II. Grammar: Countable and uncountable nouns
1. Study the information below:
• Countable nouns are people or things that we can count. They have a singular and a plural form. They must have a determiner (a, one, my, this,...) in the singular, though this is not necessary in the plural.
e.g. computer, website, bookmark
• Uncountable nouns are things that we can't count. They have no plural form.
e.g. information, pirating, storage
• They are partly distinguished by the determiners they can take.
Many, few, a few go with countable nouns.
We didn 't take many pictures.
I have a few jobs to do.
Much, little, a little, a great deal only go with uncountable nouns.
We didn't do much shopping.
I have little work to do.
Some, any, no, enough can go with both countable and uncountable nouns.
We listened to some music.
Did you buy any CDs?
I don't have enough money.
• Some words are countable in most languages, but uncountable in English and are used with a singular verb:
advice, damage, equipment, furniture, research,
luggage, news, progress, homework, weather
2. Here are some common nouns in computing. Divide them into countable and uncountable nouns.
1 Window 2 robotics 3 hardware 4 program 5 hacker
6 Hacking 7 system 8 software 9 workstation
3. These sentences contain typical mistakes. Correct them.
We are having a terrible weather.
Can you give me an advice?
I need some informations.
The news were very depressing.
I like the furnitures.
Much people use the Web today.
4. Complete the sentences with a, an, the, or no article.
At university we have (1)……. computer in every classroom.
We use (2)……..computer to do (3)………projects and to study (4)…………music and languages.
The teachers use PCs to print articles, songs, or activities for use in class. This year, they are preparing (5)………..exchange with a college in Norfolk.
We all use it to get (6)……….information from (7)………..Internet.
At home I use my computer to send and receive (8)………e-mail and to play (9)………computer games.
I have (10)……….ink-jet printer.
III. Listening
1. Read the information:
System utilities are small programs which improve a system's performance and help users take advantage of the computer's capabilities. They are often desk accessories that can be called up while you're working in another application. They can also be INITs, i.e. system extensions which are activated when you turn on the computer, control devices which you adjust in the control panel, or even stand-alone programs that run when you need them. Utilities are available for back-up, file search, virus protection, disaster recovery, and so on.
2. Listen to four advertisements from a radio programme about computers and number these system utilities in the order in which you hear them.
screen saver
virus detector
crashed disk rescuer and data recovery
multimedia player
3. Listen again. Which utility would you use for each of these requirements?
1 To play and organize multimedia on your PC …………………………
To diagnose and repair damaged disks ……………………………...
To automatically blank out the screen after a specific interval of inactive time (so that the image does not burn into the screen)……………………...
To protect your system against computer viruses ……………………...
IV. Vocabulary:
1. Study these definitions and translate them:
window: a viewing area less than or equal to the screen size. By using different windows you can work on several documents or applications simultaneously
pull-down menu: a menu that the user 'pulls down' from a name in the menu bar at the top of the screen by selecting the name with the mouse
the pointer: an arrow, controlled by the mouse, that allows you to move around the screen
toolbar buttons: found at the top of a window, they take you to the Home folder and others.
icons: graphic images (or intuitive symbols) used to represent an object or task
folders: containers for documents and applications
dock: set of icons at the bottom of the screen that give you instant access to the things you use most
2. Look at the picture and describe the interface elements of the Macintosh
