Text c. Computers concern you.

When Ch. Babbage, a professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, invented the first calculating machine in 1812 he could hardly have imagined the situations we find ourselves in today. Almost everything in modern world is done with the help of computers- the complicated descendants of his simple machine. Computers are being used more and more extensively in the world today, for the simple reason that they are far more efficient than human beings. They have much better memories and can store great amount of information and they can do calculations in a fraction of the time required by a human mathematician. No man alive can do 500,000 sums in one second, but a modern computer can.

In fact, computers can do many things we do, but faster and better. They can control machines at factories, work out tomorrow’s weather and even play chess, write poetry or compose music.

Let’s look now at some of the ways in which computers concern people in their daily lives and work.

Many people associate computers with the world of science and mathematics, but they are also of great help to scholars in other subjects: in history, literature and so on. It is now possible for a scholar to find a book or an article he needs very quickly, which nowadays when a million or more new books are published each year is quite an advantage. You can tell the computer which subject you are interested in and it produces any microfiche you need in seconds.

There are also systems which are being developed to translate articles from foreign magazines by computer and to make up many lists of information which are needed in a modern library. So, computer can help us to deal with the knowledge explosion in many ways. One can imagine a time when libraries will be run by computers, without human beings at all.

Or, let’s take another example. When a man drives a car for long car distances he has two problems: to keep the car at a constant speed and watch that he does not run into the car in front of him. Engineers are now experimenting with a system which has a computer control of these two problems. The car’s computer keeps the speed constant. At the same time the distance between the car and any other car in front of it is measured by a beam of light transmitted forward. The beam meets the rear reflectors of the car in front and it is reflected back, which enables to measure the distance. This information is fed to the computer which adjusts its speed control accordingly.

Exercise 1. Complete the sentences using the information from the text

1. The first calculating machine was invented …

2. Computers are being used very extensively because …

3. A modern computer can …

4. Computers are of great help …

5. Some day libraries …

6. A computer control can be of great help …

Text d. Computer games.

Computer games are becoming more and more popular- some say too popular. But where do they come from? How do they work? Ruth Gates investigates for CLUB.

Battle with an alien spacecraft. Win the World Cup for your country. Use your skill and cunning to find your way through ancient castles. Yes, this is the exciting world of computer games! It's not all about violence: there's a game to suit everyone, from problem-solving to sports, and more and more are appearing in shops, cafes and clubs. The most popular game last summer was World Cup 90 , a realistic football contest for two players. You choose your international team and, using your skill and tacktics, control your team to win the Cup. If football isn't for you, you could join the Turtle, or test your driving skill in Hard Driving.

Few people know more about computer games than Jon Ritman, a well-known British programmer. He has written Match Day, a football program. Batman and Head Over Heels- both arcade adventures. So how does Jon write a computer game?

It takes a lot of careful and logical planning. At first he doesn't know what the characters or story will be. You think of the type of game you want to write and then find a stop,'. It could be sports, an adventure, anything. Then you have to work out each section of the game very carefully. Computers are like children - you have to give them very careful instructions so they know what to do.

Each instruction is very simple. It is the combination, in a very long list, that makes footballers score goals and spacecraft fly in computer games. This list of commands is what people refer to as a 'program'. The computer understands it in the form of numbers, but there are different languages through which human words are translated into numbers for the computer. Sometimes the instructions tell the computer to show something on the screen. The screen has hundreds of little dots on it which are called pixels. Each pixel has a number that means 'red' and the number so that the computer can recognized it. If you give the computer the number that means 'red' and the number of a dot it will make that dot red. Repeat instructions like this thousands and thousands of times, and you have a computer game. It's as simple as that!