2015-04-01
8525
1. When was the first analog computer built? 2. Where and how was that computer used? 3. When did the first digital computers appear? 4. Who was the inventor of the first digital computer? 5. What could that device do? 6. What is ENIAC? Decode the word. 7. What was J.Neumann’s contribution into the development of computers? 8. What were the advantages of EDVAC in comparison with ENIAC? 9. What does binary code mean? 10. Due to what invention could the first digital computers be built?
9. Найдите в тексте 2 английские эквиваленты следующих словосочетаний.
Цифровые компьютеры; технические усовершенствования; совершенствование компьютеров; ответственный за изобретение; математические задачи; электронные трубки; важное достижение; запоминающее устройство; значительный вклад; двоичный код; высокое напряжение; низкое напряжение; электрические импульсы; тысячная доля секунды.
Происходить; завершать; вычислять; хранить команды внутри компьютера; запоминать информацию; запоминать команды; содействовать; использовать единицу и ноль; упрощать дизайн; усиливать сигналы; выполнять вычисления.
10. Заполните пропуски необходимыми словами.
1. The first digital computer could _____ a lot of mathematical problems at a fast ____2. Vannevar Bush built the first _____ computer in 1930. 3. Babbage’s analytical engine was designed to ____ data. 4. J.von Neumann invented a machine that was able to ___ not only data but also ____. 5. Neumann ____ the idea of storing data in a ___ ____. 6. Computers use two conditions for _____ symbols. 7. The invention of ___ ____made computers possible to control and ____ electronic signals. 8. Due to ____ ____ computers could perform _____ much faster.
11. Переведите предложения или словосочетания, содержащие:
А. Инфинитив в функции обстоятельства
I. Computers were designed to perform thousands of computations per second. 2. To make computers more reliable transistors were used. 3. They were applied to reduce computational time. 4. To integrate large numbers of circuit elements into a small chip, transistors should be reduced in size. 5. To use integrated circuit technology new computers were built. 6. Analytical engine was invented to store data.
Б. Инфинитив в функции определения
The problem to be solved; the work to be finished; the cards to be punched; calculations to be performed; the machine to be shown at the exhibition; the device to be provided with the necessary facts; computers to be used for data processing; efforts to increase reliability; electronics to connect systems and subsystems; the speed of response to depend on the size of transistor; computers to perform thousands of calculations per second; vacuum tubes to control and amplify electric signals; these are circuits to use a large number of transistors; operations to be performed.
12. Выполните письменно перевод текста 3 по вариантам.
Text 3. SOME FIRST COMPUTER MODELS
1. Babbage’s Analytical Engine
In 1832, an English inventor and mathematician Charles Babbage was commissioned by the British government to develop a system for calculating the rise and fall of the tides.
Babbage designed a device and called it an analytical engine. It was the first programmable computer, complete with punched cards for data input. Babbage gave the engine the ability to perform different types of mathematical operations. The machine was not confined to simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. It had its own “memory”, due to which the machine could use different combinations and sequences of operations to suit the purposes of the operator.
The machine of his dream was never realized in his life. Yet Babbage’s idea didn’t die with him. Other scientists made at- tempts to build mechanical, general-purpose, stored-program computers throughout the next century. In 1941 a relay computer was built in Germany by Conrad Zuse. It was a major step toward the realization of Babbage’s dream.
2. The Mark I Computer (1937—1944)
In 1944 in the United States, International Business Machines (IBM) built a machine in cooperation with scientists working at Harvard University under the direction of Prof. Aiken. The machine, called Mark I Automatic Sequence-Controlled Calculator, was built to perform calculations for the Manhattan Project, which led to the development of atomic bomb. It was the largest electromechanical calculator ever built. It used over 3000 electrically actuated switches to control its operations. Although its operations were not controlled electronically, Aiken’s machine is often classified as a computer because its instructions, which were entered by means of a punched paper tape, could be altered. The computer could create ballistic tables used by naval artillery.
The relay computer had its problems. Since relays are electromechanical devices, the switching contacts operate by means of electromagnets and springs. They are slow, very noisy and consume a lot of power.
3. The ABC (1939-1942)
The work on introducing electronics into the design of computers was going on.
The gadget that was the basis for the first computer revolution was the vacuum tube, an electronic device invented early in the twentieth century. The vacuum tube was ideal for use in computers. It had no mechanical moving parts. It switched flows of electrons off and on at rates far faster than possible with any mechanical device. It was relatively reliable, and operated hundreds of hours before failure. The first vacuum tube computer was built at Iowa University at about the same time as the Mark I. The computer, capable to perform thousands of related computations, was called ABC, the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, after Dr.John Atanasoff, a professor of physics and his assistant, Clifford Berry. It used 45 vacuum tubes for internal logic and capacitors for storage. From the ABC a number of vacuum-tube digital computers developed. Soon the British developed a computer with vacuum tubes and used it to decode German messages.
13. Прочтите текст 4 и передайте кратко его содержание а) на русском языке; б) на английском языке.
Text 4. FOUR GENERATIONS OF COMPUTERS
The first vacuum tubes computers are referred to as first generation computers, and the approximate period of their use was from 1950 to 1959. UNIVAC 1 (UNIVersal Automatic Computer) is an example of these computers which could perform thousands of calculations per second. Those devices were not only bulky, they were also unreliable. The thousands of vacuum lubes emitted large amounts of heat and burned out frequently.
The transistor, a smaller and more reliable successor to the vacuum tube, was invented in 1948. So-called second generation computers, which used large numbers of transistors were able to reduce computational time from milliseconds to microseconds, or millionths of seconds. Second-generation computers were smaller, faster and more reliable than first-generation computers.
Advances in electronics technology continued, and microelectronics made it possible to reduce the size of transistors and integrate large numbers of circuit elements into very small chips of silicon. The computers that were designed to use integrated circuit technology were called third generation computers, and the approximate time span of these machines was from 1960 to 1979. They could perform many data processing operations in nanoseconds, which are billionths of seconds.
Fourth generation computers have now arrived, and the integrated circuits that are being developed have been greatly reduced in size. This is due to microminiaturization, which means that the circuits are much smaller than before; as many as 100 tiny circuits are placed now on a single chip. A chip is a square or rectangular piece of silicon, usually from 1/10 to 1/4 inch, upon which several layers of an integrated circuit are etched or imprinted, after which the circuit is encapsulated in plastic or metal.
TESTS
1. Подберите вместо пропусков подходящее по смыслу слово.
1. British scientists invented а _____ way of multiplying and dividing.
a) mechanical; b) electrical; c) optical
2. A new branch of mathematics, _____ was invented in England and Germany independently.
a) mechanics; b) arithmetics; c) calculus
3. A young American clerk invented a means of coding _____ by punched cards.
a) letters; b) data; c) numbers
4. Soon punched cards were replaced by ____ terminals.
a) printer; b) scanner; c) keyboard
5. Mark I was the first ____ computer that could solve mathematical problems.
a) analog; b) digital; c) mechanical
6. J. von Neumann simplified his computer by storing information in a _____ code.
a) analytical; b) numerical; c) binary
7. Vacuum tubes could control and ___ electric signals.
a) calculate; b) amplify; c) generate
8. The first generation computers were _______ and often burned out.
a) uncomfortable; b) uncommunicative; c) unreliable
9. Computers of the second generation used _____ which reduced computational time greatly.
a) transistors; b) integrated circuits; c) vacuum tubes
10. Due to ___ the development of the fourth generation computers became possible.
a) microelectronics; b) miniaturization; c) microminiaturization
