РОСЖЕЛДОР
Государственное образовательное учреждение
высшего профессионального образования
«Ростовский государственный университет путей сообщения»
(РГУПС)
Н.А. Малишевская
КОМПЬЮТЕРНЫЕ КОММУНИКАЦИИ В КУЛЬТУРЕ
Учебное пособие по английскому языку
Ростов-на-Дону
2007
УДК 42(07) + 06
Малишевская, Н.А.
Компьютерные коммуникации в культуре / Н.А. Малишевская; Рост. гос. ун-т путей сообщения. – Ростов н/Д, 2007. – 36 с.
Учебное пособие предназначено для развития навыков и умений устной речи. Пособие включает 8 тем, 21 текст, словарь. Текстовый материал заимствован из оригинальной английской литературы и адаптирован в соответствии с целью данных методических разработок.
Рецензент канд. пед. наук, доц. Л.П. Казак (РГУПС)
Учебное издание
Малишевская Наталья Александровна
КОМПЬЮТЕРНЫЕ КОММУНИКАЦИИ В КУЛЬТУРЕ
Учебное пособие на английском языке
Редактор А.В. Артамонов
Техническое редактирование и корректура А.В. Артамонов
Подписано в печать 23.07.07. Формат 60×84/16.
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Ростовский государственный университет путей сообщения.
Ризография РГУПС.
Адрес университета: 344038, Ростов н/Д, пл. им. Ростовского Стрелкового Полка Народного Ополчения, 2.
© Ростовский государственный университет путей сообщения, 2007
CONTENTS
Theme I. My Speciality
Text 1. Computer Science
Text 2. Information Technologies
Theme II. A Brief History of Computers
Text 1. History of Computer
Text 2. The First Computers
Text 3. Some First Computer Models
Text 4. Four Generations of Computers
Text 5. Different Types of Computers
Theme III. Programming and Programming Languages
Text 1. Computer Programming
Text 2. Programming languages
Text 3. Computer Programs
Theme IV. Faces of the Internet
Text 1. The Wild World of the Internet
Text 2. Electronic Mail
Text 3. Phishing
Theme V. New Technologies and Search Systems
Text 1. The World Wide Web Service and HTTP
Text 2. The Opera Browser
Text 3. Planet-Scale Grid
Text 4. Keyloggers
Theme VI. Local Area Networks
Text 1. A Brief History of Local Area Nets (LANs)
Text 2. Types of Physical Configuration for LANs
Theme VII. Information Technologies in Russia
Text 1. System Integration Service in Russia
Theme VIII. Ecology and Computers
Text 1. Recycling-Reverse Engineering
English-Russian Vocabulary of Computer Technology
Theme I. My Speciality
Text 1. Computer Science
I am going to become a computer engineer and I am looking forward with pride and confidence in my future profession. I am sure that I have all the reasons to feel so because nowadays our world is measured, controlled and managed by computers. There are laptops, notebooks, tablets, personal digital assistants and stationary computers or desk tops everywhere, not only in banks and offices, government and business institutions, but also in schools and private houses. In the modern world even children play electronic games on computers or play-stations.
Many corporations, companies and institutions have introduced local computer networks and information systems into their business, production, service and management. A computer is becoming an indispensable "must-have" not only in business but in our everyday life too. Moreover, computers and the Internet are gradually transforming into extension of our brain and hands, enabling us to pick up knowledge as we require it and to maintain a remote control at a great distance away.
Portable computers, for instance, provide continuous access to information in all areas and to various navigation and communication systems, you can order different goods and services, pay for them and check your accounts on-line whenever you want. You can computerize your own house installing all necessary electronic devices with supporting technologies and software. As a result, your place will be changed into the so-called "smart house" with full automate control and supply including air-conditioning, temperature, dust and humidity monitoring gate opening with face control, a self-inventorying refrigerator and blinds opened without human attendance.
Answer the questions:
1 What is your future profession?
2 What modifications of PCs are used everywhere?
3 Where are computers used?
4 What kind of games do children play nowadays?
5 Who have introduced local computer networks and information systems into business and management?
6 What kind of electronic equipment is becoming an indispensable "must-have ' not only in business but in our everyday life too?
7 What fields have local computer networks been introduced into?
8 What are computers and the Internet gradually transforming into?
9 How do computers and the Internet enable us to pick up knowledge and to maintain remote control?
10 What can you do on-line?
Text 2. Information Technologies
I am planning to become an information technologies engineer. I know that experts on information technologies (IT) are in great demand in many industries and businesses, because nowadays IT are essential for almost all fields of human activities. About 20 years ago in this country information systems and technologies used to be applied only m the sphere of high technologies, in science, design work, research and development, etc. Recently Information technologies have been introduced into all institutions of Russia's government and Moscow's municipal authorities. Many corporations, banks and numerous companies have set up local networks and information systems to facilitate management, accounting, inventorying and information flows.
Information technologies are widely used in transportation industry too. There are computerized systems of selling tickets, passenger and freight traffic control, logistic monitoring, rolling stock operations, personnel management and accounting reports within RZD (Russian Railroads) Public Company. The underground and rapid transit systems in Moscow and other cities of Russia are also controlled with computerized technologies.
IT are highly profitable in giving the investments, they improve productivity and customer services, stimulate cost savings which can come from either materials or personnel. It is common knowledge that IT are paying off handsomely. That is why a Chief Information Officer (CIO) is now a person of great importance in a company; his position has become the third in the list of a company's top managers, straight under a Chief Executive (CEO) and a Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
Answer the questions:
1 Why are IT experts in great demand now?
2 Where were IT applied in this country 20-30 years ago?
3 What fields have IT been introduced into lately?
4 What computerized systems are there within RZD?
5 How are underground and rapid transit systems controlled in Moscow and in other cities of the Russian Federation?
6 How and where are Information Technologies profitable?
7 What business metrics can be improved by means of IT?
8 Why are Information technologies paying off handsomely?
9 What technologies are widely used in transportation industry?
10 What position is occupied by a Chief Information Officer in the list of a company's top managers?
Theme II. A Brief History of Computers
Text 1. History of Computers
"Who invented the computer?" is not a question with a simple answer. The real answer is that many inventors contributed to the history of computers and that a computer is a complex piece of machinery made up of many parts, each of which can be considered a separate invention.
However, a series of very interesting developments in computers was started in Cambridge, England, by Charles Babbage, a gifted mathematician. In 1812, he began to design an automatic mechanical calculating machine, which he called a difference engine. It was intended to be a steam powered and fully automatic device commanded by a fixed instruction program. Then Babbage designed a fully program-controlled, automatic mechanical digital computer. He called his idea an "Analytical Engine". The Analytical Engine was supposed to use punched cards for data input. However, the machine of his dream was never finished.
The designing of railroads and the developing industry required differential calculus to determine such things as the center of gravity or stress distributions. So it was a strong need for a machine that could rapidly perform many repetitive calculations.
A step towards automated computing was the development of punched cards, which were first successfully used with computers in 1890 by Herman Hollerith and James Powers. They invented a means of coding the data by punching holes into cards. The specialists could read the information that had been punched into the cards automatically, without human help. Later Hollerith established his own tabulating machine company. Through a series of changes, the company eventually became the IBM Corporation.
These advantages soon led to the development of improved punched card using computers created in 1953 by International Business Machines (IBM), Remington Burroughs, and other corporations. These computers used special devices in which electrical power provided mechanical motion - like turning the wheels of an adding machine.
Answer the questions:
1 Why is it practically impossible to name the first inventor of the computer?
2 Who designed the first automatic mechanical calculating machine? When did it happen?
3 How was the Analytical Engine supposed to operate?
4 Why was it necessary at the end of the 19th century to create a machine that could rapidly perform many repetitive calculations?
5 When were the first punch cards used?
6 What devices did Herman Hollerith and James Powers develop?
7 How could the specialists read the information from those devices?
8 Who established a tabulating machine company?
9 What kinds of computers were created by IBM and other companies in 1953 ?
10 What devices did the first IBM computers use?
Text 2. The First Computers
In 1930 the first analogue computer was built in America. This device was used in World War II to help aim guns. In fact, the start of World War II produced a large need for computer capacity, especially for the military purposes. In 1942, John P. Eckert, John W. Mauchly, and their associates at the Moore school of Electrical Engineering of University of Pennsylvania decided to build a high - speed electronic computer to do the job. This machine became known as ENIAC (Electrical Numerical Integrator and Calculator). ENIAC was about 1,000 times faster then the previous generation of relay computers. ENIAC used 18,000 vacuum tubes.
ENIAC is commonly accepted as the first successful high - speed electronic digital computer (EDC) and was used from 1946 to 1955. Fascinated by the success of ENIAC, the mathematician John Von Neumann created in 1944, the Harvard Mark I computer. The Mark I computes complex tables for the U.S. Navy. It used a paper tape to store instructions. Later, Von Neumann made a special type of machine instruction, called a conditional control transfer, which allowed to stop the program sequence and start it again at any point and to store all instruction programs together with data in the same memory unit. Because of these techniques, computing and programming became much faster, more flexible, and more efficient with work. As a result of those improvements, the first generation of modern programmed electronic computers was built in 1947. This group included computers using Random Access Memory (RAM) designed to give almost constant access to any particular piece of information for computers.
Answer the questions:
1 When was the first analog computer constructed?
2 Where was it used?
3 What does ENIAC mean?
4 What purposes was it created for?
5 Which were faster ENIAC or relay computers?
6 When were ENIAC computers used?
7 Who created the Mark I computers for the US Navy?
8 What did Conditional control transfer allow to do?
9 What does the term RAM stand for?
10 Does RAM give almost constant access to any particular piece of information for computers?
Text 3. Some First Computer Models
The work on introducing electronics into the design of computers was going on. 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, capable of performing thousands of related computations was called ABC - the Atanasoff-Berry-Computer. It used 45 vacuum tubes for internal logic and capacitors for storage. From the ABC a number of vacuum-tube digital computers developed. Early in the 50's two important engineering discoveries changed the image of the electronic - computer field. These discoveries were the magnetic core memory and the Transistor - Circuit Element. These technical discoveries quickly found their way into new models of digital computers. RAM capacities increased from 8,000 to 64,000 words in commercially available machines by the 1960’s, with access times of 2 to 3 MS (Milliseconds). However, the machines of those days were very expensive to purchase or even to rent. Besides, they were particularly expensive to operate because of the cost of expanding programming. Such computers were mostly found in large computer centers operated by industry, government, and private laboratories - staffed with many programmers and support personnel. IBM introduced the 701 model in 1953. It was the first commercially successful computer. In 1956, FORTRAN language was introduced. Two additional languages, LISP and COBOL, were added in 1957 and 1958. Other early languages include ALGOL and BASIC. Although never widely used, ALGOL is the basis for many of today's languages.
Answer the questions:
1 Why were vacuum tubes ideal for use in computers?
2 Who invented ABC?
3 How many vacuum tubes did it use?
4 What important engineering discoveries changed the image of the electronic-computer field?
5 How did RAM capacities increase after those new discoveries?
6 What were the main disadvantages of those machines?
7 Where could you find those computers?
8 Did they need many programmers and support personnel?
9 What model did IBM introduce in 1953?
10 What computer languages were introduced in the 1950s?
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