III. Answer the following questions:

1. Where was Samuel Colt from?

2. What was Colt’s invention like?

3. Who invented the internal combustion engine?

4. What is the main advantage of the diesel engine?

5. Did Edison invent the telegraphic dot-and-dash alphabet?

6. What kind of solution did Mackintosh use for raincoats production?

7. Who invented one of the most reliable and comfortable cars “Silver Ghost”?

8. Why did Daimler choose the name “Mercedes” for his cars?

9. What made Daimler join the firm of Benz?

10. Will there ever be an end to the technological progress?

IV. Complete the sentences:

1. As the years go forward our life becomes faster, a lot of new things appear, … .

2. Nowadays we cannot imagine our life … … lamps, ovens, central heating and others.

3. But only a few inventors design a new machine or product which becomes … … that it is named after its creator.

4. It was a pistol with a … … that could … … one after another.

5. This engine … as a diesel and it … … in cars, lorries, trains and ships.

6. For twelve years he tried … the telegraph and … … .

7. Such raincoats didn’t allow water … .

8. At the same time they organized … … to produce them.

9. This man saved the firm of … from financial crisis at the beginning of the 20^th century.

10. The question about technical progress … … and it's impossible to say about all inventions.

V. Translate words from Russian into English:

Двигатель внутреннего сгорания, финансовый кризис, азбука Морзе, недорогое топливо, проникать, акционер, изобретать, надежный, центральное отопление, производить, присоединиться, вращающийся барабан, совершенствовать, названный в честь.

VI. Speaking.

1. What other inventors and inventions do you know?

2. Does such invention as TV do more harm or good?

TOPIC № 9 THE ROLE OF COMPUTERS IN OUR LIFE

I. Study the vocabulary:

1. an application – применение

2. work force – рабочая сила

3. to store information – хранить информацию

4. common place – общее место

5. to increase – увеличивать

6. productivity – продуктивность

7. a computer terminal – компьютерный терминал

8. a withdrawal – снятие денег

9. an inquiry – запрос

10. to apply – применять, использовать

11. to benefit – извлекать пользу, выгоду

12. a tool – инструмент

13. optical scanning – оптическое сканирование

14. tomography – томография

15. to operate – работать

16. traffic – дорожное движение

17. conventional – обыкновенный, традиционный

18. computer-generated – созданный компьютером

19. transition – переход

20. a society – общество

II. Read the text:

At present a great deal of the work force of most countries is engaged in creating, processing, storing, communicating and just working with information. Computers have become commonplace in homes, offices, stores, schools, research institutes, plants.

The use of computers in business, industry and communication services is widespread today. Computer-controlled robots are able to improve the quality of manufactured products and to increase the productivity of industry. Computers can control the work of power stations, plants and docks. They help in mak­ing different decisions and in management of economy.

The work of banks depends upon computer terminals for millions of daily operations. Without these terminals, records of deposits and withdrawals would be difficult to maintain, and it would be impossible to make inquiries about the current sta­tus of customer accounts.

Computers form a part of many military systems including communication and fire control. They are applied for automatic piloting and automatic navigation. Space exploration depends on computers for guidance, on-board environment and re­search.

Computers find application in astronomy and upper at­mosphere research. Weather forecasting, library information services can benefit from computers too.

It is interesting to note that computers are widely used in medicine. They became valuable medical diagnostic tools. Computers are used for optical scanning and image processing, ranging from pattern recognition to image processing. Techni­cians can operate computer tomography scanners which com­bine x-rays with computer technology to give sectional views of the body of patients. The views then can be combined into a single image shown on the screen.

It should be noticed that learning on a computer can be fun. Students spend more time with computer-aided instruction per­forming the assigned task, as compared with conventional class­room.

At last air traffic control is impossible without computer ap­plication. It fully depends upon computer-generated informa­tion. Many other uses of computers that we cannot imagine at present will become commonplace in the transition from an industrial, to post industrial, or information society.