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Рецензенты старший преподаватель кафедры английской филологии факультета ргф ивГУ, к ф. н
Unit II. Computo, ergo sum Prereading Discussiont t ' 1. What is your particular area of interest in computer science? ; 2. What are computers able to do? '■ 3. How might computers affect your future career?
How important is it to be computer literate?
" 5. Are you a rule learner or a data gatherer?
Would you like to become a computer expert?
.7. How do you think you ought to start? How does it feel to be a computer student? A What disciplines does the course of instruction cover?
Reading Analysis
VOCABULARY LIST
Nouns: (illiteracy, flake, inventory, creativity, accountant, host(ess), surge, chaos, cyberphobia, glitch, havoc, executive.
Verbs: to tum/hit/switch on/off, to search (for), to outstrip, to require, to bury, to accomplish, to click (with smth.) on smth., to flip on/off, to clash, to respond (to), to deal with, to intimidate, to foul (up), to rebel, to reveal, to hesitate, to avoid smth./doing smth.
Adjectives: tiny, miraculous, (un)erring, microscopic, fragile, stray, preternatural, fearful, (ir)reparable, artificial.
Adverbs: otherwise, accurately, seemingly, entirely, purposefully, scarcely, interestingly, frustratingly.
Word combinations: tabula rasa, the DOS prompt, an errant in struction, under (out of) control, computer anxiety/phobia, to force into contact, as a result of, to launch nuclear missiles, to keep up with the pace of, computing environment, to be left behind (out), to cause smb. trouble, an invasion of one’s privacy, junk mail, com puter columnist, to come to terms with.
TEXT I. WORRY ABOUT COMPUTERS? ME?
When your computer is turned off, it is a dead collection of sheet metal, plastic, metallic tracings, and tiny flakes of silicon. When you hit On switch, one little burst of electricity — only about 5 volts — starts a string of events that magically brings to life what otherwise would remain an oversize paperweight.
At first the PC is still rather stupid. Beyond taking inventory of itself, the newly awakened PC still can’t do anything really useful, intelligent. At best it can search for intelligence in the form of operating system that gives structure to the PC’s primitive exist ence. Then comes a true education in the form of application soft ware — programs that tell it how to do tasks faster and more accu rately than we could, a student who has outstripped its teacher.
What makes your PC such a miraculous device is that each time' you turn it on, it is a tabula rasa, capable of doing anything your creativity — or, more usually, the creativity of professional pro grammers — can imagine for it to do. It is a calculating machine, a magical typewriter, an unerring accountant, and a host of other tools. To transform it from one persona to another requires setting some of the microscopic switches buried in the hearts of the mi crochips, atask accomplished by typing acommand in DOS prompt or by clicking with your mouse on some tiny icon on the screen.
Such intelligence is fragile and short-lived. All those millions of microscopic switches are constantly flipping on and off in time to dashing surges of electricity. All it takes is an errant instruction or a stray misreading of a single chip to send this wonderfully intel ligent golem into a state of catatonia or hit the Off switch and what
, was a pulsing artificial life dies without a whimper. Then the next (j time you turn it on, birth begins all over again.
PCs are powerful creations that often seem to have a life of their i own. Usually they respond to a seemingly magic incantation typed . as a C:>prompt or to wave of a mouse by performing tasks we
couldn’t imagine doing ourselves without some sort of preternatu ral help. There are the times when our PCs rebel and open the gates of chaos onto our neatly ordered columns of numbers, our carefully made sentences, and our beautifully crafted graphics. Are ' we playing with power not entirely under our control?
A middle-aged woman sat down at a personal computer for the first time in her life. She placed her hands above the keyboard, ready to type — but hesitated. Turning to the instructor, she asked warily: “It won’t know what I’m thinking, will it?” Such concerns abound among people whose knowledge of computers comes from movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey (in which Hal, the computer with the sticky-sweet voice, tries to take control of the spaceship). Terms such as computer anxiety, and computer phobia have en tered our language to describe such wariness. Many people try to avoid situations in which they might be forced into contact with computers. Even businesspeople who deal with computers daily may experience a form of cyberphobia — fear of computers. As a result of their fear, some office workers who are cyberphobic suf fer nausea, sweaty palms, and high blood pressure. Young people who have grown up with computers may not understand these
Ь reactions.
What are such people afraid of? Some may worry about the mathe matical implications of the word computer. It seems to suggest that
only a person with strong analytical and quantitative skills can use the machine. In fact, as we see more and more often, even very young children whose math skills have yet to form can use com puters.
Some people are fearful of the computing environment. The movies love to portray old-fashioned, large computer systems — sanitized rooms walled by machines alive with blinking lights and spinning reels; it all looks intimidating. There is a notion that computers are temperamental gadgets and that, once a glitch gets into a computer system, it may wreak all kinds of havoc — from fouling up bank statements to launching nuclear missiles by mistake. Indeed, com puter billing and banking errors are problems; however, most er rors blamed on computers are the result of mistakes made by peo ple. Computers do not put in the data they must work with, people do. Even so, correcting an error can be frustratingly slow.
Many people worry about computers in relation to their jobs. Some people doubt they have the skills to find jobs and keep them in a technological labor market. Many feel that keeping up with the swift pace of technological change is impossible because it requires costly and continuous training and development. A good many present-day executives whose companies have installed computer terminals in their offices also worry about typing — either they do not know how to type or they are afraid they will lose status if they use a keyboard.
Interestingly, there is another side to computer anxiety: the fear of being left out or left behind. If everyone around you is talking about, living with, and working around computers, how can you keep from revealing your limited understanding?
People are also nervous that computers might fall into the wrong hands. As examples of electronic wrongdoing, try these for size: An "error” purposefully introduced into your computerized credit report by someone who wanted to cause you trouble might do irreparable damage to your financial standing, ending any hopes you might have for owning a home someday. An easily obtainable computerized list might carry personal information that could lead to an invasion of your privacy or at the least, a pile of junk mail. Think of all the forms you have filled out for schools, jobs, doc tors, credit services, government offices, and so on. There is scarcely one fact related to you that is not on record in a computer file somewhere. Could unauthorized persons obtain this information?
Computer fraud and computer security are not simple issues; they are concerns that society must take seriously. Should we, as computer columnist John Dvorak advocates, let things work them selves out in the courts? Or, should legislators be encouraged to create laws for society’s protection?
EXERCISES
Find in the text the English equivalents to:
деловые люди; страх перед компьютерами; испытывать тошно ту; высокое кровяное давление; математический смысл (значение); старомодные компьютерные системы; выглядеть устрашающе; мер цающие огни; вращающиеся катушки; временные приспособления; по ошибке; обвинять компьютеры; исправлять ошибки; установить терминалы; использовать клавиатуру; потерять статус; попасть в «дурные» руки; нанести непоправимый ущерб; невостребованная почта; заполнить бланк; записать в компьютерный файл; создать законы для защиты общества.
True or false?
People are not interested in computers, they just don’t want to be left behind.
Computers are going to make many careers obsolete.
Most jobs will be lost because of computers.
Computers change the way jobs are performed.
People who refuse to have anything to do with computers may soon be regarded as people who refuse to learn to drive.
Computers are powerful, potentially dangerous tools with a life of their own.
Most of businesspeople write or commission their own programs.
Computers are now smaller and more powerful than ever before.
Computers have resulted in massive unemployment in many coun tries.
Managers with little or no computer experience should overrely on computers.
Computers can result in an invasion of people’s privacy.
Today the challenge is to manage the information explosion through
the use of well-designed information.
Data = information.
Computerization leads to elimination of workers’ jobs (robots) and white-collar jobs (computers).
The bank computer thefts are carried out by computer whizzes who know the correct codes to use to access accounts in order to steal or manipulate money.
In a few seconds computer can make a mistake so great that it would take many months to equal it.
Computer monitoring of people leads to job stress and more fre quent illnesses.
One person’s error is another person’s data.
To err is human; to really foul things up requires a computer.
Give definitions to:
a computer whiz (whizard), a hacker, a computer-literate person, a computer science student, a computer engineer, a computer programmer, a computer operator.
g. a system analyst is a person who identifies the information needed and develops a management info system with the assistance of computer programs.
Give synonyms to:
swift, costly, financial standing, to introduce into, to obtain, issue, to concern, tiny, magic, artificial, to turn on, accurately, anxiety, fear, to lead to, old-fashioned command, to spin, to require.
Give antonyms to:
fraud, tiny, fragile, fearful, to frustrate, dead, intelligent, capable, short-lived, damage, to find jobs, slow, to foul up.
Put the proper words into sentences
mistakes/errors, time, use/operation, improving, human, are, accura cy, so, part/role, make, involved, since, back, ever, replaced, more.
FEED IN ENGLISH, PRINT OUT IN FRENCH
Once upon a ..., according to a much told story, a computer was set a task of translating “traffic jam” into French and back into English. The machine buzzed, clicked, blinked its lights and eventually came up with “car-flavored marmalade”. Machine translation has come a long way ... then. Computer translation systems are now in ... in many parts of the world.
Not surprisingly, the EEC is very .... With so many official languag es, translating and interpreting take up ... than 50% of the Communi ty’s administrative budget. But although the efficiency of machine trans lation is ... rapidly, there’s no question of ... translators being made redundant. On the contrary, people and machines work together in •harmony. Today’s computers ... of little value in translating literary works, where subtlety is vital, or the spoken word, which tends to be ungram matical, or important texts, where absolute ... is essential. But for routine technical reports, working papers and the like, which take up ... much of the translation workload of the international organizations, computers are likely to play an increasing ... . The method of operation will probably be for the machines to ... a rough version, which the translator will then edit, correcting obvious ..., and where necessary referring ... to the original.
If machines can translate languages, could they ... teach languag es? Yes say enthusiasts, although they doubt that the teacher could ever be totally ... by a machine in the classroom. Good old teachers know best!
TEXT II. COMPUTER LITERACY FOR ALL
Fortunately, fewer and fewer people are suffering from computer anxiety. TTie availability of inexpensive, powerful, and easier-to- use personal computers is reducing the intimidation factor. As new generations grow up in the Information Age, they are perfectly at home with computers.
Why are you studying about computers? In addition to curiosity (and perhaps a course requirement!), you probably recognize that it will not be easy to get through the rest of your life without know ing about computers. Let us begin with a definition of computer literacy that encompasses three aspects of the computer’s universal appeal:
Awareness. Studying about computers will make you more aware of their importance, their versatility, their pervasiveness, and their potential for fostering good and (unfortunately) evil.
Knowledge., Learning what computers are and how they work requires coming to terms with some technical jaigon. In the
end, you will benefit from such knowledge, but at first it may be frustrating.
Interaction. There is no better way to understand computers than through interacting with one. So being computer literate also means being able to use a computer for some simple applications.
Note that no part of this definition suggests that you must be able to create the instructions that tell a computer what to do. That would be tantamount to saying that anyone who plans to drive a car must first become an auto mechanic. Someone else can write the instructions for the computer; you simply use the instructions to get your work done. For example, a bank teller might use a computer to make sure that customers really have as much mon ey in their account as they wish to withdraw. Or an accountant might use one to prepare a report, a farmer to check on market prices, a store manager to analyze sales trends, and a teenager to play a video game. We cannot guarantee that these people are com puter literate, but they have at least grasped the “hands-on” com ponent of the definition — they can interact with a computer. Is it possible for everyone to be computer literate? Computer literacy is not a question of human abilities. Just about anyone can become computer literate. In the near future, people who do not under stand computers will have the same status as people today who1 cannot read .
If this is your first computer class, you might wonder whether using a computer is really as easy as the commercials say. Some* students think so, but many do not. In fact, some novice computer users can be confused and frustrated at first. Indeed, a few are so frustrated in the early going they think they never will learn. To their surprise, however, after a couple of lessons they not only are using computers but enjoying the experience.
Some students may be taken aback when the subject matter turns out to be more difficult than they expected — especially if their only computer experience involved the fun of vjdeo game». They are conftised by the special terms used in computer classes, as if they had stumbled into some foreign-language course by mistake,1 A few students may be frustrated by the hands-on nature of the experience, in which they have aone-to-one relationship with the computer. Their previous learning experiences, in contrast, have been shared and sheltered — they have been shared with peers in a classroom and sheltered by the guiding hand of an experienced
person. Now they are one-on-one with a machine, at least part of the time. The experience is different, and maybe slightly scary. But keep in mind that others have survived and even triumphed. So can you.
And don’t be surprised to find that some of your fellow students already seem to know quite a bit about computers. Computer litera cy courses are required by many schools and colleges and include students with varying degrees of understanding.' That mix often al lows students to learn from one another — and provides a few with the opportunity to teach others what they know.
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