3 сем учебники / тексты

МИНОБРНАУКИ РОССИИ

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Санкт-Петербургский государственный электротехнический университет «ЛЭТИ» им. В. И.Ульянова (Ленина)

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Ю. Б. ГЕНИНА О. М. ЖУРАВЛЕВА

ДОПОЛНИТЕЛЬНЫЕ МАТЕРИАЛЫ ДЛЯ ЧТЕНИЯ НА АНГЛИЙСКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ ДЛЯ СТУДЕНТОВ ФЭА

Учебное пособие

Санкт-Петербург Издательство СПбГЭТУ «ЛЭТИ»

2015

ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ

Во время обучения на первом курсе студенты всех технических направлений изучают иностранный язык повседневного общения, однако на втором курсе им предстоит знакомство с профессионально-ориентированной лексикой. В связи с этим студентам предлагаются для чтения и перевода тексты, которые соответствуют направлению их подготовки. Такой подход подразумевает специализацию преподавания иностранного языка в зависимости от профиля обучения.

Тексты, собранные в настоящем пособии, продолжают тематику ранее изданного «Сборника текстов для чтения». В нем углубленно разбирается терминология, связанная с темой роботостроения и индукционного нагрева. Несмотря на то, что тексты предназначены для студентов факультета электроники и автоматики, некоторые из них могут быть использованы в качестве дополнительного материала при работе со студентами других направлений.

Поскольку занятия по иностранному языку на втором курсе предполагают, в первую очередь, освоение специализированной лексики с целью письменного перевода, в пособии меньше внимания уделяется разговорной практике (только в виде обсуждения текстов, ответов на вопросы и высказывания своего мнения). Однако студентам, которым предложенной разговорной практики покажется мало, можно посоветовать, например, организовать самостоятельный информационный поиск и подготовить презентацию на тему, близкую к изучаемой. Также можно рекомендовать провести работу с видео-материалами, находящимися в свободном доступе в сети Интернет (например, прослушать серию лекций по робототехнике, прочитанных в Стэнфорде), в режиме доступа www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yD3uBshJB0 (первая лекция), а также вместе с дополнительными лекциями в режиме доступа http://videolectures.net/stanfordcs223aw08_introduction_robotics/ или ознакомиться с документальными фильмами, посвященными роботостроению, например, «The rising of the robot»: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlhEANP5Ufc и др.

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UNIT 1. ROBOTS

1. Ответьте на вопросы

1)When did robots appear?

2)What are the main laws of robotics?

3)Why do people want to construct robots?

2. Выучите слова

–coin – создавать неологизмы (новые слова и выражения);

–helpmate – помощник;

–constrain [kən'streɪn] – ограничивать;

–injure ['ɪnʤə] – ранить, ушибить;

–pluck – выхватить;

–die-casting machine – машина для литья под давлением;

–quench [kwenʧ] – охлаждать (быстрым погружением в холодную воду или масло);

–general-purpose robot – универсальный робот;

–clutter ['klʌtə] – заполонять, заваливать (чем-л.);

–miraculously [mɪ'rækjələslɪ] – замечательно;

–ambiguity [ˌæmbɪ'gjuːɪtɪ] – неопределённость, неясность, двусмысленность;

–touch feedback – обратная связь от датчика касания;

–universe ['juːnɪvɜːs] – сфера, область.

3. Прочитайте и переведите текст

Building robots involves the development of a wide range of skills, including creative thinking, design, mechanics, electronics and programming – all of which are highly valued in industry.

What are robots?

Nowadays, the word robot is often applied to any device that works automatically or by remote control, especially a machine (automaton) that can be programmed to perform tasks normally done by people.

Before the 1960s, robot usually meant a manlike mechanical device (mechanical man or humanoid) capable of performing human tasks or behaving in a human manner. Today robots come in all shapes and sizes.

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What many robots have in common is that they perform tasks that are too dull, dirty, delicate or dangerous for people. Usually, we also expect them to be autonomous, that is, to work using their own sensors and intelligence, without the constant need for a human to control them. Looked at this way, a radio controlled aeroplane is not a robot, nor are the radio controlled combat robots that appear on television. However, there is no clear dividing line between fully autonomous robots and human-controlled machines. For example, the robots that perform space missions on planets like Mars may get instructions from humans on the Earth, but since it can take about ten minutes for messages to get back and forth, the robot has to be autonomous during that time.

The term robotics was coined in the 1940s by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. In a series of stories and novels, he imagined a world in which mechanical beings were mankind's devoted helpmates. They were constrained to obey what have become known as Asimov's Laws of Robotics:

A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except when such orders would conflict with the First Law.

A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

What was the first practical robot?

A prototype industrial robot arm named Unimate (designed by George Devol

and Joseph Engelberger) was sold to General Motors in 1959. It plucked hot automobile parts out of a die-casting machine and quenched them in water.

The 1960s and 1970s saw a revolution in manufacturing as robots replaced humans for many repetitive jobs. However, these robots were not intelligent by today’s standards. Usually they were programmed by humans training their movements, and they had very little decision-making capabilities. There are still many robots like this in factories today, but the trend is towards more intelligent general-purpose robots that can do more than just paint a panel or screw in a bolt.

What can't robots do?

It is very difficult to give a robot the ability to perform a wide variety of tasks, move around in cluttered surroundings, recognise objects in the ‘real world’, understand normal speech, and think for itself. These are exciting areas of current research in robotics and artificial intelligence.

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Spoken language understanding involves two primary component technologies: speech recognition (SR), and natural language (NL) understanding.

Getting robots to ‘see’ is a complicated problem. Although it is easy to put a camera on a robot, it is much more difficult to get the robot to understand what is in an image. Most humans have miraculously good vision. We are able to resolve great ambiguity in scenes. It has proved much more difficult to get robots to understand what is in their universe, and machine vision remains one of the big unsolved problems in robotics research.

There are other problems in robotics that make progress slow. For example, your body is covered with skin, and this contains millions of sensors that allow you to do many fantastically precise things. For example, try typing at a computer with gloves on. The lack of touch feedback will make it very difficult. Also your muscles enable you to have very fine control. Even if you are rather clumsy, you are probably much better at manipulating objects than the average robot.

Rapid advances are being made in robotic control systems, artificial intelligence, neural networks, and in the miniaturisation, sophistication and reliability of electronic circuitry, sensors and actuators. These are all contributing to a steady increase in the capabilities of robots. Robots currently under development may become widely used in the food, clothing, nuclear and offshore industries, healthcare, farming, transportation, mining and defence.

4. Прочитайте следующие слова

humanoid, aeroplane, quench, recognition, miraculously, ambiguity, precise, muscle, average, neural, actuators.

5. Переведите слова и составьте с ними предложения

remote control, helpmate, constrain, decision-making capabilities, generalpurpose robots, ambiguity, coin, sophistication, offshore industries, pluck, diecasting machine.

6. Определите, истинны или ложны следующие утверждения. Откорректируйте ложные высказывания

1.To be autonomous means to exist or act separately from other things or

people.

2.The robots of 1960s and 1970s were intelligent by today’s standards.

3.It is easy to give a robot the ability to perform a wide variety of tasks.

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4.Speech understanding and machine vision are big unsolved problems in robotics research.

5.The touch feedback makes manipulating objects much better.

6.Robots come in all shapes and sizes.

7.Составьте пары близких по значению слов

dull, tender, hurt, universal, struggle, constant, quench, intelligence, cool, uninteresting, mind, devote, combat, dedicate, injure, delicate, general-purpose, steady

8. Задание

8.1.Переведите слова и словосочетания

1. Existence, exist, peaceful co-existence.

2. Miracle, miraculously, work miracles.

3. Currently, direct current, current events.

4. The Universe, laboratory universe, universal laws.

5. Fine, fine edge, fine tuning.

6. Clumsy person, clumsiness.

7. Precise point positioning, mathematically precise, desired precision.

8. Plane Earth, the Earth, earth.

8.2.Составьте предложения c этими словами

9. Ответьте на вопросы

1.What does building robots involve?

2.How was a manlike mechanical device capable of performing human tasks or behaving in a human manner called before the 1960s?

3.What kind of jobs do robots perform?

4.How do we expect robots to work?

5.Is there a clear dividing line between fully autonomous robots and humancontrolled machines?

6.When did the word robotics appear?

7.Who was the prototype industrial robot arm named Unimate designed by?

8.Were the robots of 1960s and 1970s intelligent by today’s standards?

9.What are the problems in robotics?

10.Who is the author of Laws of Robotics?

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10. Соедините слова с определениями (одному слову может соответствовать несколько определений)

11. Вставьте пропущенные слова

development, artificial, sophisticated, remote, repetitive, steadier, constrained, vision, replaced, capabilities.

1.Building robots involves the… of a wide range of skills

2.Nowadays, the word robot is often applied to any device that works automatically or by …control, especially a machine (automaton) that can be programmed to perform tasks normally done by people.

3.Research has been … by a lack of funds.

4.Experimental architecture and design studio Minimaforms has created a zoo for children where rabbits, ponies and pigs, have been … with robotic “pets.”

5.Robots are really good at … tasks.

6.Even a surgeon with … hands can not stay as still as a robotic arm.

7.Although the appearance and … of robots vary vastly, all robots share the features of a mechanical, movable structure under some form of autonomous control.

8.The biggest change in the past five years is how …-guided robotic systems are used.

9.… skin is a product which can be used for temporary or permanent replacement of damaged skin.

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10.By introducing a more …control element, the microprocessor, you introduce a significant new tool in solving the robot control problem.

11.Neurosurgeons may one day get help in operating rooms from a robot with movements 10 times than … the human hand to perform delicate brain surgeries.

12.Задание

12.1. Переведите следующие слова и словосочетания

a way, a way of life, the way home, out of the way, on the way, in smb’s own way, by the way, give way to, in a way, under way, the Milky Way.

12.2. Вставьте пропущенные слова

by the way, Milky Way, in the way, a long way, all the way, a way (2), a way of life, out of the way, under way.

1.The Scientific Method is … to make sure that your experiment can give a good answer to your specific question.

2.The inventor is the one who not only has the idea, but works out… of putting it into practice.

3.…, earthquakes happen about once every century.

4.If something is …, it is considered to be what people normally do or have.

5.He had to walk … home.

6.It was a quiet, … hotel.

7.We have walked … .

8.The first mammoth cloning experiment is officially … .

9.I see nothing contradictory … the experiment was set up, nor in the intentions of the experimenters, nor on its conclusions.

10.The train has had to stop briefly, but it should be… again soon.

11.Preparations for their arrival are already … .

12.There are about a hundred billion stars in the … Galaxy.

13.Напишите сочинение на тему «Will robots take over from humans?», используя информацию из текста

Will robots take over from humans?

This is a popular science fiction theme, and the answer depends on whether robots will ever attain consciousness and emotions. In stories like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Terminator, humans always find a way to outwit intelligent machines

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that try to take over control. That's fiction, however, and fact is often stranger than fiction!

The suggestion that robots will take over because they might become more intelligent than humans overlooks one critical fact: the people who have power in human societies are usually not the most intelligent in the obvious, intellectual way. They have different kinds of ‘human intelligence’, including the ability to understand other people, and to influence their behaviour.

The sensible answer to the question as to whether robots will take over is that they probably won’t in the near future. There are many reasons for this. The first is that the robots of today have puny brains compared to humans, and they do not have the ability to organise in the same way as humans. Our societies are very complex and allow us to achieve very advanced things. It is unlikely that robots could overtake us in the near future. Even so, it is something that we should keep an eye on, since all scientists have a responsibility not to do things that damage society.

However, for the most part, robots play a very positive role in our societies, and we can expect them to be used in many ways that make life better for us all.

14. Прочитайте и перескажите текст

Where did the word robot originate?

The word robot was introduced in 1920 in a play by Karel Capek called R.U.R., or Rossum's Universal Robots. Robot comes from the Czech word robota, meaning forced labour or drudgery (['drʌʤ(ə)rɪ] – тяжёлая, монотонная работа). In the play, human-like mechanical creatures produced in Rossum's factory are docile (послушный) slaves. Since they are just machines, the robots are badly treated by humans. One day a misguided scientist gives them emotions, and the robots revolt, kill nearly all humans and take over the world. However, because they are unable to reproduce themselves, the robots are doomed to die. However, the sole surviving human creates a male and a female robot to perpetuate their species.

Have people always been fascinated by human-like machines?

The roots of robotics can be traced back to Greek mythology and Jewish mysticism. Several myths from Ancient Greece tell of statues being brought to life. According to Aristotle, the legendary Greek inventor, Daedalus (whose son Icarus flew too close to the sun), created animated statues that guarded the entrance to the Labyrinth in Crete. The Jewish Talmud describes the making of a golem, a clay

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