- •Vocabulary 253
- •Information for study
- •If it keeps up, man atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger.
- •1. Read and translate the text.
- •2. Check up your understanding.
- •3. Retell the text briefly using the following expressions:
- •4. What's missing? You can help yourself referring to the text.
- •5. Rearrange the words and get the right sentences.
- •6. Put the letters in order to make words, then use the words to complete the sentences.
- •7. There are two words given in each item. You must explain
- •8. Give the opposites of the following words.
- •9. Give the synonyms of the following words:
- •10. What verbs frequently precede these words?
- •11. Supply the articles where necessary:
- •12. Translate into English:
- •13. Are you up to giving a right explanation?
- •Who can express the most precise meaning of the word? Are you getting on well with your English? Try to do your best!
- •14. Fairly and rather
- •1. Match the words given in the left column with their definitions in the right column, e.G. 1-21:
- •2. Invent sentences using the expressions from the list below:
- •3. Reading comprehension
- •Computer terms in use
- •If it’s beyond your reach, give Russian explanations at least.
- •Information for study
- •We live in a time when automation is ushering in a second industrial revolution.
- •1. Read and translate the text.
- •2. Are you an experienced person?
- •3. Retell the text briefly using the following words and expressions:
- •4. What’s missing? You can help yourself referring to the text.
- •5. Rearrange the words and get the right sentences.
- •6. Put the letters in order to make words, then use the words to complete the sentences.
- •11. Supply the articles where necessary:
- •12. Translate into English.
- •13. Are you up to giving a right explanation?
- •3. Vocabulary training
- •Identification of words.
- •4. Computer terms in use
- •1. Read and try to understand the given above text.
- •2. No doubt, a person who is willing to establish a new business must have certain skills, such as:
- •Phrasal verbs
- •If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.
- •If anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway.
- •If everything seems to go well, you have obviously overlooked something.
- •Information for study
- •1. Read and translate the text.
- •2. Check up your understanding. Give full answers:
- •3. Retell the text briefly using the following expressions and terms:
- •4. What’s missing? If you are in doubt refer to the text.
- •5. Rearrange the words and get the right sentences:
- •6. Put the letters in order to make words, then use the words to complete the sentences:
- •12. Translate into English:
- •13. Are you up to giving a right explanation?
- •If you’re in doubt we can help you.
- •He did his best and won the prize.
- •3. Vocabulary training
- •1. Identification of words
- •2. Useful expressions
- •Invent sentences using the expressions from the left column:
- •3. Reading comprehension
- •4. Computer terms in use
- •If it is beyond your grasp give at least Russian explanation:
- •Information for study
- •3. Vocabulary training
- •Fig. 1 Basic Computer Architecture
- •Moor’s law
- •1. Information for study
- •3. Vocabulary training
- •Inflation
- •Infidelity
- •1. Information for study
- •If builders built buildings the way the programmers wrote programs, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization.
- •1. Read and translate the text.
- •2. Check up your understanding. Give full answers:
- •3. Retell the text briefly using the following terms and expressions:
- •4. What is missing? If you are in doubt refer to the text. Take it into account that in each item the first letter of the missing word is used:
- •5. Rearrange the words and get the right sentences:
- •6. Supply the preposition if one is missing. If necessary refer to the text:
- •12. Translate into English.
- •13. Are you up to giving a right explanation?
- •3. Vocabulary training
- •Identification of words
- •2. Useful expressions
- •3. Phrasal verbs
- •If necessary use the dictionary at the end of this book.
- •4. Reading comprehension
- •5. Computer terms in use
- •Read and try to understand the given above text.
- •What’s your opinion concerning software piracy? Will it exist always?
- •It is a rather pleasant experience to be alone in a bank at night.
- •1. Information for study
- •Information.
- •1. Read and translate the text.
- •2. Check up your understanding. Give full answers.
- •3. Retell the text briefly using the fallowing expressions and terms:
- •4. What’s missing? If you are in doubt refer to the text. Take it into account that in each item the first letter of the missed word is used.
- •5. Rearrange the words and get the right sentences.
- •6. Supply the preposition if one is missing.
- •12. Are you up to giving a right explanation?
- •3. Vocabulary training
- •Identification of words
- •Useful expressions
- •Invent sentences using the following expressions and words:
- •Reading comprehension
- •4. Each sentence contains a word that is wrong.
- •5. Fill the gaps with the appropriate word. Then refer to the text.
- •Give the explanation to the following acronyms and abbreviations (p. 223 will help you):
- •Multimedia
- •Programming languages and functions
- •Real-Time Communication
- •I give myself sometimes admirable advice, but I’m incapable of taking it.
- •Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
- •It is a human zoo.
- •I’ve had three wives, six children, six grandchildren, and I still don’t understand women.
- •Vittorio Gassman
- •I prefer the company of women. I’m buzzed by the female mystique.
- •If Restaurants Function Like Microsoft
- •I don’t know why women want any of the things men have when one of the things that women have is men.
- •Fairly, rather
- •Vocabulary training
- •1. Match the words with their definitions:
- •3. Reading comprehension
- •Vocabulary training
- •1. Identification of words
- •3. Reading comprehension
- •4. Computer terms in use
- •Do and make
- •3. Vocabulary training
- •1. Identification of words
- •2. Reading comprehension
- •4. Computer terms in use
- •Vocabulary training
- •Verb study practice
- •Vocabulary training
- •Vocabulary training
- •Vocabulary training
- •Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language.
- •Vocabulary
- •I. Funk, n. Lewis
- •Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary Of the English Language
4. Computer terms in use
A. Match the terms in the left-hand column with their definitions in the right-hand column. E.G. 1-3.
1. digital computer |
1. a device that executes individual program instructions and controls the operations of other parts of the computer |
2. software |
2. a hard disc on which data are stored in the form of etched pits |
3. hardware |
3. a program that controls a peripheral device |
4. scanner |
4. a device, which manipulates information coded as binary numbers |
5. driver program |
5. visual display terminal |
6. CPU |
6. computer |
7. VDT |
7. the mechanical, electrical and electronic components of a computer system |
8. floppy disc |
8. a device for copying texts and pictures |
9. CD ROM |
9. a flexible disc, a storage device on which data are recorded magnetically |
10. DDT |
10. a software error or flaw |
11. bug |
11. debugging program |
12. RAM |
12. a permanent type of memory storage for important data that does not change |
13. ROM |
13. short-term memory |
14. confuser |
14. a collection of programs |
B. Find out Russian equivalents of the computer terms given below. If it is beyond your grasp, give at least Russian explanation.
Compilation is a process in which the program code developed by programmers – the source code – is «translated» into code that the computer can actually understand the object code. This is accomplished by a program called a compiler. For example, program code such as that developed under languages like COBOL must go through a compiler to be understood by the computer.
Computer-bound is a software program that has been limited in speed or functionality due to the size of computers central processing unit.
Compatible software is a software designed to allow for the exchange of data with other software.
Compression is a the process of packing data into lesser amounts of storage space. Compression is achieved either within the software program or through special programs that perform this function.
Clipboard is an area of memory for storing text that is in the process of being moved from one loca-tion to another. For example, if a paragraph is being moved to another place in a document, it is held in the clip-board while the user locates the spot where it is being moved.
Circuit board is a thin board for mounting microchips and other electronic components, installed inside a computer functionality. The basic CPU of the computer is contained on a circuit board, called the motherboard. Circuit boards provide additional functions, such as graphics capabilities. The boards are often printed with a pattern to indicate how the circuit should flow. Circuit card is another term for circuit board.
Utility program is a program that performs a specific function at the system level, such as managing the use of magnetic storage tapes for system backup.
Plug-in is a piece of software designed not to run on its own but rather work in cooperation with a separate application to increase that application abilities.
4. Additional information
Bill Gates about his start
The story of Microsoft really began one day in 1975, when my friend Paul Allen and I saw an article in Popular Electronics describing a new «personal computer» called the MITS ALTAIR 8800. The Altair was very different from the mainframe computers that we were used to back then. It was a build-it-yourself kit for hobbyists – what arrived in the mail wasn’t fully assembled computer, just some bags of parts and a set of photocopied instructions. After a few days (or weeks) of soldering, you ended up with a computer roughly the size of a bread box, with rows of switches and blinking lights.
It wasn’t much to look at, and it was pretty much impossible to make it do anything useful, but right away we thought the Altair was the start of a revolution that would change the world. The «brain» of the Altair – the inexpensive Intel 8080 microprocessor – made possible a truly human-scale computer that could fit on a desk. In those days, when computers usually lived in air-conditioned glass rooms surrounded by trained technicians, that was an amazing achievement.
To transform that achievement into a breakthrough, the Altair needed software that could make it perform useful computing tasks. That set Paul and me on the path to forming our own software company. We knew that microprocessors would become more powerful and less expensive, so the cost of computers would come down. We figured that would bring them within reach of far more people, from entrepreneurs to students to home users. And we concluded that this would create a huge demand for software. We formed a little partnership called Microsoft so we could be a part of this transformation.
Over the years, the PC has grown from a hobbyist’s toy into an indispensable tool that continuous to change the world. Its revolutionized how we deal with information, how we communicate, and how we work, learn, and play. And the little company Paul and I dreamed up sitting around my college dorm room is now the world’s biggest software company, employing almost 40,000 people in more than 50 countries. From our roots in programming languages and operating systems, we’ve ventured into just about every kind of software you can imagine, from industrial-strength servers to games.
We started with a vision of «a computer on every desk and in every home». We turned that vision – which many critics saw as nothing but a fantasy – into reality. Hundreds of current and former Microsoft employees were interviewed about our first 25 years – the successes and failures, the personal and professional challenges, and their dreams for the future. Those stories chronicle our growth from scrappy start-up to industry leader. They tell of the risks we’ve taken, the intense competition we’ve weathered, and the new trails we’ve blazed. They explain the complex process that takes us from good ideas to great products. They reveal what we’re thinking about how technology can improve society and change the world. In 25 years we’ve accomplished so many things that people said were impossible, and we’ve shattered every myth about what the PC can’t do. As ambitious as we were at the outset, we had no idea that we would become such a large and influential company, or that we would lead an industry that’s come to play such an important role in the global economy.
Looking back at what we’ve achieved in 25 years, I feel certain that we’ll have even more impressive things to remember in our 50th year. Every day, we’re finding new ways for technology to enhance and enrich people’s lives. We’re really just getting started.