Text 5 Computer Languages.

Read the text and give the summary of it.

Unfortunately, computers cannot understand ordinary spoken English or any other natural language. The only language they can understand directly is called machine code: central processors operate on codes which consist of a series of binary digits (1s and 0s). In this form, the instructions are said to be in machine codes.

However, machine code as a means of communication is very difficult to write. For this reason, we use symbolic languages that are easier to understand. Then, by using a special program, these languages can be translated into machine codes. For example, the so-called assembly languages use abbreviations such as ADD, SUB, MPY to represent instructions. These mnemonic codes are like labels easily associated with the items to which they refer.

Basic languages, where the program is similar to the machine code version, are known aslow-level languages. In these languages, each instruction is equivalent to a single machine code instruction, and the program is converted into machine code by a special program called an assembler. These languages are still quite complex and restricted to particular machines.

To make the programs easier to write and to overcome the problem of intercommunication between different types of machines, higher-level languages were designed such as BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN or PASCAL. These languages are all problem-oriented rather than machine-oriented and can be converted into the machine codes of different types of computers. Programs written in one of these languages (known as source programs) are converted into a lower-level language by means of a compiler (generating the object program). On complication, each statement in a high-level language is generally translated into many machine code instructions.

People communicate instructions to the computer in symbolic languages and the easier this communication can be made the wider the application of computer will be.

Text 6 The Language of e-mail.

Read the text and retell it.

E-mail is the simplest and most immediate function of the internet for many people. Run through a list of questions that new e-mail users ask most and some snappy answers to them.

What is electronic mail? E-mail, as it’s normally shortened to, is just a message that is composed, sent or read electronically (hence the name). With regular mail you write your message (letter, etc) and drop it off at the post office. The postal service then delivers the message and the recipient reads it. E-mail operates basically the same way except that everything happens electronically. You compose your message using e-mail software, send it over the lines that connect the Internet’s networks and the recipient uses an e-mail program to read the message.

How does e-mail know how to get where it’s going? Everybody who’s connected to the Internet is assigned a unique e-mail address. In a way, this address is very like the address of your house or apartment because it tells everyone else your exact location on the net. So anyone who wants to send you an e-mail message just tells the e-mail program the appropriate address and runs the Send command. The Internet takes over from there and makes sure the message arrives safely.

What’s a flame? The vast majority of e-mail correspondence is civil and courteous, but with millions of participants all over the world, it’s inevitable that some folks will rub each other the wrong way. When this happens, the combatants may exchange emotionally charge, caustic, often obscene messages called flames. When enough of these messages exchange hands, an out-and-out flame war develops. These usually burn themselves out after a while, and then the participants can get back to more interesting things.

Is e-mail secure? In a word no. The Net’s open architecture allows programmers to write interesting and useful new Internet services, but it also allows unscrupulous snoops to lurk where they don’t belong. In particular, the e-mail has two problems: it’s not hard for someone else to read your e-mail, and it’s fairly easy to forge an e-mail address. If security is a must for you, then you’ll want to create an industrial strength password for your home directory, use encryption for your most sensitive messages, and use an anonymous remailer when you want to send something incognito.