2) Search the text for the English equivalents of the ords and word-combinations listed below:

соединение обрабатывать данные электроника

периферийные устройства наиболее заметная часть системный блок микроплаты установлены общее определение

с пользуемая в данный момент' представлены отыскивать данные собственные прикладные программы главные характеристики

измеряться

These programs perform logical and mathematical operations. They are represented as an organized set of programs. First of all the computer can't work without operating system. It is the "intelligence" of the computer system. Then there are programs which store and retrieve data. Others perform difficult mathematical calculations. Some programs allow you to create, edit, and process application programs of your own.

Brainware includes all sorts of documentation, the manuals and listings that tell the user how to operate the hardware and software and certainly, it includes consumer's mentality, knowledge and ideas. In this case, computer is only a servant, not a master.

Above all this, there are adapters, controllers, system bus, ports in the computer system. They are all make computer work. 22

III Comprehension Check:

1) Answer the following questions:

1. What is the main function of a computer?

2. What is the formula of the computer's component parts?

3. What are the hardware elements?

4. What kinds of monitors do you know?

5. What does the system block consist of?

6. What peripheral devices of a computer do you know?

23

7. 

   What computer programs do you know?

8. What is brainware?

9. What are the specifications of a computer?

2) Put these items in the right order to work with information correctly.

1. storing information

2. outputting the results of processed information

3. processing information

4. transmitting information

5. accepting information

3) Which is the most powerful and the leas powerful processor.

Say which computer is more powerful in comparison with the other one.

5) Do this crossword in English.

Celeron

Pentium

MMX

Pentium II

Pentium III

Pentium IV

And what about nowadays?

4) What parts can't a computer work without? Tick the appropriate box.

• a printer

• a keyboard

• a mouse

• a central processor

• a monitor

• a modem

24

Accross: 2. Подпрограмма. 4. Математическое обеспечение. 5. Периферийное устройство. 7. Распечатка программы.

8. Устройство вывода.

Down: 1. Аппаратное обеспечение. 3. Отыскивать информацию.

5. Печатающее устройство. 6. Устройство памяти.

6) Work in pairs. Look at the list. Talk about computers. What can they do? What can't they do?

e. g.: They can count, but they can't translate - Yes, they can.

count translate speak English play chess do crosswords

smell

forecast the weather

check spelling

make music

have conversations

25

hear see

write books think etc. ...

7) Give in full the following abbreviations:

CD	LCD
HDD	CRT
FDD	SVGA
MMX	VDT
BIOS	DVD
MS-DOS	IС

9) Enumerate all the component parts of a computer system on the scheme of the text. Write them down and learn them!

Draw your own scheme of a computer system!

10) Expand the following idea:

Computer is only a servant, not a master.

Give the translation. What do these abbreviations stand for?

8) Give your comments on this newspaper advertisement in English. newspaper

Speak about the latest computer models and their

specifications.

26

27

to save	экономить, спасать
chemist	химик
to appear	появляться
race	гонка

Reading tasks: 1) Read the text.

abacus bead byte

generation to devise to need slide rule to reduce

advancement

to use

to break down

difference

to program

to mean

powerful

space

go through

28

Unit3

From the History of a Computer. I Pre-reading tasks:

1) Answer the following questions:

1. What are the mainframe computers?

2. What is the latest most powerful computer?

3. What types and make are there the computers in the computer centre at our university?

4. Have you heard about the supercomputers? What are they? 5. Are we living in an electronic world? Prove that'

6. Who is considered to be the first inventor of a computer?

2) Words to watch:

счеты

бусина

байт

поколение

придумывать, изобретать

нуждаться

логарифмическая линейка

уменьшать

достижение

использовать

ломаться

различие

программировать, составлять программу

значить, означать

мощный

пространство, место

тщательно разбирать пункт за пунктом

"Tomorrow's Computers"

The first electric

Charles Babbage

computers were built in the 1940s. This was the first generation of computers. They were very big and difficult to work with and they needed a lot of electricity. They became hot and often stopped working. When this happened, all of the numbers and answers were lost. The memory was very small. This was the beginning of today's computing -the first generation of computers. When the transistor arrived a new generation of computers began. The second generation. Computers became smaller and easier to work with. Second generation Computers didn't use very much electricity. The transistors didn't break down because they didn't get hot. Second generation computers were much faster than the first generation. They could do hundreds of jobs in a second and they had large memories. Because the second generation computers were so much better, people were able to make better and better programs. And there was one very important difference: the second generation computers could program themselves. Each came with its own program. This made sure that the computer worked with the user's programs in the right way. It told the computer what to do first, what to do next, what to do after that, and when to stop. When you buy a computer, it has its own working

29

program. The makers build it in before the computer reaches the shops. It makes sure that the right things will happen at the right time

The third generation of computers used thousands of transistors. This meant that third generation computers were very powerful. They could do large numbers of things very quickly. They also had memories that could store large amounts of data and could use programs with hundreds of steps. It was possible to make new programming languages for third generation computers.

The fourth generation computers were built in the 198a

These computers had hundreds of computer parts in a very small

space. Because of the large number of transistors, they could store up

to five million bytes of date in very small machines and they could

work at high speeds. They could go through more than 20 million

steps every second. Fourth generation computers were the first

machines to use Expert Systems. An expert is someone who knows a

lot about a certain subject. And an expert system is a program that

can find the answers to many difficult questions. The program

contains everything that an expert knows about his subject. For

example, some expert systems can tell if someone is ill or not. This

kind of program knows what a doctor knows. Someone tells the

computer what he feels. The computer will ask questions which the

person will answer. Then the computer will look for answers, and say

what is probably wrong. The computer may say what medicine the

person will need. An expert system like this can do most of the work

of a doctor. It can save the doctor time by asking questions. It can not

see the person. It can only work with the data it is given. Some of that

comes from the person who programmed it and some comes from the