Exercise 13. Complete these sentences using Active Vocabulary:

1. If it stopped raining, we could go out.

2. Would you use a computer, if

3. I’d feel quite happy, if

4. Would you mind if

5. What would he , if

6. If , where ?

Exercise 14. All people have dreams. Tell other students about your dreams and desires:

Begin with:

1. I wish I were _____ (who? what?)

For ideas: a customs officer, a president, a butterfly, a top manager, etc.

2. I wish I did/I could _____ (do something)

For ideas: speak fluent English, fly, win, fall in love, discover, ride, etc.

3. I wish I were ________ (like what?)

For ideas: beautiful/handsome, strong, healthy, wealthy, dangerous, prosperous.

4. I wish I had _____ (what?)

For ideas: a castle, a private airplane/yacht, computer.

5. I wish I were ______ (where?)

For ideas: in New Zealand, in train, on the beach, in London, at home, etc.

Exercise 15. Translate the sentences:

1. Якби я мав комп'ютер, я б в ньому зберігав всю необхідну базу даних.

2. Файл з'явився б на екрані комп'ютера за кілька секунд, якби ти вмикнув комп'ютер.

3. Якби ми не використовували цифрові комп'ютери, нам знадобилося б набагато більше часу, щоб обробити всю інформацію, що надходить.

4. На жаль, вона не має комп'ютера вдома. Вона могла б спілкуватися електронною поштою з багатьма людьми.

5. Якби в мене був переносний комп'ютер, я б узяв його з собою у літак.

6. Якби твій комп'ютер був більш сучасний, він би виконував більшу кількість операцій.

7. На вашому місці, я б частіше користувався сучасними засобами спілкування.

Exercise 16. What would happen if … ?

Think and write two paragraphs about your opinion on the following:

• What would happen if men and women lived in separate worlds?

• What would happen if there were no cars and other means of transport?

• What would happen if students were not required to take examinations?

• What would your life be like if you lived in the 30^th century?

Text 8 A

Task 1. Think over the answers to the following questions:

1. Can you use the computer? For what purposes do you use it?

2. How long have you been using it?

3. Do you feel you know the computer well? Would you like to improve your knowledge? In what way?

4. What areas of human activities are impossible without computers nowadays?

5. Where else will computers be used in 50-100 years?

Task 2. The text below touches the following issues:

1. main computer parts;

2. spheres of application;

3. types of computers;

4. basic tasks of computers.

Work in groups. Give your ideas on each of these issues.

Task 3. Read and translate the text:

Computers

Computer is a machine that performs calculations and processes information with astonishing speed and precision. A computer can handle vast amounts of information and solve complicated problems. It can take thousands of individual pieces of data and turn them into more usable information – with blinding speed and almost unfailing accuracy. The most powerful computers can perform billions of calculations per second.

Computers are tremendously important in a variety of ways. For example they simplify many difficult or time consuming tasks to an extraordinary degree. They provide businesses, governments, individuals, and institutions an efficient way to manage large amounts of information. Computers also help people to understand things better by allowing them to make models and test theories.

The most common type of computer by far is the digital computer. Digital means having to do with numbers. Digital computers perform tasks by changing one set of numbers into another set. All data – numerals, pictures, sounds, symbols and words – are translated into numbers inside the computer. Everything a digital computer can do is based on its ability to perform simple procedures on numbers – such as adding, subtracting, or comparing two numbers to see which is larger. Digital computers are so widespread that the word computer alone almost always refers to a digital computer. The largest digital computers are parts of computer systems that fill a large room. The smallest digital computers – some so tiny they can pass through the eye of a needle – are found inside wrist watches, pocket calculators, and other devices.

All digital computers have two basic parts – a memory and a processor. The memory receives data and holds them until needed. The memory is made up of a huge collection of switches. The processor changes data into useful information by converting numbers into other numbers. Both the memory and the processor are electronic – that is, they work by sending electrical signals through wires.

In addition to digital computers there are two other general types of computers: analog computers and hybrid computers. Analog computers work directly with a physical quantity such as weight or speed rather than with digits that represent the quantity. Such computers solve problems by measuring a quantity such as temperature, in terms of another quantity such as the length of a thin line of liquid in a thermometer. Hybrid computers combine the features of analog and digital computers. They have many of the same kinds of parts as an analog computer. But like digital computers they process data by manipulating numbers.

People can think about problems and figure out how to solve them. But computers cannot think. A person must tell the computer in very simple terms exactly what to do with the data it receives. A list of instructions for a computer to follow is called a program.

The value of computers lies in their ability to perform certain basic tasks extremely quickly and accurately. These tasks include (1) solving numerical problems (2) storing and retrieving information and (3) creating and displaying documents and pictures.

In engineering and the sciences, the knowledge of how something works is often expressed in the form of equation. An equation is a two part mathematical sentence in which the parts are equal to each other. Engineers and scientists use equations or groups of equations to show how various things relate to one another. They use the solutions to these equations to predict what will happen if certain elements of a situation or an experiment are changed. Engineers and scientists rely on computers to solve the complicated sets of equations that they use to make predictions.

Storing and retrieving information. People use computers to store unbelievably large quantities of information. Information stored in a computer is sometimes called a database. A computer can search a huge database quickly to find a specific piece of information. In addition, the information can be changed easily and quickly – often in less than a second.

The efficiency with which computers store and retrieve information makes them valuable in a wide range of professions. For example, scientists use computers to store and quickly find results of experiments. Libraries use computer catalogs to hold information about their collections. Hospitals use computers to maintain records about their patients. Governments store election returns and census information on computers.

Creating and displaying documents and pictures. Computers can store a huge number of words in a way that makes it easy to manipulate them. For this reason, word processing is one of the most important and widespread uses of computers. A word-processing program allows people to type words into a computer to write articles, letters, reports, and other documents. Processing programs make it easy for people to change text that has been typed into a computer. For example they can quickly correct typing or spelling errors, sentences, and entire sections of a document can be added, removed, rearranged. If a computer is connected to a printer, the document may be printed at the touch of a key. Business people, journalists, scientists, secretaries, and students are among those who benefit from word-processing programs.

Computer graphics – the use of computers to make pictures-make up one of the most fascinating and fastest-growing areas of computer use. Computers can produce pictures that look almost like photographs. First, the computer solves equations that predict how an object should look. It then uses these predictions to display a picture on a computer terminal screen or to print a picture on paper.

Computer programs that perform computer-aided design (CAD) are important in many fields, particularly engineering and architecture. CAD programs create pictures or diagrams of a new object. The programs then solve equations to predict how the object will work. Engineers and architects use CAD programs to design airplanes, bridges, buildings, cars, electronic machinery, in addition to many other types of machines and structures.

Computer graphics also are used to create electronic video games. Terminal monitors or TV screens can display game boards and moving pictures. The player may use a keyboard or some other device, such as a mouse or a joystick, to play computer games.

Computers also can be used to communicate infor­mation over long distances. They can send information to each other over telephone lines. As a result, computers keep banks, newspapers, and other institutions supplied with up-to-the-minute information. A computer network consists of many computers in separate room buildings, cities, or countries, all connected together. Computer networks allow people to communicate by using electronic mail — a document typed into one computer and "delivered" to another. Such documents generally travel in only a few seconds, even if they are being sent over a long distance.