Учебник английского языка для технических университетов и вузов Издание шестое, стереотипное
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Exercise 3. Read and learn. Computers Mary: Have you seen an interesting advertisement (реклама) in the last issue of «The Economist»? John: I have not read it yet. M.: The School of Engineering offers a new programme in infor mation system. Applications are invited for jobs in this field. J.: Professor Smith has told me about it. This programme is interesting. It is designed to meet the needs of persons with a computing background for their work in manage ment and industry. М.: Don’t you think that our son can lecture on this new programme? J.: Why not? He graduated from the Department of Compu ter Science and for some years was taking part in the rese arch project connected with the problems of super computers and their manufacturing. М.: As far as I remember his research interests cover software (программное обеспечение) and application. J.: And what do they say about the contract? М.: It is a three years’ contract and it may be extended for fur ther two years. I’ll write Mike a letter. J.: It’s too long. You’d better call him.
closely as possible, doesn’t it?
spend every spare (свободное) minute playing. Exercise 4. Speak about:
Use exercise 1,2 and the following words and word combinations for your topic: to be in general usage, research is going on, throughout the world, further develop ment, high speed electronic circuits of the highest quality, according to some re searchers, a photon computer, by means of light, advantage over, in a few decades. Exercise S. Comment on the following statement. Electronic games are very popular today. There are already up to 10,000 different computer games in the world. Exercise 6. Read and smile. Andrew Jackson’s Poor Health After his wife died Andrew Jackson, former President of the United States, became increasingly irritable (раздражительный). He also worried (беспокоиться) more and more about his health. Several members of his family had died after a paralytic stroke (паралич) and Jackson was sure he was going to die in the same way. He therefore lived in daily fear (страх) of getting such a stroke. One day, during a party at his home, he was playing chess with a young woman. Suddenly Jackson’s hands dropped to his side, his face became white. Several friends run to him. «At last it has come», Jackson said weakly. «I have had a stroke. My whole right side is completely paralyzed.» «How do you know?» someone asked. «Because», Jackson said, «in the last few minutes I have pinched (ущипнуть) my leg several times and there is absolutely no sensation in it». «Oh, I beg your pardon, sir», said the young woman he played with, «but it was my leg you were pinching.» Text 5B Прочитайте текст и найдите информацию об использовании компьюте ров в повседневной жизни и работе людей. Выпишите и переведите опреде лительные придаточные предложения. Computers Concern You When Ch. Babbage, a professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, invented the first calculating machine in 1812, he could hardly have imagined the situations we find ourselves in today. Al most everything in modern world is done with the help of comput ers — the complicated descendants (потомки) of his simple machine. Computers are being used more and more extensively in the world today, for the simple reason that they are far more effi cient than human beings. They have much better memories and can store (запоминать) great amount of information and they can do calculations in a fraction of the time required by a human math ematician. No man alive can do 500,000 sums in one second, but a modern computer can. In fact, computers can do many things we do, but faster and better. They can control machines at factories, work out tomor row’s weather and even play chess, write poetry or compose music. Let’s look now at some of the ways in which computers concern people in their daily lives and work. Many people associate computers with the world of science and mathematics, but they are also a great help to scholars in other subjects: in history, literature and so on. It is now possible for a scholar to find a book or an article he needs very quickly, which nowadays when a million or more new books are published each year is quite an advantage. You tell the computer which subject you are interested in and it produces any microfiche (микро фише, диамикрокарта) you need in seconds. There are also systems which are being developed to translate articles from foreign magazines by computer and to make up many lists of information which are needed in a modem library. So, com puter can help us to deal with the knowledge explosion in many ways. One can imagine a time when libraries will be run by comput ers, without human beings at all. Or, let’s take another example. When a man drives a car for long distances he has two problems: to keep the car at a constant speed and watch that he does not run into the car in front of him. Engineers are now experimenting with a system which has a com puter control of these two problems. The car’s computer keeps the speed constant. At the same time the distance between the car and any other car in front of it is measured by a beam of light transmit ted forwards. The beam meets the rear reflectors of the car in front and it is reflected back, which enables to measure the distance. This information is fed to the computer which adjusts (регулировать) its speed control accordingly. Техт 5C Прочитайте текст и озаглавьте его. Кратко изложите основное содержа ние текста по-английски. Sir Isaac Newton was a supergenius of science who among other things invented calculus (исчисление), stated the laws of gravity and optics. But it turned out (оказываться) Newton also made mistakes. The University of Chicago announced recently that R. Garusto, 23, a physicist, had discovered in one of Newton’s cal culations an error that had been undetected for three centuries. The young scientist discovered it while he was studying New ton’s masterpiece (шедевр) of physics «Principia» (1687). Newton had derived (выводить) a figure for the Earth’s mass based on his new theory that a single force — gravity — governed (управлять) falling bodies on the Earth and the motion of planets around the Sun. The calculation depended on the angle (угол) between two lines from the Earth to the Sun, but because that angle was not ex actly known at the time, Newton used slightly different figures in «Principia». It was that mistake that the young scientist found, a discovery that was soon confirmed (подтвердить) by other physi cists. The mistake has no influence on Newton’s theory, but its dis covery was enough to get him a prize from the University of Chicago. Text 5D Прочитайте текст и расскажите по-английски, из каких зданий состоит комплекс Библиотеки Конгресса и каким известным деятелям посвящено каждое из них. Найдите предложения со словами houses и numbers, переведи те и запомните их значения. The Library of Congress The Library of Congress is the Nation’s library in the USA. It serves not only to members and committees of the Congress, but to libraries throughout the USA and the world and to the scholars, re searchers and scientists who use it. Its foundation was laid in 1815 when President Thomas Gef- ferson offered his personal library accumulated for 50 years and considered one of the best in the United States at that time as the basis for a great national library. Now the Library of Congress complex on Capital Hill includes three buildings. The Thomas Gefferson Building, which has been built in Italian Renaissance style, is the oldest of them. It was the largest and costliest (роскошный) library building in the world when it was completed in 1897. It is decorated with splendid sculp ture, murals (фрески) created by 50 American artists. Its Main Reading Room is 160 feet high. The Room houses a collection of 45,000 reference books (справочники), a part of the extensive main catalog of more than 23 million cards and desks for 212 readers. The Computer Catalog Center provides public access (доступ) to the Library’s automated catalog. The simply designed John Adams Building faced with white marble (мрамор) was opened in 1939. Sculptures on its large bronze doors represent 12 famous writers. The white marble James Madison Memorial Building opened in 1980 more than doubled the Library’s available Capitol Hill space. The building which is the official memorial to the Nation’s fourth President contains the James Madison Memorial Hall, exhibition areas, eight reading rooms, offices and storage areas for collections which number over 50 million items (предметов). ДОПОЛНИТЕЛЬНЫЕ ЗАДАНИЯ |