2. Computers

We use computers every day for lots of different things. Computers build things, they help us communicate and they solve problems. Powerful supercomputers can do 100 trillion calculations per second. But now computers can do more than calculate; they can learn from their experience too. IBM’s computer Deep Blue beat the world champion chess player Gary Kasparov. Its big advantage is that it doesn’t get tired ant it never forgets a move. A company called Artificial Intelligence (AL) is developing a new computer program. The program is in a computer called Baby hall. It helps Baby Hall learn a language in the same way humans do. Computers are part of our lives. They give us information, help us at work and do the shopping. But it is still early days for computers. We don’t know how much they are still changing the world. More computer wonders are yet to come.

3. The Internet

The Internet is probably one of the most important inventions of recent time. It started in the 1960-s, when some scientists designed a network of computers like a spider’s web that could work even after a nuclear attack. This was a military project called ARPANET. At this stage just four big American university computers made up the Internet, these computers were connected, but the system was very complicated to use. Tim Bernes-Lee is the first person who invented the Internet that we know today. In 1989 he came up with the idea of using links to go from one page to another, and the World Wide Web was born. Nowadays people use the Internet for business, news and research, and of course, we send millions of email messages every day.

1. Decide if the statements are true or false:

A. The first satellite was in space for a month.

B. The man had landed on the moon before the first space station started to work.

C. The International Space Station was as big as a football pitch.

D. The first tourist in space paid $10 million to see a satellite in space.

E. Now scientists are planning missions to Mars and other planets.

F. Only supercomputers can solve problems.

G. A new computer program helps to learn languages.

H. The Internet as we know it now was invented in 1960s.

Match the word and its definition:

invent	a way of using numbers in order to find an amount
satellite	travel through an area and study this area to find out what it is like
launch	serious study of a subject to discover new facts
explore	make, design or produce something new
frontier	send a spacecraft into space
calculation	an area where people have never lived before, it is not much known about
research	a machine that is sent into space and used for radio, television and other electronic communication

Fill in the gaps with one word from the previous exercise:

1. On Monday they _______________ a test satellite from Cape Canaveral.

2. The geologists ________________ the territory from September to December and found many natural resources.

3. Who ______________ the Internet? – It was Tim Bernes-Lee.

4. What are you working at? – We’re doing a ____________ into the effects of this chemical.