Английский язык для студентов радиотехнических специальностей вузов (стр. 20 )

l. have a very long life – являются очень долговечными

2. small as they may be to the eye – какими бы маленькими они ни казались для глаза

3. the limit is a long way off yet – однако до предела еще далеко

III.Say whether the following statements are true or false:

1. Weight is a very important factor in computers. 2. The increase of operation is a real advantage. 3. Another advantage is that more power is required to run the computer. 4. Reliability is not particularly important in computers.

IV. Give the reason for making electronic apparatus smaller in a modern aircraft.

V. Find the information about mini-computers.

VI. Explain why transistors and other solid-state devices are used instead of valves.

VII. Which paragraph contains the information about the advantage of computers to have large information capacity but small physical dimensions?

VIII. Summarize the general ideas developed in texts А, В and C. Use the following plan:

1.  The use of computers in engineering.

2.The use of computers in the sciences and fine arts.

3.  Programming a digital computer.

4.Using programming languages.

5. The advantage of making computers as small as possible.

UNIT TEN

• Grammar: Absolute Participial Construction (§ 14).

Functions of it (§ 20).

• Individual Work: Lab Work "Absolute Participial Construction".

LESSON ONE

Pre-text Exercises

I. Practise the reading of the following words:

generation ["Genq'reISn], branch [brRntS], modern ['mPdn], serve [sE:v], superconducting ["sju:pq'kPndAktIN], versatile ['vE:sqtaIl], vital ['vaItl], exploration [ˏeksplq'reISn], tiny ['taIni], scholar ['skPlq(r)], circuit ['sE:kIt], tackle ['txkl], package ['pxkIG].

II. Make sure if you can read these words correctly and say what words in the Russian language help you to guess their meaning:

dynamic, discrete, economy, industrialized, national, complex, element, microprocessor, monitor, miniature, series.

III. State to what parts of speech the words in black type belong:

means of electronic computers it is possible to translate from one language to another. 2. Electric typewriters and keyboard devices are the common means of input. 3. We usually measure volume in cubic centimetres. 4. A kilogram is a unit of weight measure in the metric system. 5. Certain types of equipment handle input information and also function as output devices. 6. The atmospheric pressure is the function of the altitude above the sea level.

IV. Make sure if you remember the meaning of the following verbs. Consult a dictionary if necessary:

to appear, to develop, to count, to contain, to serve, to use, to control, to prove, to require, to perform, to repeat, to start, to determine, to exist, to represent, to transform, to compose, to operate, to process, to bring.

V. Define the function of it in the following sentences and translate them:

1. A material which allows electricity to flow through it is called a conductor. 2. It took five years to develop the machine. 3. The computer doesn't really remember, information is stored in it. 4. It is necessary to protect the human eye when laser beams are being used. 5. In Russia it was Lodygin who invented the electric lamp. 6. It is hard to overestimate the role of radio-electronics in technical progress. 7. Electronics is a young science. It belongs to the twentieth century. 8. I find it necessary to continue the experiment. 9. Electronics makes it possible to raise industrial automation to a higher level. 10. At present mathematics is the language of science and it becomes the stimulator of discoveries. 11. It is the computer that makes a machine a robot.

VI. Translate the following sentences into Russian paying attention to the Absolute Participial Construction:

1. The experiments being demonstrated, all the students watched them with great attention. 2. There are two diagrams in this figure, one of them showing the relation between volume and temperature. 3. A new radio set having been shown to them, they began to examine its details. 4. Electrons leaving the surface, the metal becomes positively charged. 5. We defined the volume, all the measurements having been done with respect to the instruction. 6. The computer performing addition, two numbers to be added come from the memory. 7. Atoms consist of three kinds of particles — electrons, protons and neutrons, the number of particles determining the kind of element. 8. The workers increased the output of measuring instruments, new devices having been applied in all the shops of the plant. 9. The experiment having been carried out, the students left the lab. 10. I was writing the translation, my friend helping me. 11. Part of the energy being changed into heat, not all the chemical energy of the battery is transformed into electric energy.

VII. Choose the sentences with the Absolute Participial Construction from the ones given below. Translate them into Russian:

1. Speaking about the new method of work the engineer told us many interesting details. 2. The temperature of a conductor being raised, the motion of the electrons in the conductor increases. 3. Special instruments measuring cosmic radio signals are being installed in the observatory. 4. Transistors are very sensitive to light, some of them reacting even to star-light. 5. The first man-made satellite having been sent up, it became possible to investigate various types of radiation. 6. Obtaining new data engineers can improve their knowledge. 7. The resistance being very large, the current in the circuit was small. 8. When improving the design the constructor made many calculations. 9. A great variety of substances are semi-conductors, germanium and silicon being the most important of them. 10. A series of attempts having been made, Lodygin came to a successful solution of the problem.

VIII. Match up the words which are opposite in meaning:

a) young, joint, modern, simple, hardware, conducting;

b)complex, software, ancient, isolating, old, separate.

IX. Try to memorize all word-groups:

■ modern science and technology – современная наука и техника ■ ingenious – оригинальный, искусный, хитроумный ■ obsolete – вышедший из употребления, устарелый ■ the magnetic-core memory – запоминающее устройство на магнитных сердечниках ■ to retrieve – восстанавливать, извлекать ■ silicon – кремний ■ to coin a term – придумать термин ■ to encompass – включать

LESSON TWO

I. Read text A attentively. Try to understand all details. Use a dictionary if necessary.

Text A

The Generations of Computers

1.  Computer technology is one of the youngest and most dynamic branches of modern science and technology. From the 1940s to the present, the technology used to build computers has gone through several revolutions. People sometimes speak about of different generations of computers.

2.  The First Generation. First-generation computers prevailed in the 1940s and for much of the 1950s. They used electronic vacuum tubes for calculation, control, and sometimes for memory as well. First-generation machines used several other ingenious devices for memory. In one, for instance, information was stored as sound waves circulating in a column of mercury¹. All these first-generation memories are now obsolete.

3.  The Second Generation. In the late 1950s, the transistor became available to replace the vacuum tube. A transistor, which is only slightly larger than a kernel of corn2, generates little heat and enjoys long life. At about the same time, the magnetic-core memory was introduced. Information could be stored in core memory or retrieved from it in about a millionth of a second. Core memory dominated the high-speed memory scene for much of the second and third generations.

4.  The Third Generation. The early 1960s saw the introduction of integrated circuits, which incorporated hundreds of transistors on a single silicon chip. The chip itself was small enough to fit on the end of your finger. With integrated circuits, computers could be made even smaller, less expensive, and more reliable. Integrated circuits made possible minicomputers and tabletop computers.

5.  The most recent jump in computer technology came with the introduction of large-scale integrated circuits3, often referred to simply as chips. Whereas the older integrated circuits contained hundreds of transistors, the new ones contain thousands or tens of thousands. It is the large-scale integrated circuits that make possible the microprocessors and microcomputers. They also make possible compact, inexpensive, high-speed, high-capacity integrated-circuit memory. All these recent developments have resulted in a microprocessor revolution, which began in the middle 1970s and for which there is no end in sight.

6.  The Fourth Generation. In addition to the common applications of digital watches, pocket calculators, and personal computers, you can find microprocessors – the general-purpose processor-on-a-chip – in virtually every machine in the home or business – microwave ovens, cars, copy machines, TV sets, and so puters today are hundred times smaller than those of the first generation, and a single chip is far more powerful than any computer of the first generation.

7. The Fifth Generation. The term was coined by the Japanese to describe the powerful, intelligent computers they wanted to build by the mid-1990s. Since then it has become an umbrella term4, encompassing many research fields in the computer industry. Key areas of ongoing research are artificial intelligence (AI), expert systems, and natural language.