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Рецензенты старший преподаватель кафедры английской филологии факультета ргф ивГУ, к ф. н
Topics for Essays, Oral or Written Reports
From the abacus to the computer.
The evolution of computers in terms of generations.
Computer — a God’s gift or a Devil’s toy?
If I were the inventor of computer ...
If there were no computers they had to be thought out.
Science fiction: serving the science.
Unit IV. Personal Computers
Prereading Discussion
Who uses computers today? Give examples of the impact they have on our lives.
When did the first personal computer appear? How was it different from the computers that preceded it?
How have computers changed since the first one was introduced in the early 1940s?
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Where is the Silicon Valley? How is it related to the computer industry?
Reading Analysis
VOCABULARY LIST
Verbs: anticipate, collaborate, devise, donate, emerge, foresee, intimidate, market, thrive.
Nouns: application, capacity, components, entrepreneur, exper tise, gadget, innovation, investment, potential, technology, ven ture, wizard, pioneer, integrated circuit, microprocessor, circuit, peripherals.
Adjectives/Participles: cumbersome, genuine, inevitable, makeshift, massive, muted, skeptical, state-of-the-art, user-friendly. Adverbials: passionately, technologically, thereby, whereas.
TEXT I. THE EARLY YEARS
Until the late 1970s, the computer was viewed {is a massive ma chine that was useful to big business and big government but not to the general public. Computers were too cumbersome and expensive for private use, and most people were intimidated by them. As technology advanced, this was changed by a distinctive group of engineers and entrepreneurs who rushed to improve the designs of then current technology and to find ways to make the computer attractive to more people. Although these innovators of computer technology were very different from each other, they had a com mon enthusiasm for technical innovation and the capacity to fore see the potential of computers. This was a very competitive and stressful time, and the only people who succeeded were the ones who were able to combine extraordinary engineering expertise with progressive business skills and an ability to foresee the needs of the future.
Much of this activity was centered in the Silicon Valley in north ern California where the first computer-related company had locat ed in 1955. That company attracted thousands of related business es, and the area became known as the technological capital of the world. Between 1981 and 1986, more than 1000 new technology- oriented businesses started there. At the busiest times, five or more new companies started in a single week. The Silicon Valley attracted many risk-takers and gave them an opportunity to thrive in an atmosphere where creativity was expected and rewarded.
Robert Noyce was a risk-taker who was successful both as an engi neer and as an entrepreneur. The son of an Iowa minister, he was informal, genuine, and methodical. Even when he was running one of the most successful businesses in the Silicon Valley, he dressed informally and his office was an open cubicle that looked like everyone else’s. A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he started working for one of the first com puter-related businesses in 1955. While working with these pio neers of computer engineering, he learned many things about com puters and business management.
As an engineer, he со-invented the integrated circuit, which was the basis for later computer design. This integrated circuit was less than an eighth of an inch square but had the same power as a transistor unit that was over 15 inches square or a vacuum tube unit that was 6.5 feet square. As a businessman, Noyce co-founded Intel, one of the most successful companies in the Silicon Valley and the first company to introduce the microprocessor. The micro processor chip became the heart of the computer, making it pos sible for a large computer system that once filled an entire room to be contained on a small chip that could be held in one’s hand.The directors of Intel could not have anticipated the effects that the microprocessor would have on the world. It made possible the in vention of the personal computer and eventually led to the birth of thousands of new businesses. Noyce’s contributions to the develop ment of the integrated circuit and the microprocessor earned him both wealth and fame before his death in 1990. In fact, many people consider his role to be one of the most significant in the Silicon Valley story.
The two men who first introduced the personal computer (PC) to the marketplace had backgrounds unlike Robert Noyce’s. They had neither prestigious university education nor experience in big busi ness. Twenty-year-old Steven Jobs and twenty-four-year-old Stephen Wozniak were college drop-outs who had collaborated on their first project as computer hobbiests in a local computer club. Built in the garage of Jobs’s parents, this first personal computer uti lized the technology of Noyce’s integrated circuit. It was typewrit
er-sized, as powerful as a much larger computer, and inexpensive to build. To Wozniak the new machine was a gadget to share with other members of their computer club. To Jobs, however, it was a product with great marketing potential for homes and small busi nesses. To raise the $1300 needed to fill their first orders Jobs sold his Volkswagen bus and Wozniak sold his scientific calculator. Wozniak built and delivered the first order of 100 computers in ten days. Lacking funds, he was forced to use the least expensive mate rials, the fewest chips, and the most creative arrangement of com ponents. Jobs and Wozniak soon had more orders than they could fill with their makeshift production line.
Jobs and Wozniak brought different abilities to their venture: Wozniak
was the technological wizard, and Jobs was the entrepreneur. Wozniak designed the first model, and Jobs devised its applications and attracted interest from investors and buyers. Wozniak once admitted that without Jobs he would never have considered selling the com puter or known how to do it. “Steve didn’t do one circuit, design or piece of code. He’s not really been into computers, and to this day he has never gone through a computer manual. But it never crossed my mind to sell computers. It was Steve who said, ‘Let’s hold them up and sell a few.’”
From the very beginning, Apple Computer had been sensitive to the needs of a general public that is intimidated by high technology. Jobs insisted that the computers be light, trim, and made in muted colors. He also insisted that the language used with the computers be “user-friendly” and that the operation be simple enough for the average person to learn in a few minutes. These features helped convince a skeptical public that the computer was practical for the home and small business. Jobs also introduced the idea of donating Apple Computers to thousands of California schools, thereby indi rectly introducing his product into the homes of millions of stu dents. Their second model, the Apple II, was the state-of-the-art PC in home and small business computers from 1977 to 1982. By 1983 the total company sales were almost $600 million, and it controlled 23 percent of the worldwide market in personal com puters.
As the computer industry began to reach into homes and small businesses around the world, the need for many new products for the personal computer began to emerge. Martin Alpert, the founder of Тесшаг, Inc., was one of the first people to foresee this need. When IBM released its first personal computer in 1981, Alpert bought the first two models. He took them apart and worked twen ty-four hours a day to find out how other products could be at tached to them. After two weeks, he emerged with the first com puter peripherals for the IBM PC, and he later became one of the most successful creators of personal computer peripherals. For example, he designed memory extenders that enabled the comput er to store more information, and insertable boards that allowed people to use different keyboards while sharing the same printer. After 1981, Tecmar produced an average of one new product per week.
Alpert had neither the technical training of Noyce nor the com puter clubs of Jobs and Wozniak to encourage his interest in com puter engineering. His parents were German refugees who worked in a factory and a bakery to pay for his college education. They insisted that he study medicine even though his interest was in electronics. Throughout medical school he studied electronics pas sionately but privately. He became a doctor, but practiced only part time while pursuing his preferred interest in electronics. His first electronics products were medical instruments that he built in his living room. His wife recognized the potential pf his projects before he did, and enrolled in a graduate program in business manage ment so she could run his electronics business successfully. Their annual sales reached $1 million, and they had IS engineers work ing in their living room before they moved to a larger building in 1981. It wasn’t until 1983 that Alpert stopped practicing medicine and gave his full attention to Tecmar. By 1984 Tecmar was valued at $ 150 million.
Computer technology has opened a variety of opportunities for people who are creative risk-takers. Those who have been success ful have been alert technologically, creatively, and financially. They have known when to use the help of other people and when to work alone. Whereas some, have been immediately successful, others have gone unrewarded for their creative and financial in vestments; some failure is inevitable in an environment as compet itive as the Silicon Valley. Rarely in history have so many people been so motivated to create. Many of them have been rewarded greatly with fame and fortune, and the world has benefited from this frenzy of innovation.
EXERCISES
Find in the text the English equivalents to:
рассматривать как; слишком дорогая; для личного пользования; существующая тогда технология; сделать привлекательным; пред видеть потенциал; технические знания; одеваться неформально; менее одной восьмой дюйма; значительная роль; выполнять заказы; испы тывать недостаток в фондах; быть вынужденным; самодельный (вре менный) конвейер; приходить в голову; чувствительный к нуждам; убедить скептиков; тем самым; дать возможность; съемные платы; поддержать интерес к; немецкие беженцы; ежегодная продажа; тогда как; конкурентная среда; неизбежные неудачи; вознаграж денные славой и богатством.
True or false?
Robert Noyce graduated from a prestigious university and gained engineering expertise before he devised the integrated circuit.
Robert Noyce was one of the pioneers of the computer industry.
The microprocessor influenced the world in ways that its inventors did not foresee and subsequently led to the invention of the inte grated circuit.
Stephen Wozniak and Steven Jobs used the state-of-the-art technol ogy developed by Robert Noyce when they devised the first per sonal computer.
When Wozniak designed the first model of the PC, he did not plan to market it to the general population.
Jobs did not want the PC to be as intimidating to the general public as previous computers were, so he insisted that it include features that were practical and attractive.
The Apple Computer company sold their computers to thousands of American schools at discounted rates, thereby introducing their product into the homes of millions of students.
Martin Alpert foresaw that the success of the first IBM personal computer was inevitable, so he bought the first two models and devised ways to change them.
Martin Alpert’s wife was skeptical about the potential of her hus band’s technical innovations.
Alpert’s interest in technology was more passionate than his interest in medicine.
Give a synonym for words in parentheses:
Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak (worked together) to (invent) the personal computer, and then produced it in a (temporary) production line in a garage.
Steven Jobs wanted to (advertise and sell) the personal computer to people who would use it in their homes, so he knew it could be neither (very large) nor (awkward).
Stephen Wozniak applied the (most up-to-date) (applied science) when designing the first personal computer, while Steven Jobs designed its (practical functions).
People seemed to be less (frightened) by computers when they were made in (soft) colors and were (easily understood by the average person).
Robert Noyce’s (specialization) in computers was a result of his experience with the (first people) in the computer field while working at his first job.
Martin Alpert’s wife was never (doubtful) about (the future possi bilities) of Tecmar.
Martin Alpert studied the first IBM personal computer (with great love and emotion), and (by that means) he was the first innovator to (come forward) with (supplementary devices) for the computer.
Whereas some people (grow) as a result of competition, others are (threatened) by it.
Some of the following statements describe an act of an entrepre neur (E), others describe an act of an inventor (I), and others could
describe both titles (B). Identify each one and be prepared to explain
your answer.
Alexander Graham Bell originated the first telephone.
Robert Noyce со-invented the integrated circuit and co-founded Intel.
In 1890 John Loud created the first ballpoint pen.
Robert Noyce’s engineering expertise contributed to the develop ment of the microprocessor.
Robert Noyce’s financial investments helped build one pf the most successful companies in the Silicon Valley.
Steven Jobs had the original idea to market the first personal com puter.
King С. Gillette designed the first disposable razor blade.
A Frenchman named Benedictus introduced the idea of making safe
ty glass in 1903 after he discovered a chemical that held broken glass together.
Martin Alpert devised many new products for the personal comput er.
Martin Alpert’s wife managed his business and marketed his prod ucts.
Describe the relationship between each of the following pairs of
words (antonyms, synonyms, neither):
massive/small skeptical/unfriendly
cumbersome/awkward potential/ability
expertise/innovation donate/loan
muted/bright collaborated/worked
anticipate /foresee together
inevitable/avoidable genuine/insincere
venture/risk devise/invent
makeshift/permanent
Choose the word to complete each of the following sentences:
Whenever the inventor was working on an innovation, she (emerged from/withdrew to) her house because she didn’t want to be dis turbed.
The new computer program was (collaborated/devised) by the newest student in the class.
The executives bought a (cumbersome/portable) copy machine be cause they needed to take it to meetings.
The computer enthusiast devised a portable model that had several practical (applications/markets) for educators.
It was Wozniak’s (expertise/skepticism) that made it possible for him to devise the first personal computer.
The government (loaned/donated) $100 million to the corpora tion, expecting it to be repaid with 12 percent interest.
The investors (anticipated/intimidated) the higher profits because of the activity in the stock market.
When computers are not working, it is (inevitable/avoidable) that work will be delayed.
SS
Cross out the one word that does not have the same meaning as the other three words:
Everyone liked the computer salesman because he was (genuine/ calculating/ sincere/ unaffected) .
The corporation president (benefited/contributed/gave/donated) his services to the school of business.
The sudden decrease in sales was not (understood/ foreseen/ antic ipated/ predicted) by anyone.
The corporate office of the manufacturing company was so close to the factory that the noise in the office was (muted/ vivid/ intense/ extreme).
There are many specialized (parts/ components/ contributors/ ele ments) in the -memory bank of a computer.
The software corripany has the (capacity/ extent/ potential/ ability) to employ 500 people.
, 7. After the young investor earned a million dollars, he was highly regarded for his financial (skillfulness/ wizardry/ good fortune/ aptitude).
The software engineer’s (expertise/ intelligence/ proficiency/ mas tery) was limited to one area.
The computer-game business (celebrated/ thrived/ prospered/ pro gressed) during the summer months.
They undertook their (venture/ risky undertaking/ challenge/ deci sion) after making careful calculations.
Construct other sentences in this pattern (compound adjec tives)
He is seeking a computer-related career.
Typewriter-sized computers became available in the 1970s to re place the room-sized computers of the 1960s.
3: Children tend to like sugar-based cereals.
Whereas an integrated circuit is thumbnail-sized, the vacuum tubes in earlier computers were cigar-sized.
We are shopping for a precision-built car.
They lived near a tree-edged lake.
Jobs and Wozniak were self-taught computer experts.
In pairs or small groups, discuss each of the following questions:
Imagine that you just moved into an empty house. What can you use for a makeshift table? a makeshift pillow? a makeshift hammer?
Here are five gadgets found in many kitchens. Describe the functions of each: can opener, ice crusher, apple peeler, cheese grater. Name some other gadgets that are found in many kitchens.
If you were to design a state-of-the-art product, how would you improve the following products: toothbrush, bathtub, notebook, hairbrush?
Which of the following do you find intimidating? Why? (a teacher, a large truck on the road a policeman, an automatic bank teller, a school counselor, a telephone-answering machine)
What marketing techniques would you use if you wanted to sell a new soft drink product? What market would you focus on?
Which would be preferable for each of the following buildings, muted colors or bright? Why? (a restaurant, a post office, a hospital a high school, a music store, a day-care center)
What are the components of each of the following: a good marriage? a modem kitchen? a good stereo system?
Describe another entrepreneur whose investments led to ftme and fortune.
Under what circumstances does a business thrive? a tree? a young child? a marriage?
Name a notable pioneer in each of the following fields, (manufac turing, science, art, architecture, medicine, social services)
What is a practical application of the personal computer in busi ness? In the home?
Complete the paragraph below:
Although Jobs and Wozniak have become known as two of the most brilliant innovators in the technological revolution, not all of their
... were as successful as the Apple I and the Apple II. They (2)... the Apple II Plus in 1980 when they (3)... that small businesses would have a need for a more professional and integrated system than the Apple I or II. The Apple II Plus was an advanced version of the Apple II that they aimed at the small business (4) ... Unfortunately, they did not
... the competition of the IBM Personal Computer. Although IBM was not the original (6)... of the personal computer, they had been the leader in the business machine industry for several decades, and they
soon (7) ... as the primary competition in the personal computer
... IBM had many advantages over Apple: their engineering was done by a more experienced engineering staff, and their advertising was done by their more experienced (9) ... staff. Since Apple had been so successful with the Apple 1 and the Apple II, the failure of their
... with the Apple II Plus was both (11) ... and disappointing.
TEXT II. DEEP BLUE
Special-purpose machines, DEEP BLUE and its predecessor DEEP THOUGHT, were originally created to explore how to use parallel processing to solve complex problems. DEEP THOUGHT was a first computer to defeat a chess grandmaster, thanks to its ability to analyze 750,000 positions per second. But in 1990, an experimen tal 6-processor version of DEEP THOUGHT, capable of search ing 2 million positions per second, played against Kasparov and lost. Kasparov went on to defeat DEEP BLUE by winning 3 games and 2 draws. Six IBM employees used a hefty machine to win a chess game against the reigning world champion in the rematch in 1997. No other tool of human invention could leverage their talents so magnificently. DEEP BLUE now has the ability to calculate 50 to 100 billion moves within 3 minutes. But DEEP BLUE is not mim icking human thought.lt does not anticipate, it only reacts.DEEP BLUE is a 32-node IBM power Parallel SP2 high performance computer. Each node of the SP2 employs a single microchannel card containing 8 dedicated VLSI chess processors for a total of 256 processors working in tandem. DEEP BLUE’s programming code is developed in С and runs under the AIX operating system.
To the uninformed advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. We must continue to develop these machines and methods of harnessing them to human needs. Computers amplify our cogni tive and reasoning abilities.
EXERCISES
True or false?
The Intelligent Computer is a myth.
It were actually Deep Blue’s designers, programmers, and builders who had beaten Kasparov, not the machine itself.
The world will be overtaken by silicon-based life forms.
Chess playing is to logic and calculation what intelligence is to relationships and negotiations.
Chess is social; intelligence is abstract.
The Deep Blue has inhuman logico-mathematical capability.
There are 7 dimensions of intelligence: linguistic, logico-mathemati cal, spatial, musical, kinesthetic, intrapersonal, and interperson al.
The Deep Blue has all these dimensions.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. (A.C. Clarke)
Translate into English: НАСТУПЛЕНИЕ ПЕРСОНАЛЬНЫХ КОМПЬЮТЕРОВ
В 70-е годы появляются персональные компьютеры. Прежде всего, Apple. Компьютер пришел к человеку. И хотя мощность первых Apple была несравнимо меньше, чем у IBM, компьютер стал ближе и понятнее. Кстати, именно тогда были реализованы основные принципы многооконного интерфейса, которые позднее будут восприняты оболочкой Windows. Компьютер стал «думать» о человеке, о его удобствах, а не только о том, как бы быстрее посчитать. От последовательности, когда человек готовит задание, а компьютер задание выполняет, был совершен переход к парал лельной работе человека и компьютера. Фирма IBM, как и всякая огромная империя, оказалась очень неповоротлива: поначалу она даже не обратила внимания на пер сональный компьютер. Но когда объемы продаж Apple стали об вально нарастать, в IBM постепенно поняли, что упускают со вершенно новый сегмент рынка. Последовал «огромнцй неуклюжий скрипучий поворот руля», и вместе с Microsoft 1В1)Л выбросила на рынок миллион (sic) компьютеров PC. Это про изошло в 1981 году. Тогда и началась современная компьютерная эра. В этот некруглый год компьютер вошел в офисы и дома и расположился там, наверное, навсегда. Это период резвого младенчества персональных компьютеров. Операционные системы возникают десятками. Чуть ли не каждая компания, производившая компьютеры, считала долгом чести
создать свою. Основным языком программирования стал Бейсик — язык очень простой и доступный. Всякий человек, посвятивший пару месяцев его изучению, мог считать себя умудренным и мно гоопытным «гуру». Тогда же были созданы электронные таблицы и текстовые редакторы — весьма удобные, истинно персональ ные инструменты. Никакого общего стандарта не было, и еще не просвечивала сквозь каждое приложение лукавая улыбка Билла Гейтса.
Появились компьютерные игры, и самая знаменитая из них — «Тетрис». Однако, как только сделалось понятно, что персональ ный компьютер не только игрушка, что он может реально рабо тать, потребовался стандарт и взаимная совместимость программ, процессоров, систем хранения информации, резко возросли тре бования к квалификации программиста и надежности «железа», многие фирмы разорились, другие ушли в тень мощных конку рентов. Ситуация стабилизировалась, и компьютерный мир при обрел вполне оформленные очертания.
Find an article about a business venture. Prepare to describe that 'venture in class.
Read the following paragraph as many times as you can in
minutes. Then rewrite as much info as you can remember.
By 1987 the computer market on American college campuses was thriving. Sales people from all the personal computer companies were actively pursuing the business of college administrators, professors and officials. They were selling computers less than half price and were adding attractive bonuses such as free software and support services. They were willing to venture a great deal of time and money in this market because they foresaw that it would thrive for a long time. There are 14 million people who provide or receive education on campuses, including 12.5 million new freshmen every year. Students who also buy computers are likely to become lifetime customers who may enter busi ness after graduation and influence corporate buying decisions.
Topics for Essays, Oral or Written reports
Describe a kitchen gadget that you think should be invented. What would it do? Who would buy it? How should it be marked?
How has the world benefited from the invention of the PC? What problems have accompanied the computer revolution?
Of all advantages that the computer has brought to the modem world, which is the most beneficial?
Describe the invention that has had the greatest effect on the 20th century.
UnitV.
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