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Exercise 6. Read and smile




 

Andrew Jacksons Poor Health

After his wife died Andrew Jackson, former President of the United States, became increasingly irritable (). He also worried () more and more about his healt Several members of his family had died after a paralytic stroke () and Jackson was sure he was going to die in the same way. He therefore lived in daily fear () of getting such a stroke. One day, during a party at his home, he was playing chess with a young woman. Suddenly Jacksons 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 () 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

 

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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. Almost everything in modern world is done with the help of computers the complicated descendants () 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 efficient than human beings. They have much better memories and can store () great amount of information and they can do calculations in a fraction of the time required by a human mathematician. 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 tomorrows weather and even play chess, write poetry or compose music. Lets 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 (, ) 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 modern library. So, computer can help us to deal with the knowledge explosion in many ways. One can imagine a time when libraries will be run by computers, without human beings at all.

Or, lets 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 computer control of these two problems. The cars 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 transmitted 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 () its speed control accordingly.

 

 

5C

 

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Sir Isaac Newton was a supergenius of science who among other things invented calculus (), stated the laws of gravity and optics. But it turned out () Newton also made mistakes. The University of Chicago announced recently that R. Garusto, 23, a physicist, had discovered in one of Newtons calculations an error that had been undetected for three centuries.

 

The young scientist discovered it while he was studying Newtons masterpiece () of physics Principia (1687). Newton had derived () a figure for the Earths mass based on his new theory that a single force gravity governed () falling bodies on the Earth and the motion of planets around the Sun. The calculation depended on the angle () between two lines from the Earth to the Sun, but because that angle was not exactly 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 () by other physicists. The mistake has no influence on Newtons theory, but its discovery was enough to get him a prize from the University of Chicago.

 

Text 5D

 

-, . houses numbers, .

 

The Library of Congress

 

The Library of Congress is the Nations 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, researchers 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 () library building in the world when it was completed in 1897. It is decorated with splendid sculpture, murals () created by 50 American artists. Its Main Reading Room is 160 feet high.

 

The Room houses a collection of 45,000 reference books (), 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 () to the Librarys automated catalog.

 

The simply designed John Adams Building faced with white marble () 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 Librarys available Capitol Hill space. The building which is the official memorial to the Nations 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 ().

 

 

1. . 5 .

 

LL. the word electronics is in general usage

MM. more perfect electronic circuits

NN. billions of operations

OO. what can be regarded as

PP. the still youthful electronic age

 

. .

 

20. excellent, exact, accurate

21. combination of written symbols forming vocabulary of a language

22. consider

23. great or long period of time with special characteristics

24. one thousand million (GB), 109 (US)

 

2. :

 

n) number

o) tiny

p) not likely to change

q) signal to ring a bell at a fixed (certain) time

r) divide into two equal parts

s) watch that is used to time sport events, such as a race, to a fraction (small part) of a second

t) a place between the hand and the arm

u) not fast, slowly

v) smth. that helps smb. to remember, not to forget

w) start or begin a process

x) Hertz (Hz)

y) Speed

Digital Watch

 

In a digital watch the mechanical parts of the traditional mechanical wristwatch have been replaced by a vibrating quartz crystal to keep time. The vibrating quartz crystal is controlled by minute electronic circuits. One of the advantages of quartz is that it is very stable. The artificial quartz crystals used in digital watches are designed to vibrate up to 32,768 cycles per second when the current from a battery is passed through them.

These vibrations produce electric pulses. As the pulses travel through the electronic circuits of the microchip, their rate is gradually halved. The result is a pulse rate of one per second.

Each one-second pulse triggers the microchip to send signals to the liquid crystal display to advance the numerals by one second. The pulses are also used to control different functions. Such a digital watch can show the day and date; it can have an alarm and a reminder and can act as a stopwatch with an accuracy of 1/100th second.

 

3. , . .

 

QQ. Hardware means the different types of equipment a computer consists of.

RR. A computers hardware comprises a central processing unit (CPU) which is the heart and brain of the computer.

SS. Input and output devices capable of putting information into a computer and getting it out of it are types of peripheral equipment. Peripherals are the units connected to the CPU: input devices, output devices and storage devices.

TT. The simplest and most common type of input device is a keyboard, containing a typewriter keyboard.

UU. A laser printer is a kind of output device to print information.

VV. Software means the programs needed to operate computer equipment.

WW. These programs are on disks, the hard disks inside the computer, or floppy disks, or on CD-ROMs, that is, Compact Disk Read Only Memory, which you can put on or store a large amount of information. A disk is a storage device made of flat circular plates with magnetizable surfaces. A hard disk is a disk made from a solid magnetic material and used as a storage device. A floppy disk (also called diskette) is a disk made of flexible plastic material upon which data are stored on magnetic tracks. Tracks are areas marked on the surface of a disk. A disk drive is the electronic mechanism that actually reads what is on a disk. In hard disks, the disk and the drive are built into a single unit.

XX. A word processor is a computer used to write documents, letters and reports, or the software that is used for this purpose.

YY. Databases are programs, which allow you to store, look at or change a large quantity of information quickly and easily.

ZZ. Graphics are pictures and symbols a computer program can produce.

AAA. An extra copy on a floppy disk is called a back-up copy, a copy of data or software, usually kept in case the original disk is damaged or destroyed.

BBB. A bug possible in a computer operation, also a virus is a software problem or error in a program. Debugging means correcting program errors or bugs.

CCC. People send e-mail (electronic mail) messages with the help of the Internet, a system that lets computers connect by telephone lines.

A laptop is a portable computer weighing about 24 kg.

DDD. With a device called the mouse you can do a number of things by clicking on different icons.

EEE. A mouse is a small input device, on the top of which there are one or more buttons for communicating with the computer.

FFF. Clicking is a basic mouse action to place a cursor to close a window, etc.

GGG. An icon is a small picture representing an object, process or function.

 

4. , . .

 

25. data...

26. integrated... or chip

27. soft...

28.... ROM

29. hard...

30. floppy...

31.... disk

32. input, output...

33. super...

34. physical...

35.... network

36. mini...

37.... copy

38. fifth... computer

39.... processor

40. e-...

41.... age

42. photon...

43.... writer

44. key...

45. laser...

46. mini...

 

5. .

 

Verb, Noun Adjective
create ...
  possessive
act ...
compete competitive
attract ...
... comparative
expense ...
sense ...
mass ...

6. - ible/-able, :

z) that can be done, can exist, happen;

aa) that cannot be done, cannot exist, happen;

HHH. that can be used;

III. that may be obtained, can be used;

JJJ. that may be relied on;

KKK. that cannot be relied on;

LLL. which may be questioned;

MMM. which may not be questioned;

NNN. absolutely essential.

 

7. .

 

Noun Adjective Adverb
...   questionably
availability    
capability
... usable  
    possibly
reliability    
quality ... ...
quantity ...  
... ... intensively
indispensability ...  
     

8. . 1520

Computer.

 

. Speak about:

47. A lot of people are becoming computer literate (have experience of working with computers and know how to use them). Are you computer literate? Do you find most computers user- friendly (easy to use)?

48. The Internet and its influence on our daily life. Can it help people from different countries to learn English?

 





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