Grind Away. English for Information Technology Engineers. Учебно-методическое пособие

4.Put the sentences from the podcast into the right order: https://learningapps.org/watch?v=pm3841qv323

5.Render the text in English:

Метеорологическое агентство ООН предупредило, что экстремальные температуры – «новая норма». Ученые говорят, что изменения климата вызывают периоды аномальной жары более длительные, жаркие и частые. Многие страны испытывали рекордно жаркую погоду на прошлой неделе. Людям советовали оставаться в тени и пить много воды. Представитель ООН предупредил о необходимости сократить выброс парниковых газов. Экстремальная погода оказывает влияние также на здоровье людей и водные запасы.

Communication

1. Prepare a presentation about the history and development of electronic devices:

a)Present a timeline of the history of electronic devices using the texts above.

b)Be ready to say a few words on the timeline.

c)Enlarge the timeline with the electronic items that appeared and simplified people`s lives.

d)Try to predict what kind of electronic devices will appear soon.

e)Present your ideas to the other students.

Home task. Individual work.

1.Follow the link and practice using the words and phrases: https://quizlet.com/ru/814895494/the-development- of-electronic-devices-flash-cards/?i=3lks4z&x=1jqt

2.Fill in the gaps in the text: https://learningapps.org/watch?v=ppoja006a23

3.Practice using Passive Voice sentences: https://www.englishgrammar.org/active-passive-voice-exercise-3/

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Unit 5. Computers and Digital Technology

5.1. Computers versus Human Beings

Text Work

1. Match the words and translate the phrases

2. Read the sentences and fill them in with the phrases above:

a)Computers … around in their “brains,” made of processors, and perform calculations at superhuman speeds.

b)Computers can … that human beings are not able to solve.

c)Soon computer technologies will ….

d)Computers don’t … the way humans do, so they can calculate, analyze and perform tasks tirelessly.

e)Nevertheless, computers don’t … to create the way humans do.

3.Make sure you know the translation of the phrases: https://quizlet.com/ru/815314059/computer-and-human- flash-cards/?i=3lks4z&x=1qqt

4.Read and translate the text.

Are Computers Already Smarter Than Humans?

By Lance Whitney

September 29, 2017 Times Magazine

Who’s smarter — you, or the computer or mobile device on which you’re reading this article? The answer is increasingly complex. Computers are certainly capable of solving the problems that human beings are not able to solve.

Computers can take in and process certain kinds of information much faster than we can. They can swirl the data around in their “brains,” made of processors, and perform calculations at superhuman speeds. For example, the best chess-trained computers can at this point strategize many moves ahead. Computers learn much more quickly, narrowing complex choices to the most optimal ones. Yes, humans also learn from mistakes, but when it comes to dealing with the kinds of puzzles computers excel at, we’re far more fallible.

Computers enjoy other advantages over people. They have better memories, so they can be fed a large amount of information. Computers don’t require sleep the way humans do, so they can calculate, analyze and perform tasks tirelessly and round the clock. Notwithstanding bugs or susceptibility to power blackouts, computers are simply more accurate at pulling off a broadening range of high-value functions than we are. They’re not affected or influenced by emotions, feelings, wants, needs and other factors that often cloud the judgment and intelligence of us mere mortals.

On the other hand, humans are still superior to computers in many ways. We perform tasks, make decisions, and solve problems based not just on our intelligence but another important factors (our instincts, our common sense and our life experiences). Computers can be programmed with vast libraries of information, but they can’t experience life the way we do. Humans possess traits we sometimes refer to (again, in the abstract) as creativity, imagination and inspiration. A person can write a poem, compose and play music, sing a song, create a painting or dream up a new invention. Computers can be programmed to replicate some of those tasks, but they don’t possess the innate ability to create the way humans do.

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Handsome, easy, fat, ugly, bad, happy, hot, short.

4.Find the examples of comparative forms from the text above.

5.Complete the gaps:

a) Jake's room is … than Larry's room. (small). b) The blue car is … than the black car. (nice) c) This exercise is … than that one. (boring) d) His pullover is … than his jeans. (dark) e) Susan's hair is …than my hair. (long) f) Football is … than handball. (popular) g) In the UK, the streets are generally … (narrow) than in the USA. h) London is … (busy) than Glasgow. i) Julie is … (quiet) than her sister. j) Amanda is … (ambitious) than her classmates.

6. Using the phrases from the text above make up sentences describing the superiority of computers over human being or vice versa:

Much faster, more fallible, learn more quickly, have better memories, more accurate at …

Listening

1.What is brain-hacking? Share your ideas with fellow students.

2.Match the word with the definition:

3.Practice the key phrases from the news message you are going to hear: https://quizlet.com/ru/816652729/brain- hacking-flash-cards/?i=3lks4z&x=1qqt

4.Listen and answer the questions: https://breakingnewsenglish.com/2008/200831-superhuman-powers-a.html

1.What could the experiment on the pig pave the way to?

2.What did the article say computers could enhance in us?

3.What is the name of Mr Musk's startup?

4.What does the technology represent a giant leap into?

5.What is the pig's name?

6.What conditions might the technology help?

7.What kind of movie did the article compare this technology to?

8.What did Mr Musk say was a mind-blowing aspect of the technology?

5.Complete the gaps according to the text: https://learningapps.org/watch?v=pxi60auca23

6.Look at the words below. Recall how they were used in the text:

Trailblazer, pave, ambition, startup, leap, results, wired, artificial, aspect.

7. Write an essay about computer chips being implanted in our brain to give us superhuman powers being a step too far. Add for and against reasons, decide if the technology is too far from being implemented, express your own opinion on this issue.

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Communication

Divide into two groups and take part in brain ring.

Group A – reasons for computers being superior over humans.

Groups B – reasons for humans being superior over computers.

Have 7 minutes to make up a list of reasons and discuss in the group. Have 10 minutes to present the arguments for the given aspect.

The group may add reasons to the list using https://beta.character.ai/

Home task. Individual work.

1.Revise the words and phrases: https://quizlet.com/ru/815314059/computer-and-human-flash- cards/?i=3lks4z&x=1qqt

Make up sentences with any five of them.

2.Write the essay.

The plan of the essay “Are Computers Smarter than Human Beings?”

The introduction (Why is the topic important?)

The main part (arguments for computers or humans/ arguments against)

The conclusion (What is your personal attitude to the problem? Can computers really outperform human beings?) Use the phrases

3. Listen to the recording: https://breakingnewsenglish.com/2307/230724-ai-gaming-jobs-a.html Do the tasks.

a) Before listening: match the words and their definitions. Make the list of them with the translation.

b)While listening:

•do the test task: https://forms.yandex.ru/cloud/64ce3a94068ff07fa6695757/

•answer the questions

1.What has the emergence of artificial intelligence brought to people?

2.What are actors in Hollywood striking for?

3.What is TIGA?

4.What would AI speed up the process of?

5.What did Mr Wood say the games industry was at the cutting edge of?

6.What experiences does Mr Wood want for players of video games?

7.What does the future possibilities of AI promise?

c)After listening: look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text: emergence, actors, benefit, boss, costs, body, edge, create, future.

5.2. How Smart is your Phone?

Text work

1. Rank the functions of a smartphone in the order of importance for you:

Tell about you using your smartphone (use the frequency words: f.e. – I hardly ever post something on the social media but I always call may friends and read on my phone).

2.Listen to three people talking about their phones and how they use it. Answer the questions: https://disk.yandex.ru/d/GkSQC2r8oDSKhg

3.Read the text about mobile phones and complete it with the words:

antenna, designed, conversation, analogue, cells, call, analogue, amount, imagine, receive.

A cellular phone (or mobile phone) is 1. … to give the user freedom of movement while using a telephone. It uses radio signals to communicate between the phone and the 2. … . The server area is divided into smaller areas called 3. … and an antenna is placed within each cell and connected by telephone lines. These lines connect cellular phones to one another: a computer selects the antenna closest to the telephone when a 4. … is made. If the phone moves to one serving cell to another, the radio signal is transferred to the actual cell without interrupting the 5. …

.

The circuit board is the heart of the system. A chip translates the outgoing and incoming signals from 6. … to digital and back from digital to analogue. The microprocessor handles all the functions for the keyboard, the display and the 7. …, and it controls the signal to the base station. Other flash memory chips provide storage for the operating system. A cellular phone is not only a phone but it provides an incredible 8. … of functions:

•store information;

•use a calculator;

•send and 9. … emails;

•surf the Internet;

•play simple games;

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• play music, take photos and videos.

Can you 10. … your life without your mobile phone?

4.Listen and check yourself: https://disk.yandex.ru/d/256H_5aE_eLiyA

5.Follow the link to do the task according to the text: https://learningapps.org/watch?v=p1d1ainp523

6.Summarize the text in 5-6 sentences.

Grammar

1. Watch the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fgQaoDNU2k ) and answer the questions on the grammar material:

•How many articles are there in English?

•Which article is used before singular countable nouns?

•What are the cases of definite article use?

•What cases is zero article used in?

•What kind of articles (zero or definite) is usually used with the words: work, home, dinner, dog, bed, sun, best, university, life.

2.Practice using articles: https://test-english.com/grammar-points/a1/a-an-the-no-article/

3.Choose the correct word or phrase:

•How much time do you spend on internet / the internet?

•My brother is at the university / at university.

•We are going to visit my aunt at weekends / at the weekends.

•Let`s stay at home / at the home tonight.

•Can you open door / the door, please?

•The tigers/ tigers are beautiful wild animals.

•We had the breakfast / breakfast late in the morning.

•He likes reading novels / the novels.

Listening

1.Do you know the answers to the questions:

•When was the first cellular phone invented?

•What company produced the first cellular phone?

•What is the name the introduction of the first cellular phone connected with?

2.Before listening to the task:

a.Practice using the key phrases: https://quizlet.com/ru/816947533/the-first-mobile-phone-flash- cards/?i=3lks4z&x=1qqt

b.Read the introduction to the episode you are going to watch. Fill in the gaps with the correct word: handheld, revolution, visionary, wireless, cellular, market.

The … mobile phone has changed the lives of more people than any other innovation. Martin Cooper will discuss the nature of this … , its beginnings, and his vision of the impending revolutions that the hand-held phone will

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engender. The impact of future … mobile technology will be far greater than what has happened. Cooper is a pioneer and … in the wireless communications industry. With eleven patents in the field, he is recognized as innovator. While at Motorola in the 1970s, he began the first cellular phone and led the team that developed it and brought it to … . He is considered the "father of the cell phone" and is also cited as the first person in history to make a handheld … phone call in public.

3. Watch M. Cooper (8 minutes of the whole video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo2iCXRR1AQ&t=423s

Mark the statements as true or false:

•M. Cooper calls himself a historical expert.

•He believes digital phones to be revolutionary.

•The principle of the mobile revolution is that people are mobile.

•In 1960-s the US phone company Bell Systems introduced automobile telephone.

•The first mobile phone was introduced in 1974.

•It weighed about 1 kilo.

•Its battery life was 40 minutes.

Answer the questions:

•What does he call himself? Why?

•What company made the first cellular phone?

•Why was the invention revolutionary?

•Why are digital technologies thought not be revolutionary by the speaker?

•What were the characteristics of the first cellular phone?

4. Retell the key points you learned from M. Cooper`s speech in 5-7 sentences.

Communication

1. Make the comparison: the first phone VS a modern phone

2. Work in pairs. Scan the QR code to read and ask questions related to the things, places, etc. ask more questions to get the additional information. Be careful to only use the when it is necessary.

The phrases that are helpful to answer:

Have breakfast

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Go to bed

Go home

Come home

Chat with friends

Do homework

Do housework

Download files and videos

Search for information

Home task. Individual work.

1.Practice using the words and phrases: https://quizlet.com/ru/816947533/the-first-mobile-phone-flash- cards/?i=3lks4z&x=1qqt

2.Watch the whole video and write down five key ideas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo2iCXRR1AQ&t=423s

3.Do the grammar task: https://www.english-grammar.at/online_exercises/articles/art013-articles.htm

Check yourself

1.Follow the link and do the tasks: https://forms.yandex.ru/cloud/64d0d77043f74fe54595c279/

2.Prepare a presentation on one of the topics below. Visualize your answer using Power Point Presentation or any on line sources.

•The picture of the University I study

•The environmental problem that we should solve immediately

•The history behind an invention

•Interesting facts about a famous inventor

•Revolutionary technology that will shape the future

•My top 10 devices I cannot imagine my life without

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Online resources to practice English

Listening Practice https://lyricstraining.com/ https://www.newsinlevels.com/ https://breakingnewsenglish.com/ Reading Practice https://english-e-reader.net/ https://www.newsinlevels.com/

https://easyworldofenglish.com/reading-levels/ Vocabulary Practice https://experiments.withgoogle.com/semantris https://www.reverso.net/

https://quizlet.com/ https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/vocabulary Grammar Practice

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/b1-b2-grammar https://easyworldofenglish.com/grammar-levels/ https://elt.oup.com/student/englishfile/preint3/?cc=ru&selLanguage=ru

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