The mouse

A mouse is a hand-held device that lets you move a pointer (or cursor) and select items on the screen. It has one or more buttons to communicate with the PC. A scroll wheel lets you move through your documents or web pages. The pointer looks like an l-bar, an arrow or a pointing hand. An optical mouse has an optical sensor instead of a ball underneath. A cordless (wireless) mouse has no cable; it sends data via infrared signals or radio waves. Mouse actions:

• to click, press and release the left button.

• to double-click, press and release the left button twice.

• to drag, hold down the button, move the pointer to a new place and then release the button.

• to right-click, press and release the right button; this action displays a list of commands.

Voice input

Today you can also interact with your computer by voice with a voice-recognition system that converts voice into text, so you can dictate text directly onto your word processor or email program. You can also control your PC with voice commands; this means you can launch programs, open, save or print files. Some systems let you search the Web or chat using your voice instead of the keyboard.

(based on: http://www.english4it.com, Professional English in Use)

6. Find in the text English equivalents of the words:

Клавіші редагування, функціональні клавіші, клавіші керування курсором, спеціальні клавіші, видаляти символ, зірочка, додавання, помножити, папка, дужки, стрілочка, регістр (клавіатури), значення, віднімання, круглі дужки, квадратні дужки, частка від 100, масив, домашній каталог, приблизно, тильда, символ підкреслення, ручний пристрій, коліщатко прокрутки, відпустити кнопку миші, бездротова миша, перетворювати в, запускати програму.

7. What key of a keyboard is missing? Insert appropriate words into the gaps:

1. In SQL queries it is best practice to spell out 'AND' and not just use the ______ as a shortcut. 2. The programmer could not remember whether to use an _______ or a percent sign (%) as a wildcard in his SQL regular expression. 3. The long file name "hippy_dippy_string_concatenation.pl" contained many _______ because spaces aren't advised in Unix file names. 4. In programming languages, the use of ______ ______ are sometimes used to show the elements of an array. 5. _______ are often used to group values in an equation. 6. The elementary school teacher told the students that 2 _______ 2 equals 4. 7. The _______ key separates usernames from domain names. 8. The CEO reported that sales were up to 75 _______ over last quarter. 9. In programming languages, ________ are often used to denote blocks of executable code. 10. In order to change ________ on a computer, the user typically presses the "Shift" key.

(based on: http://www.english4it.com)

8. Which input device would you use for these tasks?

1. to play computer games

2. to copy images from paper into a computer

3. to read price labels in a shop

4. to select text and click on links on web pages

5. to enter drawings and sketches into a computer

6. to input voice commands and dictate text

7. to draw pictures or select menu options directly on the screen

8. to take and store pictures and then download them to a computer

(from Professional English in use)