Evolution of the computer

(part 1)

I. Rend and memorize the following words and word-combinations: electronic computing machine -

advanced -

brain work -

reliably -

forecast -

scope -

research establishment -

accounts department -

man's muscles -

human being -

same -

to play an important role -

fast -

cheap -

aircraft design -

a few -

undoubtedly -

to widen -

II. Rend and translate the following text:

Not many years ago the electronic computing machine was little more than a highbrow laboratory in­strument, to be found only in the more advanced mathematics departments of universities or government research establishments.

Nowadays it performs nearly all the functions of a large commercial accounts department These machines are constructed on -the best engineering princi­ples.

But what is the reason for this sudden popular­ity? The answer is of course, that a new and advanced form of mechanization is beginning to appear in indus­try and commerce - mechanization of brain work.

Whereas in the Industrial Revolution it was man's muscles that were replaced by mechanical power, in this latest phase, which we sometimes call the Second Industrial Revolution, we see machines taking over some of his simpler mental processes. It is uneconomic to employ human beings, when there are machines which can do the same operations faster, cheaper and more reliably.

Aircraft design, ballistics, crystallography, elec­tron optics, astronomy, pure mathematics and weather forecasting are just a few of activities in which comput­ing machines are playing an important role. And the scope will undoubtedly widen in the future.

Answer the questions:

1. What was the electronic computing machine not many years ago?

2. Where could they be found?

3. What was replaced by mechanical power, in the latest

phase, which we sometimes call the Second Industrial Revolution?

4. What machine is economic to employ instead of hu­man beings in taking over some of their simpler mental processes?

5. In what activities does the computer play an impor­tant role?

TEXT 12

Read and translate the following text:

Calculating machines as such are by no means new, of course. If one leaves out the abacus or counting frame, which appeared long before Christianity, they are about 300 years old or more: John Napier, a Scot, must be given credit for paving the way, at the begin­ning of the 17^th century. He did not devise a system of numbering rods as an aid to multiplication (known as Napier's «bones») but was the inventor of logarithms, which were almost immediately embodied in the slide rule.

The «bones» were an elementary aid to digital calculation while the slide-rule was probably the earliest analogue device and these represent the iwo main streams in computing technology as we know today.

Napier's «bones*, however, had no real practical value, and were little more than a scientific curiosity. It was a Frenchman, Blaise Pascal, who achieved the first successful mechanization in 1642. His machines consisted of a series of wheels with numbers round them,] the first wheel representing units, the second tens, the third hundreds, and so on, and it worked on the same sort of principle as the modern revolution counter. Although it was a very simple device it contained one important de­velopment which is an essential part of digital comput­ing technique - a means of making the <carry over» used in adding numbers together, into an automatic process. Moreover, it showed the possibility of multiply­ing numbers by successive addition-another principle used in modern computers and this was actually embod­ied in a machine by Leibnitz in 1871. From then on­wards a variety of improved calculating machines were devised all based on the original idea of wheels moved round in steps, and in the 19^th century commercial models began to appear.

Memorize the following words and word-combinations:

1.calculate – рахувати

2.abacus – абахус, рахувальна рамка

3.numbering rods – рахувальні палички

4.inventor – винахідник

5.embody – втілювати

6.bones – кістки

7.value – цінність

8.wheel – колесо

9.adding – додавання

10.multiplying - множення

Answer the questions:

1. When did the abacus or counting frame appear?

2. What can you say about Blaise Pascal's first success­ful mechanization in 1642?

3. What important development did this very simple device contain?

4. What another principle used in modern computers was embodied in a machine by Leibnitz in 1691?

5. Did commercial models begin to appear in the 18^Lh or the 19^th century?

TEXT 13

І. Прочитайте та письмово перекладіть текст українською мовою.