the computers.
Supercomputers of the era were immensely powerful, like the Cray-1
which could calculate 150 million floating point operations per
second. The microprocessor allowed the development of microcomputers,
personal computers that were small and cheap enough to be available
to ordinary people. The first such personal computer was the MITS
Altair 8800, released at the end of 1974, but it was followed by
computers such as the Apple I & II, Commodore PET and eventually
the original IBM PC in 1981.

Although
processing power and storage capacities have increased beyond all
recognition since the 1970s the underlying technology of LSI (large
scale integration) or VLSI (very large scale integration) microchips
has remained basically the same, so it is widely regarded that most
of today’s computers still belong to the fourth generation.

http://trillian.randomstuff.org.uk

LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT

Соседние файлы в предмете [НЕСОРТИРОВАННОЕ]

• #
• #
• #
• #
• #
• #
• #
• #
• #
• #
• #

Пожалуйста))
1. Match the words and phrases with their definitions.
1. Asylum seeker
2. emigrant
3. displaced person
4. immigrant
5. refugee
6. fugitive
a) someone who leaves their home to escape from war , persecution or natural disaster
b) another way of describing a refugee
c) someone who leaves their country to go and live in another country
d) someone who arrives in a country and wants to live there
e) someone who has committed a crime and is hiding from the police
f) Someone who arrives in another country seeking protection because they are in danger
2. Read and complete the text with these words.
(starvation , potato , fungus , landowners , disease , poverty)
At the beginning of the 19th century , ireland was part of the United Kingdom and was one of the poorest regions in Europe. The land was controlled by a few (1) … with enormous estates and peasant families rented small areas of land where they cultivated vegetables at a subsistence level. Many people emigrated to look for a better life for themselves and to escape from (2) … . By the 1840s, irish peasants had come to rely on just one vegetable, the (3) … for food. The potato is rich in nutrients and people can remain healthy on a diet almost exclusively of potatoes. When a (4) … caused by (5) … destroyed the potato crop in 1845 , millions of people had nothing to eat. It was a disaster and conditions were made worse by the policies of the British government which ruled ireland at that time. The crisis continued through the 1840s and over a million people died from (6) … or disease. From a population of about 8 million , over 1 million people emigrated to North America.

Автор: Гость

1.Air travel is a fast way of travelling both for domestic and international journeys.

Some airline companies operate scheduled flights, when take-off and landing are at major airports in major cities. Because departure and arrival times are regular and guaranteed tickets can be expensive. Alternatively, there are cheap charter flights when a travel company buys all the seats on a plane and sells at a discounted price. Charter airlines and low-cost scheduled airlines often operate from more accessible local airports and fly direct to holiday resorts, particularly in peak season. You usually need to buy tickets in advance. It is also possible to buy round the world tickets where you stop off at different global destinations. There is a limit to how much luggage passengers can carry and it takes time to check-in for flights due to security checks. Nowadays many people try to avoid taking too many flights because they aren’t good for the environment.

2. Sea travel can be a clean alternative to air travel. Ferries operate from one mainland destination to another, or between islands, departing and arriving at major ports. You can often take your car on ferries and there are no limits on the luggage you can carry. Journeys are long compared to flights and they can be quite expensive, especially if you sleep in a cabin overnight. You can buy tickets directly from the ferry companies or through tour operators, usually in advance. You can also take a luxury cruise, but they are generally quite expensive, all-inclusive packages.

3. Rail travel also has a low environmental impact and is a very flexible and convenient mode of transport because you can buy tickets in advance or just turn up at the station. Price varies a lot according to distance and destination. Luggage allowance is limited on trains, but on long distance trips you can book a bed to sleep in, called a berth. There are also young person’s rail passes for travelling around Europe and many countries have cheap or subsidised rail travel.

4. Road travel can be by car or by coach, but neither is very environmentally friendly. Car travel is very convenient because you can choose your own departure and arrival points and times, and take as much luggage as your vehicle can carry. The cost is generally low apart from fuel and any tolls, but travel time can be long. Alternatively you can arrive at your destination and hire a car on arrival, but this can be expensive. Coaches, like trains, follow timetables and you need to buy tickets in advance to be sure of a seat. Journeys can be slow and arrival times are unpredictable because of traffic. They are however cheap and convenient, with stops at both major and minor destinations.

2. Match these words and expressions from the text with their definitions.

1․charter flight – b a plane journey organised by a company that buys all the seats

2․ environmentally friendly – e something that doesn’t damage the natural world

3․ fuel – h what we put in a car to make it go, e.g. petrol or diesel

4․ landing – j when the plane returns to the ground at the end of a journey

5․ luggage – d bags and suitcases that you take on a journey

6․ peak season – g the time of year when a lot of people go on holiday

7․ rail pass – c a special train ticket you can buy to travel around a specific area for a specific period of time

8․ scheduled flight – a a plane leaving at the same time each day or each week

9․ security checks – f the activities to protect a country, building or person against attack or danger

10․ take-off – i when an airplane leaves the ground and starts flying

a a plane leaving at the same time each day or each week

b a plane journey organised by a company that buys all the seats

c a special train ticket you can buy to travel around a specific area for a specific period of time

 d bags and suitcases that you take on a journey

e something that doesn’t damage the natural world

f the activities to protect a country, building or person against attack or danger

 g the time of year when a lot of people go on holiday

 h what we put in a car to make it go, e.g. petrol or diesel

 i when an airplane leaves the ground and starts flying

j when the plane returns to the ground at the end of a journey

3․ Read the four texts again and answer the questions. Be careful, some have more than one answer. Which type of transport:

1․ Can be quite expensive if you travel overnight sea?

    Journeys are long compared to flights and they can be quite expensive, especially if you sleep in a cabin overnight.

2․ Has a low environmental impact?

Nowadays many people try to avoid taking too many flights because they aren’t good for the environment.

3․ Has a luxury version with all-inclusive packages?

 You can also take a luxury cruise, but they are generally quite expensive, all-inclusive packages.

4․ Has limits on passenger luggage?

    Luggage allowance is limited on trains, but on long distance trips you can book a bed to sleep in, called a

    berth.

5․ Has long security checks?

   There is a limit to how much luggage passengers can carry and it takes time to check-in for flights due to

   security checks.

6․ Has unpredictable arrival times?

    Journeys can be slow and arrival times are unpredictable because of traffic.

7․ Is convenient because you can choose your own route?

    Car travel is very convenient because you can choose your own departure and arrival points and times,  

    and take as much luggage as your vehicle can carry.

 8․ Is not environmentally friendly?

    Road travel can be by car or by coach, but neither is very environmentally friendly.

 9․ Operates between mainlands or islands?

     Ferries operate from one mainland destination to another, or between islands, departing and arriving at major ports.

10․ Has guaranteed departure and arrival times?

      Because departure and arrival times are regular and guaranteed tickets can be expensive.