WHAT IS A COMPUTER?

Task 1. What component parts of the computer do you know?

Task 2. What do you know about software and hardware?

Task 3. Read the text and complete the table:

	name	function
hardware		to tape the information
	CPU
		to output the information from computer to paper
software

Computers are fast and efficient machines that can do in seconds what would take a person hours, days, or even months. They have become an important part of our lives. Since the first-generation computers were designed and built in the 1940s and 50s, computers have become very sophisticated and complex machines. Computers have decreased greatly in price.

Computer technology has changed the way we live and it has created problems. Computers have created new ways to commit fraud, and they have posed new ethical problems. Every day we hear about new uses of the computer. Computers are used more and more in business, industry, agriculture, and at home.

An important use of computers is in education. It is called computer assisted instruction. It is becoming more and more popular at all levels of education from pre-school to university. There are computer toys that teach 3-year-olds how to read and spell. Starting in kindergarten, computers are used in the classroom to allow students to work without a teacher on subjects ranging from mathematics to reading, and from history to English.

Many people fear the computer because they do not really understand it. "Computer literacy" is a new term used to describe a working knowledge of the computer and a familiarity with the terminology.

The growth of computer technologies has eliminated many jobs. But computers create as many jobs as they take away.

So, what is a computer? A computer is a high-speed electronic machine used for word and data processing. In its simplest configuration, a computer system consists of three components. These parts are an input device (keyboard), the central processing unit (CPU), and an output device (printer). These are usually referred to as "hardware".

Software is needed to make this hardware capable of performing useful operations. Software is a collection of different types of programs that make the computer run.

The keyboard is the most common input device. Once the programs and data are typed on the terminal keyboard, they are transferred into the computer memory. The typed material appears either on paper or on a screen. The central processing unit is the brain and the heart of the computer system. The memory of the computer is its storage area. The capacity of the memory is measured in thousands of characters, usually referred to as kilos of bytes.

Each byte can store one character. For example, if the word English were to be stored in memory, it would use seven bytes. Each letter would use one byte for a total of seven. A small system with 8 K bytes (8 kilos of bytes) has a main storage area of approximately eight thousand characters.

The control unit is the chief executive of the computer system. All the other components of the computer are directed by the control unit. It supervises all the operations in the system. The control unit gets the instructions from memory, executes them, and orders the input and output devices to perform. The memory and the control unit are parts of the central processing unit.

Task 4. Find in the text equivalents to the following words and expressions:

універсальний комп’ютер, попередники, значно більша швидкість та точність, блок пам’яті, надсилати сигнал, обробляти дані, дослідницькі центри, широко застосовувати, виробляти неправильні результати, блок управління, важлива частина життя, складні машини, значно подорожчати, допоміжні інструкції, “комп’ютерна грамотність”, обробка даних, контролювати операції системи.

Task 5. Translate into Ukrainian the following words and word combinations:

vast improvements in the size, calculations and operations, in binary-coded form, to be required immediately, research laboratories, arithmetic logic unit, memory unit, control unit, input unit, output unit, first-generation computers, ranging from mathematics to reading, device, storage area, chief executive.

Task 6. Find the odd word out in each of these short lists.

1. quick, fast, slow, rapid

2. printer, keyboard, vacuum cleaner, scanner

3. device, pool, tool, instrument

4. date, information, data, fact

Task 7. Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Сучасні комп’ютери це швидкі та складні машини.

2. Комп’ютери використовуються в таких сферах як промисловість, навчання, сільське господарство та ін.

3. З часом комп’ютери замінюють працівників в одній сфері, але створюють робочі місця в іншій.

4. Основна функція комп’ютера це збереження та обробка даних.

5. Ми можемо ввести дані в комп’ютер за допомогою клавіатури, а вивести за допомогою принтеру.

6. Серце комп’ютера це блок управління, який керує всіма процесами.

Task 8. Work in pairs. Imagine that one of you wants to buy computer (buyer), and the second is well-informed about computers (seller). Make the dialogue and dramatize it.

Task 9. Memorize the following words and word combinations:

1.	agriculture	сільське господарство
2.	central processing unit (CPU)	центральний процесор
3.	character	символ, літера
4.	to commit	здійснювати
5.	control unit	блок управління
6.	to decrease	зменшувати
7.	to direct	управляти, спрямовувати
8.	efficient	результативний, ефективний
9.	to eliminate	ліквідувати, усувати
10.	to execute	виконувати
11.	familiarity	знання, ознайомленість
12.	to fear	боятися
13.	first-generation computers	комп’ютери першого покоління
14.	fraud	шахрайство
15.	hardware	технічне забезпечення
16.	input device	вхідний пристрій
17.	output device	пристрій виводу даних
18.	to perform	виконувати, здійснювати
19.	to pose	являти, ставити
20.	software	програмне забезпечення
21.	sophisticated	складний, удосконалений
22.	to spell	вимовляти (по літерах)
23.	storage area	область пам’яті
24.	literacy	грамотність
25.	to supervise	наглядати, спостерігати

UNIT 5

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14