Английский для бакалавров

-what book (article) the extract was taken …

-what literary trend this poet belonged …

-if our school-mate was going to marry … Helen.

-why I was smiling … her.

-what subjects I took special interest …

-who she had fallen in love…

IX. Practise sentences below using Indirect Speech and translate each sentence into Russian.

A

1. “When must he be back ?” I wondered. 2. “How much time is left ?” he asked. 3. “Who is the first to speak?” the teacher asked. 4. “How many of you took part in the discussion ?” she wanted to know. 5. He asked, “Why can’t a definite answer be given soon ?” 6. She tried to find out, “How long will it take you to make preliminary arrangements ?” 7. “Which of you would like to join us ?” he asked. 8. I was asked, “How far’s the bus stop ?” 9. The policeman asked, “What’s the matter ?” 10. We asked him, “How did it happen ?” 11. The host wondered, “Why are you leaving so soon ?”

B

1. The manager asked, “Does the appointed time suit everybody ?” 2. She asked me, ”Have you been learning English for five years ?” 3. I asked a salesman, “Can you guarantee that the computer will be delivered next week ?”

Р А Б О Т А С Т Е К С Т О М

Text A. Information Age: For and Against

FOR:

We are now living in the 21-st century in which various kinds of technology have been developed and are being developed. Some examples of these are computers, videotelephones, computerised television, and satellite systems. People have benefited and are benefiting from these kinds of technology. I'm sure the life in the nearest future will be more exciting and comfortable.

It is common now to have a computer at home. Home computers plugged into phone lines become powerful tools of knowledge because they are connected to libraries, universities and major research institutions. A specialist is able to locate the latest facts and get new information.

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'Smart' TVs provided with new satellite systems are changing. Soon will be available as many as half a thousand channels. Home shopping programmes will allow viewers to shop everything from a yacht to a loaf of bread. Travel services, weather reports, video games, financial services, any kind of educational courses will be available at the touch of a button. The possibilities are almost endless.

By combining the technologies of computers, telephones, and television and then finding new methods of storing and transmitting data it will be possible to transport any information to every home.

Meanwhile, the time saved by not having to travel from one place to another for information, goods, and services can be used for rest, recreation, and education. The quality of life will be surely improved. The world will certainly become a more interesting place in which to live.

AGAINST:

We have a very comfortable life because of modern technology, but it has created some negative aspects. I do not support the idea of having advanced technology because it takes away time from reading and thinking. Before television, people used to read, think, and converse. They had the time to look at their lives and values. Today, people prefer to watch exciting things on video and television. Students today belong to the 'TV generation', few of them find time to read books, journals, and newspapers.

Another negative aspect, to my mind is computerised service. If most services are computerised, it will be easy for others to get information about a person. For example, the use of a credit card number to pay bills or go shopping can take away your privacy. Someone can easily find out what you bought and what you paid for it. This can also lead to others using your credit card number, or, in other words, theft.

I. Read the following international words. Try to guess their meanings.

Technology, computer, video, telephone, television, system, comfortable, line, university, specialist, channel, program, yacht, service, report, game, financial, course, combine, method, transport, information, interesting, modern, negative, aspect, idea, journal, person, credit, lead.

II. Find in the text the verbs of the same root.

Benefit, plug, connection, local, provision, combination, transmission, transport (-ation), improvement, creation, conversation, support, computer, payment, leader, development, shop.

III. Write the four forms of the verbs.

To lead, to pay, to get, to buy, to take, to find, to read, to think, to become, to

know.

IV. Find antonyms to the following words:

same, furthest, uncomfortable, powerless, old, unavailable, unable, nothing, impossible, to worsen, positive, out-of-date, tiring, to lose, hard, to waste.

V.Suggest Russian renderings for:

1.It is common now to have a computer at home. 2. Home computers plugged into phone lines become powerful tools of knowledge. 3. Soon will be available as many as half a thousand channels. 4. … any kind of educational courses will be available at the touch of a button. 5. Meanwhile, the time saved by not having to travel

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from one place to another for information, goods and services can be used for rest, recreation and education. 6. The world will certainly become a more interesting place in which to live.

VI. Give the English equivalents from the text for the following:

любой образовательный курс; финансовые услуги; в ближайшем будущем; сейчас принято; средства получения информации; туристическое обслуживание; почти безграничны; методы хранения и передачи информации; благодаря современной технологии; она отнимает время у …; по-моему; оплачивать счета.

VII. Translate the following sentences. Pay special attention to used to (to say that something regularly happened in the past but no longer happens). Used to + infinitive is always past. There is no present. The normal question form is “Did … use to ?”

1. He used to be good at programming but then he gave it up. 2. He didn’t use to take interest in computing until he came across a new software product. 3. Before television, people used to read, think and converse. 4. Now she is not able to get information as soon as she used to. 5. Did you use to play video games when you were a child ? 6. It’s unbelievable that long ago people used to live without PCs. 7. Unfortunately I am not so skillful as I used to be. 8. I don’t type as well as I used to. My injury is to blame. 9. He used to waste a lot of time in front of the telly but now he spends all his spare time trying to access Internet / Intranet and graphics applications.

VIII. Pick out from the text the verbs in:

-Present Indefinite (Active, Passive)

-Present Continuous (Active, Passive)

-Present Perfect (Active, Passive)

-Future Indefinite (Active, Passive)

IX. Answer the following questions:

1.Why do home computers become powerful tools of knowledge ? 2. How will the quality of television viewing improve ? 3. Do you think the possibilities of the advanced technology will bring people together or isolate them ? 4. Are there any advantages of having lots of TV channels ? 5. What do you think we mean by saying “TV generation” ? 6. Do you waste as much time watching TV as you used to when you were a schoolboy (schoolgirl) ? 7. What do you think of advanced technology ? Are you for or against it ?

X.Say in English:

1.Я уверен, что жизнь в ближайшем будущем будет более интересна и комфортабельна. Возможности новых технологий практически безграничны. 2. Компьютер в доме стал обычным явлением. Домашний компьютер,

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подключенный к телефонной сети, становится мощным источником получения любой информации. 3. Становится доступной связь с библиотеками, университетами, исследовательскими учреждениями. 4. Телевизор, обеспеченный спутниковой связью, позволит телезрителям купить практически любую вещь, от яхты до булки хлеба, не выходя из дома. 5. Исчезает необходимость тратить время в поисках информации. Сэкономленное время можно использовать для отдыха, развлечений или образования. 6. Конечно, жизнь в современном мире достаточно комфортабельна, однако она порождает и некоторые отрицательные моменты. 7. Раньше, когда не было телевидения, люди читали, размышляли, беседовали друг с другом. Сегодня они предпочитают развлекаться, смотря видеофильмы и телевизионные шоу. Мало кто находит время для чтения книг, журналов и газет.

XI. Compose a story. Produce your point of view on the problem of the information age. Try to explain whether you are for or against. Give reasons. Use the following:

to my mind; as far as I know; I think that …; I would like to mention that …; it seems to me; as far as I am concerned; in my opinion; it goes without saying …; to begin with; by the way; in this way; to some extent; if I am not mistaken.

Text B. Computer System

A computer system is made up of five fundamental units. The central part of a computer is the Central Processing Unit (CPU). The CPU includes 2 units: the Control Unit (CU), and the Arithmetic-Logical Unit (ALU).

The Arithmetic-Logical Unit is the "brain" of the computer system. It performs the most important operations of a computer system - arithmetic and logical operations on the data.

On the other hand, the Control Unit functions more like a "house master". It decides the sequence of operations for the system. It generates and manages all control signals to streamlining the operations and flow of data within the ALU.

Memory module is the next part of a computer system. 'The memory of the computer is used to store information. Several types of memories are normally present in a computer system. These two basic types of memories are respectively known as ROM (Read Only Memory) or RAM (Random Access Memory). Secondary memories can reside externally to the computer. A typical example would be diskettes.

The last part of a computer system is the input /output - module. The input - module supplies data to the ALU. It can be, for example, a keyboard. The output - module on the other hand displays to the outside world the data exiting from the ALU. A familiar example is the video display unit (VDU).

Personal computer systems are used now on a wide scale.

The basic components of a personal computer consist of the system unit, the keyboard, the video display unit, the printer and optionally the mouse. They can be easily connected and ready to be used in a matter of minutes.

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The system unit contains a 16 / 24 / 32 - bit microprocessor, the two diskette drives housed in a single table - top unit. The system unit is powered from a standard 230 - volt ac grounded wall outlet.

The computer system has two modes: alphanumeric (A / N) or text mode and graphics mode.

A few words about A / N mode.

In text mode, it supports either a 40 / 25 or an 80 / 25 display format. Each character is format in an 8 / 8 character box. Characters can be black or white or displayed in colour with 8 background colours and 16 foreground colours. Multiple pages of text may also be stored in the adapter.

The display adapter card contains ROM character generator that provides 256 characters for displaying on the screen. In addition to the standard 96 ASCII characters, there are special characters for supporting games and text processing, plus international character and symbols, line graphics, scientific notations and Greek characters.

Each display character position is defined by two bytes in the adapter 16K RAM. One byte is for the display character code byte, which is the ASCII character code and the second byte is the attribute.

Thus, for the 80 column per 25 rows display, it's required 4000 bytes.

The second possible mode is a graphics mode. The adapter card has two graphics modes - a 320 / 200 four colour mode and a 640 / 200 monochrome mode. In the 320 / 200 mode, each dot on the screen can be programmed with any of the four colours.

The 320 / 200 medium resolution mode uses 16000 bytes of memory, organised in 4 pixels horizontally per byte. The screen is divided into two buffers, the first 8K buffer holding data for the even lines and the second hold data for the odd lines. Each pixel on the screen is defined by two bits

The 640 / 200 high resolution mode requires 16Kb. Every bit is mapped to a pixel on the screen. So, one byte will represent 8 pixels on the screen.

The personal computer can be connected to either 84-keys or 101-keys keyboard.

The 84-keys keyboard is a AT / XT compatible keyboard. It is changeable to the AT or XT by selective switch at the back of the keyboard.

Various languages keyboards are available: English, German, Russian and others.

The 101-keys keyboard with an outside is to select XT or AT mode. It is basically an intelligent and detachable keyboard.

Vocabulary

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I.Read the following international words from the text. Guess their meanings:

computer, system, byte, fundamental, central, process, control, arithmetic, logical, operation, function, master, generate (-or), signal, module, information, type, diskettes, familiar, video, personal, printer, contain, microprocessor, volt, text, graphic, character, format, adapter, position, game, international, symbol, line, notation, bit, attribute, column, monochrome, program, organize, horizontally, selective.

II.Read and remember the following abbreviations:

III. Produce definitions to the following:

CPU, character, computer, data, access, instruction, magnetic tape, word, hardware, bit, capacity, address, code, chip.

Use the sentences below:

1.А basic unit of data in a computer memory. It consists of a predetermined number of characters or bits to be processed. The word “bit” is formed from the letter ”b” in the word “binary” and two letters in the word “digit”. 2.The process of acquiring information from a computer register, memory or peripheral unit. 3. One of the elementary operations which can be performed by a computer. 4.The mechanical,

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