English

for Computer Science

Students
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English for Computer Science Students [Электронный ресурс] :

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m.`. d3д=!е"=. O 8-е ,зд.., стер. O l.: tkhmŠ`, 2012. O 128 “.: 9 ,л.

ISBN 978-5-89349-203-3

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2
Unit I.
Hobby, Addiction, or Future Job?

Prereading Discussion
1. What is the computer? Computers are now widespread (common-
place), aren’t they?
2. Did you learn about computers through science fiction, paperbacks,
and movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey?
3. How old were you when you learnt about the computer?
4. What are the reasons for buying home computers?
5. Do you like playing on the computer?
6. What are your favorite video games (shoot’em-up, walk-through,
role-playing games (RPG), or intellectual games?
7. How often do you work with the computer?
8. Does good knowledge of English help to operate the computer
better?
9. Do you agree that English is a lifetime study and may serve a variety
of purposes? What are they?
10. Who can be called a computer wizard? Do you attribute his/her
success to hard work or talent?

3
11. Under what method do you study computers and English (in class,
at home)? What are your study habits?
12. Why do you think you’ll be good for a computer job?
13. Are you baffled by computer language? Wary of the World Wide
Web? This quiz will help you œhackB terms you may encounter
while surfing the Internet.

1. cursor, n O A: coarse speaker. B: indicator. C: moneychanger.

D: technician.
2. network, n O A: TV channel. B: digital design.
C: system of computers. D: filter.
3. download, v O A: to copy. B: scramble. C: erase. D: belittle.
4. virus, n O A: flaw. B: poison. C: fatigue. D: infection.
5. browser, n O software that allows you to A: explore the Internet.
B: eavesdrop. C: send a fax. D: save a file.
6. cracker, n O A: fanatic. B: intruder. C: burglar. D: expert.
7. hit, n O A: accident. B: stumbling block.
C: unit of measurement. D: visit.
8. authenticate, v O A: to fade. B: complicate. C: confirm. D: test.
9. emoticon, n O A: robot. B: radiation. C: trick. D: illustration.
10. boot, v O A: to fail gradually. B: enlarge. C: adjust.
D: start up.
11. server, n O A: central computer. B: speed control.
C: power supply. D: trouble-shooter.
12. modem, n O A: digital code. B: keyboard. C: visual display.
D: connecting device.
13. glitch, n O A: flash. B: excitement. C: error. D: stroke of luck.
14. compress, v O A: to shrink. B: understand. C: fix. D: soften.
15. pixel, n O A: picture element. B: programming oddity.
C: brief blur. D: long delay.
16. link, n O A: missing piece. B: space station.
C: related site. D: warning signal.
17. scanner, n O machine that A: reproduces images.
B: translates files. C: searches a document.
D: adds color.
18. log on, v O A: to pile. B: gain access. C: waste time. D: stretch.
19. shareware, n O A: hand-me-down clothing. B: free hardware.
C: relic. D: trial software.
20. gigabyte, n O A: sudden shutdown. B: unit of storage.
C: wide gap. D: high pressure.

4
Reading Analysis
VOCABULARY LIST

Nouns: miracle, male/female, survey, statement, praise, item,

gimmick, attitude (to), concern, score, addict, quest, access (to),
overload.
Verbs: to deliver, to conscri pt, to spread, to overtake, to mess, to ap-
preciate, to earn, to interfere, to complicate, to proliferate, to curtail,
to confess to.
Adjectives: competitive, ambitious, vague, sensible, virtual, contempo-
rary, brand-new, up-to-date, out-of-date, online.
Word combinations: vintage car, catch phrase, to surf the Internet,
to be suspicious, to leave behind, to get frustrated.

TEXT I. COMPUTER STUDIES?

(1) If you’re female, you’re going to read this article and feel smug.
If you are male, you might feel a desire to use the article to wrap
up your old chewing gum or just get annoyed and play a com-
puter game.
(2) According to a recent report, in Britain girls are overtaking boys at
school. They are even beating them in subjects such as science and
maths, which people used to think were subjects that boys were
naturally better at. Surveys show there could be several reasons for
this.Boys and girls behave very differently from each other both in
and out of school.
(3) In school, statistics show boys mess about more and get into trouble
more.Admittedly, they put up their hand to answer questions more
but they often have the wrong answer.The girls who were interviewed
said they often knew the correct answer but didn’t like to put up
their hand if they weren’t absolutely sure. The survey also showed
girls spent much longer doing homework and checking it with each
other.Boys may argue that these things do not make girls more intel-
ligent than boys and in some boys’ opinions may even make many
girls look like swots. However, these things do show that girls have
a different attitude to school than boys. Girls are becoming much
more competitive and ambitious.

5
(4) Experts believe that some boys are spending so much time playing
computer games and watching violent films that they are living in
a fantasy world. When girls talk about using home computers, they
often discuss different types of software that they use for learning.
Boys simply talk about computer games.When 14-year-old girls were
asked what they would like to do in the future, they mentioned
realistic jobs such as vet, teacher or doctor. The boys’ ans-wers
were either very vague such as, œI just want to be happy and have
lots of moneyB or unrealistic and they said things such as, œI want
to be a fighter pilot.B Their answers were considered worrying be-
cause they did not seem very sensible and did not show any concern
about unemployment. However, some people might believe that 14
is too young to worry anyhow. Also, the truth is that the majority
of œtop jobsB in England are still done by men so many might not
see the need to worry. The good news is that after the age of 17,
many boys become interested in school again and their exam results
show that they have caught up. The problem is just keeping them
interested until then...
(5) A lot of knowledge is a dangerous thing for addicts of the Internet.
Information is becoming the drug of the new century.
(6) The research, conducted among 1000 managers in Britain, Ameri-
ca, Europe and the Far East shows that, as information sources
such as the Internet and cable news channels proliferate, we are
witnessing the rise of a generation of dataholics.
(7) The quest for information can lead to stress.Almost two-thirds said
their leisure time had been curtailed as a result of having to work
late to cope with vast amounts of information; 70 percent reported
loss of job satisfaction and tension with colleagues because of in-
formation overload.
(8) The study also investigated the habits of the children of 300 manag-
ers and found 55 per cent of parents were concerned their children
would become information junkies.
(9) Forty-six per cent of parents believed their children spent more
time on their PCs than interacting with friends. In one case a child
had to be wheeled with his computer to the dinner table.
(10) Sue Feldman, mother of Alexander, 13, aself-confessed Internet-
addict, said she had not yet been forced to wheeling her son and
computer to the table, but said she often served him sandwiches
and crisps at his bedroom computer.
(11) Alexander switches on his computer every day when he returns
from Latymer School in Hammersmith to his home at Ealing, west

6
 London. œI’d confess to spending up to four hours a day on the
Internet looking for information and speaking to friends. It’s like
an addiction,B Alexander said.
(12) œIf I can’t get on to my computer or the Internet, I do get re-
ally frustrated.B He spends most of his time finding out the latest
information on pop groups and facts for his homework.
(13) œMy parents have to tell me to get off the computer, and they
complain a lot, but they also see it as a good thing. Practically ev-
eryone in my class has a PC with Internet access so all my friends
are also on-line. It’s the way forward.B

EXERCISES
I. The statements below were other results of the survey.
Write G if you think the statement might refer to girls and B
if you think it could refer to boys.
1. Learn to speak earlier.
2. Get nervous if there is a pause in the conversation between friends.
3. Take more risks.
4. Are spoken to more by parents.
5. Normally get more praise at school if they do something well.
6. Smoke more.
II. How modern are you? (pop quiz)
1. If you were able to have any car you wanted, what would you buy?
a) I’d buy a restored vintage car that might become a collec-
tor’s item.
b) I’d buy a newly built car with all the latest technology.
c) I wouldn’t buy a car because I don’t like them.
2. What is your attitude to new scientific developments?
a) They’re brilliant.They will help to make the world amuch-
happier and better place.
b) We know enough about science now. We should stop
interfering with nature.
c) Some things are good. Some things are bad.
3. How do you speak?
a) I use a lot of new words, slang and catch phrases from the
television and magazines.
b) I use exactly the same words and phrases as my parents.
c) I use a few new words because they are useful for what I
want to say.

7
 4. Which of the following do you think is the most enjoyable?
a) Playing virtual reality computer games.
b) Going to adisco/club that plays music from the 60s and 70s.
c) Listening to techno music.
5. Which of the following would be your preferred way of finding out
information?
a) I like looking it up in a book.
b) Surfing the Internet or using a CD-Rom is the best way.
c) Watching a video is best.
6. You go to a friend’s house. Their mother earns a lot of money and
works and their father stays at home, cooks and cleans. What is
your reaction?
a) Nothing. It doesn’t matter who works and who cleans. It’s
the 90s.
b) A bit surprised. It seems a bit strange because it’s unusual.
c) The poor man. Cooking and cleaning is a woman’s job.
7. Which of the following types of books or films do you prefer?
a) Historical ones.
b) Anything romantic.
c) Contemporary ones about modern day things.
8.If your computer was six years old and worked perfectly well, which
of the following would you do?
a) I’d buy a brand new one so I could have new technology.
b) I wouldn’t do anything.I’d be happy with it.New technolo-
gy is just gimmicks.
c) I’d secretly hope it would break, despite the fact that I
didn’t need a new computer.
ADD UP YOUR SCORE AND READ THE ANALYSIS

a b c

1 2 3 1
2 3 1 2
3 3 1 2
4 3 1 2
5 1 3 2
6 3 2 1
7 1 2 3
8 3 1 2

8
 THE ANALYSIS

8O11: You are not modern at all and you don’t want to be.You are
suspicious of new things and don’t make an effort to find out about them.
You would prefer to live in the past. It’s nice that you can appreciate
the simple things in life but you must be careful not to get left behind.
You are too traditional.
12O16: You are not very modern but you are not completely old-
fashioned either.You like to live in aworld that has the good things from
the past and some of the good things from the present too.
17O20: You are modern. You know a lot about what is happening
around you and obviously enjoy progress. On the other hand, you are
sensible and don’t worry about buying and doing all the latest things just
because they are fashionable.
21O24: Yes.You are very modern.Being up-to-date is very important
to you.Sometimes perhaps it is too important.Remember that new things
are not always the best things. Be careful not to become obsessed with
every new thing that comes along.Some things are just clever marketing
crazes that will complicate your life.

TEXT II. COMPUTER SYSTEMS

(1) Computers can be divided into three main types, depending on
their size and power.
(2) Mainframe computers are the largest and most powerful. They can
handle large amounts of information very quickly and can be used
by many people at the same time.They usually fill awhole room and
are sometimes referred to as mainframes or computer installations.
They are found in large institutions like universities and government
departments.
(3) Minicomputers, commonly known as minis, are smaller and less
powerful than mainframes.They are about the size of an office desk
and are usually found in banks and offices. They are becoming less
popular as microcomputers improve.
(4) Microcomputers, commonly known as micros, are the smallest and
least powerful.They are about the size of atypewriter.They can handle
smaller amounts of information at a time and are slower than the
other two types.They are ideal for use as home computers and are
also used in education and business.More powerful microcomputers
are gradually being produced; therefore they are becoming the most
commonly used type of computers.

9
(5) A computer can do very little until it is given some information.
This is known as the input and usually consists of a program and
some data.
(6) A program is a set of instructions, written in a special computer
language, telling the computer what operations and processes have
to be carried out and in what order they should be done. Data,
however, is the particular information that has to be processed by
the computer, e.g.numbers, names, measurements.Databrought out
of the computer is known as the output.

EXAMPLE: A computer calculating 3 + 4 = 7 uses the following

program and data:
PROGRAM Add two numbers then display the result.
INPUT DATA 3, 4
OUTPUT DATA 7

(7) When aprogram is run, i.e.put into operation, the computer executes
the program step by step to process the data. The same program
can be used with different sets of data.
(8) Information in the form of programs and data is called software,
but the pieces of equi pment making up the computer system are
known as hardware.
(9) The most important item of hardware is the CPU (Central Process-
ing Unit). This is the electronic unit at the center of the computer
system. It contains the processor and the main memory.
(10) The processor is the brain of the computer.It does all the processing
and controls all the other devices in the computer system.
(11) The main memory is the part of the computer where programs
and databeing used by the processor can be stored.However it only
stores information while the computer is switched on and it has a
limited capacity.
(12) All the other devices in the computer system, which can be con-
nected to the CPU, are known as peri pherals. These include input
devices, output devices and storage devices.
(13) An input device is a peri pheral, which enables information to be
fed into the computer. The most commonly used input device is a
keyboard, similar to a typewriter keyboard.
(14) An output device is a peri pheral, which enables information to
be brought out of the computer, usually to display the processed
data. The most commonly used output device is a specially adapted
television known as a monitor or VDU (Visual Display Unit). An-

10
 other common output device is a printer. This prints the output of
the CPU onto paper.
(15) A storage device is a peri pheral used for the permanent storage of
information. It has a much greater capacity than the main memory
and commonly uses magnetic tape or magnetic disks as the storage
medium.
(16) These are the main pieces of hardware of any computer system
whether a small œmicroB or a large mainframe system.

EXERCISES

I. Answer the following questions:

1. What type of computer is most suitable for home use?
2. What is a program?
3.What are the functions of main memory, input device, storage device?
4. What is data?
5. What are the functions of processor, output device, monitor?

II. Match each component in column A with its function in

column B:
A B
1. Storage device a. It displays the processed data
2. Input device b. It holds the programs and data being used by
3. Output device the processor
4. Main memory c. It does all the processing and controls the pe-
5. Processor ri pherals
d. It allows data to be entered
e. It provides permanent storage for programs
and data
III. Complete the table:
Mainframe Minicomputer Microcomputer

Size
Power
Use

11
IV. Label the diagram of a computer system using these
terms:
CPU

2
1 4
3

a) Main memory
b) Input device
c) Output device
d) Processor
e) Storage device

TEXT III. TO YOUR HEALTH

(1) Can all this computing be good for you? Are there any unhealthy
side effects? The computer seems harmless enough.How bad can it
be, sitting in a padded chair in a climate-controlled office?
(2) Health questions have been raised by the people who sit all day in
front of the video display terminals (VDTs) of their computers.Are
computer users getting bad radiation? What about eyestrain? And
what about the age-old back problem, updated with new concerns
about workers who hold their hands over a keyboard? What about
repetitive-action injury also known as carpal tunnel syndrome? What
about the risk of miscarriage?
(3) Unions and legislators in many communities continue to push for
laws limiting exposure to video screens. Many manufacturers now
offer screens with built-in protection.
(4) Meanwhile, there are a number of things workers can do to take
care of themselves. A good place to begin is with an ergonomically
designed workstation.Ergonomics is the study of human factors re-
lated to computers. A properly designed workstation takes a varie-ty
of factors into account, such as the distance from the eyes to the
12
 screen and the angle of the arms and wrists.
(5) Experts recommend these steps as coping mechanisms:
 Turn the screen away from the window to reduce glare, and
cover your screen with a glare deflector. Turn off overhead
lights; illuminate your work area with a lamp.
 Put your monitor on a tilt-and-swivel base.
 Get a pneumatically adjustable chair. Position the seat back so
your lower back is supported.
 Place the keyboard low enough to avoid arm and wrist fatigue.
Do not bend your wrists when you type. Use an inexpensive,
raised wrist rest. Do not rest your wrists on a sharp edge.
 Sit with your feet firmly on the floor.
 Exercise at your desk occasionally rotating your wrist, rolling
your shoulders, and stretching. Better yet, get up and walk
around at regular intervals.

EXERCISES

I. Find in the text equivalents to:

"!ед…/е C%K%ч…/е .--е*2/; м г*%е *!е“л%; "е…2,л,!3ем%е
C%ме?е…,е; .ле*2!%м=г…,2…%е ,ƒл3че…,е; %Kл3че…,е; !=д,*3л,2;
3“2=л%“2ь !3* , *,“2еL; !=K%чее ме“2%; "е!.…ее %“"е?е…,е;
3ч,2/"=2ь (C!,…,м=2ь " !=“че2); …=*л%……= , "!=?=ю?= “
C%д“2="*=; 3ме…ьш,2ь “"ече…,е; "“2!%е……= ƒ=?,2=; C…е"м=2,че“*,
!ег3л,!3ем%е *!е“л%; "!=?=2ь; C%2 г,"=2ь“ ; %“2!/L *!=L,!ег3л !…%.

II. Fill in the table:

Problem Disease How to cope

VDT Eyestrain, Increase distance from

radiation headache, the eyes to the screen
immune system Install radiation
diseases, risk protection devices
of miscarriage (a glare reflector)
Staying
indoors
Autism

13
III. Translate into English:
no`qm{e hcp{
j%мCью2е!/ “2=…%" 2“ "“е K%лее C!,"/ч…/м =2!,K32%м
%-,“%" , *%…2%!, ш*%ль…/. *л=““%" , д=›е де2“*,. “=д%".
o!%"еде……/е =ме!,*=…“*,м, 3че…/м, ,““лед%"=…,
C%*=ƒ=л,, ч2% Cе!еме……/е .ле*2!%м=г…,2…/е C%л ч=“2%2%L 60
cц м%г32 "/ƒ/"=2ь гл=ƒ…/е ƒ=K%ле"=…, (" ч=“2…%“2,, *=2=!=*23),
ƒл%*=че“2"е……/е %C3.%л,, “…,›=ю2 ,мм3……/L “2=23“ %!г=…,ƒм=.
q3?е“2"3е2 C!едC%л%›е…,е % “" ƒ, ме›д3 ч=“2%2%L
"%ƒ…,*…%"е…, %C3.%леL 3 де2еL , м=г…,2…/м, C%л м,.
qCец,=л,“2/ ,ƒ qx`, j=…=д/, h“C=…,, , x"ец,, ,ƒ3ч=л,
"%ƒдеL“2",е Cе!еме……/. м=г…,2…/. C%леL д,“CлеL…/. м%…,2%!%"
…= …еKл=г%C!, 2…%е 2ече…,е Kе!еме……%“2, 3 ›е…?,….
r ›е…?,…, *%2%!/е "% "!ем Kе!еме……%“2, C!%"%д,л, …е ме…ее
20 ч=“%" " …еделю ƒ= *%мCью2е!…/м, 2е!м,…=л=м,, "е!% 2…%“2ь
"/*,д/шеL …= 80 % "/ше, чем 3 ›е…?,…, "/C%л… "ш,. 23 ›е
!=K%23 Kеƒ C%м%?, ",де%2е!м,…=л%".
o%м…,2е, ч2%:
 C!, !=K%2е ƒ= ",де%2е!м,…=л%м …е%K.%д,м% !=“C%л=г=2ь“
…= !=““2% …,, "/2 …32%L !3*, %2 .*!=…=;
 “%“ед…,е д,“CлеL…/е м%…,2%!/ д%л›…/ …=.%д,2ь“ %2
"=“ …= !=““2% …,, …е ме…ее 2 м 22 “м.

Related Reading
MASTERS OF INVENTION
Nolan Bushnell born in 1943 is the father of home video games.He
built Pong in 1972, starting the video-game craze that led to today’s
powerful super-systems.
During the 1950’s and 1960’s computers improved enormously.Still,
only big businesses, universities and the military had them.Then in 1972
the videogame craze began.
Computers were scaled down to small boxes, using electronic circuitry
instead of the Mark I’s switches. They could do more than analyze data.
They could play games.
The first big hit was a simple game called Pong. Two players sat in
front of a television screen where a œballB, a point of light bounced back

14
and forth. Using knobs on a cabinet, the players could hit the ball with
inch-long œpaddlesB on the screen.
Nolan Bushnell grew up near Salt Lake City, Utah. He loved to
tinker with machines and became an electrical engineer. He played
primitive computer games that were even older than Pong.
œI built it with my own two hands and a soldering ironB, Bushnell
said of his creation of the first Pong game.
In 1972 Bushnell founded Atari Inc.in Sunnyvale, Calif., to build
Pong games. By 1975 there were 150,000 Pong games in American
homes.
Steve Wozniak, born in 1950, and Steven Jobs, born in 1955, the
young video game fanatics, working out of agarage, invented the Apple
computer in 1976. The age of home computers was born.
One of Atari’s early employees 19-year-old Steve Jobs and his friend,
Steve Wozniak, who worked for another computer company, both
loved video games.
Jobs and Wozniak dreamed of apersonal computer, one that could do
more than play games.From this dream, the Apple Computer Company
started in a family garage.
In 1977 Jobs and Wozniak sold their first Apple II, which launched
the personal computer industry. By 1985 they had sold more than two
million Apple II’s.
The Apple II was more than a toy. People could use it to write
letters, keep financial records and teach their children. And, yes,
they could play games on it. The Apple II evolved into today’s high-
tech Macintosh computers. These computers popularized the use of
the mouse, the hand-controlled device that moves the cursor on a
computer display.

ALL THE NEWS THAT FIT TO CLICK

You can’t carry a computer as easily as you can a newspaper, but
you’ll find a lot of other things to like about online newspapers.
More than 100 daily papers in the United States and Canadapublish
electronic editions. You can connect with them using your computer, a
modem and an Internet browser.
Online newspapers have the most up-to-date news. Both USA To-
day and The San Jose (California) Mercury News add stories to their
electronic editions throughout the day.

15
 œA good example was the OklahomaCity bombing (in April 1995),B
said Steve Anderson of USA Today. œWe had a photo and a story online
within minutes of it happening.B Most newspaper readers had to wait
until the next morning for their news.
Electronic newspapers also allow you to instantly learn more
about a news story through hypertext links. For example, at the end
of an online article about the New York Knicks might be headlines
of other online articles on the basketball team. Just click on what you
want to see next.
Ever wish you had saved a newspaper article, after you threw it
away? With electronic newspapers, you can go online and find old ar-
ticles you need for class discussions, reports or your own personal use.
œEverything that’s appeared in The Mercury News for the last 10
years is available on our Web site or America Online,B said Barry Parr
of The San Jose Mercury News. œThere are more than a million news
stories in our database.B
And you can search papers from all over the United States for
the information you need O The Mercury News has links to 16 other
papers. In the future, electronic newspapers may add all kinds of new
features, like audio and video cli ps of news you can see and hear on
your computer.
Will traditional newspapers ever disappear? Not likely O electronic
newspapers are just one more way to reach more people.

WEB JAM
Res Rocket Surfer hasn’t headlined amajor concert, and they don’t
have any gold records. But they’ve played all over the Internet globe as
the world’s first cyber-band.
Computer software called the Distributed Real-Time Groove Net-
work (DRGN) lets groups of musicians jam on the Internet. It’s like
being in a chat room, but instead of talking, you play instruments.
Each player sends his part of the impromptu jam session live through
the Internet.A musician in Germany might start the beat by playing drums.
Then someone else in England adds bass, and a person in the United
States plays the melody with a lead guitar O all at once.
When you start playing, DRGN blends the music together, making
it seem like everyone is playing at the same time in the same place O
even if there are delays on the Internet.

16
 DRGN was developed by Matt Moller and Canton Becker in
March 1995. œDRGN provides the opportunity for people to meet and
play music together who would have never met otherwise,B Moller said.
œPeople will be able to form global bands easily without the hassles of
geographical boundaries.B

FROM MR. DVORAK’S COLUMN IN THE FREE

PERIODICAL MICROTIMES
Dear Mr. Dvorak:
Ann Landers wouldn’t print this. I have nowhere else to turn. I have
to get the word out.Warn other parents.Let me try and explain.It’s about
my son, Billy.He’s always been agood, normal, ten-year-old boy.Well,
last spring we sat down after dinner to select asummer camp for Billy.
We sorted through the camp brochures. There were the usual camps
with swimming, canoeing, games, and singing by the campfire O you
know. There were sports camps and specialty camps for weight reduc-
tion, music, military camps, and camps that specialized in Tibetan knot
tying. I tried to talk him into Camp Winnepoopoo. It’s where he went
last year. (He made an adorable picture out of painted macaroni). Billy
would have none of it! Instead Billy pulled a brochure out of his pocket.
It was for = COMPUTER CAMP! We should have put our foot down
right there, if only we had known.He left three weeks ago.I don’t know
what’s happened.He’s changed.I can’t explain it.See for yourself.These
are some of my little Billy’s letters.

Dear Mom,
The kids are dorky nerds. The food stinks. The computers are the only
good part. We’re learning how to program. Late at night is the best time to
program, so they let us stay up.
Love, Billy.
Dear Mom,
Camp is O.K. Last night we had pizza in the middle of the night. We
all get to choose what we want to drink. I drink Classic Coke. By the way,
can you make Szechwan food? I’m getting used to it now. Gotta go,it’s time
for the flowchart class.
Love, Billy.
P.S. This is written on a word processor. Pretty swell, huh? It’s spell-
checked too.

17
 Dear Mom,
Don’t worry. We do regular camp stuff. We told ghost stories by the
glow of the green computer screens. It was real neat. I don’t have much of
a tan œcause we don’t go outside very often. You can’t see the computer
screen in the sunlight anyway. That wimp camp I went to last year fed us
weird food too. Lay off, Mom. I’m okay, really.
Love, Billy.
Dear Mom,
I’m fine. I’m sleeping enough. I’m eating enough. This is the best camp
ever. We scared the counselor with some phony worm code. It was real
funny. He got mad and yelled. Frederick says it’s okay. Can you send me
more money? I’ve spent mine on a pocket protector and a box of blank
diskettes. I’ve got to chi p in on the phone bill. Did you know that you can
talk to people on a computer? Give my regards to Dad.
Love, Billy.
Dear Mom,
Forget the money for the telephone. We’ve got a way to not pay. Sorry
I haven’t written. I’ve been learning a lot. I’m real good at getting onto any
computer in the country. It’s really easy! I got into the university’s in less
than fifteen minutes. Frederick did it in five; he’s going to show me how.
Frederick is my bunk partner. He’s really smart. He says that I shouldn’t
call myself Billy anymore. So, I’m not.
Signed, William.
Dear Mom,
How nice of you to come up on Parents Day. Why’d you get so upset? I
haven’t gained that much weight. The glasses aren’t real. Everybody wears
them. I was trying to fit in. Believe me, the tape on them is cool. I thought
that you’d be proud of my program. After all, I’ve made some money on it.
A publisher is sending a check for $30,000. Anyway, I’ve paid for the next
six weeks of camp. I won’t be home until late August.
Regards, William.
Mother,
Stop treating me like a child. TrueO physically I am only ten years old.
It was silly of you to try to kidnap me. Do not try again. Remember, I can
make your life miserable (i.e. O the bank, credit bureau, and government
computers). I am not kidding. O.K.? I won’t write again and this is your
only warning. The emotions of this interpersonal communication drain me.
Sincerely, William.

18
 See what I mean? It’s been two weeks since I’ve heard from my little
boy. What can I do, Mr. Dvorak? I know that it’s probably too late to
save my little Billy. But, if by printing these letters you can save JUST
ONE CHILD from a life of programming, please, I beg of you to do
so. Thank you very much.
Sally Gates, Concerned Parent
Mr.Dvorak inadequately replied: Come on, Sally, boys will be boys.

ANSWERS TO THE TEST

1. cursor O [B] Movable indicator on computer screen; as, He put

the cursor after the last typed word. Latin currere (to run).
2. network O [C] System of electronically joined computers; as,
A network offers many opportunities for sharing information.Old English
nett (knot) and weorc (act).
3.download O [A] To copy afile or program onto apersonal computer;
as, She downloaded the transcri pt of the trial. Old English adune (from
the hill) and lad (carrying).
4.virus O [D] Digital infection or poison; as, The virus wreaked havoc
with the bank’s accounting. Latin.
5.browser O [A] Software that allows you to explore, or browser the
Internet. French brouter (to graze or feed on).
6. cracker O [B] Intruder; someone who breaks into, or œcracks,B
computer systems; as, In the film Mission: Impossible, Tom Cruise
enters a high-security area with the aid of a cracker. German krachen
(to split).
7. hit O [D] Visit to a Web site. Old Norse hitta (to meet with).
8. authenticate O [C] To confirm the identity of acomputer user; as,
Admittance was denied when the computer could not authenticate him.
Greek authentikos (genuine).
9. emoticon O [D] Illustration conveying a mood; as, When viewed
sideways, the emoticon :-) signifies happiness. Also called smiley. De-
rived from emotion and icon.
10. boot O [D] To start up a computer. Abbreviation of bootstrap.
11. server O [A] Central computer sharing resources and data with
other computers on a network. Latin servire (to be of use).
12.modem O [D] Connecting device between computers over aphone
line; as, The journalist submitted her article by modem. Condensed
form of modulator and demodulator.
13. glitch O [C] Error; malfunction; as, A telecommunications glitch

19
 nearly wi ped out the stockbroker’s on-line trading. Origin unknown.
14.compress O [A] To shrink; store datain less space; as, The manuscri pt
was compressed on a single floppy disk. Old French compresser.
15.pixel O [A] Picture element; basic unit of an on-screen image.Com-
bination of pix and element.
16.link O [C] Related site on Internet; as, One link sent him from Caruso
to Pavarotti. German Gelenk (joint).
17. scanner O [A] Machine that reproduces images onto a computer.
Latin scandere (to climb).
18. log on O [B] To gain access to a computer network; as, A user ID
and password will help you log on. Origin unknown.
19. shareware O [D] Free trial software often requiring later payment.
Combination of share and software.
20.gigabyte O [B] Unit of storage, roughly abillion bytes; as, A gigabyte
of work was saved on her home computer. Combination of Greek gigas (gi-
ant) and a variant of bit (abbreviation for binary digit).

VOCABULARY RATINGS

10O14 correct: Good

15O17 correct: Excellent
18O20 correct: Exceptional

20
Unit II.
Computo, ergo sum

Prereading Discussion
1. What is your particular area of interest in computer science?
2. What are computers able to do?
3. How might computers affect your future career?
4. How important is it to be computer literate?
5. Are you a rule learner or a data gatherer?
6. Would you like to become a computer expert?
7. How do you think you ought to start?
8. How does it feel to be a computer student?
9. What disciplines does the course of instruction cover?

21
Reading Analysis
VOCABULARY LIST

Nouns: (il)literacy, flake, inventory, creativity, accountant, host(ess),

surge, chaos, cyberphobia, glitch, havoc, executive.
Verbs: to turn/hit/switch on/off,to search (for),to outstri p,to require,
to bury, to accomplish, to click (with smth.) on smth., to fli p on/off,
to clash, to respond (to), to deal with, to intimidate, to foul (up), to
rebel, to reveal, to hesitate, to avoid smth./doing smth.
Adjectives: tiny, miraculous, (un)erring, microscopic, fragile, stray,
preternatural, fearful, (ir)reparable, artificial.
Adverbs: otherwise, accurately, seemingly, entirely, purposefully,
scarcely, interestingly, frustratingly.
Word combinations: tabula rasa,the DOS prompt,an errant instruc-
tion, under (out of) control, computer anxiety/phobia, to force into
contact,as a result of,to launch nuclear missiles,to keep up with the
pace of,computing environment,to be left behind (out),to cause smb.
trouble, an invasion of one’s privacy, junk mail, computer columnist,
to come to terms with.

TEXT I. WORRY ABOUT COMPUTERS? ME?

(1) When your computer is turned off, it is a dead collection of sheet
metal, plastic, metallic tracings, and tiny flakes of silicon. When
you hit On switch, one little burst of electricity O only about 5
volts O starts a string of events that magically brings to life what
otherwise would remain an oversize paperweight.
(2) At first the PC is still rather stupid. Beyond taking inventory of
itself, the newly awakened PC still can’t do anything really useful,
intelligent. At best it can search for intelligence in the form of op-
erating system that gives structure to the PC’s primitive existence.
Then comes a true education in the form of application software
O programs that tell it how to do tasks faster and more accurately
than we could, a student who has outstripped its teacher.
(3) What makes your PC such a miraculous device is that each time
you turn it on, it is a tabula rasa, capable of doing anything
your creativity O or, more usually, the creativity of professional

22
 programmers O can imagine for it to do. It is a calculating
machine, a magical typewriter, an unerring accountant, and a
host of other tools. To transform it from one persona to another
requires setting some of the microscopic switches buried in the
hearts of the microchips, a task accomplished by typing a com-
mand in DOS prompt or by clicking with your mouse on some
tiny icon on the screen.
(4) Such intelligence is fragile and short-lived. All those millions of
microscopic switches are constantly flipping on and off in time to
dashing surges of electricity. All it takes is an errant instruction
or a stray misreading of a single chip to send this wonderfully
intelligent golem into a state of catatonia or hit the Off switch and
what was a pulsing artificial life dies without a whimper. Then the
next time you turn it on, birth begins all over again.
(5) PCs are powerful creations that often seem to have a life of their
own. Usually they respond to a seemingly magic incantation typed
as a C:>prompt or to wave of a mouse by performing tasks we
couldn’t imagine doing ourselves without some sort of preternatural
help. There are the times when our PCs rebel and open the gates
of chaos onto our neatly ordered columns of numbers, our care-
fully made sentences, and our beautifully crafted graphics. Are we
playing with power not entirely under our control?
(6) A middle-aged woman sat down at a personal computer for the
first time in her life. She placed her hands above the keyboard,
ready to type O but hesitated. Turning to the instructor, she
asked warily: œIt won’t know what I’m thinking, will it?B Such
concerns abound among people whose knowledge of computers
comes from movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey (in which Hal,
the computer with the sticky-sweet voice, tries to take control of
the spaceship). Terms such as computer anxiety and computer
phobia have entered our language to describe such wariness.
Many people try to avoid situations in which they might be forced
into contact with computers. Even businesspeople who deal with
computers daily may experience a form of cyberphobia O fear of
computers. As a result of their fear, some office workers who are
cyberphobic suffer nausea, sweaty palms, and high blood pres-
sure. Young people who have grown up with computers may not
understand these reactions.
(7) What are such people afraid of? Some may worry about the mathe-
matical implications of the word computer. It seems to suggest

23
 that only a person with strong analytical and quantitative skills
can use the machine. In fact, as we see more and more often,
even very young children whose math skills have yet to form can
use computers.
(8) Some people are fearful of the computing environment.The movies
love to portray old-fashioned, large computer systems O sanitized
rooms walled by machines alive with blinking lights and spinning
reels; it all looks intimidating. There is a notion that computers are
temperamental gadgets and that, once aglitch gets into acomputer
system, it may wreak all kinds of havoc O from fouling up bank
statements to launching nuclear missiles by mistake. Indeed, com-
puter billing and banking errors are problems; however, most errors
blamed on computers are the result of mistakes made by people.
Computers do not put in the data they must work with, people do.
Even so, correcting an error can be frustratingly slow.
(9) Many people worry about computers in relation to their jobs.Some
people doubt they have the skills to find jobs and keep them in
a technological labor market. Many feel that keeping up with the
swift pace of technological change is impossible because it requires
costly and continuous training and development. A good many
present-day executives whose companies have installed computer
terminals in their offices also worry about typing O either they
do not know how to type or they are afraid they will lose status if
they use a keyboard.
(10) Interestingly, there is another side to computer anxiety: the fear
of being left out or left behind. If everyone around you is talking
about, living with, and working around computers, how can you
keep from revealing your limited understanding?
(11) People are also nervous that computers might fall into the wrong
hands. As examples of electronic wrongdoing, try these for size:
An œerrorB purposefully introduced into your computerized credit
report by someone who wanted to cause you trouble might do ir-
reparable damage to your financial standing, ending any hopes you
might have for owning ahome someday. An easily obtainable com-
puterized list might carry personal information that could lead to an
invasion of your privacy or at the least, apile of junk mail.Think of
all the forms you have filled out for schools, jobs, doctors, credit
services, government offices, and so on. There is scarcely one fact
related to you that is not on record in a computer file somewhere.
Could unauthorized persons obtain this information?

24
(12) Computer fraud and computer security are not simple issues; they
are concerns that society must take seriously.Should we, as computer
columnist John Dvorak advocates, let things work themselves out
in the courts? Or, should legislators be encouraged to create laws
for society’s protection?

EXERCISES

I. Find in the text the English equivalents to:

дел%"/е люд,; “2!=. Cе!ед *%мCью2е!=м,; ,“C/2/"=2ь 2%ш…%23;
"/“%*%е *!%" …%е д="ле…,е; м=2ем=2,че“*,L “м/“л (ƒ…=че…,е);
“2=!%м%д…/е *%мCью2е!…/е “,“2ем/; "/гл де2ь 3“2!=ш=ю?е;
ме!ц=ю?,е %г…,; "!=?=ю?,е“ *=23ш*,; "!еме……/е C!,“C%“%Kле…, ;
C% %ш,K*е; %K",… 2ь *%мCью2е!/; ,“C!="л 2ь %ш,K*,; 3“2=…%",2ь
2е!м,…=л/; ,“C%льƒ%"=2ь *л=",=23!3; C%2е! 2ь “2=23“; C%C=“2ь
" &д3!…/е[ !3*,; …=…е“2, …еC%C!=",м/L 3?е!K; …е"%“2!еK%"=……=
C%ч2=; ƒ=C%л…,2ь Kл=…*; ƒ=C,“=2ь " *%мCью2е!…/L -=Lл; “%ƒд=2ь
ƒ=*%…/ дл ƒ=?,2/ %K?е“2"=.

II. True or false?

1. People are not interested in computers, they just don’t want to be
left behind.
2. Computers are going to make many careers obsolete.
3. Most jobs will be lost because of computers.
4. Computers change the way jobs are performed.
5. People who refuse to have anything to do with computers may soon
be regarded as people who refuse to learn to drive.
6. Computers are powerful, potentially dangerous tools with a life of
their own.
7. Most of businesspeople write or commission their own programs.
8. Computers are now smaller and more powerful than ever before.
9. Computers have resulted in massive unemployment in many coun-
tries.
10. Managers with little or no computer experience should overrely on
computers.
11. Computers can result in an invasion of people’s privacy.
12. Today the challenge is to manage the information explosion through
the use of well-designed information.

25
13. Data = information.
14. Computerization leads to elimination of workers’ jobs (robots) and
white-collar jobs (computers).
15.The bank computer thefts are carried out by computer whizzes who
know the correct codes to use to access accounts in order to steal
or mani pulate money.
16.In afew seconds computer can make amistake so great that it would
take many months to equal it.
17.Computer monitoring of people leads to job stress and more frequent
illnesses.
18. One person’s error is another person’s data.
19. To err is human; to really foul things up requires a computer.

III. Give definitions to:

a computer whiz (whizard), a hacker, a computer-literate person,
a computer science student, a computer engineer, a computer programmer,
a computer operator.
e.g. a system analyst is a person who identifies the information needed
and develops a management info system with the assistance of computer
programs.

IV. Give synonyms to:

swift, costly, financial standing, to introduce into, to obtain, issue,
to concern, tiny, magic, artificial, to turn on, accurately, anxiety, fear,
to lead to, old-fashioned command, to spin, to require.

V. Give antonyms to:

fraud,tiny,fragile,fearful,to frustrate,dead,intelligent,capable,short-lived,
damage, to find jobs, slow, to foul up.

VI. Put the proper words into sentences

mistakes/errors, time, use/operation, improving, human, are, accuracy, so,
part/role, make, involved, since, back, ever, replaced, more.

FEED IN ENGLISH, PRINT OUT IN FRENCH

Once upon a ..., according to a much told story, a computer was
set a task of translating œtraffic jamB into French and back into English.

26
The machine buzzed, clicked, blinked its lights and eventually came
up with œcar-flavored marmaladeB. Machine translation has come a
long way ... then. Computer translation systems are now in ... in many
parts of the world.
Not surprisingly, the EEC is very ....With so many official languages,
translating and interpreting take up ... than 50% of the Community’s
administrative budget.But although the efficiency of machine translation
is ... rapidly, there’s no question of ... translators being made redundant.
On the contrary, people and machines work together in harmony.Today’s
computers ... of little value in translating literary works, where subtlety
is vital, or the spoken word, which tends to be ungrammatical, or
important texts, where absolute ... is essential.But for routine technical
reports, working papers and the like, which take up ... much of the
translation workload of the international organizations, computers are
likely to play an increasing ... . The method of operation will probably
be for the machines to ... a rough version, which the translator will
then edit, correcting obvious ..., and where necessary referring ... to
the original.
If machines can translate languages, could they ... teach lan-
guages? Yes say enthusiasts, although they doubt that the teacher
could ever be totally ... by a machine in the classroom. Good old
teachers know best!

TEXT II. COMPUTER LITERACY FOR ALL

(1) Fortunately, fewer and fewer people are suffering from computer
anxiety. The availability of inexpensive, powerful, and easier-to-
use personal computers is reducing the intimidation factor. As new
generations grow up in the Information Age, they are perfectly at
home with computers.
(2) Why are you studying about computers? In addition to curiosity
(and perhaps a course requirement!), you probably recognize that
it will not be easy to get through the rest of your life without
knowing about computers. Let us begin with a definition of com-
puter literacy that encompasses three aspects of the computer’s
universal appeal:
 Awareness.Studying about computers will make you more aware
of their importance, their versatility, their pervasiveness, and
their potential for fostering good and (unfortunately) evil.
 Knowledge. Learning what computers are and how they work
requires coming to terms with some technical jargon. In the

27
 end, you will benefit from such knowledge, but at first it may
be frustrating.
 Interaction. There is no better way to understand computers
than through interacting with one. So being computer liter-
ate also means being able to use a computer for some simple
applications.
(3) Note that no part of this definition suggests that you must be able
to create the instructions that tell a computer what to do. That
would be tantamount to saying that anyone who plans to drive
acar must first become an auto mechanic.Someone else can write
the instructions for the computer; you simply use the instruc-
tions to get your work done. For example, a bank teller might use
acomputer to make sure that customers really have as much money
in their account as they wish to withdraw. Or an accountant
might use one to prepare a report, a farmer to check on market
prices, a store manager to analyze sales trends, and a teenager
to play a video game. We cannot guarantee that these people are
computer literate, but they have at least grasped the œhands-onB
component of the definition O they can interact with a computer.
Is it possible for everyone to be computer literate? Computer
literacy is not a question of human abilities. Just about anyone can
become computer literate. In the near future, people who do not
understand computers will have the same status as people today
who cannot read
(4) If this is your first computer class, you might wonder whether using
a computer is really as easy as the commercials say. Some students
think so, but many do not.In fact, some novice computer users can
be confused and frustrated at first.Indeed, afew are so frustrated in
the early going they think they never will learn. To their surprise,
however, after acouple of lessons they not only are using computers
but enjoying the experience.
(5) Some students may be taken aback when the subject matter turns
out to be more difficult than they expected O especially if their
only computer experience involved the fun of video games. They
are confused by the special terms used in computer classes, as if
they had stumbled into some foreign-language course by mistake.
A few students may be frustrated by the hands-on nature of the
experience, in which they have aone-to-one relationshi p with the
computer. Their previous learning experiences, in contrast, have
been shared and sheltered O they have been shared with peers in
a classroom and sheltered by the guiding hand of an experienced

28
 person. Now they are one-on-one with a machine, at least part
of the time. The experience is different, and maybe slightly scary.
But keep in mind that others have survived and even triumphed.
So can you.
(6) And don’t be surprised to find that some of your fellow students
already seem to know quite abit about computers.Computer litera-
cy courses are required by many schools and colleges and include
students with varying degrees of understanding.That mix often allows
students to learn from one another O and provides a few with the
opportunity to teach others what they know.

EXERCISES
I. Find in the text equivalents to:
*%мCью2е!…= г!=м%2…%“2ь; д%“23C…%“2ь (…=л,ч,е);
%“"ед%мле……%“2ь; "е* ,…-%!м=ц,,; C!%›,2ь %“2="ш3ю“ ›,ƒ…ь;
C!,2 г=2ель…%“2ь *%мCью2е!%"; “… 2ь “ K=…*%"“*%г% “че2=;
2е.…,че“*,L ›=!г%…; "ƒ=,м%деL“2",е; !е*л=м…/L !%л,*; * 3д,"ле…,ю;
C=!= ƒ=… 2,L; !=“2е! 2ь“ ; C!ед/д3?,L 3чеK…/L %C/2; C%дел,2ь“
“% “"е!“2…,*=м,; K/2ь …=ед,…е “; C%м…,2ь; “2!=ш…%"=2/L;
%д…%*3!“…,*,; "/!=“2, " *%мCью2е!…%L “!еде; 3ч,2ь“ д!3г 3 д!3г=;
C%льƒ%"=2ель-…%",ч%*.

II. Answer the following questions:

1. What does being computer literate mean?
2. What are the three aspects of the computer’s universal appeal?
3. What is the best way to understand computers?
4. What are the simplest applications of computers?
5. What is the hand-on component of computer literacy?
6. What are some novice computer users frustrated by?
7. What is the first computer literacy skill?
8. Is it possible for everyone to be computer literate? Do you need
any special talents?

III. Put the proper words into sentences:

computer networks,info,computer literate,routine,boring,repetitive tasks,
accuracy, to come to terms with, quantative.
1. Society is heading in the direction of ... majority.
2. Computer programs now can integrate text, ... data and graphs.

29
 3. The source of ... is the computer.
4. It is difficult for some people to come ... the speed of change in
the modern world.
5. Many ... which people find ... and tiring can now be carried out by
machines.
6. Computers give us speed, ..., scope, quality, flexibility, large ca-
pacity, elimination of the ... and ..., increased efficiency.
7. We need ... with expanding computer technology and adjust our
vision to a whole new world.
8. As more and more people are linked by ..., how soon will it be
before the paperless office becomes a reality?

IV. Construct other sentences in these patterns (models):

1. At best the computer can search for intelligence in the form of

operating system.
2. Computers might affect your future career.
3. Young people may not understand these cyberphobic reactions.
4. Computers do not put in the data they must work with, people do.
5. Could unauthorized persons obtain personal info?
6. Should legislators be encouraged to create laws for society’s pro-
tection?
7. We cannot guarantee that anyone who drives a car is an auto me-
chanic.

V. Complete the sentences (if, when-clauses):

1. When your PC is turned off...

2. You will bring it to life when...
3. If everyone around you uses computers...
4. If you are taken aback how to use a computer...
5. As multimedia becomes more prevalent on the Web...
6. If you look on the entire Internet today...
7. If the program fails the test...
8. Don’t open until...
9. If you are selling weapons, cryptography, military info, pornog-
raphy...
10. If the program passes the test...
11. If you don’t view your Web site as a global presence...

30
12. If Java is the answer,...
13. They will lose status if...
14. Provided you have the necessary tools...

TEXT III. WHY I WON’T BUY A COMPUTER

(1) I do not see that computers are bringing us one step nearer to any-
thing that does matter to me: peace, economic justice, ecological
health, political honesty, stability, good work.
(2) What would a computer cost me? More money than I can afford
and more than I wish to pay to people whom I do not admire.
But the cost would not be just monetary. It is well understood that
technological innovation always requires the discarding of œthe old
modelB, what would be superseded would be not only something,
but somebody.
(3) To make myself as plain as I can, I should give my standards for
technological innovations in my work. They are as follows:
 The new tool should be cheaper than the one it replaces.
 It should be at least as small in scale as the one it replaces.
 It should work clearly and demonstrably better than the one
it replaces.
 It should use less energy.
 If possible it should use some form of solar energy.
 It should be repairable by a person of ordinary intelligence,
provided he has the necessary tools.
 It should be purchasable and repairable as near to home as
possible.
 It should come from a small, privately owned shop or store
that will take it back for maintenance and repair.
 It should not disrupt or replace anything good that already
exists, and this includes family and community relationshi ps.

EXERCISES
I. Answer the following questions:
1. What does the author think a computer would œcostB him?
2. Given the author’s standards for technological innovation, what
other new tools do you think he might object to?

31
 3. How has technology changed your everyday life?
4. What new œgadgetsB do you particularly like?
5. Have you learned to use a computer? Why or why not?
6. Do you fear the power of computers?
7. List ten modern inventions:
Invention Replacement Advantage Disadvantage
electricity

telephone writing letters less time too slow

silicon chi p

cellular
phone
8. True or false?
 Modern technology is out of control, and ruining the quality
of life on Earth; we must limit technology and its influence
on individual.
 Modern inventions are labor-saving devices. Without them
people remain slaves to boring, repetitive work.
9. How will science and technology affect our lives in future?

II. Complete the following and discuss it:

1.Scientific and technological breakthroughs have brought great benefits.
You only have to look around your own home to see...
2. Many illnesses can now be treated or cured, for example,...
3. Other examples of changes are...
4. Have our lives always been improved, however? Have we become
too passive? Are we too dependent on technology? How dangerous
could it be?
5. Take, for example, television, computer games, the Internet...
6.New products have also made amajor difference to our working lives.
7. Nowadays,...
8. In the future there may be even more major breakthroughs in the
fields of medicine, leisure, work...
9. We may no longer have to...
10. We will be able to...

32
Topics for Essays,
Oral or Written Reports
1. To be or not to be computer literate?
2. Pluses and minuses of computers.
3. How will computers affect our lives in future?
4. Discoveries, inventions, new products, and their effects (good and
evil).

Essay Selection for Reading

as a Stimulus for Writing
KEEP CLICKING!

Computers spoil your eyes,computers are bad for your nerves,comput-

ers O this, computers O that! Don’t believe it! Why don’t people criticize
guns that kill much more people? œThat’s lifeB, you’ll say. Yes, but how
can you blame such a wonderful thing like a computer, when you can’t
even use it properly? All evils imputed to computers are the results of our
inexperience.
How can you blame computers for spoiling your eyes if you play Doom
clones for hours? How can a computer be bad for your nerves if you cry
out, œDamn, stupid piece ofB (you know what) every time it hangs because
of your being not too smart to tell it what you want to be done.
Come on,lighten up,computer is just a piece of hardware and software
mixed. And if you don’t know or can’t decide how to make this explosive
cocktail, ask yourself just one question: œWho is more stupid of you two?B
Of course, I’m not a computer maniac beating everyone blaming an in-
nocent machine. But there’s one little thing people can’t or don’t want to
understand: computers are not able to realize ideas you don’t have and
undertake the projects you haven’t mentioned. They are just tools in your
hands. And the results of using them are the results of your being patient
to tell that old œBuddy WienerB in a really simple binary way: œCome
on, boy, do it!B Computers are of metal and plastic but if you don’t scare
them by your aggression, they do what should be done.

33
Unit III.
The Development of Computers

Prereading Discussion
1. What are tools?
2. What was the first tool?
3. What helped ape-like creatures evolve into human beings?
4. What is technology?
5. What tools of communication do you know?
6. What machines classify and modify information?
7. What do you know about Babbage, Pascal, Leibniz, and Jacquard?

34
Reading Analysis
VOCABULARY LIST

Nouns: ancestor, abacus, cloth, descendant, loom, pattern, precision,

virtue.
Verbs: to inherit, to preserve, to distort, to consist of, to trace back, to
contribute to, to persist, to weave, to improve, to slide.
Adjectives: outstanding, (un)reliable, (in)sufficient, decorative.
Word combinations: along with, rather than, other than, manual
dexterity, to come into widespread use.

TEXT I. PREHISTORY
(1) Tools are any objects other than the parts of our own bodies that
we use to help us do our work.Technology is nothing more than the
use of tools.When you use ascrewdriver, ahammer, or an axe, you
are using technology just as much as when you use an automobile,
a television set, or a computer.
(2) We tend to think of technology as ahuman invention.But the reverse
is closer to the truth. Stone tools found along with fossils show
that our ape-like ancestors were already putting technology to use.
Anthropologists speculate that using tools may have helped these
creatures evolve into human beings; in atool-using society, manual
dexterity and intelligence count for more than brute strength. The
clever rather than the strong inherited the earth.
(3) Most of the tools we have invented have aided our bodies rather
than our minds. These tools help us lift and move and cut and
shape. Only quite recently, for the most part, have we developed
tools to aid our minds as well.
(4) The tools of communication, from pencil and paper to television,
are designed to serve our minds.These devices transmit information
or preserve it, but they do not modify it in any way (If the infor-
mation is modified, this is considered a defect rather than a virtue,
as when a defective radio distorts the music we’re trying to hear.)
(5) Our interest lies with machines that classify and modify infor-
mation rather than merely transmitting it or preserving it. The
machines that do this are the computers and the calculators, the
so-called mind tools. The widespread use of machines for infor-

35
 mation processing is a modern development. But simple examples
of information-processing machines can be traced back to ancient
times. The following are some of the more important forerunners
of the computer.
(6) The Abacus. The abacus is the counting frame that was the most
widely used device for doing arithmetic in ancient times and whose
use persisted into modern times in the Orient. Early versions of the
abacus consisted of a board with grooves in which pebbles could
slide.The Latin word for pebble is calculus, from which we get the
words abacus and calculate.
(7) Mechanical Calculators. In the seventeenth century, calculators
more sophisticated than the abacus began to appear. Although a
number of people contributed to their development, Blaise Pascal
(French mathematician and philosopher) and Wilhelm von Leibniz
(German mathematician, philosopher, and di plomat) usually are
singled out as pioneers. The calculators Pascal and Leibniz built
were unreliable, since the mechanical technology of the time was
not capable of manufacturing the parts with sufficient precision. As
manufacturing techniques improved, mechanical calculators eventu-
ally were perfected; they were used widely until they were replaced
by electronic calculators in recent times.
(8) The Jacquard Loom. Until modern times, most information-pro-
cessing machines were designed to do arithmetic. An outstanding
exception, however, was Jacquard’s automated loom, a machine
designed not for hard figures but beautiful patterns.A Jacquard loom
weaves cloth containing a decorative pattern; the woven pattern is
controlled by punched cards. Changing the punched cards changes
the pattern the loom weaves. Jacquard looms came into widespread
use in the early nineteenth century, and their descendants are still
used today. The Jacquard loom is the ancestor not only of modern
automated machine tools but of the player piano as well.

EXERCISES
I. True or false?
1. The strong will inherit the earth.
2. In the beginning was the abacus.
3. The forerunner of the computer is the mechanical calculator.

36
 4. The punched card is still very important for computers today.
5. The calculators Pascal and Leibniz built were reliable.
6. The mechanical calculator could multiply and divide as well as add
and subtract.
7. Babbage invented the Jacquard loom.
8. œBeware of programmers who carry screwdriversB. (L. Brandwein)

II. Give synonyms to:

To aid, strength, to speculate, nothing more than, to lift, ancestors,
to manufacture, to single out, precision, to perfect, in recent times, pattern, to
develop, information-processing machine.

III. Give antonyms to:

Descendants, automated machine, exception, virtue, intelligence,
to transmit, reliable, sufficient, in the early 19th century, in modern
times.

TEXT II. THE ANALYTICAL ENGINE

(1) When was the automatic computer invented? In the 1930s or the
1940s? If you think that, you are only off by a hundred years. A
computer that was completely modern in conception was designed
in the 1830s. But, as with the calculators of Pascal and Leibniz,
the mechanical technology of the time was not prepared to realize
the conception.
(2) Charles Babbage.The inventor of that nineteenth-century computer
was a figure far more common in fiction than in real life O an
eccentric mathematician. Most mathematicians live personal lives
not too much different from anyone else’s. They just happen to do
mathematics instead of driving trucks or running stores or filling
teeth. But Charles Babbage was the exception.
(3) For instance, all his life, Babbage waged avigorous campaign against
London organ grinders.He blamed the noise they made for the loss
of a quarter of his working power. Nor was Babbage satisfied with
writing anti-organ-grinder letters to newspapers and members of
Parliament.He personally hauled individual offenders before magis-
trates (and became furious when the magistrates declined to throw
the offenders in jail).

37
(4) Or consider this.Babbage took issue with Tennyson’s poem œVision
of Sin,B which contains this couplet:
Every minute dies a man,
Every minute one is born.
Babbage pointed out (correctly) that if this were true, the popula-
tion of the earth would remain constant. In a letter to the poet,
Babbage suggested a revision:
Every moment dies a man,
And one and a sixteenth is born.
Babbage emphasized that one and asixteenth was not exact, but he
thought that it would be œgood enough for poetry.B
(5) Yet, despite his eccentricities, Babbage was a genius. He was a pro-
lific inventor, whose inventions include the ophthalmoscope for
examining the retina of the eye, the skeleton key, the locomotive
œcow catcher,B and the speedometer. He also pioneered operations
research, the science of how to carry out business and industrial
operations as efficiently as possible.
(6) Babbage was a fellow of the Royal Society and held the chair of
Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University (the
same chair once held by Isaac Newton, the most famous British
scientist).
(7) The Difference Engine. The mathematical tables of the nineteenth
century were full of mistakes. Even when the tables had been cal-
culated correctly, printers’ errors introduced many mistakes. And
since people who published new tables often copied from existing
ones, the same errors cropped up in table after table.
(8) According to one story, Babbage was lamenting about the errors in
some tables to his friend Herschel, a noted astronomer. œI wish to
God these calculations had been executed by steam.B Babbage said.
œIt is quite possible,B Herschel responded.
(9) (At that time, steam was a new and largely unexplored source of
energy. Just as we might wonder today whether or not something
could be done by electricity, in the early nineteenth century it was
natural to wonder whether or not it could be done by steam.)
(10) Babbage set out to build a machine that not only would calculate
the entries in the tables but would print them automatically as well.
He called this machine the Difference Engine, since it worked by
solving what mathematicians call œdifference equations.B Neverthe-
less, the name is misleading, since the machine constructed tables
by means of repeated additions, not subtractions.

38
(11) (The word engine, by the way, comes from the same root as in-
genious. Originally it referred to a clever invention. Only later did
it come to mean a source of power.)
(12) In 1823, Babbage obtained a government grant to build the Dif-
ference Engine. He ran into difficulties, however, and eventually
abandoned the project. In 1854, a Swedish printer built a working
Difference Engine based on Babbage’s ideas.
(13) The Analytical Engine. One of Babbage’s reasons for abandoning
the Difference Engine was that he had been struck by a much
better idea. Inspired by Jacquard’s punched-card-controlled loom,
Babbage wanted to build a punched-card-controlled calculator.
Babbage called his proposed automatic calculator the Analytical
Engine.
(14) The Difference Engine could only compute tables (and only those
tables that could be computed by successive additions). But the
Analytical Engine could carry out any calculation, just as Jac-
quard’s loom could weave any pattern. All one had to do was to
punch the cards with the instructions for the desired calculation.
If the Analytical Engine had been completed, it would have been
a nineteenth-century computer.
(15) But, alas, the Analytical Engine was not completed. The govern-
ment had already sunk thousands of pounds into the Difference
Engine and received nothing in return. It had no intention of re-
peating its mistake. Nor did Babbage’s eccentricities and abrasive
personality help his cause any.
(16) The government may have been right. Even if it had financed the
new invention, it might well have gotten nothing in return. For,
as usual, the idea was far ahead of what the existing mechanical
technology could build.
(17) This was particularly true since Babbage’s design was grandiose.
For instance, he planned for his machine to do calculations with
fifty-digit accuracy. This is far greater than the accuracy found
in most modern computers and far more than is needed for most
calculations.
(18) Also, Babbage kept changing his plans in the middle of his projects
so that all the work had to be started anew. Although Babbage had
founded operations research, he had trouble planning the develop-
ment of his own inventions.
(19) Babbage’s contemporaries would have considered him more suc-
cessful had he stuck to his original plan and constructed the Dif-

39
 ference Engine. But then he would only have earned a footnote
in history. It is for the Analytical Engine he never completed that
we honor him as œfather of the computer.B
(20) Lady Lovelace. Even though the Analytical Engine was never
completed, a demonstration program for it was written. The author
of that program has the honor of being the world’s first computer
programmer. Her name was Augusta Ada Byron, later Countess
of Lovelace, the only legitimate daughter of the poet, Lord Byron.
(21) Ada was a liberated woman at a time when this was hardly fashion-
able. Not only did she have the usual accomplishments in language
and music, she was also an excellent mathematician. The latter was
most unusual for a young lady in the nineteenth century. (She was
also fond of horse racing, which was even more unusual.)
(22) Ada’s mathematical abilities became apparent when she was only
fifteen. She studied mathematics with one of the most well known
mathematicians of her time, Augustus de Morgan. At about the
time she was studying under de Morgan, she became interested in
Babbage’s Analytical Engine.
(23) In 1842, Lady Lovelace discovered a paper on the Analytical En-
gine that had been written in French by an Italian engineer. She
resolved to translate the paper into English. At Babbage’s sugges-
tion, she added her own notes, which turned out to be twice as
long as the paper itself. Much of what we know today about the
Analytical Engine comes from Lady Lovelace’s notes.
(24) To demonstrate how the Analytical Engine would work, Lady
Lovelace included in her notes a program for calculating a certain
series of numbers that is of interest to mathematicians. This was
the world’s first computer program. œWe may say more aptly, Lady
Lovelace wrote, œthat the Analytical Engine weaves algebraical
patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.B
Most aptly said indeed!

EXERCISES

I. Find in the text the English equivalents to:

г%!=ƒд% C!,"/ч…ее; .*“це…2!,ч…/L м=2ем=2,*; "%д,2ь г!3ƒ%",*;
де!›=2ь м=г=ƒ,…; ",…,2ь ƒ=; !=ƒ" ƒ=2ь *=мC=…,ю C!%2,";
…=!3ш,2ель; %2*л%…,2ь(“ ); %“2="=2ь“ C%“2% ……/м; C%дче!*…32ь

40
(3“,л,2ь); д%“2=2%ч…% .%!%ш,L; …е“м%2! …=; Cл%д%",2/L
,ƒ%K!е2=2ель; %2м/ч*=; чле… *%!%ле"“*%г% %K?е“2"=; “%*!3ш=2ь“
%K %ш,K*=.; "/C%л… 2ь C!, C%м%?, C=!=; ге…,L; ,ƒ%K!е2=2ель…/L;
“2%л*…32ь“ “ 2!3д…%“2 м,; ƒ=K!%“,2ь C!%е*2; д=ле*% "Cе!ед,;
…=ч=2ь “…=ч=л=; C% C!едC%л%›е…,ю; " д"= !=ƒ= дл,……ее; 3д=ч…%
“*=ƒ=…%!

II. Answer the following questions:

1. What irritated and bored Charles Babbage?
2. Prove that Babbage was a prolific inventor.
3. What kind of machine was the Difference Engine?
4. What was the Babbage’s reason for abandoning the project?
5. Contrast the Difference and the Analytical Engine.
6. Who has the honor of being the world’s first computer program-
mer?
7. What do you know about Ada Lovelace (as a lady and as a pro-
grammer)?
8. Charles Babage is a computer Guru, isn’t he?

III. Put the proper words into sentences

effort, obsolete, track, arithmetic, device, mathematicians, construct,
Engine.
1. The famous philosophers Leibniz and Pascal both ... somewhat
primi-tive calculating ...
2. After a great deal of time and ..., a working model of the Differ-
ence ... was...
3. Although the punched card is now becoming ..., it was of critical
importance in the development of the computer.
4. An abacus is a ... that allows the operator to keep ... of numbers
while doing the basic ... operations.
5. A square-shaped wheel wouldn’t be ... because it wouldn’t roll easily.
6. Charles Babbage disliked doing the great amount of ... that ... had
to perform in course of solving problems.
7. œAutomatingB means ... machines to do jobs that people do.

IV. Construct other sentences in these patterns:

1. The inventor of the 19th century computer was a figure far more
common in fiction than in real life.

41
 2. They just happen to do mathematics instead of filling teeth.
3. Despite his eccentricities, Babbage was a genius.
4. If this were true, the population of the earth would remain con-
stant.
5. I wish to God these calculations had been executed by steam.
6. We might wonder today whether or not something could be done
by nuclear energy.
7. The government had no intention of repeating its mistakes. Nor
did Babbage’s abrasive personality help his cause any.
8. Even though the Analytical Engine was never completed, the
program for it was written.
9. Her notes turned out to be twice as long as the paper itself.
10. It is for Analytical Engine he never completed that we honor
Babbage as œfather of the computer.B

TEXT III. BABBAGE’S DREAM COMES TRUE

(1) The Harvard Mark I. A hundred years passed before a machine

like the one Babbage conceived was actually built. This occurred
in 1944, when Howard Aiken of Harvard University completed
the Harvard Mark I Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator.
(2) Aiken was not familiar with the Analytical Engine when he designed
the Mark I. Later, after people had pointed out Babbage’s work
to him, he was amazed to learn how many of his ideas Babbage
had anticipated.
(3) The Mark I is the closest thing to the Analytical Engine that has
ever been built or ever will be. It was controlled by a punched
paper tape, which played the same role as Babbage’s punched
cards. Like the Analytical Engine, it was basically mechanical.
However, it was driven by electricity instead of steam. Electricity
also served to transmit information from one part of the machine
to another, replacing the complex mechanical linkages that Babbage
had proposed. Using electricity (which had only been a laboratory
curiosity in Babbage’s time) made the difference between success
and failure.
(4) But, along with several other electromechanical computers built
at about the same time, the Mark I was scarcely finished before
it was obsolete. The electromechanical machines simply were not

42
 fast enough. Their speed was seriously limited by the time required
for mechanical parts to move from one position to another. For
instance, the Mark I took six seconds for a multiplication and
twelve for a division; this was only five or six times faster than
what a human with an old desk calculator could do.
(5) ENIAC. What was needed was a machine whose computing,
control, and memory elements were completely electrical. Then
the speed of operation would be limited not by the speed of
mechani-cal moving parts but by the much greater speed of
moving electrons.
(6) In the late 1930s, John V. Atanasoff of Iowa State College demon-
strated the elements of an electronic computer. Though his work
did not become widely known, it did influence the thinking of
John W. Mauchly, one of the designers of ENIAC.
(7) ENIAC O Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer O was
the machine that rendered the electromechanical computers obso-
lete. ENIAC used vacuum tubes for computing and memory. For
control, it used an electrical plug board, like a telephone switch-
board. The connections on the plug board specified the sequence
of operations ENIAC would carry out.
(8) ENIAC was 500 times as fast as the best electromechanical com-
puter. A problem that took one minute to solve on ENIAC would
require eight to ten hours on an electromechanical machine. After
ENIAC, all computers would be electronic.
(9) ENIAC was the first of many computers with acronyms for names.
The same tradition gave us EDVAC, UNIVAC, JOHNIAC, IL-
LIAC, and even MANIAC.
(10) EDVAC. The Electronic Discrete Variable Computer O ED-
VAC O was constructed at about the same time as ENIAC. But
EDVAC, influenced by the ideas of the brilliant Hungarian-
American mathematician John von Neumann, was by far the
more advanced of the two machines. Two innovations that first
appeared in EDVAC have been incorporated in almost every
computer since.
(11) First, EDVAC used binary notation to represent numbers inside
the machine. Binary notation is a system for writing numbers that
uses only two digits (0 and 1), instead of the ten digits (0-9) used
in the conventional decimal notation. Binary notation is now
recognized as the simplest way of representing numbers in an
electronic machine.

43
(12) Second, EDVAC’s program was stored in the machine’s memory,
just like the data. Previous computers had stored the program
externally on punched tapes or plug boards. Since the programs
were stored the same way the data were, one program could
manipulate another program as if it were data. We will see that
such program-manipulating programs play a crucial role in modern
computer systems.
(13) A stored-program computer O one whose program is stored in
memory in the same form as its data O is usually called a von
Neumann machine in honor of the originator of the stored-program
concept.
(14) From the 1940s to the present, the technology used to build comput-
ers has gone through several revolutions. People sometimes speak
of different generations of computers, with each generation using a
different technology.
(15) The First Generation. First-generation computers prevailed in the
1940s and for much of the 1950s. They used 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 mercury. Since all these first-
generation memories are now obsolete, no further mention will
be made of them.
(16) Vacuum tubes are bulky, unreliable, energy consuming, and gener-
ate large amounts of heat. As long as computers were tied down to
vacuum tube technology, they could only be bulky, cumbersome,
and expensive.
(17) 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 corn, generates little heat and enjoys
long life.
(18) At about the same time, the magnetic-core memory was introduced.
This consisted of a latticework of wires on which were strung tiny,
doughnut-shaped beads called cores. Electric currents flowing in
the wires stored information by magnetizing the cores. Informa-
tion could be stored in core memory or retrieved from it in about
a millionth of a second.
(19) Core memory dominated the high-speed memory scene for much
of the second and third generations. To programmers during this
period, core and high-speed memory were synonymous.

44
(20) 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; after being mounted in a protective package, it
still would fit in the palm of your hand. With integrated circuits,
computers could be made even smaller, less expensive, and more
reliable.
(21)Integrated circuits made possible minicomputers, tabletop computers
small enough and inexpensive enough to find a place in the classroom
and the scientific laboratory.
(22) In the late 1960s, integrated circuits began to be used for high-
speed memory, providing some competition for magnetic-core
memory. The trend toward integrated-circuit memory has con-
tinued until today, when it has largely replaced magnetic-core
memory.
(23) The most recent jump in computer technology came with the
introduction of large-scale integrated circuits, often referred to
simply as chips. Whereas the older integrated circuits contained
hundred of transistors, the new ones contain thousands or tens
of thousands.
(24) 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.
(25) 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.
(26) The Fourth Generation. In addition to the common applications of
digital watches, pocket calculators, and personal computers, you can
find microprocessors O the general-purpose processor-on-a-chip O
in virtually every machine in the home or business O microwave
ovens, cars, copy machines, TV sets, and so on. Computers today
are hundred times smaller than those of the first gene-ration, and
a single chip is far more powerful than ENIAC.
(27) 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 term, en-
compassing many research fields in the computer industry. Key areas
of ongoing research are artificial intelligence (AI), expert systems,
and natural language.

45
EXERCISES
I. Find in the text the English equivalents to:
ƒ=д3м=2ь; K/2ь ƒ…=*%м/м “; C!ед"*3ш=2ь; л=K%!=2%!…/L
*3!ьеƒ; ме.=…,че“*,е “%ед,…е…, ; 2еле-%……/L *%мм32=2%!;
C%“лед%"=2ель…%“2ь %Cе!=ц,L; C%2!еK%"=л=“ь м,…32= дл !еше…, ; C%д
"л, …,ем ,деL; =*!%…,м дл …=ƒ"=…, ; 2%гд= *=*; ,г!=2ь !еш=ю?3ю
!%ль; " че“2ь *%г%-2%; !232…/L “2%лK,*; .…е!г%ем*,L; "/!=K=2/"=2ь
K%льш%е *%л,че“2"% 2еCл=; г!%м%ƒд*,L; “2=2ь д%“23C…/м; ,ƒ"ле*=2ь
,ƒ C=м 2,; C%ме“2,2ь“ …= л=д%…, (…= *%…ч,*е C=льц=); “*=ч%*
" 2е.…,*е; "*люч=2ь; C!%д%л›=ю?,е“ ,““лед%"=…, ; C!,д3м=2ь
2е!м,…; "“е%."=2/"=ю?,L 2е!м,… (…%м,…=ц, ).

II. Give synonyms to:

to encompass, bulky, simply, scarcely, ongoing, linkage, to conceive, to
anticipate, to be familiar with, fast, advanced, obsolete.

III. Give antonyms to:

success, externally, to store, energy-consuming, cumbersome, expensive,
binary notation, end in sight, obsolete.

IV. Put the proper words into sentences:

analytical, digital, unreliable, sophisticated, solve, core, processor,
computations, an integral circuit.
1. The Difference Engine could ... equations and led to another cal-
culating machine, the ... Engine, which embodied the key parts of
a computer system: an input device, a ..., a control unit, a storage
place, and an output device.
2. Ada Lovelace helped to develop instructions for carrying out ... on
Babbage machine.
3. J. Atanasoff devised the first ... computer to work by electronic means.
4. First-generation computers were ..., the main form of memory be-
ing magnetic...
5. In the third generation software became more...
6. What was the name of the first ... computer to work electronically?
7. When electricity passed through the ..., it could be magnetized as
either œoffB or œonB.
8. A ... is a complete electronic circuit on a small chip of silicon.

46
V. Answer the following questions:
1. What was the main shortcoming of the Mark I and the other elec-
tromechanical computers?
2. What is an acronym? Give examples of acronyms.
3. What was the distinguishing feature of ENIAC?
4. What were the two distinguishing features of EDVAC?
5. What is a von Neumann machine?
6. Describe the technological features characteristic of each computer
generation.
7. What type of computer memory was once so widely used that its
name became almost synonymous with œhigh-speed memoryB?
8. What technological developments made (a) minicomputers and
(b) microcomputers possible?

VI. Construct other sentences in these patterns:

1. It was a machine like the one Babbage conceived.
2. That has ever been or ever will be.
3. Using electricity made the difference between success and failure.
4. This work did influence the thinking of the designers of ENIAC.
5. It took one minute to solve a problem on ENIAC.
6. EDVAC was by far the more advanced of the two machines.
7. One program could manipulate another program as if it were data.
8. People sometimes speak of different generations of computers, with
each generation using a different technology.
9. Integrated circuits made possible minicomputers, small enough to
find place in the classroom.
10. It is the large-scale integrated circuits that make possible micro-
processors.

VII. Make a timeline map: ( )

Inventions/
Times Inventors
Developments
recent times Analytical Engine Von Neumann
17th century Abacus Pascal
(Leibniz)
World War II ENIAC/vacuum Herman Hollerith
tubes

47
 Inventions/
Times Inventors
Developments

thousands Primitive George Boole

of years ago calculating devices
Transistors, printed
19th century Charles Babbage
circuits, microchi ps
early 20th
Stored programs Ada Lovelace
century
after Mechanical calculator Jobs / Wozniak
World War II
in 1944 Punched card Aiken

First computer program Atanasoff / Berry

First PC
First digital computer,
Mark I

VIII. Translate into English

1. n!3д, O .2% люK/е C!едме2/ C%м,м% ч=“2еL …=шег%
“%K“2"е……%г% 2ел=, *%2%!/е м/ ,“C%льƒ3ем, ч2%K/ C%м%чь “еKе
"/C%л…,2ь !=K%23.
2. `…2!%C%л%г, “ч,2=ю2, ч2% ,“C%льƒ%"=…,е %!3д,L м%гл% K/
C%м%чь ."%люц,, чел%"е*%C%д%K…/. “3?е“2" , C!е"!=?е…,ю
,. " людеL; " %K?е“2"е, ,“C%льƒ3ю?ем %!3д, , л%"*%“2ь !3*
, 3м ƒ…=ч=2 г%!=ƒд% K%льше, чем г!3K= “,л=. rм…/е, = …е
“,ль…/е, 3…=“лед%"=л, gемлю.
3. m=“ ,…2е!е“3ю2 м=ш,…/, *%2%!/е *л=““,-,ц,!3ю2 ,
м%д,-,ц,!3ю2 ,…-%!м=ц,ю, = …е C!%“2% Cе!ед=ю2 ее ,л, .!=… 2.
4. j=ль*3л 2%!/, “дел=……/е o=“*=лем , kеLK…,цем, K/л,
…е…=де›…/, 2=* *=* 2е.…%л%г, 2%г% "!еме…, K/л= …е "
“%“2% …,, C!%,ƒ"%д,2ь де2=л, “ д%“2=2%ч…%L 2%ч…%“2ью.
5. j%мCью2е!, C%л…%“2ью “%"!еме……/L C% *%…цеCц,,, K/л
ƒ=д3м=… " 30. г%д=. 19 "е*=.
6. a.KK,д› K/л Cл%д%2"%!…/м ,ƒ%K!е2=2елем, ег% !=ƒ!=K%2*,
"*люч=ю2 2=*,е, *=* %-2=льм%“*%C, %2м/ч*,, “C,д%ме2!,

48
 &“*%2%“K!=“/"=2ель[ , д!. mе“м%2! …= “"%ю .*“це…2!,ч…%“2ь,
%… K/л ге…,ем.
7. nд…%L ,ƒ C!,ч,…, C% *%2%!%L a.KK,д› ƒ=K!%“,л “"%ю
!=ƒ…%“2…3ю м=ш,…3, K/л= г%!=ƒд% л3чш= ,де , C!,шедш=
ем3 " г%л%"3. bд%.…%"ле……/L ›=**=!д%"/м “2=…*%м,
3C!="л ем/м Cе!-%*=!2=м,, a.KK,д› ƒ=.%2ел “дел=2ь
*=ль*3л 2%!, 3C!="л ем/L Cе!-%*=!2=м,.
8. hме……% ,ƒ-ƒ= =…=л,2,че“*%L м=ш,…/, *%2%!3ю %… …,*%гд=
…е ƒ="е!ш,л, a.KK,д› ,мее2 че“2ь …=ƒ/"=2ь“ &%2ц%м
*%мCью2е!=[.
9. `"2%! дем%…“2!=ц,%……%L C!%г!=мм/ дл =…=л,2,че“*%L
м=ш,…/ `д= k%"л,“ “2=л= Cе!"/м " м,!е *%мCью2е!…/м
C!%г!=мм,“2%м.o% C!едл%›е…,ю a.KK,д›=, Cе!е"%д “2=2ью %K
=…=л,2,че“*%L м=ш,…е, …=C,“=……3ю ,2=ль …“*,м ,…›е…е!%м
C%--!=…ц3ƒ“*,, %…= д%K=",л= “%K“2"е……/е ƒ=меч=…, , *%2%!/е
%*=ƒ=л,“ь " д"= !=ƒ= дл,……ее “=м%L “2=2ь,.
10. `…=л,2,че“*= м=ш,…= &2*е2[ =лгеK!=,че“*,е 3ƒ%!/ 2%ч…% 2=*
›е, *=* “2=…%* f=**=!д= 2*е2 ц"е2/ , л,“2ь . dеL“2",2ель…%
3д=ч…% “*=ƒ=…%!
11. l%дель I O “=м= Kл,ƒ*= * =…=л,2,че“*%L м=ш,…=, *%2%!=
*%гд=-л,K% K/л= ,л, K3де2 “%ƒд=…=.
12. m=! д3 “ …е“*%ль*,м, д!3г,м, .ле*2!%ме.=…,че“*,м,
*%мCью2е!=м,, C%“2!%е……/м, C!,Kл,ƒ,2ель…% " 2% ›е "!ем ,
l%дель I 3“2=!ел= “!=ƒ3 ›е C%“ле 2%г%, *=* K/л= ƒ="е!ше…=.
13. kюд, ,…%гд= г%"%! 2 % !=ƒл,ч…/. C%*%ле…, . *%мCью2е!%",
C!,чем *=›д%е C%*%ле…,е ,“C%льƒ3е2 !=ƒ…3ю 2е.…%л%г,ю.
l=ш,…/ Cе!"%г% C%*%ле…, ,“C%льƒ%"=л, …е“*%ль*%
.,2!%3м…/. 3“2!%L“2" дл ƒ=C%м,…=…, . b %д…%м, …=C!,ме!,
,…-%!м=ц, .!=…,л=“ь " *=че“2"е ƒ"3*%"/."%л…, ц,!*3л,!3ю?,.
" “2%лK,*е !232,.
14. b=*33м…/е л=мC/ K/л, г!%м%ƒд*,м,, …е…=де›…/м,,
.…е!г%ем*,м, , "/!=K=2/"=л, %г!%м…%е *%л,че“2"% 2еCл=.
15.Š!=…ƒ,“2%! !=ƒме!%м ч32ь K%льше д!/ш*= .леK…%г% ƒе!…=
"/!=K=2/"=е2 м=л% 2еCл= , ›,"е2 д%лг%.
16.b…=ч=ле 60. …=Kлюд=л%“ь "…ед!е…,е ,…2ег!=ль…/. “.ем, *%2%!/е
"*люч=л, “%2…, 2!=…ƒ,“2%!%" …= %д…%м “,л,*%…%"%м ч,Cе.
hме……% K%льш,е ,…2ег!=ль…/е “.ем/ “дел=л, "%ƒм%›…/м,
м,*!%C!%це““%!/ , м,*!%*%мCью2е!/.
17. qег%д… ш…,е *%мCью2е!/ !=ƒ " 100 ме…ьше, чем *%мCью2е!/
1г% C%*%ле…, , = *=›д/L %2дель…/L ч,C г%!=ƒд% м%?…ее
ENIAC.

49
Topics for Essays,
Oral or Written Reports
1. From the abacus to the computer.
2. The evolution of computers in terms of generations.
3. Computer O a God’s gift or a Devil’s toy?
4. If I were the inventor of computer ...
5. If there were no computers they had to be thought out.
6. Science fiction: serving the science.

50
Unit IV.
Personal Computers

Prereading Discussion
1. Who uses computers today? Give examples of the impact they have
on our lives.
2. When did the first personal computer appear? How was it different
from the computers that preceded it?
3. How have computers changed since the first one was introduced in
the early 1940s?
4. Where is the Silicon Valley? How is it related to the computer
industry?

51
Reading Analysis
VOCABULARY LIST

Verbs: antici pate, collaborate, devise, donate, emerge, foresee, intimi-

date, market, thrive.
Nouns: application, capacity, components, entrepreneur, expertise,
gadget, innovation, investment, potential, technology, venture, wizard,
pioneer, integrated circuit, microprocessor, circuit, peri pherals.
Adjectives/Participles: cumbersome, genuine, inevitable, makeshift,
massive, muted, skeptical, state-of-the-art, user-friendly.
Adverbials: passionately, technologically, thereby, whereas.

TEXT I. THE EARLY YEARS

(1) Until the late 1970s, the computer was viewed as a massive ma-
chine that was useful to big business and big government but
not to the general public. Computers were too cumbersome and
expensive for private use, and most people were intimidated by
them. As technology advanced, this was changed by a distinctive
group of engineers and entrepreneurs who rushed to improve the
designs of then current technology and to find ways to make the
computer attractive to more people. Although these innovators of
computer technology were very different from each other, they had
a common enthusiasm for technical innovation and the capacity
to foresee the potential of computers. This was a very competi-
tive and stressful time, and the only people who succeeded were
the ones who were able to combine extraordinary engineering
expertise with progressive business skills and an ability to foresee
the needs of the future.
(2) Much of this activity was centered in the Silicon Valley in north-
ern California where the first computer-related company had
located in 1955. That company attracted thousands of related
businesses, and the area became known as the technological
capital of the world. Between 1981 and 1986, more than 1000
new technology-oriented businesses started there. At the busi-
est times, five or more new companies started in a single week.

52
 The Silicon Valley attracted many risk-takers and gave them
an opportunity to thrive in an atmosphere where creativity was
expected and rewarded.
(3) Robert Noyce was a risk-taker who was successful both as an
engineer and as an entrepreneur. The son of an Iowa minister,
he was informal, genuine, and methodical. Even when he was
running one of the most successful businesses in the Silicon
Valley, he dressed informally and his office was an open cubicle
that looked like everyone else’s. A graduate of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT), he started working for one of the
first computer-related businesses in 1955. While working with
these pioneers of computer engineering, he learned many things
about computers and business management.
(4) As an engineer, he co-invented the integrated circuit, which was
the basis for later computer design. This integrated circuit was
less than an eighth of an inch square but had the same power as
a transistor unit that was over 15 inches square or a vacuum tube
unit that was 6.5 feet square. As a businessman, Noyce co-founded
Intel, one of the most successful companies in the Silicon Val-
ley and the first company to introduce the microprocessor. The
microprocessor chip became the heart of the computer, making
it possible for a large computer system that once filled an entire
room to be contained on a small chip that could be held in
one’s hand. The directors of Intel could not have anticipated
the effects that the microprocessor would have on the world. It
made possible the invention of the personal computer and even-
tually led to the birth of thousands of new businesses. Noyce’s
contributions to the develop-ment of the integrated circuit and
the microprocessor earned him both wealth and fame before his
death in 1990. In fact, many people consider his role to be one
of the most significant in the Silicon Valley story.
(5) The two men who first introduced the personal computer (PC) to
the marketplace had backgrounds unlike Robert Noyce’s. They
had neither prestigious university education nor experience in big
business. Twenty-year-old Steven Jobs and twenty-four-year-old
Stephen Wozniak were college drop-outs who had collaborated
on their first project as computer hobbiests in a local computer
club. Built in the garage of Jobs’s parents, this first personal
computer utilized the technology of Noyce’s integrated circuit.

53
 It was typewriter-sized, as powerful as a much larger computer,
and inexpensive to build. To Wozniak the new machine was a
gadget to share with other members of their computer club. To
Jobs, however, it was a product with great marketing potential
for homes and small businesses. To raise the $1300 needed to
fill their first orders Jobs sold his Volkswagen bus and Wozniak
sold his scientific calculator. Wozniak built and delivered the
first order of 100 computers in ten days. Lacking funds, he was
forced to use the least expensive materials, the fewest chips, and
the most creative arrangement of components. Jobs and Wozniak
soon had more orders than they could fill with their makeshift
production line.
(6) Jobs and Wozniak brought different abilities to their venture: Woz-
niak was the technological wizard, and Jobs was the entrepreneur.
Wozniak designed the first model, and Jobs devised its applications
and attracted interest from investors and buyers. Wozniak once
admitted that without Jobs he would never have considered selling
the computer or known how to do it. œSteve didn’t do one circuit,
design or piece of code. He’s not really been into computers, and
to this day he has never gone through a computer manual. But it
never crossed my mind to sell computers. It was Steve who said,
4Let’s hold them up and sell a few.’B
(7) From the very beginning, Apple Computer had been sensitive to
the needs of a general public that is intimidated by high technol-
ogy. Jobs insisted that the computers be light, trim, and made in
muted colors. He also insisted that the language used with the
computers be œuser-friendlyB and that the operation be simple
enough for the average person to learn in a few minutes. These
features helped convince a skeptical public that the computer was
practical for the home and small business. Jobs also introduced
the idea of donating Apple Computers to thousands of California
schools, thereby indirectly introducing his product into the homes
of millions of students. Their second model, the Apple II, was the
state-of-the-art PC in home and small business computers from
1977 to 1982. By 1983 the total company sales were almost $600
million, and it controlled 23 percent of the worldwide market in
personal computers.
(8) As the computer industry began to reach into homes and small busi-
nesses around the world, the need for many new products for the

54
 personal computer began to emerge. Martin Alpert, the founder of
Tecmar, Inc., was one of the first people to foresee this need. When
IBM released its first personal computer in 1981, Alpert bought
the first two models. He took them apart and worked twenty-four
hours a day to find out how other products could be attached to
them. After two weeks, he emerged with the first computer pe-
ripherals for the IBM PC, and he later became one of the most
successful creators of personal computer peripherals. For example,
he designed memory extenders that enabled the computer to store
more information, and insertable boards that allowed people to
use different keyboards while sharing the same printer. After 1981,
Tecmar produced an average of one new product per week.
(9) Alpert had neither the technical training of Noyce nor the computer
clubs of Jobs and Wozniak to encourage his interest in computer
engineering. His parents were German refugees who worked in a
factory and a bakery to pay for his college education. They insisted
that he study medicine even though his interest was in electronics.
Throughout medical school he studied electronics passionately but
privately. He became a doctor, but practiced only part time while
pursuing his preferred interest in electronics. His first electronics
products were medical instruments that he built in his living room.
His wife recognized the potential of his projects before he did,
and enrolled in a graduate program in business management so
she could run his electronics business successfully. Their annual
sales reached $1 million, and they had 15 engineers working in
their living room before they moved to a larger building in 1981.
It wasn’t until 1983 that Alpert stopped practicing medicine and
gave his full attention to Tecmar. By 1984 Tecmar was valued at
$150 million.
(10) Computer technology has opened a variety of opportunities for
people who are creative risk-takers. Those who have been suc-
cessful have been alert technologically, creatively, and financially.
They have known when to use the help of other people and when
to work alone. Whereas some have been immediately successful,
others have gone unrewarded for their creative and financial invest-
ments; some failure is inevitable in an environment as competi-
tive as the Silicon Valley. Rarely in history have so many people
been so motivated to create. Many of them have been rewarded
greatly with fame and fortune, and the world has benefited from
this frenzy of innovation.

55
EXERCISES
I. Find in the text the English equivalents to:
!=““м=2!,"=2ь *=*; “л,ш*%м д%!%г= ; дл л,ч…%г% C%льƒ%"=…, ;
“3?е“2"3ю?= 2%гд= 2е.…%л%г, ; “дел=2ь C!,"ле*=2ель…/м;
C!ед",де2ь C%2е…ц,=л; 2е.…,че“*,е ƒ…=…, ; %де"=2ь“ …е-%!м=ль…%;
ме…ее %д…%L "%“ьм%L дюLм=; ƒ…=ч,2ель…= !%ль; "/C%л… 2ь ƒ=*=ƒ/;
,“C/2/"=2ь …ед%“2=2%* " -%…д=.; K/2ь "/…3›де……/м; “=м%дель…/L
("!еме……/L) *%…"еLе!; C!,.%д,2ь " г%л%"3; ч3"“2",2ель…/L * …3›д=м;
3Kед,2ь “*еC2,*%"; 2ем “=м/м; д=2ь "%ƒм%›…%“2ь; “Aем…/е Cл=2/;
C%дде!›=2ь ,…2е!е“ *; …емец*,е Kе›е…ц/; е›ег%д…= C!%д=›=; 2%гд=
*=*; *%…*3!е…2…= “!ед=; …е,ƒKе›…/е …е3д=ч,; "%ƒ…=г!=›де……/е
“л="%L , K%г=2“2"%м.

II. True or false?

1. Robert Noyce graduated from a prestigious university and gained
engineering expertise before he devised the integrated circuit.
2. Robert Noyce was one of the pioneers of the computer industry.
3. The microprocessor influenced the world in ways that its inventors
did not foresee and subsequently led to the invention of the inte-
grated circuit.
4. Stephen Wozniak and Steven Jobs used the state-of-the-art technol-
ogy developed by Robert Noyce when they devised the first personal
computer.
5. When Wozniak designed the first model of the PC, he did not plan
to market it to the general population.
6. Jobs did not want the PC to be as intimidating to the general public
as previous computers were, so he insisted that it include features
that were practical and attractive.
7. The Apple Computer company sold their computers to thousands
of American schools at discounted rates, thereby introducing their
product into the homes of millions of students.
8. Martin Alpert foresaw that the success of the first IBM personal
computer was inevitable, so he bought the first two models and
devised ways to change them.
9. Martin Alpert’s wife was skeptical about the potential of her husband’s
technical innovations.
10. Alpert’s interest in technology was more passionate than his interest
in medicine.

56
III. Give a synonym for words in parentheses:
1. Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak (worked together) to (invent) the
personal computer, and then produced it in a (temporary) produc-
tion line in a garage.
2. Steven Jobs wanted to (advertise and sell) the personal computer
to people who would use it in their homes, so he knew it could be
neither (very large) nor (awkward).
3. Stephen Wozniak applied the (most up-to-date) (applied science)
when designing the first personal computer, while Steven Jobs de-
signed its (practical functions).
4. People seemed to be less (frightened) by computers when they were
made in (soft) colors and were (easily understood by the average
person).
5. Robert Noyce’s (specialization) in computers was a result of his ex-
perience with the (first people) in the computer field while working
at his first job.
6. Martin Alpert’s wife was never (doubtful) about (the future pos-
sibilities) of Tecmar.
7. Martin Alpert studied the first IBM personal computer (with great
love and emotion), and (by that means) he was the first innovator
to (come forward) with (supplementary devices) for the computer.
8. Whereas some people (grow) as a result of competition, others are
(threatened) by it.

IV. Some of the following statements describe an act of an

entrepreneur (E), others describe an act of an inventor (I),
and others could describe both titles (B). Identify each one
and be prepared to explain your answer.
1. Alexander Graham Bell originated the first telephone.
2. Robert Noyce co-invented the integrated circuit and co-founded
Intel.
3. In 1890 John Loud created the first ballpoint pen.
4. Robert Noyce’s engineering expertise contributed to the development
of the microprocessor.
5. Robert Noyce’s financial investments helped build one of the most
successful companies in the Silicon Valley.
6. Steven Jobs had the original idea to market the first personal com-
puter.

57
 7. King C. Gillette designed the first disposable razor blade.
8. A Frenchman named Benedictus introduced the idea of making
safety glass in 1903 after he discovered a chemical that held broken
glass together.
9. Martin Alpert devised many new products for the personal com-
puter.
10. Martin Alpert’s wife managed his business and marketed his products.

V. Describe the relationship between each of the following

pairs of words (antonyms, synonyms, neither):
massive/small skeptical/unfriendly
cumbersome/awkward potential/ability
expertise/innovation donate/loan
muted/bright collaborated/worked
anticipate/foresee together
inevitable/avoidable genuine/insincere
venture/risk devise/invent
makeshift/permanent

VI. Choose the word to complete each of the following sen-

tences:
1. Whenever the inventor was working on an innovation, she (emerged
from/withdrew to) her house because she didn’t want to be dis-
turbed.
2. The new computer program was (collaborated/devised) by the newest
student in the class.
3. The executives bought a (cumbersome/portable) copy machine be-
cause they needed to take it to meetings.
4. The computer enthusiast devised a portable model that had several
practical (applications/markets) for educators.
5. It was Wozniak’s (expertise/skepticism) that made it possible for him
to devise the first personal computer.
6. The government (loaned/donated) $100 million to the corporation,
expecting it to be repaid with 12 percent interest.
7. The investors (anticipated/intimidated) the higher profits because
of the activity in the stock market.
8. When computers are not working, it is (inevitable/avoidable) that
work will be delayed.

58
VII. Cross out the one word that does not have the same
meaning as the other three words:

1. Everyone liked the computer salesman because he was (genuine/

calculating/ sincere/ unaffected) .
2. The corporation president (benefited/contributed/gave/donated) his
services to the school of business.
3. The sudden decrease in sales was not (understood/ foreseen/ antici-
pated/ predicted) by anyone.
4. The corporate office of the manufacturing company was so close to
the factory that the noise in the office was (muted/ vivid/ intense/
extreme).
5. There are many specialized (parts/ components/ contributors/ ele-
ments) in the memory bank of a computer.
6. The software company has the (capacity/ extent/ potential/ ability)
to employ 500 people.
7. After the young investor earned a million dollars, he was highly
regarded for his financial (skillfulness/ wizardry/ good fortune/
aptitude).
8. The software engineer’s (expertise/ intelligence/ proficiency/ mastery)
was limited to one area.
9. The computer-game business (celebrated/ thrived/ prospered/ pro-
gressed) during the summer months.
10. They undertook their (venture/ risky undertaking/ challenge/ deci-
sion) after making careful calculations.

VIII. Construct other sentences in this pattern (compound

adjectives)

1. He is seeking a computer-related career.

2. Typewriter-sized computers became available in the 1970s to replace
the room-sized computers of the 1960s.
3. Children tend to like sugar-based cereals.
4. Whereas an integrated circuit is thumbnail-sized, the vacuum tubes
in earlier computers were cigar-sized.
5. We are shopping for a precision-built car.
6. They lived near a tree-edged lake.
7. Jobs and Wozniak were self-taught computer experts.

59
IX. In pairs or small groups, discuss each of the following questions:
1. Imagine that you just moved into an empty house. What can you
use for a makeshift table? a makeshift pillow? a makeshift hammer?
2. Here are five gadgets found in many kitchens. Describe the functions
of each: can opener, ice crusher, apple peeler, cheese grater. Name
some other gadgets that are found in many kitchens.
3. If you were to design a state-of-the-art product, how would you
improve the following products: toothbrush, bathtub, notebook,
hairbrush?
4. Which of the following do you find intimidating? Why? (a teacher,
a large truck on the road, a policeman, an automatic bank teller,
a school counselor, a telephone-answering machine)
5. What marketing techniques would you use if you wanted to sell
a new soft drink product? What market would you focus on?
6. Which would be preferable for each of the following buildings, muted
colors or bright? Why? (a restaurant, a post office, a hospital a high
school, a music store, a day-care center)
7. What are the components of each of the following: a good marriage?
a modern kitchen? a good stereo system?
8. Describe another entrepreneur whose investments led to fame and
fortune.
9. Under what circumstances does a business thrive? a tree? a young
child? a marriage?
10. Name a notable pioneer in each of the following fields. (manufactur-
ing, science, art, architecture, medicine, social services)
11. What is a practical application of the personal computer in business?
In the home?

X. Complete the paragraph below:

Although Jobs and Wozniak have become known as two of the
most brilliant innovators in the technological revolution, not all of their
(1) ... were as successful as the Apple I and the Apple II. They (2) ...
the Apple II Plus in 1980 when they (3) ... that small businesses would
have a need for a more professional and integrated system than the
Apple I or II. The Apple II Plus was an advanced version of the Apple II
that they aimed at the small business (4) ... Unfortunately, they did not
(5) ... the competition of the IBM Personal Computer. Although IBM
was not the original (6) ... of the personal computer, they had been
the leader in the business machine industry for several decades, and

60
they soon (7) ... as the primary competition in the personal computer
(8) ... IBM had many advantages over Apple: their engineering was
done by a more experienced engineering staff, and their advertising
was done by their more experienced (9) ... staff. Since Apple had been
so successful with the Apple I and the Apple II, the failure of their
(10) ... with the Apple II Plus was both (11) ... and disappointing.

TEXT II. DEEP BLUE

(1) Special-purpose machines, DEEP BLUE and its predecessor DEEP
THOUGHT, were originally created to explore how to use parallel
processing to solve complex problems. DEEP THOUGHT was a
first computer to defeat a chess grandmaster, thanks to its ability to
analyze 750,000 positions per second. But in 1990, an experimental
6-processor version of DEEP THOUGHT, capable of searching
2 million positions per second, played against Kasparov and lost.
Kasparov went on to defeat DEEP BLUE by winning 3 games and
2 draws. Six IBM employees used a hefty machine to win a chess
game against the reigning world champion in the rematch in 1997.
No other tool of human invention could leverage their talents so
magnificently. DEEP BLUE now has the ability to calculate 50 to
100 billion moves within 3 minutes. But DEEP BLUE is not mim-
icking human thought. It does not anticipate, it only reacts. DEEP
BLUE is a 32-node IBM power Parallel SP2 high performance
computer. Each node of the SP2 employs a single microchannel
card containing 8 dedicated VLSI chess processors for a total of
256 processors working in tandem. DEEP BLUE’s programming
code is developed in C and runs under the AIX operating system.
(2) To the uninformed advanced technology is indistinguishable from
magic. We must continue to develop these machines and methods of
harnessing them to human needs. Computers amplify our cognitive
and reasoning abilities.

EXERCISES
I. True or false?
1. The Intelligent Computer is a myth.
2. It were actually Deep Blue’s designers, programmers, and builders
who had beaten Kasparov, not the machine itself.

61
 3. The world will be overtaken by silicon-based life forms.
4.Chess playing is to logic and calculation what intelligence is to rela-
tionshi ps and negotiations.
5. Chess is social; intelligence is abstract.
6. The Deep Blue has inhuman logico-mathematical capability.
7.There are 7 dimensions of intelligence: linguistic, logico-mathemati-
cal, spatial, musical, kinesthetic, intrapersonal, and interpersonal.
8. The Deep Blue has all these dimensions.
9. œAny sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from
magicB. (A.C. Clarke)

II. Translate into English:

m`qŠrokemhe oepqnm`k|m{u
jnlo|~Šepnb
b 70-е г%д/ C% "л ю2“ Cе!“%…=ль…/е *%мCью2е!/. o!е›де
"“ег%, Apple. j%мCью2е! C!,шел * чел%"е*3. h .%2 м%?…%“2ь
Cе!"/. Apple K/л= …е“!="…,м% ме…ьше, чем 3 IBM, *%мCью2е!
“2=л Kл,›е , C%… 2…ее. j“2=2,, ,ме……% 2%гд= K/л, !е=л,ƒ%"=…/
%“…%"…/е C!,…ц,C/ м…%г%%*%……%г% ,…2е!-еL“=, *%2%!/е
C%ƒд…ее K3д32 "%“C!,… 2/ %K%л%ч*%L Windows. j%мCью2е! “2=л
&д3м=2ь[ % чел%"е*е, % ег% 3д%K“2"=., = …е 2%ль*% % 2%м, *=* K/
K/“2!ее C%“ч,2=2ь. n2 C%“лед%"=2ель…%“2,, *%гд= чел%"е* г%2%",2
ƒ=д=…,е, = *%мCью2е! ƒ=д=…,е "/C%л… е2, K/л “%"е!ше… Cе!е.%д
* C=!=ллель…%L !=K%2е чел%"е*= , *%мCью2е!=.
t,!м= IBM, *=* , "“ *= %г!%м…= ,мCе!, , %*=ƒ=л=“ь
%че…ь …еC%"%!%2л,"=: C%…=ч=л3 %…= д=›е …е %K!=2,л= "…,м=…,
…= Cе!“%…=ль…/L *%мCью2е!. m% *%гд= %KAем/ C!%д=› Apple
“2=л, %K"=ль…% …=!=“2=2ь, " IBM C%“2еCе……% C%… л,, ч2%
3C3“*=ю2 “%"е!ше……% …%"/L “егме…2 !/…*=. o%“лед%"=л
&%г!%м…/L …е3*лю›,L “*!,C3ч,L C%"%!%2 !3л [, , "ме“2е “
Microsoft IBM "/K!%“,л= …= !/…%* м,лл,%… (sic) *%мCью2е!%"
PC. }2% C!%,ƒ%шл% " 1981 г%д3. Š%гд= , …=ч=л=“ь “%"!еме……=
*%мCью2е!…= .!=. b .2%2 …е*!3гл/L г%д *%мCью2е! "%шел "
%-,“/ , д%м= , !=“C%л%›,л“ 2=м, …="е!…%е, …="“егд=.
}2% Cе!,%д !еƒ"%г% мл=де…че“2"= Cе!“%…=ль…/. *%мCью2е!%".
nCе!=ц,%……/е “,“2ем/ "%ƒ…,*=ю2 де“ 2*=м,. )32ь л, …е
*=›д= *%мC=…, , C!%,ƒ"%д,"ш= *%мCью2е!/, “ч,2=л= д%лг%м
че“2, “%ƒд=2ь “"%ю. n“…%"…/м ƒ/*%м C!%г!=мм,!%"=…, “2=л

62
aеL“,* O ƒ/* %че…ь C!%“2%L , д%“23C…/L. b“ *,L чел%"е*,
C%“" 2,"ш,L C=!3 ме“ це" ег% ,ƒ3че…,ю, м%г “ч,2=2ь “еK
3м3д!е……/м , м…%г%%C/2…/м &г3!3[. Š%гд= ›е K/л, “%ƒд=…/
.ле*2!%……/е 2=Kл,ц/ , 2е*“2%"/е !ед=*2%!/ O "е“ьм= 3д%K…/е,
,“2,……% Cе!“%…=ль…/е ,…“2!3ме…2/. m,*=*%г% %K?ег% “2=…д=!2=
…е K/л%, , е?е …е C!%“"еч,"=л= “*"%ƒь *=›д%е C!,л%›е…,е
л3*="= 3л/K*= a,лл= cеL2“=.
o% ",л,“ь *%мCью2е!…/е ,г!/, , “=м= ƒ…=ме…,2= ,ƒ
…,. O &Šе2!,“[. nд…=*%, *=* 2%ль*% “дел=л%“ь C%… 2…%, ч2%
Cе!“%…=ль…/L *%мCью2е! …е 2%ль*% ,г!3ш*=, ч2% %… м%›е2 !е=ль…%
!=K%2=2ь, C%2!еK%"=л“ “2=…д=!2 , "ƒ=,м…= “%"ме“2,м%“2ь
C!%г!=мм, C!%це““%!%", “,“2ем .!=…е…, ,…-%!м=ц,,,
!еƒ*% "%ƒ!%“л, 2!еK%"=…, * *"=л,-,*=ц,, C!%г!=мм,“2= ,
…=де›…%“2, &›елеƒ=[, м…%г,е -,!м/ !=ƒ%!,л,“ь, д!3г,е 3шл,
" 2е…ь м%?…/. *%…*3!е…2%". q,23=ц, “2=K,л,ƒ,!%"=л=“ь, ,
*%мCью2е!…/L м,! C!,%K!ел "C%л…е %-%!мле……/е %че!2=…, .

III. Find an article about a business venture. Prepare to de-

scribe that venture in class.
IV. Read the following paragraph as many times as you can in
3 minutes. Then rewrite as much info as you can remember.
By 1987 the computer market on American college campuses was
thriving. Sales people from all the personal computer companies were
actively pursuing the business of college administrators, professors and
officials.They were selling computers less than half price and were add-
ing attractive bonuses such as free software and support services. They
were willing to venture a great deal of time and money in this market
because they foresaw that it would thrive for a long time. There are 14
million people who provide or receive education on campuses, including
12.5 million new freshmen every year.Students who also buy computers
are likely to become lifetime customers who may enter business after
graduation and influence corporate buying decisions.

63
Topics for Essays,
Oral or Written reports
1. Describe a kitchen gadget that you think should be invented. What
would it do? Who would buy it? How should it be marked?
2. How has the world benefited from the invention of the PC? What
problems have accompanied the computer revolution?
3.Of all advantages that the computer has brought to the modern world,
which is the most beneficial?
4. Describe the invention that has had the greatest effect on the 20th
century.

64
Unit V.
Computer and qrime

Prereading Discussion
1. What is the Russian for hacker?
2. Are hackers good or bad?
3. What examples of computer abuse do you know?
4. What are the reasons for computer crime?

65
Reading Analysis
VOCABULARY LIST

Nouns: freshman, access to, authority, reign, pride, innovation, bogus,

endeavor, exhilaration, insights.
Verbs: to encompass, to promote.
Adjectives: bonafide, awe-inspiring, mere, efficient.

TEXT I. THE FIRST HACKERS

(1) The first œhackersB were students at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT) who belonged to the TMRC (Tech Model
Railroad Club). Some of the members really built model trains. But
many were more interested in the wires and circuits underneath the
track platform. Spending hours at TMRC creating better circuitry
was called œa mere hack.B Those members who were interes-ted in
creating innovative, stylistic, and technically clever circuits called
themselves (with pride) hackers.
(2) During the spring of 1959, a new course was offered at MIT, a fresh-
man programming class. Soon the hackers of the railroad club were
spending days, hours, and nights hacking away at their computer,
an IBM 704. Instead of creating a better circuit, their hack became
creating faster, more efficient program O with the least number of
lines of code. Eventually they formed a group and created the first
set of hacker’s rules, called the Hacker’s Ethic.
(3) Steven Levy, in his book Hackers, presented the rules:

 Rule 1: Access to computers O and anything, which might teach

you, something about the way the world works O should be un-
limited and total.
 Rule 2: All information should be free.
 Rule 3: Mistrust authority O promote decentralization.
 Rule 4: Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not bogus
criteria such as degrees, race, or position.
 Rule 5: You can create art and beauty on a computer.
 Rule 6: Computers can change your life for the better.

66
(4) These rules made programming at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory a challenging, all encompassing endeavor. Just for the
exhilaration of programming, students in the AI Lab would write a
new program to perform even the smallest tasks. The program would
be made available to others who would try to perform the same task
with fewer instructions. The act of making the computer work more
elegantly was, to a bonafide hacker, awe-inspiring.
(5) Hackers were given free reign on the computer by two AI Lab pro-
fessors, œUncleB John McCarthy and Marvin Minsky, who real-
ized that hacking created new insights. Over the years, the AI Lab
created many innovations: LIFE, a game about survival; LISP, a
new kind of programming language; the first computer chess game;
The CAVE, the first computer adventure; and SPACEWAR, the
first video game.

EXERCISES
I. True or false?
1. Those who can, do. Those who cannot, teach. Those who cannot
teach, HACK!
2. The first hackers were interested in railroad circuitry.
3. The first hackers studied at MIT.
4. The point of a hacker’s work was to create a faster and smaller code.
5. Hackers had their own Ethic Code.
6. TMRC stands for Toy Machinery Railroad Car.
7. Hackers sabotaged the work of the AI Lab.
8. An elegant computer was, to a real hacker, awe-inspiring.
9. At AI Lab hackers wrote a computer program for every other task.
10. Hackers were quite prolific in innovations.
11. Hackers were given free reign on the two AI Lab professors.

II. Put the proper words into sentences:

programming, insights, innovation, ethic, instructions, exhilaration,
endeavor, awe-inspiring, encompass, freshmen, authority, bogus, mistrust.
1. Decentralization results in ... to the chief.
2. Holding the door for a lady is the question of...
3. This still life isn’t Picasso’s; it’s a...
4. The report you’ve presented doesn’t ... some of the problems.

67
 5. If you can survive both in the jungle and the desert, a ... Indian
you are.
6. The ... in how hardware works is obligatory for a good programmer.
7. Each ... is another step to a new technological revolution.
8. In 1961 the Soviet Scientists’ ... to conquer the space was a success.
9. ... without any reason proves one’s carelessness.
10. Iron grip boss expects you to carry out all his ...
11. Annually MIT gains over 5000 ...
12. ... should cause ... terror in your heart.

TEXT II. COMPUTER CRIMES

(1) More and more, the operations of our businesses, governments,
and financial institutions are controlled by information that exists
only inside computer memories. Anyone clever enough to modify
this information for his own purposes can reap substantial rewards.
Even worse, a number of people who have done this and been
caught at it have managed to get away without punishment.
(2) These facts have not been lost on criminals or would-be criminals. A
recent Stanford Research Institute study of computer abuse was based
on 160 case histories, which probably are just the proverbial tip of
the iceberg. After all, we only know about the unsuccessful crimes.
How many successful ones have gone undetected is anybody’s guess.
(3) Here are a few areas in which computer criminals have found the
pickings all too easy.
(4) Banking. All but the smallest banks now keep their accounts on
computer files. Someone who knows how to change the numbers in
the files can transfer funds at will. For instance, one programmer
was caught having the computer transfer funds from other people’s
accounts to his wife’s checking account. Often, traditionally trained
auditors don’t know enough about the workings of computers to
catch what is taking place right under their noses.
(5) Business. A company that uses computers extensively offers many
opportunities to both dishonest employees and clever outsiders.
For instance, a thief can have the computer ship the company’s
products to addresses of his own choosing. Or he can have it is-
sue checks to him or his confederates for imaginary supplies or
services. People have been caught doing both.
(6) Credit Cards. There is a trend toward using cards similar to credit
cards to gain access to funds through cash-dispensing terminals.

68
 Yet, in the past, organized crime has used stolen or counterfeit
credit cards to finance its operations. Banks that offer after-hours
or remote banking through cash-dispensing terminals may find
themselves unwillingly subsidizing organized crime.
(7) Theft of Information. Much personal information about individu-
als is now stored in computer files. An unauthorized person with
access to this information could use it for blackmail. Also, con-
fidential information about a company’s products or operations
can be stolen and sold to unscrupulous competitors. (One attempt
at the latter came to light when the competitor turned out to be
scrupulous and turned in the people who were trying to sell him
stolen information.)
(8) Software Theft. The software for a computer system is often more
expensive than the hardware. Yet this expensive software is all too
easy to copy. Crooked computer experts have devised a variety of
tricks for getting these expensive programs printed out, punched
on cards, recorded on tape, or otherwise delivered into their hands.
This crime has even been perpetrated from remote terminals that
access the computer over the telephone.
(9) Theft of Time-Sharing Services. When the public is given access
to a system, some members of the public often discover how to
use the system in unauthorized ways. For example, there are the
œphone freakersB who avoid long distance telephone charges by
sending over their phones control signals that are identical to those
used by the telephone company.
(10) Since time-sharing systems often are accessible to anyone who
dials the right telephone number, they are subject to the same
kinds of manipulation.
(11) Of course, most systems use account numbers and passwords to
restrict access to authorized users. But unauthorized persons have
proved to be adept at obtaining this information and using it for
their own benefit. For instance, when a police computer system
was demonstrated to a school class, a precocious student noted the
access codes being used; later, all the student’s teachers turned up
on a list of wanted criminals.
(12) Perfect Crimes. It’s easy for computer crimes to go undetected if
no one checks up on what the computer is doing. But even if the
crime is detected, the criminal may walk away not only unpunished
but with a glowing recommendation from his former employers.
(13) Of course, we have no statistics on crimes that go undetected.
But it’s unsettling to note how many of the crimes we do know

69
 about were detected by accident, not by systematic audits or other
security procedures.The computer criminals who have been caught
may have been the victims of uncommonly bad luck.
(14) For example, a certain keypunch operator complained of having
to stay overtime to punch extracards.Investigation revealed that the
extracards she was being asked to punch were for fraudulent trans-
actions. In another case, disgruntled employees of the thief ti pped
off the company that was being robbed. An undercover narcotics
agent stumbled on still another case. An employee was selling the
company’s merchandise on the side and using the computer to get
it shi pped to the buyers. While negotiating for LSD, the narcotics
agent was offered a good deal on a stereo!
(15) Unlike other embezzlers, who must leave the country, commit
suicide, or go to jail, computer criminals sometimes brazen it
out, demanding not only that they not be prosecuted but also that
they be given good recommendations and perhaps other benefits,
such as severance pay.All too often, their demands have been met.
(16) Why? Because company executives are afraid of the bad publicity
that would result if the public found out that their computer had
been misused. They cringe at the thought of a criminal boasting in
open court of how he juggled the most confidential records right
under the noses of the company’s executives, accountants, and
security staff. And so another computer criminal departs with just
the recommendations he needs to continue his exploits elsewhere.

EXERCISES

I. Find in the text the English equivalents to:

,ƒKе›=2ь …=*=ƒ=…, ; C%2е…ц,=ль…/е C!е“23C…,*,;
ƒл%3C%2!еKле…,е *%мCью2е!%м; C!е“л%"32= "е!.3ш*= =L“Kе!г=;
%“2=2ь“ …е%K…=!3›е……/м; м%›…% 2%ль*% д%г=д/"=2ь“ ; .!=…,2ь
“че2=; Cе!е"%д,2ь C% ›ел=…,ю; "%%K!=›=ем/е C%“2="*,; C%л3ч,2ь
д%“23C *; %K…=л,ч,"=…,е (де…ег); -=льш,"/е .ле*2!%……/е *=!2%ч*,;
“3K“,д,!%"=2ь %!г=…,ƒ%"=……3ю C!е“23C…%“2ь; *!=›= ,…-%!м=ц,,;
ш=…2=›; …е?еCе2,ль…/е *%…*3!е…2/; !=ƒ!=K%2=2ь м…%›е“2"%
2!ю*%"; 2еле-%……/е м%ше……,*,; Cл=2= ƒ= ме›д3г%!%д…,е ƒ"%…*,;
…=K!=2ь 2еле-%……/L …%ме!; %г!=…,ч,2ь д%“23C; л,ц= Kеƒ C!="=
д%“23C=; !=ƒ/“*,"=ем/е C!е“23C…,*,; “л3ч=L…%; C!%"е!*,; ме!/
Kеƒ%C=“…%“2,; 2=L…/L =ге…2.

70
II. True or false?
1. A person is innocent until proven guilty.
2. Computer-related crime has diminished.
3. A thief can transfer funds from other people’s accounts.
4.Dishonest employees can’t shi p the company’s products to addresses
of their choosing.
5. It is impossible to counterfeit credit cards.
6. Phone freaks can be found out.
7. Personal information should not be stored in computer files.
8. A real bank checks very carefully before handling out any money.
9. Unauthorized persons have proved to be inefficient laymen.
10. Hardware is less expensive than software.
11. Computer criminals will never be caught.
12. Companies don’t punish some criminals because they don’t want
bad publicity.

III. Give synonyms to:

to come to light; confidential; attempt; crooked; to deliver; to perpetrate
crime; freaks; to avoid; to obtain; to reveal; merchandise; transaction;
severance pay; publicity; executive.

IV. Give antonyms to:

fraudulent; common; to shi p; like; to go to jail; to be adept at;
to reveal; a precocious student; former; by accident; to complain of.

V. Construct other sentences in these patterns (transitional

expressions):
1. After all, we know only about unsuccessful crimes.
2. All but the smallest banks keep their accounts in computer files.
3.Yet, in the past, organized crime used stolen credit cards to finance
its operations.
4. Also, confidential information can be stolen.
5. For example, three phone freakers who avoid paying distance tele-
phone charges.
6. Of course, most systems use passwords to restrict access to autho-
rized users.
7. Unlike other embezzlers, computer criminals demand that they be
given good recommendations.

71
 8. All too often, their demands have been met.
9. So, another criminal continues his exploits elsewhere.

VI. Translate into English.

u`jep{: oknuhe hkh unpnxhe?
qл%"% .=*е! “%"ме?=е2 " “еKе, C% *!=L…еL ме!е, д"= ƒ…=че…,
(%д,… д%2%ш…/L .=*е! …=“ч,2=л цел/. 69): %д…% O %*!=ше……%е
…ег=2,"…% ("ƒл%м?,*), д!3г%е O …еL2!=ль…%е ,л, д=›е ."=леK…%е
(=“, м=“2е!).
`…гл,L“*,L гл=г%л to hack C!,ме…,2ель…% * *%мCью2е!=м
м%›е2 %ƒ…=ч=2ь д"е "е?, O "ƒл%м=2ь “,“2ем3 ,л, C%ч,…,2ь ее.
b%“…%"е .2,. деL“2",L ле›,2 %K?= %“…%"=: C%…,м=…,е 2%г%, *=*
3“2!%е… *%мCью2е!, , C!%г!=мм/, *%2%!/е …= …ем !=K%2=ю2.
b 1984 г%д3 q2,"е… kе", " “"%еL ƒ…=ме…,2%L *…,ге u=*е!/:
cе!%, *%мCью2е!…%L !е"%люц,, “-%!м3л,!%"=л C!,…ц,C/ .=*е!“*%L
.2,*,:
d%“23C * *%мCью2е!=м д%л›е… K/2ь …е%г!=…,че……/м , C%л…/м.
b“ ,…-%!м=ц, д%л›…= K/2ь Kе“Cл=2…%L.
mе "е!ь "л=“2 м O K%!,“ь ƒ= деце…2!=л,ƒ=ц,ю.
Š/ м%›ешь 2"%!,2ь …= *%мCью2е!е ,“*3““2"% , *!=“%23.
j%мCью2е!/ м%г32 ,ƒме…,2ь 2"%ю ›,ƒ…ь * л3чшем3.
b “"%еL *…,ге kе", г%"%!,2 % 2!е. C%*%ле…, . .=*е!%". oе!"%е
"%ƒ…,*л% " ше“2,де“ 2/. г%д=. O …=ч=ле “ем,де“ 2/. …= %2деле…, .
*%мCью2е!…/. …=3* " 3…,"е!“,2е2=..h“C%льƒ3 2е.…,*3 !=ƒделе…,
"!еме…,, .2, C=!…, C!е%K!=ƒ%"=л, *%мCью2е!/ %K?ег% C%льƒ%"=…,
(mainframes) " ",!23=ль…/е Cе!“%…=ль…/е *%мCью2е!/.
b *%…це 70-. "2%!%е C%*%ле…,е дел=е2 “лед3ю?,L ш=г
O ,ƒ%K!е2е…,е , C!%,ƒ"%д“2"% Cе!“%…=ль…/. *%мCью2е!%".
}2, …е=*=дем,че“*,е .=*е!/ K/л, !*,м, C!ед“2=",2ел м,
*%…2!*3ль23!/. m=C!,ме!, q2," d›%K“, .,CC,-K,2л%м=…,
K!%“,"ш,L *%ллед›, ,л, q2," b%ƒ… *, ,…›е…е! " &Hewlett-
Packard[. o!е›де чем C!е3“Cе2ь " &Apple[, %K= q2,"= ƒ=…,м=л,“ь
2ем, ч2% “%K,!=л, , C!%д="=л, 2=* …=ƒ/"=ем/е г%л3K/е *%!%K*,
O C!,“C%“%Kле…, , C%ƒ"%л ю?,е Kе“Cл=2…% ƒ"%…,2ь C% 2еле-%…3.
p3*%"%д“2"3 “ь 2%L ›е .=*е!“*%L .2,*%L, ч2% , C!ед/д3?,е
C%*%ле…, , %…, C!%2,"%“2% 2 *%мме!ц,=л,ƒ=ц,, Internet, “%ƒд="=
C!%г!=мм/, *%2%!/е 232 ›е “2=…%" 2“ д%“23C…/ "“ *%м3, *2% ,.
C%›ел=е2, O 2=* …=ƒ/"=ем/е freeware ,л, shareware.

72
 Š!е2ье C%*%ле…,е *,Kе!!е"%люц,%…е!%", .=*е!/ …=ч=л=
80-., “%ƒд=л% м…%›е“2"% C!,*л=д…/., 3чеK…/. , ,г!%"/. C!%г!=мм
дл Cе!“%…=ль…/. *%мCью2е!%".Š,C,ч…= -,г3!= O l,ч jеLC%!,
K/"ш,L 3ч,2ель 2!=…“це…де…2=ль…%L мед,2=ц,,, “%ƒд="ш,L
C!%г!=мм3 &Lotus 1-2-3[, *%2%!= "е“ьм= “C%“%K“2"%"=л= 3“Cе.3
*%мCью2е!%" IBM.
g= г%д/, C!%шедш,е “ "/.%д= *…,г, kе",, * "л=“2, C!,шл%
че2"е!2%е C%*%ле…,е !е"%люц,%…е!%".hме……% %…, C!е%K!=ƒ%"=л,
м,л,2=!,“2“*3ю Arpanet " 2%2=ль…3ю д,г,2=ль…3ю .C,дем,ю,
,ƒ"е“2…3ю …/…е *=* Internet.
oл%.,е .=*е!/ O ч,2=ю2 ч3›,е C,“ьм=, "%!3ю2 ч3›,е
C!%г!=мм/ , "“ем, д%“23C…/м, “C%“%K=м, "!ед 2 C!%г!е““,"…%м3
чел%"ече“2"3.

Topics for Essays,

Oral or Written Reports
1. A day in a hacker’s life.
2. Hackers of today.
3. If I were a hacker
4. Hacking for fun or running for life?
5. Do we need hackers?

Essay Selection for Reading

as a Stimulus for Writing
HACKERS OF TODAY
Hackers,having started as toy railroad circuitry designers in the late fif-
ties,are completely new people now. Once turned to computers,they became
gods and devils. Nowadays holders and users of the World Wide Web hide
their PCs under passwords when the keyword œhackerB is heard. When
and how did this change take place? Why are we so frightened of Hacker
The Mighty and The Elusive?
One of the legends says that hackers have changed under the influence
of œcrackersBO the people who loved to talk on the phone at somebody else’s

73
expense. Those people hooked up to any number and enjoyed the pleasure of
telephone conversation,leaving the most funO billsO for the victim. Another
legend tells us that modern hackers were born when a new computer game
concept was invented. Rules were very simple: two computer programs were
fighting for the reign on the computer. Memory, disk-space and CPU time
were the battlefield. The results of that game are two in number and are
well known: hackers and computer viruses. One more story tells that the
œnewB hackers came to existence when two MIT students that attended the
AI Lab found an error in a network program. They let people, responsible
for the network, know but with no result. The offended wrote a code that
completely paralyzed the network and only after that the error was fixed.
By the way, those students founded The Motorola Company later.
Today,when the Internet has entered everyone’s house there’s no shield
between a hacker and your PC. You can password yourself up, but then
either hackers will crack your PC anyway or nobody will enter your site,
because passwords kill accessibility. If your PC is easy to access no one
can guarantee what’ll happen to your computer - hackers, you know them.
Monsters? Chimeras? Not at all! Every hacker is a human being and
has soft spots: good food,pretty girls or boys (it happens both ways),classical
music,hot chocolate at the fireplace,apple pie on Sunday. Hacker is first of
all a connoisseur,a professional with no computer secret out of his experience.
And what is the application for skills depends on him,God,and Holy Spirit.

74
Unit VI.
Computer Security

Prereading Discussion
1. What are some common motivations for computer crime?
2. What is computer security?
3. What threatens a computer system?
4. Was the first bug real?
5. What viruses do you know?
6. What does biometrics study?
7. What is cryptography?

75
Reading Analysis
VOCABULARY LIST

Nouns: ransom,theft,espionage,imposter,forgery,advocate,fingerprints,
distortion, purchase, vendor.
Verbs: safeguard, entitle, claim, arise, encrypt, evade, circumvent,
override.
Adjectives: vulnerable, legitimate, thorough, distinct, promising, plain,
secure, particular.
Word combinations: white-collar crime, to keep secret, under way,
by chance, needless to say, security provisions, credit card holder, at
the intersection of.

TEXT I. SECURITY: PLAYING IT SAFE

(1) The computer industry has been extremely vulnerable in the matter
of security. Computer security once meant the physical security of
the computer itself O guarded and locked doors.Computer screens
were given dark filters so others could not easily see the data on the
screen. But filters and locks by no means prevented access. More
sophisticated security means safeguarding the computer system
against such threats as burglary, vandalism, fire, natural disasters,
theft of data for ransom, industrial espionage, and various forms
of white-collar crime.
(2) Emphasis on Access and Throughput. For the last decade or so,
computer programmers have concentrated on making it easy for
people to use computer systems. Unfortunately, in some situations
the systems are all too easy to use; they don’t impose nearly enough
restrictions to safeguard confidential information or to prevent un-
authorized persons from changing the information in a file.
(3) It’s as if a bank concentrated all its efforts on handing out money
as fast is it could and did very little to see that the persons who
requested the money were entitled to it.Of course, areal bank works
just the opposite way, checking very carefully before handing out
any money. Computer systems that handle sensitive personal and
financial datashould be designed with the same philosophy in mind.
(4) Positive Identification of Users.A computer system needs asure way

76
 of identifying the people who are authorized to use it.The identifica-
tion procedure has to be quick, simple, and convenient. It should
be so thorough that there is little chance of the computer being
fooled by a clever imposter. At the same time, the computer must
not reject legitimate users. Unfortunately, no identification system
currently in use meets all these requirements.
(5) At present, signatures are widely used to identify credit-card hold-
ers, but it takes an expert to detect a good forgery. Sometimes even
a human expert is fooled, and there is no reason to believe that a
computer could do any better.
(6) A variation is to have the computer analyze a person’s hand move-
ments as he signs his name instead of analyzing the signature itself.
Advocates of this method claim that different persons’ hand move-
ments are sufficiently distinct to identify them. And while a forger
might learn to duplicate another person’s signature, he probably
would not move his hand exactly the way the person whose signature
he was forging did.
(7) Photographs are also sometimes used for identification.But, people
find it inconvenient to stop by a bank or credit card company and
be photographed. Companies might lose business if they made the
pictures an absolute requirement. Also, photographs are less useful
these days, when people frequently change their appearance by
changing the way they wear their hair.Finally, computer programs
for analyzing photographs are still highly experimental.
(8) Cash-dispensing systems often use two identification numbers:
one is recorded on a magnetic stri pe on the identification card,
and the other is given to the cardholder. When the user inserts
his card into the cash-dispensing terminal, he keys in the identi-
fication number he has been given. The computer checks to see
that the number recorded on the card and the one keyed in by
the user both refer to the same person. Someone who stole the
card would not know what number had to be keyed in to use it.
This method currently is the one most widely used for identifying
computer users.
(9) For a long time, fingerprints have provided a method of positive
identification. But they suffer from two problems, one technical
and one psychological.
(10) The technical problem is that there is no simple system for com-
paring fingerprints electronically. Also, most methods of taking
fingerprints are messy.The psychological problem is that fingerprints

77
 are strongly associated in the public mind with police procedures.
Because most people associate being fingerprinted with being ar-
rested, they almost surely would resist being fingerprinted for routine
identification.
(11) Voiceprints may be more promising.With these, the user has only
to speak afew words into amicrophone for the computer to analyze
his voice.There are no psychological problems here.And technically
it’s easier to take and analyze voiceprints than fingerprints.Also, for
remote computer users, the identifying words could be transmitted
over the telephone.
(12) However, voiceprints still require more research. It has yet to be
proved that the computer cannot be fooled by mimics. Also, tech-
nical difficulties arise when the voice is subjected to the noise and
distortion of a telephone line.
(13) Even li p prints have been suggested. But it’s doubtful that kissing
computers will ever catch on.
(14) To date, the most reliable method of positive identification is the
card with the magnetic stri pe. If the technical problems can be
worked out, however, voiceprints may prove to be even better.
(15) Data Encryption. When sensitive data is transmitted to and from
remote terminals, it must be encrypted (translated into a secret
code) at one end and decrypted (translated back into plain text) at
the other. Files also can be protected by encrypting the data before
storing it and decrypting it after it has been retrieved.
(16) Since it is impractical to keep secret the algorithms that are used
to encrypt and decrypt data, these algorithms are designed so that
their operation depends on a certain data item called the key. It is
the key that is kept secret. Even if you know all the details of the
encrypting and decrypting algorithms, you cannot decrypt any
messages unless you know the key that was used when they were
encrypted.
(17) For instance, the National Bureau of Standards has adopted an
algorithm for encrypting and decrypting the dataprocessed by fede-
ral agencies.The details of the algorithm have been published in the
Federal Register. Plans are under way to incorporate the algorithm
in special purpose microprocessors, which anyone can purchase
and install in his computer.
(18) So the algorithm is available to anyone who bothers to look it up
or buy one of the special purpose microprocessors.But the operation
of the algorithm is governed by a sixty-four-bit key. Since there are

78
 about 1022 possible sixty-four-bit keys, no one is likely to discover
the correct one by chance. And, without the correct key, knowing
the algorithm is useless.
(19) A recent important development involves what are called public-
key cryptosystems.
(20) In a public-key cryptosystem, each person using the system has
two keys, a public key and a private key. Each person’s public key
is published in a directory for all to see; each person’s private key
is kept secret.Messages encrypted with aperson’s public key can be
decrypted with that person’s (but no one else’s) private key. Mes-
sages encrypted with a person’s private key can be decrypted with
that person’s (but no one else’s) public key.
(21) Protection through Software. The software of a computer system,
particularly the operating system, can be designed to prevent un-
authorized access to the files stored on the system.
(22) The protection scheme uses a special table called a security matrix.

Data A Data B Data C

Read
User A Modify Modify Read
Execute

User B Read Modify Modify

Execute

User C Read Read Read

Modify Execute

(23) Each row of the security matrix corresponds to a data item stored
in the system. Each entry in the table lies at the intersection of a
particular row and a particular column. The entry tells what kind
of access the person corresponding to the row in which the entry
lies has to the data item corresponding to the column in which the
entry lies.
(24) Usually, there are several kinds of access that can be specified.For
instance, aperson may be able to read adataitem but not change it.Or
he may be able to both read and modify it. If the data is a program,
a person may be able to have the computer execute the program

79
 without being able either to read or modify it. Thus, people can
be allowed to use programs without being able to change them or
find out how they work.
(25) Needless to say, access to the security matrix itself must be restricted
to one authorized person.
(26) Also, the software has to be reliable. Even the software issued by
reputable vendors may be full of bugs.One or more bugs may make
it possible for aperson to circumvent the security system.The security
provisions of more than one computer system have been evaded by
high school and college students.
(27) Restricting the Console Operator. Most computer systems are
extremely vulnerable to the console operator. That’s because the
operator can use the switches on the computer’s control panel
to insert programs of his own devising, to read in unauthorized
programs, or to examine and modify confidential information,
including the security matrix. In the face of these capabilities, any
software security system is helpless.Computer systems for handling
sensitive information must be designed so that the console operator,
like other users, works through the software security system and
cannot override it.One solution is to incorporate the security system
in firmware instead of software, so that unauthorized changes to it
cannot be made easily.

EXERCISES
I. Give synonyms to:
To encrypt, to secure, confidential, biometric, recognition, imposter,
to meet requirements, to detect, to lose business, appearance, to incorporate,
unless, to circumvent.

II. Give antonyms to:

Convenient, advocate, to reject, to encrypt, legitimate, messy, authorized,
white-collar crime, to safeguard info, sensitive, to retrieve data, practical, by
chance, private.

III. Answer the questions:

1. What is computer security?

80
 2. What is the most serious problem: the loss of hardware, software,
or the loss of data?
3. How does a computer system detect whether you are the person who
should be granted access to it?
4. What are the shortcomings of each biometric means?
5. What is to prevent any user from copying PC software onto diskettes?
6. What steps can be taken to prevent theft or alteration of data?
7. What is the weakest link in any computer system?
8. Should a programmer also be a computer operator?
9. What is a security matrix?
10. Can the computer industry risk being without safeguards for security
and privacy?

IV. Put the proper words into sentences:

foolproof, complicated, virus, unauthorized, crime, fingerprint, altering,
messages.
1. Computer security is more ... today than it was in the past.
2. International literature tells lurid stories about computer viruses ...
O about bank swindles, espionage, ... sent from one computer to
destroy the contents of others.
3. Movies like War Games have dramatized the dangers from ... entry
to the computer systems that control nuclear weapons.
4. Methods used in computer-based criminal activity range from switch-
ing or ... data as they enter the computer, to pulling self-concealing
instruction into the software.
5. The person who develops a ... lock for the computer data will make
a fortune.
6. ... is the name generally given to software that causes ... of computer
files.
7. People must be taught that some kinds of help, such as assisting ...
users with passwords are inappropriate.
8. According to a published article, the Mafia has kidnapped an IBM
executive and cut off his finger because it needed his ... to breach
a computer security system.
9. Data sent over communication lines can be protected by encryption,
the process of scrambling ...
10. Firewall is security measures taken to block ... access to an Internet
site.

81
V. Construct other sentences of these patterns:
1. All these systems are too easy to use.
2. It’s as if a bank concentrated all its efforts on handing out money as
fast as it could.
3. The identification procedure has to be quick and simple.
4. It takes an expert to detect a good forgery.
5. The voice is subjected to the noise and distortion of a telephone line.
6. It is the key that is kept secret.
7. You cannot decrypt any message unless you know the key.
8. No one is likely to discover the correct algorithm by chance.
9.The security system is incorporated in firmware, so that unauthorized
changes to it cannot be made easily.
10. Suppose I want to send you a signed message.

TEXT II. CHECKING YOUR OWN SECURITY

A Personal Checklist for Hardware. With the subject of security

fresh in your mind, now is agood time to consider achecklist for your
own personal computer and its software. We will confine this list to a
computer presumed to be in the home.
1. No eating, drinking, or smoking near the computer.
2. Do not place the computer near open windows or doors.
3. Do not subject the computer to extreme temperatures.
4. Clean equi pment regularly.
5. Place a cable lock on the computer.
6. Use a surge protector.
7. Store diskettes properly in a locked container.
8. Maintain backup copies of all files.
9. Store copies of critical files off site.
A Personal Checklist for Software. A word of prevention is in order.
Although there are programs that can prevent virus activity, protecting
yourself from viruses depends more on common sense than on building
a œfortressB around the computer. Here are a few common-sense ti ps:
1. If your software allows it, follow write-protect measures for
your floppy disks before installing any new software. If it does
not allow it, write-protect the disks immediately after instal-
lation.

82
 2. Do not install software unless you know it is safe. Viruses tend
to show up on free software acquired from sales representa-
tives, resellers, computer repair people, power users, and
consultants.
3.Make your applications (and other executable files) read-only.
This will not prevent infection, but it can help contain those
viruses that attack applications.
4. Stop the so-called sneakernet crowd. This is the group that
moves around the office (in sneakers, of course) and prefers
to transfer files quickly via floppy disk.
5. Make backups. This is a given: Always back up your hard disk
and floppies.

EXERCISES

I. Find in the text the English equivalents to:

д="…% C%!=; 2ем= Kеƒ%C=“…%“2,; Cе!ече…ь; C%д"е!г=2ь; !еƒе!"…/е
*%C,,; Kл%*,!%"*= C,2=…, ; ƒ=?,2= %2 "/K!%“=; "/C%л… ем/L
-=Lл; ƒд!="/L “м/“л; ƒ=?,2,2ь д=……/е " %2дель…%м -=Lле ,л, …=
цел%м д,“*е; 2%ль*% дл ч2е…, ; C%меш=2ь ƒ=!=›е…,ю; “ C%м%?ью;
Cе!ед="=2ь -=Lл.

II. Answer the following questions:

1. What are security devices?
2. What can help minimize theft?
3. What can a surge protector do?
4. Why is the so-called sneakernet crowd dangerous?

III. Translate into English:

1. e?е " ш*%ле a,лл cеL2“ “3мел C%д%K!=2ь *люч * “,“2еме
ƒ=?,2/ , C%“2% ……% "%!%"=л "!ем .*“Cл3=2=ц,, м=ш,…/.
2. m=!3ше…,е ="2%!“*%г% C!="= O …еƒ=*%……%е *%C,!%"=…,е, "
ч=“2…%“2,, C!%г!=мм/.
3. o=!%ль O .2% …=K%! “,м"%л%", ,“C%льƒ3ем/. " *=че“2"е *%д=
* "/ч,“л,2ель…%L “,“2еме ,л, K=ƒе д=……/.. j%мCью2е!…/е
.3л,г=…/ м%г32 лег*% C%д%K!=2ь C=!%ль, е“л, %… C!ед“2="л е2
“%K%L ,…,ц,=л/ ,л, C%“лед%"=2ель…/е ! д/ ч,“ел.

83
 4.g…=е2е л, "/, *=* "е“2, “еK " h…2е!…е2е? q3?е“2"3е2 л, .2,*=
qе2е"%г% a!=2“2"=?
5. Š=?=2 "“е: л,ч…/е *%д/ *!ед,2…/. *=!2%че*, ="2%!“*,е
м3ƒ/*=ль…/е C!%,ƒ"еде…, , C%“лед…,е *%мCью2е!…/е ,г!/.
u=*е!/ …=ƒ/"=ю2 .2% деле›*%L, %“2=ль…%е O %2*!%"е……/м
"%!%"“2"%м.
6.kег=ль…/L *%мCью2е!…/L K,ƒ…е“ C%д…,м=е2“ …= “"%ю ƒ=?,23.
7.e“л, "/ ,“C%льƒ3е2е *%мCью2е! " “"%ем K,ƒ…е“е, 2% "/ д%л›…/
,ме2ь =…2,",!3“…/е C!%г!=мм/ , %K…%"л 2ь ,. C%“2% ……%.
8.e“2ь д"= “C%“%K= ,ƒKе›=2ь ƒ=!=›е…, *%мCью2е!…/м, ",!3“=м,:
…е 3“2=…="л,"=2ь …%"%е C!%г!=мм…%е %Kе“Cече…,е Kеƒ C!%"е!*,
, …е ƒ=г!3›=2ь Kе“Cл=2…3ю ,…-%!м=ц,ю ,ƒ “е2,.
9. q=м/м, K/“2!/м, “C%“%K=м, …елег=ль…%г% !=“C!%“2!=…е…,
C!%г!=мм…%г% %Kе“Cече…, “еLч=“ "л ю2“ : "%!%"“2"%, "ƒл%м
, 2%!г%"л *!=де…/м.

Related Reading
VIRUSES AND VACCINES
The terms viruses and vaccines have entered the jargon of the com-
puter industry to describe some of the bad things that can happen to
computer systems and programs.Unpleasant occurrences like the March
6, 1991, attack of the Michelangelo virus will be with us for years to
come. In fact, from now on you need to check your IBM or IBM-
compatible personal computer for the presence of Michelangelo before
March 6 every year O or risk losing all the dataon your hard disk when
you turn on your machine that day. And Macintosh users need to do
the same for another intruder, the Jerusalem virus, before each Friday
the 13th, or risk a similar fate for their data.
A virus, as its name suggests, is contagious. It is a set of illicit in-
structions that infects other programs and may spread rapidly. The
Michelangelo virus went worldwide within a year. Some types of viruses
include the worm, aprogram that spreads by replicating itself; the bomb,
a program intended to sabotage a computer by triggering damage based
on certain conditions O usually at a later date; and the Trojan horse, a
program that covertly places illegal, destructive instructions in the middle
of an otherwise legitimate program.A virus may be dealt with by means

84
of a vaccine, or antivirus, program, a computer program that stops the
spread of and often eradicates the virus.
Transmitting a Virus. Consider this typical example. A programmer
secretly inserts a few unauthorized instructions in a personal computer
operating system program.The illicit instructions lie dormant until three
events occur together: 1. the disk with the infected operating system is
in use; 2. a disk in another drive contains another copy of the operating
system and some data files; and 3. a command, such as COPY or DIR,
from the infected operating system references a data file. Under these
circumstances, the virus instructions are now inserted into the other
operating system. Thus the virus has spread to another disk, and the
process can be repeated again and again. In fact, each newly infected
disk becomes a virus carrier.
Damage from Viruses. We have explained how the virus is transmit-
ted; now we come to the interesting part O the consequences. In this
example, the virus instructions add 1 to a counter each time the virus
is copied to another disk. When the counter reaches 4, the virus erases
all data files. But this is not the end of the destruction, of course; three
other disks have also been infected. Although viruses can be destruc-
tive, some are quite benign; one simply displays apeace message on the
screen on a given date. Others may merely be a nuisance, like the Ping-
Pong virus that bounces a œPing-Pong ballB around your screen while
you are working. But a few could result in disaster for your disk, as in
the case of Michelangelo.
Prevention. A word about prevention is in order. Although there are
programs called vaccines that can prevent virus activity, protecting your
computer from viruses depends more on common sense than on build-
ing aœfortressB around the machine.Although there have been occasions
where commercial software was released with a virus, these situations
are rare. Viruses tend to show up most often on free software acquired
from friends. Even commercial bulletin board systems, once considered
the most likely suspects in transferring viruses, have cleaned up their
act and now assure their users of virus-free environments. But not all
bulletin board systems are run professionally. So you should always test
diskettes you share with others by putting their write-protection tabs
in place. If an attempt is made to write to such a protected diskette, a
warning message appears on the screen. It is not easy to protect hard
disks, so many people use antivirus programs.Before any diskette can be
used with a computer system, the antivirus program scans the diskette
for infection. The drawback is that once you buy this type of software,

85
you must continuously pay the price for upgrades as new viruses are
discovered.

Topics for Essays,

Oral or Written Reports:
1. Which of user identifications is best?
2. Common means of protecting data:
 securing waste;
 separating employee functions;
 implementing passwords, internal controls, audit checks.
3. Cryptography.
4. Copy protection;
5. What are computer viruses and how do they differ?
6. What makes a perfect virus?
7. A day in the life of the virus hunter.
8. Professional ethical behavior.

Essay Selection for Reading

as a Stimulus for Writing
WHOM TO BLAME AND WHAT TO DO?
As computing and communications become irreplaceable tools of modern
society, one fundamental princi ple emerges: the greater the benefits these
systems bring to our well-being and quality of life, the greater the potential
for harm when they fail to perform their functions or perform them incor-
rectly. Consider air,rail,and automobile traffic control; emergency response
systems, and, most of all, our rapidly growing dependence on health care
delivery via high-performance computing and communications. When these
systems fail, lives and fortunes may be lost.
At the same time,threats to dependable operations are growing in scope
and severity. Leftover design faults (bugs and glitches) cause system crashes
during peak demands, resulting in service disruptions and financial losses.
Computer systems suffer stability problems due to unforeseen interactions of
overlapping fault events and mismatched defense mechanisms.

86
 Hackers and criminally minded individuals invade systems, causing
disruptions, misuse, and damage accidents that result in breaking several
communications links,affecting entire regions. Finally,we face the possibility
of systems damage by œinfo terroristsB.
Fault tolerance is our best guarantee that high confidence systems will
not betray the intentions of their builders and the trust of their users by
succumbing to physical, design or human-machine interaction faults, or by
allowing viruses and malicious acts to disrupt essential services.
As the computing sciences move rapidly toward œprofessionalizationB,the
new topic must be incorporated into the curriculumO ethics,i.e. professional
ethical behavior. Computer professionals are experts in their field with up-to-
date knowledge that they can effectively and consequently apply in product
development. They are also responsible to the product’s users and must
understand the effects of their decisions and actions on the public at large.
Professionals are responsible for designing and developing products,which
avoid failures that might lead to losses,cause physical harm,or compromise
national or company security. With so much info flowing across the Internet
and because of the rising popularity of applets and similar modular appli-
cations, it is vital for the professionals to take responsibility in maintaining
high standards for the products they develop.

87
Unit VII.
Virtual Reality

Prereading Discussion
1. What developments in computer technology have changed the way
people live and work?
2. How have some home entertainments such as television, video re-
corders, and video games affected people’s life?
3. How will further advances in computer technology continue to
change the world?
4. It has been said that technology is a double-edged sword. What does
that statement mean?
5. What is virtual reality?
6. Who can use virtual reality?
7. How can virtual reality benefit society?
8. How can virtual reality harm society?
9. Which uses of virtual reality appeal to you most?

88
Reading Analysis
VOCABULARY LIST

Nouns: sitcom, voyage, goggles, gear, content, combat, oblivion.

Verbs: slip on (off), feature, strap, blast, bind, clutch, swoop.
Adjectives: incredible, appropriate, ambitious, exciting, paraple-
gic.
Word combinations: to take a ride, to go astray, the age of dino-
saurs, to fight monsters, to don (strap on/into) cyberspace gear, a
military point of view, a fiber optic glove, a computer-enhanced
fantasy world.

TEXT I. STRAP ON SOME EYEPHONES

AND YOU ARE VIRTUALLY THERE

(1) One of the most exciting new areas of computer research is virtual
reality. Having been featured in TV sitcoms as well as public televi-
sion documentaries, virtual reality is merely an ambitious new style
of computer interface. Virtual reality creates the illusion of being
in an artificial world O one created by computers.
(2) Virtual reality visitors strap on a set of eyephones, 3-D goggles
that are really individual computer screens for the eyes. Slip-
ping on the rest of the gear allows you not only to see and
hear, but also to sense your voyage. The world of virtual real-
ity has been called cyberspace, a computer-enhanced fantasy
world in which you move around and manipulate objects to
your mind’s content.
(3) When you move your head, magnetic sensors instruct the computer
to refocus your eye phones to your new viewpoint. Sounds surround
you, and a fiber-optic glove allows you to œmanipulateB what you
see. You may seek out strange new worlds, fight monsters in com-
puter combat, or strap yourself into the seat of a Star Wars-type
jet and scream through cyberspace, blasting all comers to oblivion
(computer oblivion, at least). Or, with your stomach appropriately
settled, you might even try out the most incredible roller coaster
ride you will ever take in your life.

89
(4) For the disabled, virtual reality promises a new form of freedom.
Consider the wheelchair bound paraplegic child who is suddenly
able to use virtual reality gear to take part in games like baseball
or basketball. Research funded by the government takes a military
point of view, investigating the possibility of sending robots into
the real conflict while human beings don cyberspace gear to guide
them from back in the lab.
(5) Spectrum Holobyte, acomputer games development company, an-
nounced its first virtual reality computer game for the home during
1991 Christmas season. Imagine yourself suddenly clutching your
handheld laser pistol as a giant bird swoops right at you from the
age of dinosaurs! Your laser shot goes astray, and you feel yourself
suddenly lifted off the ground and carried higher and higher.That’s
enough - for some of us it can be virtually too real.

EXERCISES
I. True or false?
1. Virtual reality is a computer-built fantasy world.
2. Virtual reality is also called cyberspace.
3. There are no limits to virtual reality.
4. Virtual reality is created by being in a special room.
5. Virtual reality is available only on expensive computer systems.
6. Virtual reality is the leading edge of the computer technology.
7. Eyephones are the 3DFX fiber-optic glasses.
8. Eyephones are not the only virtual reality gear.
9. Virtual reality might be misused.
10. Virtual reality can return the disabled to the full-fledged life.
11. Virtual reality was designed by the military to guide robots.
12.One can not only see or hear virtual reality, but also feel and smell it.
13. Virtual reality is only a type of computer interface.

II. Read the words as they are used in the following sentences
and try to come up with your own definition:
1.Using computers to create graphics and sounds, virtual reality makes
the viewer believe he or she is in another world.
2.Three-dimensional images are created using technology that fools the
viewers’ mind into perceptive depth.

90
 3. Plug a terminal directly into the brain via a prepared skull and you
can enter cyberspace.
4. I’ve got a set of eyephones, 3D goggles, a fiber optic glove and the
rest of the gear.
5. There are many word substitutes for invalids, e.g. the handicapped,
challenged by birth or by accidents, disabled people.
6. The bowman took a deep breath, aimed at the target and shot, but
the arrow went astray.
Virtual reality O _________________
Three-dimensional (3D) O _________________
Cyberspace O _________________
Gear O _________________
Disabled O _________________
To go astray O _________________

III. Put the proper words into sentences:

a) fiber-optic,swoop,go astray,clutching,gear,to one’s mind content,
enhance, cyberspace, eye phones.
1. Virtual reality is sometimes called...
2. 3-D ... are really individual computer screens for the eyes.
3. Virtual reality can ... possibilities of the disabled.
4. The manual ... box allows you to slow down without braking, while
the automatic one doesn’t.
5. Cyberspace allows everybody to change it...
6. The letters wrongly addressed...
7. ... unknown things may cause an accident.
8. By the end of the 20th century metal wires had been replaced by
... ones.
9.In one of the s the ...the NATO has lost their most expensive fighter.
b) be, have, see, do, leave, write, tell.
1. It was more than a hundred years ago that Lewis Carroll ... about
Alice’s tri p through the looking glass.
2. Now that fiction ... became a reality ... or you might say, a virtual
reality ... because that’s the name of a new computer technology
that many believe will revolutionize the way we live.
3. Trainees fighting in virtual battles often cannot ... a man from
a machine.

91
 4. Virtual reality lets you travel to places you’ve never ..., do things
you’ve never O without ... the room.
5. Some day, you will ... that virtual reality makes other forms of en-
tertainment, such as TV and movies, obsolete.

IV. Guess the meaning of the italicized words:

1. Virtual reality straddles the foggy boundary between fantasy and
fact.
2. Imagine a place and you’ll be able to step into it. Conjure up a dream
and you’ll be able to fly through it.
3. He’s launched one of the first computers to mass-produce virtual
reality systems.
4. Virtual reality techniques have been used to make a 3D model of
the planet Mars. There are, of course, more down-to-earth applica-
tions. Virtual reality models of urban landscapes are allowing urban
planners to redesign Main Street without leaving the room.
5. We’re now reaching a point where the simulations are so realistic
that the line between playing a game or a simulation and actually
blowing people up is becoming blurred.

V. Construct other sentences in these patterns:

1. Virtual reality has been featured in TV sitcoms as well as public
television documentaries.
2. Slipping on the rest of the gear allows you to sense your voyage.
3. For the disabled, virtual reality promises a new form of freedom.
4. Eyephones are not the only virtual reality gear.
5. You can not only see or hear in virtual reality, but also feel and
smell
6. Virtual reality lets you travel to places you have never visited.
7. In the future, people will be able to have easy access to virtual real-
ity systems.
8. If virtual reality technology were more affordable at present time,
many more people would be able to try it.
9. Virtual reality makes other forms of entertainment such as TV and
movies obsolete.

VI. Fill in the chart with the appropriate info:

Who uses virtual reality?

92
User Use Implementation Benefit

NASA recreating flight simulation; risk-free,

different battle simulation inexpensive
worlds military
training

Urban
planners

Architects early problem

solving

Medicine turning a CAT

scan into 3D
model of the
patient’s body

Disabled

VII. Translate into English:

1. b,!23=ль…= !е=ль…%“2ь O .2% ,…2е!=*2,"…= , м3ль2,“е…“%!…=
“!ед=, “м%дел,!%"=……= *%мCью2е!%м.
2. dл чел%"ече“*%L !=“/ ",!23=ль…= !е=ль…%“2ь “2=…е2
C%"%!%2…%L "е.%L.
3. b,!23=ль…= !е=ль…%“2ь C!,…е“е2 чел%"ече“2"3 K%льше "!ед=,
чем C%льƒ/.
4. m=,л3чшее C!,ме…е…,е ",!23=ль…= !е=ль…%“2ь …=Lде2 "
"%е……%L , мед,ц,…“*%L 2е.…,*е.
5. b,!23=ль…= !е=ль…%“2ь д=е2 ш=…“ C%л…%це……%г% !=ƒ",2,
,…"=л,д=м.
6. )ел%"е* “%ƒд=л *%мCью2е!, *%мCью2е! “%ƒд=л ",!23=ль…3ю
!е=ль…%“2ь.
7. q д=ль…еLш,м “%"е!ше…“2"%"=…,ем 2е.…,*, ",!23=ль…=
!е=ль…%“2ь “2=…е2 %д…,м ,ƒ …=,K%лее C%C3л !…/. “C%“%K%"
C32еше“2", .
8. h“*3““2"% “% "!еме…ем “2=…е2 …е…3›…/м, 2=* *=* ег% ƒ=ме…,2
",!23=ль…= !е=ль…%“2ь.
9. j%гд=-…,K3дь ",!23=ль…= !е=ль…%“2ь “дел=е2 д!3г,е -%!м/
!=ƒ"лече…, , 2=*,е *=* 2еле",де…,е , *,…%, 3“2=!е"ш,м,.

93
10.Šе!м,… *,Kе!C!%“2!=…“2"% K/л C!,д3м=… C,“=2елем--=…2=“2%м
b. c,K“%…%м дл %C,“=…, Kеƒ!=ƒме!…%г% ",!23=ль…%г%
C!%“2!=…“2"= .ле*2!%……%L “!ед/.

Topics for Essays,

Oral or Written Reports
1. Virtual reality, a reality?
2. Is it possible to create a perfect virtual reality?
3. Computers take you on mind tri ps. Where would you like to go on
a mind tri p?
4. Virtual reality as the way of exploring the world.
5. The perspectives of the virtual reality development.

Essay Selection for Reading

as a Stimulus for Writing
IS IT POSSIBLE TO CREATE PERFECT
VIRTUAL REALITY?

Human beings have always been seeking for a better place to live,better
food to eat, better people to meet. The wise have concluded that there’s no
perfection itself. Human’s brain identifies reality by its imperfection. And
thus, the attempts to create ideal world turned to creating the world alike
reality O virtual reality.
On the first stage, when technology wasn’t so developed, virtual reality
models just presented the essence of the current processes. But along with the
development of technology and science a real world model is quite similar
to our life. It’s still something alike, a copy but not perfect. Copying itself
isn’t an example to follow, but this way we may explore the universe more
carefully. So what are the problems of creating perfect virtual reality O cy-
berspace where you can’t say whether it’s cyberspace or not?
One of the difficulties is that it doesn’t look like reality. We can’t
present the needed number of colors, the full palette our eye can catch. We
can’t introduce shades that really look like shades because the rendering

94
algorithms we have are huge and approximate. And it’s still not possible to
show such a movie in real time.
If we’d like just to imitate the movements of molecules, which are
easy to be programmed, and this way to model the reality, again, we have
a great wall to be stepped over. Our knowledge of micro world is poor and
even though Einstein himself worked at the Uniform Field Theory, it is still
uncompleted. On the other hand, the molecules are so many that program-
ming a single cell, let alone even an insect, is the work of life for hundreds
of programmers. Nobody can imagine the difficulty of virtualization of
a human being. To model the universe we should create another one.
There are tasks to be solved before we can create 99% acceptable
virtual reality: e.g. the speed of processing, fractal algorithms for render-
ing, quark mechanics and so on. But has anybody thought of connecting
a computer to human’s brain and cli pping the images you and your ancestors
have seen to present for someone else, or maybe using the calculating and
data processing capabilities of the cortex? By the way, the process of seeing,
hearing, smelling, and feeling the world is just a bunch of electric signals
entering the brain. May be, the answer is here, and the distance is not the
unaccomplished technical achievements, but ideas, strategic decisions, some
crazy projects like the Head Of Professor Dowel. Will there be the final
step to create perfect virtual reality? Let’s see.

95
Unit VIII.
IT Revolution

Prereading Discussion
1. What do computers-biz futurists say?
2. You start with the computer and end with the media, don’t you?
3. What is multimedia?
4. Are the humans mani pulated by the media in the same way as by
reading?
5. Will every cycle of processor power and every byte of memory be
sucked by new, larger software programs (Gate’s law)?
6. The amount of info is said to be doubling every six to seven years.
Can we keep up?
7. How might other humans use computers to control you?
8. When and how do you spend your time on the Internet?

Reading analysis
VOCABULARY LIST

Nouns: census, anarchy, lingo, prerogative, humiliation, trans-

gression, junk, moderation, cornerstone, vehicle, abdication,
over-reliance.

96
 Verbs: to mature, to approach, to roam, to browse, to surf, to reveal,
to obscure, to hinder, to enhance.
Adjectives: crucial, instant, dismissive, entrepreneurial, voluminous,
incredible.
Word combinations: back and forth, file transfer protocol (ftp), to
filter out, to make sense, stress relievers, invasion of privacy.

TEXT I. SURFING THE NET

(1) What is more impressive than the pyramids, more beautiful than
Michelangelo’s David and more important to mankind than the
wondrous inventions of the Industrial Revolution? To the converted,
there can be only one answer: the Internet that undisciplined radical
electronic communications network that is shaping our universe.
Multimedia, the electronic publishing revolution, is entering ev-
ery area of our lives O college, work and home. This new digital
technology combines texts, video, sound and graphics to produce
interactive language learning, football, music, movies, cookery and
anything else you might be interested in.
(2) The industrial age has matured into the information age; wherein
the means to access, manipulate, and use information has become
crucial to success and power. The electronic superhighway provides
an entry to libraries, research institutions, databases, art galleries,
census bureaus, etc. For those of us interested in intercultural com-
munications Cyberspace is a universal community, with instant ac-
cess not only to information anywhere, but also to friends old and
new around the globe.
(3) The Internet is an amorphous global network of thousands of
linked computers that pass information back and forth. While the
Internet has no government, no owners, no time, no place, no
country, it definitely has a culture, which frequently approaches
anarchy; and it has a language, which is more or less English.
People who interact in an Internet environment know how ad-
dresses are formed, how to use e-mail, ftp, Usenet News, Telnet,
and other software tools.
(4) Like all new worlds, Cyberspace has its own lingo, for example:
e-bahn, i-way, online, freenet, web page, freeware, browser, gopher,
archie, gateway. There are words to describe people who roam the
net: netters, e-surfers, internet surfers, netizens, spiders, geeks... The

97
 Internet has its own prerogatives: for example, the dismissive term
lurker for the person who hangs around the net, reading what is
there but not contributing anything. The term flaming refers to the
public humiliation of another netter as punishment for a real or
imagined transgression against net culture.
(5) Large-scale use of computer-to-computer transfer of information
was implemented by the US military in the late 60s and early
70s O part of the superpower competition of the cold war and the
arms race. The US military created an electronic network (Arpa-
net) to use computers for handling the transfer of large amounts of
sensitive data over long distances at incredible speed. Computer-
to-computer virtual connections, using satellites and fiber optics,
have distinct advantages over telephone or radio communications
in the event of a nuclear attack. Mathematicians and scientists (and
their universities) have been linked and electronically exchanging
information over the Internet since the mid-70s.
(6) Now the Internet has become commercialized with private and
public companies offering access to it. (CompuServe O is the
best-known international commercial electronic access provider).
The Internet is being expanded and improved so that every home,
every school, every institution can be linked to share data, informa-
tion, music, video and other resources. If you have a computer or
a computer terminal, some kind of connection (probably, modem
and telephone line) to the Internet, and some kind of Internet
service provider, you can participate in electronic communication
and become a citizen of the global village.
(7) Information technology is a good vehicle for the argument. Some
scientists remind us that voluminous information does not neces-
sarily lead to sound thinking. There are many genuine dangers
that computers bring to modern society: efficient invasion of
privacy, overreliance on polling in politics, even abdication of
control over military decision-making. Data glut obscures basic
questions of justice and purpose and may even hinder rather than
enhance our productivity. Edutainment software and computer
games degrade the literacy of children. On the other hand, only
a few use PCs on network to share information and ideas. In
most cases IT is used to speed routine tasks, to automate manual
processes rather than to change work patterns and business prac-
tices. Most managers use their PCs to edit documents O not a

98
 good use of their time when they could be dreaming up creative
applications. It is time to evaluate anew the role of science and
technology in the affairs of the human species.
(8) So, if you are riding on the information highway, you should take
steps to cope with information overload. The gift of boundless
information is causing a new kind of stress known alternately as
technostress, information overload or Information Fatigue Syn-
drome. Some experts say that we don’t get anywhere near the data
it takes to overload our neurons. According to some estimates, our
mind is capable of processing and analyzing many gigabytes of data
per second O a lot more data than any of today’s supercomput-
ers can process and act on in real time. We feel overloaded by
the quantity of information because we are getting it unfiltered.
We should filter out the junk and turn data into shapes that make
sense to us. Stress in moderation is good: it drives us to achieve,
stimulates our creativity and is the force behind social and tech-
nological breakthroughs. Stress is revealing how humans are in
some ways more primitive than the technology they have created.
Meditation, muscular relaxation, aerobics, jogging, yoga can be
effective stress relievers, but no technique is universal: experiment
and find the one that best works for you.
(9) The cornerstone of an economy are land, labor, capital and
entrepreneurial spirit. That traditional definition is now being
challenged. Today you find a fifth key economic element: infor-
mation dominant. As we evolve from an industrial to an infor-
mation society, our jobs are changing from physical to mental
labor. Just as people moved physically from farms to factories
in the Industrial age, so today people are shifting muscle power
to brain power in a new, computer-based, globally linked by
the Internet society.

EXERCISES
I. How much has technology changed in just the last 20 years?

II. If you were to bury a time capsule to be opened in 2100

what would you put into it?

III. Explain the buzzwords in the text.

99
IV. Define the following terms:
e.g. Buffer O an area of storage used to temporarily hold data being
transferred from one device to another.
e-mail, byte, browser, zoom, bug, cursor, buffer, download, gateway, drive,
router, hypertext, protocol, graphics, modem, freenet.

V. What do these abbreviations stand for:

DT, DP, VDU, 16K, AI, IT, CPU, RB, RZ, i/o.

VI. What do these acronyms stand for:

CAD, CAM, ROM, RAM, CDI, LAN, Y2K, ALGOL, BASIC, COBOL,
FORTRAN.

VII. Translate some computer terms:

Simple terms: anchor, wizard, versioning, relink, ci pher, containment.
Compounds: cli pboard, multithreaded, client-pull, design-time, run-time,
polyline, turnkey, bitmapping, bandwidth.
Term collocations: frame-based layout, active template library, active
server pages, asynchronous moniker, active data objects, connectable object,
frequently asked question, hypertext markup language, hypertext transfer
protocol, integrated development environment, interface definition language,
Internet service provider, object linking and embedding, remote procedure
call, software development kit, uniform data transfer.

VIII. Put the proper words into sentences:

multimedia,dominant,spider,netizen,flame,writing,foolproof,technostress,
zoom.
1. Please, don’t ... me if you disagree with this.
2. The person who develops a ... lock for computer data will make
a fortune.
3....aperson or computer program that searches the web for new links
and link them to search engines.
4. ... spends an excessive amount of time on the Internet.
5.Windows and Unix operating systems are going to be on the desktops
and on servers in ... numbers (B. Gates).
6. Hit a video button and ... for a closer look.

100
 7. ... brings together different types of visual devices: texts, pictures,
sounds, animations, speech.
8. Each person handles ... differently.
9. Good ... on the Net tends to be clear, vigorous, witty and above
all brief: short paragraphs, bulleted lists, one-liners O the units of
thought.

TEXT II. THE LANGUAGE OF E-MAIL

(1) E-mail is the simplest and most immediate function of the Internet
for many people. Run through a list of questions that new e-mail
users ask most and some snappy answers to them.
(2) What is electronic mail? Electronic mail, or e-mail as it’s nor-
mally shortened to, is just a message that is composed, sent and
read electronically (hence the name). With regular mail you write
out your message (letter, postcard, whatever) and drop it off at
the post office.The postal service then delivers the message and the
reci pient reads it. E-mail operates basically the same-way except
that everything happens electronically. You compose your mes-
sage using e-mail software, send it over the lines that connect the
Internet’s networks and the reci pient uses an e-mail program to
read the message.
(3) How does e-mail know how to get where it’s going? Everybody
who’s connected to the Internet is assigned a unique e-mail ad-
dress. In a way, this address is a lot like the address of your house
or apartment because it tells everyone else your exact location on
the Net. So anyone who wants to send you an e-mail message just
tells the e-mail program the appropriate address and runs the Send
command. The Internet takes over from there and makes sure the
missive arrives safely.
(4) What’s this netiquette stuff I keep hearing about? The Net is ahuge,
unwieldy mass with no œpowers-that-beB that can dictate content or
standards. This is, for the most part, agood thing because it means
there’s no censorshi p and no one can wield authority arbitrarily.To
prevent this organized chaos from descending into mere anarchy,
however, a set of guidelines has been put together over the years.
These guidelines are known collectively as netiquette (network eti-
quette) and they offer suggestions on the correct way to interact

101
 with the Internet’s denizens. To give you a taste of netiquette, here
are some highlights to consider.
 Keep your message brief and to the point and make sure you
clear up any spelling slips or grammatical gaffes before ship-
ping it out.
 Make sure the Subject lines of your message are detailed enough
so they explain what your message is all about.
 Don’t SHOUT by writing your missives entirely in upper-case
letters.
 Don’t bother other people by sending them test messages. If
you must test a program, send a message to yourself.
(5) What’s a flame? The vast majority of e-mail correspondence is civil
and courteous, but with millions of participants all over the world, it’s
inevitable that some folks will rub each other the wrong way. When
this happens, the combatants may exchange emotionally charged,
caustic, often obscene messages called flames. When enough of these
messages exchange hands, an out-and-out flame war develops. These
usually burn themselves out after a while, and then the participants
can get back to more interesting things.
(6) Is e-mail secure? In a word, no. The Net’s open architecture
allows programmers to write interesting and useful new Internet
services, but it also allows unscrupulous snoops to lurk where they
don’t belong. In particular, the e-mail system has two problems:
it’s not that hard for someone else to read your e-mail, and it’s
fairly easy to forge an e-mail address. If security is a must for
you, then you’ll want to create an industrial strength password
for your home directory, use encryption for your most sensitive
messages, and use an anonymous remailer when you want to send
something incognito.

EXERCISES
I. Answer the questions:
1. What major problems are there with the e-mail? Are they opinions
or facts? Would it be a problem for you?
2. What do you think is the reason for the various bits of netiquette
which are mentioned?

102
 3. Find at least 5 examples of a very colloquial and chatty style used
in the text. Why are they used?
4. For which of the following types of writing is it necessary to be
brief?
Instructions, love letters, news reports, business proposals, faxes, ad-
verts, insurance claims, curriculum vitae, short stories, scientific reports,
e-mail, poems.
5. Write a summary of the text. Include only the information, ignore
any extra remarks. Write in a neutral rather than an informal style.

II. E-mailers also keep their message brief by abbreviating

frequently used phrases. Complete these common phrases:
AAMOF as a m... of f...
AFAIK as f... as I k...
FYI for your i...
FYA f... y... am...
IMO in my o...
IOW in o... words
NRN not r... necessary
TTYL talk to y... l...
FAQ f... a... question(s)
BTW by t... w...
LOL la... o... loud
KHYF k... ho... y... fe...
IMHO in my h... o...
WYSIWYG what y... see is w... y... g...
RTFM read the f... m...

III. E-mail messages usually have the following format:

To: (Name and e-mail address of reci pient)
From: (Name and e-mail address of sender)
Subject: (Identification of main point of message)
Here is an example of an e-mail address:
[email protected]
Note that the symbol @ in e-mail address is read at and that the full
stops are read as dot. Thus the example address would be read as Smith
at C # U # P dot A # C dot U # K.

103
 The ac.uk in the example address tells you that the address is based
at a university in the United Kingdom.
Do you know anyone with an e-mail address? If so, dictate it to
other students in the class. If not, then your teacher will give you some
addresses for dictation.

IV. E-mailers make use of symbols called smileys (or emoti-

cons) which can be written using standard letters and signs.
:-) Your basic smiley. This is used to mean I’m happy.
;-) Winking smiley. I’m flirting or being ironic.
;-( Frowning smiley. I did not like something.
:-| I’m indifferent.
8-) I wear glasses.
:-{) I have a moustache.
:-~) I have a cold.
C=:^) Head cook, chef-de-cuisine.
Q:^) Soldier, man with beret, boy scout.
*:O) Clown face; I’m feeling like a buffoon.
:^9 Licking the lips; very tasty or delicious.
/\/\/\/\/\/\O:>~ Snake (or to rake someone over the coals)

V. Match these smileys to their meanings listed below:

%-) (-: |-| :-Q :-@ :-D <:-| (:) [:-)
1. I’m a dunce.
2. I’m an egghead.
3. I’m asleep.
4. I’m laughing.
5. I’m left-handed.
6. I’m screaming.
7. I’m wearing a Walkman.
8. I’m sticking my tongue out at you.
9. I’ve been staring at this screen for too long.

VI. Discuss:
1. Do faxes, electronic mail and papers offer an escape from human
interaction?
2. Could all these topography symbols such as e-smiles supplant the
more emotive ingredients of two-way communication?

104
 3. How can we balance the use of technology and real-life conversa-
tion?

VII. Write an e-mail message to your friend (on paper). Use

an appropriate format and a chatty style. Try to use at least
one smiley and some abbreviations.

VIII. Translate into English:

I. qknb`phj ~mncn hmŠepmeŠчhj`.
Šnчj`, Šnчj`, g`oŠ` O
bnŠ h pnfh0` jphb`
h“2%!, C% "ле…, " h…2е!…е2е ƒ=K="…/. !%›,ц, “%“2="ле……/.
,ƒ 2%чече*, “*%K%че* , ƒ=C 2/., "C%л…е %KA “…,м=. b“ем .%!%ш,
.ле*2!%……/е C,“ьм= O , “%“2="л 2ь ,. лег*%, , д%.%д 2 д% =д!е“=2=
%…, K/“2!%, "%2 2%ль*% .!=… 2 %…, л,шь “3.,е *%мCью2е!…/е
K3*"/, д=›е C%че!*, C% *%2%!%м3 м%›…% K/л% K/ “3д,2ь %K .м%ц, .
C,ш3?ег% чел%"е*=, ,“чеƒ=е2.` ›=ль.b%2 , C!,д3м=л, .,2!%3м…/е
*%мCью2е!…/е -=…=2/ цел/L ƒ/*, ,“C%льƒ3ю?,L чел%"ече“*3ю
м,м,*3. p%›,ц/, ,л,, *=* ,. е?е …=ƒ/"=ю2, “м=Lл,*, (%2
=…гл,L“*%г% 3л/K=ю?,L“ ), *%…“2!3,!3ю2 ,ƒ ƒ…=*%" C!еC,…=…, .
Š%ль*% !=ƒгл д/"=2ь ,. …=д% C%д 3гл%м 90 г!=д3“%".
h2=*:
:( O .м3!/L
:-| O “е!ьеƒ…/L
:-) O 3л/K=ю?,L“
:-))) O !=д%“2…/L
;-) O C%дм,г,"=ю?,L
;( O Cл=ч3?,L
;.(.. O !/д=ю?,L
:^) O “ч=“2л,"/L
:| O “3!%"/L
:^( O Cеч=ль…/L
:@) O “ч=“2л,"/L, *=* C%!%“е…%*
|-( O 3“2=л/L , …ед%"%ль…/L
8) O K%льш,е гл=ƒ=
|-0 O “%……/L (ƒе"=ю?,L)
8O O "%C ?,L
|-| O “C ?,L

105
 :-0 O %ш=!=ше……/L
|-p O %Kл,ƒ/"=ю?,L
:-D ,л, 8-D O “мею?,L“
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:-( O !=““2!%е……/L
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:’-( O !е"3?,L
8-|| O !=““е!›е……/L
:-/ O …=“3Cле……/L
9-0 O ,“C3г=……/L
:-[ ] O %шел%мле……/L
:-> O “=!*=“2,ч…/L
:-[ O "=мC,!
:-e O *л/*=“2/L "=мC,!
:-7 O *!,"= 3л/K*=
:-* O 3г!юм/L
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:-Q O *3! ?,L
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:-9 O %Kл,ƒ/"=ю?,L г3K/
:-$ O !%2 “*!еCле… C!%"%л%*%L
:-% O K=…*,!
:-} O K%!%д=2/L
:-{ O 3“=2/L
:*) O Cь …/L
:=) O “ C%.мель
%-) O C!%г!=мм,“2
8-) O " “%л…еч…/. %ч*=.
.-) O %д…%гл=ƒ/L
g-) O " Cе…“…е
{:-) O " C=!,*е
-:-) O C=…*
*<:-) O q=…2=-jл=3“.

106
 II. WWW

b“е …=ч=л%“ь “ 2%г%, ч2% " 1948 г%д3 "/шл, *…,г, j.xе……%…=
&l=2ем=2,че“*= 2е%!, “" ƒ,[ , m. b,…е!= &j,Kе!…е2,*=, ,л,
3C!="ле…,е , “" ƒь " ›,"%2…%м , м=ш,…е[.n…, , %C!едел,л, …%"/L
"е*2%! !=ƒ",2, …=3*,, " !еƒ3ль2=2е чег% C% ",л“ *%мCью2е!:
"…=ч=ле л=мC%"/L г,г=…2, ƒ=2ем 2!=…ƒ,“2%!…/L , …= ,…2ег!=ль…/.
“.ем=., …= м,*!%C!%це““%!=.. h "%2 " 1981 г%д3 C% ",л“
Cе!“%…=ль…/L *%мCью2е! (IBM). b 2%м ›е г%д3 "/шл= C!%г!=мм=
MS-DOS, = " 1990 O Windows-3.0, = д=лее C%шл% “2!ем,2ель…%е
“%"е!ше…“2"%"=…,е &›елеƒ=[ , C!%г!=мм…%г% %Kе“Cече…, .j *%…ц3
“2%ле2, чел%"ече“2"% C%л3ч,л% C%2! “=ю?3ю м,…,=2ю!,ƒ=ц,ю
*%мCью2е!…%L 2е.…,*,, “%*!=?е…,е &!=““2% …, [ ме›д3
*%мCью2е!%м , чел%"е*%м, 2%2=ль…%е C!%…,*…%"е…,е *%мCью2е!…/.
2е.…%л%г,L " K/2%"3ю “-е!3. 1986 г%д O !%›де…,е h…2е!…е2=,
гл%K=ль…%L “е2,, %."=2,"шеL C!=*2,че“*, "“е “2!=…/ м,!=,
C%“2="л ю?еL *=›д%м3 C%льƒ%"=2елю 2е*3?3ю ,…-%!м=ц,ю,
%2*!/"=ю?еL д%“23C * *…,г=м K%льш,…“2"= *!3C…/. K,Kл,%2е*
м,!=, C%ƒ"%л ю?еL *=›д%м3 ›,2елю Cл=…е2/ C%г%"%!,2ь “
люK/м д!3г,м ƒемл …,…%м. j!%ме 2%г%, h…2е!…е2 %Kе“Cеч,"=е2
ед,…3ю -,…=…“%"3ю “,“2ем3, C%*3C*,, K/2%"/е 3“л3г,, “л3›K3
ƒ…=*%м“2"...
mе“*%ль*% “л%" %K h…2е!…е2е " p%““,,. b 1990 г%д3 * “е2,
K/л, C%д*люче…/ %*%л% 2!,дц=2, %!г=…,ƒ=ц,L, гл="…/м %K!=ƒ%м
…=3ч…/. це…2!%".m% 2%ль*% че!еƒ C 2ь ле2 “%“2% л%“ь %-,ц,=ль…%е
!=“C!%“2!=…е…,е WWW-2е.…%л%г,L. b 1998 г%д3 *%л,че“2"%
C%льƒ%"=2елеL h…2е!…е2= д%“2,гл% %д…%г% м,лл,%…=, = * 2000 г%д3
O 5,4 мл… чел%"е* (o% C!%г…%ƒ=м, * *%…ц3 2001 г%д= ,. “2=…е2 7,8
мл…) )е2"е!2ь !ег3л !…/. &C%“е2,2елеL[ h…2е!…е2= ›,"32 " l%“*"е
, q=…*2-oе2е!K3!ге, д!3г= че2"е!2ь O " q,K,!, , …= d=ль…ем
b%“2%*е, C!, .2%м K%льше C%л%",…/ C%“е2,2елеL h…2е!…е2=
C!%›,"=ю2 " г%!%д=. ч,“ле……%“2ью ме…ее м,лл,%…= чел%"е*.
j%мCью2е!,ƒ=ц, , h…2е!…е2 O “2%лK%"= д%!%г= ƒ=C=д…%L
ц,",л,ƒ=ц,, " XXI "е*е. u%2,м м/ ,л, …е2 O p%““, м…%г%
“2%ле2,L 2 г%2ее2 * е"!%CеL“*%м3 C32, !=ƒ",2, . o%.2%м3 , …=ше
K3д3?ее “" ƒ=…% …е “ “/!ьем, …е “ "%%!3›е…,ем, = ,“*люч,2ель…%
“ ш,!%ч=LшеL *%мCью2е!,ƒ=ц,еL ш*%л , "3ƒ%", “ "/.%д%м "
м,!%"3ю “е2ь h…2е!…е2, “ C%г%л%"…%L *%мCью2е!…%L г!=м%2…%“2ью
м%л%де›,.d!3г%г% C32, …е2, е“л, м/ …е .%2,м %“2=2ь“ “/!ье"/м
C!,д=2*%м ƒ=C=д…%г% м,!=.

107
 III. ahnjnlo|~Šep{
o!,ме…е…,е " "/ч,“л,2ель…%L 2е.…,*е K,%л%г,че“*,.
м=2е!,=л%" C%ƒ"%л,2 “% "!еме…ем 3ме…ьш,2ь *%мCью2е!/ д%
!=ƒме!%" ›,"%L *ле2*,. o%*= .2% ч=ш*= oе2!,, …=C%л…е……=
“C,!=л м, dmj, ,л, …еL!%…/, "ƒ 2/е 3 C, "*, , C%д“%ед,…е……/е
* .ле*2!,че“*,м C!%"%д=м.o% “3?е“2"3, …=ш, “%K“2"е……/е *ле2*,
O .2% …е ч2% ,…%е, *=* K,%м=ш,…/ м%ле*3л !…%г% !=ƒме!=, =
C!,ме!%м K,%*%мCью2е!=, *%…еч…%, “л3›,2 …=ш м%ƒг.
h.3д x=C,!% ,ƒ bеLцм=…%"“*%г% ,…“2,232= е“2е“2"е……/.
…=3* “%%!3д,л Cл=“2м=““%"3ю м%дель K,%л%г,че“*%г% *%мCью2е!=
"/“%2%L 30 “м. e“л, K/ .2% 3“2!%L“2"% “%“2% л% ,ƒ …=“2% ?,.
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,ƒ *%мC%…е…2%" *ле2*, O 0,000 025 мм.
a,лл d,22% ,ƒ Šе.…%л%г,че“*%г% ,…“2,232= ш2=2= d›%!д›,
C!%"ел ,…2е!е“…/L .*“Cе!,ме…2, C%д“%ед,…," м,*!%д=2ч,*, *
…е“*%ль*,м …еL!%…=м C, "*,.n… %K…=!3›,л, ч2% " ƒ=",“,м%“2, %2
".%д…%г% “,г…=л= …еL!%…/ %K!=ƒ3ю2 …%"/е "ƒ=,м%“" ƒ,.bе!% 2…%,
K,%л%г,че“*,е *%мCью2е!/, “%“2% ?,е ,ƒ …еL!%C%д%K…/.
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…=ме!е… ,“C%льƒ%"=2ь !еƒ3ль2=2/ “"%еL !=K%2/ дл “%ƒд=…, м%ƒг=
!%K%2%".

IV. noŠhчeqjhe jnlo|~Šep{

o% “!="…е…,ю “ 2ем, ч2% %Kе?=ю2 м%ле*3л !…/е ,л,
K,%л%г,че“*,е *%мCью2е!/, %C2,че“*,е oj м%г32 C%*=ƒ=2ь“
…е %че…ь "Cеч=2л ю?,м,. nд…=*% "",д3 2%г%, ч2% %C2%"%л%*…%
“2=л% C!едC%ч2,2ель…/м м=2е!,=л%м дл ш,!%*%C%л%“…%L “" ƒ,,
"“ем 2!=д,ц,%……/м *!ем…,е"/м 3“2!%L“2"=м, ч2%K/ Cе!ед=2ь
,…-%!м=ц,ю …= !=““2% …,е …е“*%ль*,. м,ль, C!,.%д,2“ *=›д/L
!=ƒ C!е%K!=ƒ%"/"=2ь .ле*2!,че“*,е “,г…=л/ " “"е2%"/е , %K!=2…%.
0ел,*%м %C2,че“*,е *%мCью2е!/ C% " 2“ че!еƒ де“ 2,ле2, ,
…% !=K%2= " .2%м …=C!="ле…,, ,де2 “!=ƒ3 …= …е“*%ль*,. -!%…2=..
m=C!,ме!, 3че…/е ,ƒ 3…,"е!“,2е2= Š%!%…2% “%ƒд=л, м%ле*3л/
›,д*,. *!,“2=лл%", 3C!="л ю?,е “"е2%м " -%2%……%м *!,“2=лле …=
K=ƒе *!ем…, .n…, “ч,2=ю2 "%ƒм%›…/м “%ƒд=…,е %C2,че“*,. *лючеL
, C!%"%д…,*%", “C%“%K…/. "/C%л… 2ь "“е -3…*ц,, .ле*2!%……/.
*%мCью2е!%".

108
 nд…=*% C!е›де чем %C2,че“*,е *%мCью2е!/ “2=…32 м=““%"/м
C!%д3*2%м, …= %C2,че“*,е *%мC%…е…2/, "е!% 2…%, Cе!еLде2 "“
“,“2ем= “" ƒ, O "Cл%2ь д% &C%“лед…еL м,л,[ …= 3ч=“2*е д% д%м= ,л,
%-,“=.bKл,›=Lш,е 15 ле2 %C2,че“*,е *%мм32=2%!/, C%"2%!,2ел,,
3“,л,2ел, , *=Kел, ƒ=ме… 2 .ле*2!,че“*,е *%мC%…е…2/.

Topics for Essays,

Oral or Written Reports
1. The most interesting places you have explored on the Internet.
2. Next generation Internet.
3. My media.
4. The place of computer technology in our culture.

109
Unit IX.
Humor the Computer

Computer was given to man to complete him for what he is not;

science jokes to console him for what he is. So keep smiling!

Reading and Discussion

A. Is there humor in the workplace? Perhaps, engineer-
ing is too serious to be funny # or is it not? Do you
know any science jokes? Read one below and get
ready to tell your favorite jokes.

An assemblage of the most gifted minds in the world were all posed
the following question:
œWhat is 2 x 2?B
The engineer whips out his slide rule (so it’s old) and shuffles it back
and forth, and finally announces 3.99.
The physicist consults his technical references, sets up the problem
on his computer, and announces, œIt lies between 3.98 and 4.02B.
The mathematician cogitates for a while, oblivious to the rest of the
world, then announces, œI don’t know what the answer is, but I can tell
you, an answer exists!B
Philosopher, œBut what do you mean by 2 x 2?B Logician: œPlease
define 2 x 2 more precisely.B

110
 Accountant closes all the doors and windows, looks around carefully,
then asks, œWhat do you want the answer to be?B
Elementary school teacher from Columbus, Georgia, USA: 4

B. Electrical engineering vs. Computer science

Once upon a time, in a kingdom not far from here, a king summoned
two of his advisors for a test. He showed them both a shiny metal box
with two slots in the top, a control knob, and a lever. œWhat do you
think this is?B
One advisor, an engineer, answered first. œIt is a toaster, œ he said.
The king asked, œHow would you design an embedded computer for
it?B The engineer replied, œUsing a four-bit microcontroller, I would
write a simple program that reads the darkness knob and quantizes its
position to one of 16 shades of darkness, from snow white to coal black.
The program would use that darkness level as the index to a 16-element
table of initial timer values. Then it would turn on the heating elements
and start the timer with the initial value selected from the table. At the
end of the time delay, it would turn off the heat and pop up the toast.
Come back next week, and I’ll show you a working prototype.B
The second advisor, a computer scientist, immediately recognized
the danger of such shortsighted thinking. He said, œToasters don’t just
turn bread into toast, they are also used to warm frozen waffles. What
you see before you is really a breakfast food cooker. As the subjects
of your kingdom become more sophisticated, they will demand more
capabilities. They will need a breakfast food cooker that can also cook
sausage, fry bacon, and make scrambled eggs. A toaster that only makes
toast will soon be obsolete. If we don’t look to the future, we will have
to completely redesign the toaster in just a few years.
With this in mind, we can formulate a more intelligent solution to
the problem. First, create a class of breakfast foods. Specialize this class
into subclasses: grains, pork, and poultry. The specialization process
should be repeated with grains divided into toast, muffins, pancakes,
and waffles; pork divided into sausage, links, and bacon; and poultry
divided into scrambled eggs, hard-boiled eggs, poached eggs, fried eggs,
and various omelet classes.
The ham and cheese omelet class is worth special attention because
it must inherit characteristics from the pork, dairy, and poultry classes.
Thus, we see that the problem cannot be properly solved without multiple

111
inheritance.At run time, the program must create, the proper object and
send a message to the object that says, œCook yourself.B The semantics
of this message depend, of course, on the kind of object, so they have
a different meaning to a piece of toast than to scrambled eggs.
Reviewing the process so far, we see that the analysis phase has
revealed that the primary requirement is to cook any kind of breakfast
food. In the design phase, we have discovered some derived require-
ments. Specifically, we need an object-oriented language with multi ple
inheritance. Of course, users don’t want the eggs to get cold while the
bacon is frying, so concurrent processing is required, too.
We must not forget the user interface. The lever that lowers the
food lacks versatility, and the darkness knob is confusing. Users won’t
buy the product unless it has a user-friendly, graphical interface. When
the breakfast cooker is plugged in, users should see a cowboy boot on
the screen. Users click on it, and the message œBooting UNIX v.8.3B
appears on the screen.(UNIX 8.3 should be out by the time the product
gets to the market). Users can pull down a menu and click on the foods
they want to cook.
Having made the wise decision of specifying the software first in
the design phase, all that remains is to pick an adequate hardware
platform for the implementation phase. An Intel 80386 with 8 MB of
memory, a 30 MB hard disk, and a VGA monitor should be sufficient.
If you select amultitasking, object oriented language that supports mul-
ti ple inheritance and has a built-in GUI, writing the program will be
a snap. (Imagine the difficulty we would have had if we had foolishly
allowed a hardware-first design strategy to lock us into a four-bit micro-
controller!).
The king wisely had the computer scientist beheaded, and they all
lived happily ever after.

EXERCISES

I. Find the equivalents to:

C!,ƒ"=2ь; “%"е2…,*; “…е›…%-Kел/L; 3г%ль…%-че!…/L; "“2!%е……/L;
Kл,ƒ%!3*,L; м…%›е“2"е……%е …=“лед%"=…,е; гл="…%е 2!еK%"=…,е;
C=!=ллель…= %K!=K%2*=; ƒ=г!3ƒ*=; …,“C=д=ю?ее ме…ю; " “2=д,,
!=ƒ!=K%2*,; м…%г%ƒ=д=ч…/L !е›,м; “2=д, "…ед!е…, ; лег*%е дел%;
%Kеƒгл=",2ь.

112
II. What do these acronyms and abbreviations stand for:
GUI, MB, vs., VGA, UNIX, v.8.3.

III. Translate the text.

IV. Compare other types of engineering with computer en-
gineering.

C. Natural upgrade path

Come on people: you are all missing the most obvious upgrade path to
the most powerful and satisfying computer of all.The upgrade path goes:
 Pocket calculator
 Commodore Pet / Apple II / TRS 80 / Commodore 64 / Timex
Sinclair (Choose any of the above)
 IBM PC
 Apple Macintosh
 Fastest workstation of the time (HP, DEC, IBM, SGI: your
choice)
 Minicomputer (HP, DEC, IBM, SGI: your choice)
 Mainframe (IBM, Cray, DEC: your choice)
And then you reach the pinnacle of modern computing facilities:
Graduate students.Yes, you just sit back and do all of your comput-
ing through lowly graduate students. Imagine the advantages.
Multi-processing, with as many processes as you have students.You
can easily add more power by promising more desperate undergrads that
they can indeed escape college through your guidance. Special student
units can even handle several tasks on their own!
Full voice recognition interface. Never touch a keyboard or mouse
again. Just mumble commands and they will be understood (or else!).
No hardware upgrades and no installation required. Every student
comes complete with all hardware necessary. Never again fry a chi p
or $10,000 board by improper installation!
Just sit that sniveling student at adesk, give it writing utensils (making
sure to point out which is the dangerous end) and off it goes.
Low maintenance. Remember when that hard disk crashed in your
Beta 9900, causing all of our work to go the great bit bucket in the sky?
This won’t happen with grad. students. All that is required is that you

113
give them a good whack on the head when they are acting up, and they
will run good as new.
Abuse module. Imagine yelling expletives at your computer. Doesn’t
work too well, because your machine just sits there and ignores you.
Through the grad. student abuse module you can put the fear of god in
them, and get results to boot!
Built-in lifetime. Remember that awful feeling two years after you
bought your GigaPlutz mainframe when the new faculty member on the
block sneered at you because his FeelyWup workstation could compute
rings around your dinosaur? This doesn’t happen with grad. students.
When they start wearing out and losing productivity, simply give them
the Ph.D.and boot them out onto the street to fend for themselves.Out
of sight, out of mind!
Cheap fuel: students run on Coca-Cola(or the high-octane equivalent
O Jolt Cola) and typically consume hot spicy Chinese dishes, cheap
taco substitutes, or completely synthetic macaroni replacements. It is
entirely unnecessary to plug the student into the wall socket (although
this does get them going a little faster from time to time).
Expansion options. If your grad. students don’t seem to be perform-
ing too well, consider adding a handy system manager or software
engineer upgrade. These guys are guaranteed to require even less than
a student, and typically establish permanent residence in the computer
room. You’ll never know they are around! Note however that the en-
gineering department still hasn’t worked out some of the idiosyncratic
bugs in these expansion options, such as incessant muttering at nobody
in particular, occasionally screaming at your grad.students, and posting
ridiculous messages on worldwide bulletin boards.
So, forget your Babbage Engines, abacuses (abaci?), PortaBooks,
DEK 666-3D’s, and all that other silicon garbage.The wave of the future
is in wetware, so invest in graduate students today! You’ll never go back!

EXERCISES

I. Give synonyms to:

to upgrade, come on, choice, pinnacle, escape, built-in, to require, to yell,
expletives, to abuse, to boot, to wear out, substitute, to work out, idiosyncratic,
garbage, guidance.

114
II. Give antonyms to:
desperate,undergrads,powerful,proper,to consume,necessary,permanent,
in particular, occasionally, natural, on one’s own.

III. Answer the questions:

1. What are computing facilities?
2. What are the advantages of computing through undergraduate stu-
dents?
3. What is œwetwareB?
4. What can be called œsilicon garbageB?
5. What paths would you choose to upgrade your computer?

D. Mother should have warned you!

If you can count on one person in this life, it’s your mother. Par-
ticularly, you can rely on any mom anywhere to find the perils inherent
in any situation. Indeed, no self-respecting mom ever missed an op-
portunity to caution her children about the dangers of everything from
comic books to pool halls, to public restrooms.
Still, unless your mom was a real visionary, she probably didn’t get
much chance to warn you about PCs.Back when she was in peak nagging
form, she probably hadn’t even heard of the cursed things.
You may think that’s just as well. We don’t agree. The PC jungle is
too scary to explore without knowing the answer to that comforting
question, œWhat would mom say about this?B
So, after months of exhaustive polling of computer savvy moms
around the country (there are more than you think), we’ve assembled
the following list of ten PC perils your mom should have warned you
about, if she’d only known. Take them seriously. Mom knows what she
is talking about.

1.Playing too much Tetris will make you go blind. Go outside, get some
fresh air. Do you want to look like a ghost all your life?
2. Never dial into strange bulletin board systems. Who knows what
kind of riff-raff you’ll find there? Just last week, 1 saw ashow about
the kind of trash that hangs out on these systems. œModem bums,B
they’re called.
3. If they’re so interested in information, why don’t they go to the
library?

115
 4. Don’t talk on the phone and debut spreadsheet macros at the same
time. It’s very rude, and frankly, I don’t like your language when
the macro doesn’t work the way you think it should.
5. Clean up your hard disk. God forbid you should be in an accident
and someone should see how sloppy your directories are.
6. You don’t have to rush out and buy every trendy new product. So
what if all your friends are buying it and the word is it’ll be the
next standard? You wouldn’t jump off abridge just because everyone
else did, would you?
7.Be sure to write your name and phone number on all your floppy disk
sleeves. That way, if they ever get mixed up with someone else’s,
you can tell which ones are yours.
8. Never put a disk into your drive if you don’t know where it’s been.
Your computer might catch a disease or something. Don’t laugh,
it’s not funny. That’s what happened to the Kelly boy, and his PC
hasn’t been the same since.
9. Sit up straight, and for heaven’s sake, not so close to that monitor
screen. What do you want to do, go blind and look like a pretzel?
10. Always keep your icons and windows neatly arranged. A cluttered
desktop metaphor is the sign of a cluttered mind.
11. Always eat your vegetables. Okay, so it doesn’t have anything to do
with computers, it’s good advice anyway. And who said mothers
had to be consistent?

EXERCISES
I. Find the equivalents to:
3C3“2,2ь "%ƒм%›…%“2ь; C!,“3?,L; -=…2=ƒе!; C%л3ч,2ь ш=…“;
32%м,2ель…/L; œ*3ме*=ю?,еB " *%мCью2е!=. (›=!г.); %“леC…32ь;
м3“%!; .ле*2!%……= д%“*= %KA "ле…,L; %ч,“2,2ь; …=*леL*= …= д,“*е2е;
.%!%ш,L “%"е2; " люK%м “л3ч=е; C%“лед%"=2ель…/L.

II. Give synonyms to:

to caution, danger, public restrooms, to nag, peak, to curse, riff-raff, bums,
debut, sloppy, trendy, cluttered, consistent.

III. Answer the questions:

1. What do all mums usually warn their children about?

116
 2. What were you warned about when a child?
3. What advice did you take seriously?
4. What are the Top Ten PC Perils in your opinion?
5. What of them would you warn your children about?

BILL GATES IN HEAVEN

Bill Gates died and, much to everyone’s surprise, went to Heaven.
When he got there, he had to wait in the reception area.
Heaven’s reception area was the size of Massachusetts. There were
literally millions of people milling about, living in tents with nothing
to do all day. Food and water were being distributed from the backs of
trucks, while staffers with cli pboards slowly worked their way through
the crowd.Booze and drugs were being passed around.Fights were com-
monplace. Sanitation conditions were appalling. All in all, the scene
looked like Woodstock gone metastatic.
Bill lived in a tent for three weeks until finally, one of the staffers
approached him. The staffer was a young man in his late teens, face
scarred with acne. He was wearing a blue T-shirt with the words TEAM
PETER emblazoned on it in large yellow lettering.
œHello,B said the staffer in a bored voice that could have been the
voice of any clerk in any overgrown bureaucracy. œMy name is Gabriel
and I’ll be your induction coordinator.’’ Bill started to ask a question,
but Gabriel interrupted him. œNo, I’m not the Archangel Gabriel. I’m
just a guy from Philadelphia named Gabriel who died in a car wreck at
the age of 17.Now give me your name, last name first, unless you were
Chinese in which case its first name firstB
œGates, Bill.B Gabriel started searching through the sheaf of papers
on his cli pboard, looking for Bill’s Record of Earthly Works. œWhat’s
going on here?B asked Bill. œWhy are all these people here? Where’s
Saint Peter? Where are the Pearly Gates?B
Gabriel ignored the questions until he located Bill’s records. Then
Gabriel looked up in surprise, œIt says here that you were the president
of a large software company. Is that right?B
œYes.B
œWell then, do the math chi p-head! When this Saint Peter business
started, it was an easy gig. Only a hundred or so people died every day,
and Peter could handle it all by himself, no problem.But now there are
over five billion people on earth.Come on, when God said to 4go forth

117
and multi ply,’ he didn’t say 4like rabbits’. With that large a population,
ten thousand people die every hour. Over a quarter-million people a day.
Do you think Peter can meet them all personally?B
œI guess notB.
œYou guess right. So Peter had to franchise the operation. Now,
Peter is the CEO of Team Peter Enterprises, Inc. He just sits in the
corporate headquarters and sets policy. Franchisees like me handle the
actual inductions.B Gabriel looked through his paperwork some more,
and then continued, œYour paperwork seems to be in order. And with a
background like yours, you’ll be getting a plum job assignmentB
œJob assignment?B
œOf course. Did you expect to spend the rest of eternity sitting and
drinking ambrosia? Heaven is a big operation. You have to put your
weight around here!B Gabriel took out a tri plicate form, had Bill sign
at the bottom, and then tore out the middle copy and handed it to Bill.
œTake this down to induction center #23 and meet up with your occu-
pational orientator.His name is Abraham.B Bill started to ask aquestion,
but Gabriel interrupted him, œNo, he’s not that Abraham.B
..............
Bill walked down a muddy trail for ten miles until he came to
induction center #23. He met with Abraham after a mere six-hour
wait.
œHeaven is centuries behind in building its data processing in-
frastructure,B explained Abraham. œAs you’ve seen, we’re still doing
everything on paper. It takes us a week just to process new entries.B
œI had to wait three weeks?B said Bill.Abraham stared at Bill angrily,
and Bill realized that he’d made amistake.Even in Heaven, it’s best not
to contradict abureaucrat.B Well, Bill offered, œmaybe that Bosniathing
has you, guys, backed up.B
Abraham’s look of anger faded to mere annoyance. œYour job will
be to supervise Heaven’s new data processing center. We’re building the
largest computing facility in creation.Half amillion computers connected
by amulti-segment fiber optic network, all running into aback-end server
network with a thousand CPUs on a gigabit channel. Fully fault tolerant.
Fully distributed processing. The works.B
Bill could barely contain his excitement œWow! What a great job!
This is really Heaven! œ
œWe’re just finishing construction, and we’ll be starting operations
soon. Would you like to go to the center now?B
œYou bet!B

118
 Abraham and Bill caught the shuttle bus and went to Heaven’s new
data processing center. It was a truly huge facility, a hundred times big-
ger than the Astrodome. Workmen were crawling all over the place,
getting the miles of fiber optic cables properly installed. But the center
was dominated by the computers. Half = million computers, arranged
neatly row-by-row, half a million....
.... Power PC’s....
.... all running Mac/OS? Not an Intel PC in sight! Not a single byte
of Microsoft code!
The thought of spending the rest of eternity using products that he
had spent his whole life working to destroy was too much for Bill. -
œWhat about PCs???B he exclaimed. œWhat about Windows??? What
about Excel??? What about Word???B
œYou’re forgetting somethingB, said Abraham.
œWhat’s that?B asked Bill plaintively.
œThis is Heaven,B explained Abraham.œWe need an operating system
that’s heavenly to use.If you want to build adataprocessing center based
on PCs running Windows, then ....
.... GO TO HELL!

E. Can you do a better translation?

a) 0A programmers
0` young programmers began to work online,
One didn’t pay for Internet, and then there were 9.
9 young programmers used copies that they made,
But one was caught by FBI, and then there were 8.
8 young programmers discussed about heaven,
One said, œIt’s Windows 95!B, and then there were 7,
7 young programmers found bugs they want to fix,
But one was fixed by the bug, and then there were 6.
6 young programmers were testing the hard drive,
One got the string œFormat completeB, and then there were 5,
5 young programmers were running the FrontDoor,
The BBS of one was hacked, and then there were 4.
4 young programmers worked using only C,
One said some good about Pascal, and then there were 3.

119
 3 young programmers didn’t know what to do,
One tried to call the on-line help, and then there were 2,
2 young programmers were testing what they done,
One got a virus in his brain, and then there was 1.
1 young programmer was as mighty as a hero,
But tried to speak with user, and then there was 0.
Boss cried: œOh, where is the program we must have?!B
And fired one programmer, and then there were FF.

0` C!%г!=мм,“2%"
0` C!%г!=мм,“2%" C!%д3*2 !еш,л, “дел=2ь.
1 “C!%“,л: &` де…ьг, где?[ , ,. %“2=л%“ь де" 2ь.
9 C!%г!=мм,“2%" C!ед“2=л, Cе!ед K%““%м
1 ,ƒ …,. …е ƒ…=л foxpro , ,. %“2=л%“ь "%“емь.
8 C!%г!=мм,“2%" *3C,л, IBM.
1 ,ƒ …,. “*=ƒ=л &Mac O *л=““![ , ,. %“2=л%“ь “емь.
7 C!%г!=мм,“2%" !еш,л, help C!%че“2ь.
r %д…%г% …=*!/л“ ",…2 , ,. %“2=л%“ь ше“2ь.
6 C!%г!=мм,“2%" C/2=л,“ь *%д C%… 2ь.
1 ,ƒ …,. “%ш‘л “ 3м= , ,. %“2=л%“ь C 2ь.
5 C!%г!=мм,“2%" *3C,л, CD-ROM.
1 C!,…‘“ *,2=L“*,L д,“* O %“2=л,“ь "че2"е!%м.
4 C!%г!=мм,“2= !=K%2=л, …= &q[.
1 ,ƒ …,. ."=л,л PASCAL , ,. %“2=л%“ь 2!,.
3 C!%г!=мм,“2= ,г!=л, " “е2*е " &DOOM[.
1 ч32ь-ч32ь ƒ=меш*=л“ , “ч‘2 “2=л !="е… д"3м.
2 C!%г!=мм,“2= …=K!=л, д!3›…% &WIN[.
1 3“2=л ƒ=г!3ƒ*, ›д=2ь O %“2=л“ л,шь %д,….
1 C!%г!=мм,“2 "“‘ "ƒ л C%д “"%L *%…2!%ль,
m% "“2!е2,л“ “ ƒ=*=ƒч,*%м , ,. %“2=л%“ь …%ль.
0 C!%г!=мм,“2%" !3г=л “е!д,2/L ше-,
C%2%м 3"%л,л %д…%г% , “2=л% ,. FF!!!

120
 b) What if Dr. Suess wrote a manual?
If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
And the bus is interrupted as a very last resort,
And the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
Then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.
If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
And the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash,
And your data is corrupted ’cause the index doesn’t hash,
Then your situation’s hopeless and your system’s gonna crash!
If the label on the cable on the table at your house,
Says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,
But your packets want to tunnel on another protocol,
That’s repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall,
And your screen is all distorted by the side effect of Gauss,
So your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse,
Then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang,
’Cause as sure as I’m a poet, the sucker’s gonna hang!
When the copy of your floppy’s getting sloppy on the disk,
And the microcode instructions cause unnecessary risk,
Then you have to flash your memory and you’ll want to RAM
your ROM.
Quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your mom.

` е“л, K/ д%*2%! q3.ƒ …=C,“=л ,…“2!3*ц,ю?

e“л, "д!3г C=*е2 C!%г!=мм…/L "=“ !еш,2“ %K%K!=2ь,
h %2 C!е!/"=…,L ш,…= “2=…е2 "д!3г %ƒ%!…,ч=2ь,
e“л, C=м 2ь “ д,“*%"%д%м “2=…32 лю2% "%е"=2ь,
b=м …, де…ег, …, ›елеƒ=, …, C%*% …е ",д=2ь.
e“л, "д!3г " ме…ю “2=…д=!2…%м "=ш *3!“%! …=ч…е2 ш=л,2ь,
h д"%L…%L ?елч%* ,*%…*3 “!=ƒ3 м%›е2 3д=л,2ь,
h м%ƒг, 3 K=ƒ/ д=……/. Cе!е“2=…32 "д!3г "=!,2ь,
}2% ƒ…=ч,2, "“е C!%C=л%, Kеƒ"%ƒ"!=2…%, м%›е2 K/2ь.
e“л, …=дC,“ь …= *%!%K*е м%›е2 дель…/L д=2ь “%"е2,
h м/ш,…/L *%"!,* д=›е C%д*люч,2ь“ " Internet,
` …е“…%“…/е C!%г!=мм/ "=м %2*=›32 дел%"%,
b,д,2е л,, C!%2%*%л ,м …е C%д.%д,2. j=*%"%?

121
 e“л, ",д 3 м%…,2%!= *=* " !=ƒK,2/е %ч*,,
h C% Cл%“*%“2, .*!=…= !=“Cл/"=ю2“ ƒ…=ч*,,
b/*люч=L2е “"%L *%мCью2е! , ,д,2е C%г3л 2ь.
“ 3"е!е…, %… …е “2=…е2 л=д,2ь “ "=м,. eг% ...!
e“л, %2 !еƒе!"…/. *%C,L C!%.3д,2“ г,K*,L д,“*,
h =““емKле!…/е "“2="*, C%"/ш=ю2 !еƒ*% !,“*,
k3чше "/ “%2!,2е C=м 2ь, %2C= L2е ogr O
aе“C%леƒ…%е ›елеƒ% "=м, *%…еч…%, …, * чем3.

F. Render into English

a)
1.e“л, "=м 3д=л%“ь …=C,“=2ь C!%г!=мм3, " *%2%!%L 2!=…“л 2%! …е
%K…=!3›,л %ш,K%*, %K!=2,2е“ь * “,“2ем…%м3 C!%г!=мм,“23
O %… ,“C!=",2 %ш,K*, " 2!=…“л 2%!е.
2. q%ƒд=д,м !е=ль…3ю ",!23=ль…%“2ь!
3. b C!,!%де C!%г!=мм,!%"=…, ле›,2 2%, ч2% …е2 “%%2…%ше…,
ме›д3 &!=ƒме!=м,[ “=м%L %ш,K*, , C!%Kлем=м,, *%2%!/е
%…= “%ƒд=е2.
4. j%гд= C!%г!=мм,“2 ,“C/2/"=е2 ƒ=2!3д…е…, C!, C%,“*е
%ш,K*,, .2% ƒ…=ч,2, ч2% %… ,?е2 …е 2=м, где “лед3е2.
5.l%ƒг чел%"е*= %K/ч…% ƒ=г!3›е… л,шь …= 10 % “"%еL м%?…%“2,:
%“2=ль…%е O !еƒе!" дл %Cе!=ц,%……%L “,“2ем/.
6. b/ч,“л,2ель…= м=ш,…= %Kл=д=е2 C!,2 г=2ель…%L “,л%L
K,лл,=!д= ,л, м3ƒ/*=ль…%г% ="2%м=2=, д%"еде……%г% д%
л%г,че“*%L ƒ="е!ше……%“2,.
7.o!%г!=мм,“2, *=* C%.2, !=K%2=е2 C%ч2, ,“*люч,2ель…% г%л%"%L.
8. g=*%… a!3*“=: е“л, C!%г!=мм,“2“*,L C!%е*2 …е 3*л=д/"=е2“
" “!%*,, 2% д%K="ле…,е !=K%чеL “,л/ 2%ль*% ƒ=де!›,2 ег%
%*%…ч=…,е.
9. o%льƒ%"=2ель …е ƒ…=е2, чег% %… .%че2, C%*= …е 3",д,2 2%, ч2%
%… C%л3ч,л.
10. “ “л/ш3 , ƒ=K/"=ю. “ ",›3 , ƒ=C%м,…=ю. “ дел=ю , C%…,м=ю.
11. m= C3“2%м д,“*е м%›…% ,“*=2ь "еч…%.
12. “ C,ш3 "“е “"%, *!,2,че“*,е C!%г!=мм/ …= =““емKле!е, =
*%мед,L…/е O …= -%!2!=…е.
13. aе“C%леƒ…% C!,д3м/"=2ь ƒ=?,23 %2 д3!=*= O "едь д3!=*, 2=*
ге…,=ль…/.
14.e“л, %2л=д*= O C!%це““ 3д=ле…, %ш,K%*, 2% C!%г!=мм,!%"=…,е
д%л›…% K/2ь C!%це““%м ,. "…е“е…, .
15.)2% дл %д…%г% O %ш,K*=, дл д!3г%г% O *%мCью2е!…/е д=……/е.

122
 b)
1. g=*%…/ м=ш,……%г% C!%г!=мм,!%"=…, .
a) kюK= деL“2"3ю?= C!%г!=мм= 3“2=!ел=.
b) kюK= C!%г!=мм= %K.%д,2“ д%!%›е , 2!еK3е2 K%льш,.
ƒ=2!=2 "!еме…,, чем C!едC%л=г=л%“ь.
c) e“л, C!%г!=мм= C%л…%“2ью %2л=›е…=, ее …3›…% K3де2
“*%!!е*2,!%"=2ь.
d) kюK= C!%г!=мм= “2!ем,2“ ƒ=… 2ь "“ю д%“23C…3ю
C=м 2ь.
e) 0е……%“2ь C!%г!=мм/ C! м% C!%C%!ц,%…=ль…= "е“3 ее
&"/д=ч,[.
f) qл%›…%“2ь C!%г!=мм/ !=“2е2 д% 2е. C%!, C%*= …е
C!е"/“,2 “C%“%K…%“2, C!%г!=мм,“2=.
2. o%“23л=2/ Š!3м.…= C% C!%г!=мм,!%"=…,ю.
a) q=м= г!3K= %ш,K*= K3де2 "/ "ле…=, л,шь *%гд=
C!%г!=мм= C!%K3де2 " C!%,ƒ"%д“2"е C% *!=L…еL ме!е
C%лг%д=.
b) j%…2!%ль…/е Cе!-%*=!2/, *%2%!/е !еш,2ель…% …е
м%г32 “2% 2ь " …еC!=",ль…%м C%! д*е, K3д32 Cе!еC32=…/.
c) e“л, …=ƒ…=че… “Cец,=ль…/L чел%"е* дл *%…2!%л
ƒ= ч,“2%2%L ,“.%д…%L ,…-%!м=ц,,, 2% …=Lде2“
,ƒ%K!е2=2ель…/L ,д,%2, *%2%!/L C!,д3м=е2 “C%“%K,
ч2%K/ …еC!=",ль…= ,…-%!м=ц, C!%шл= че!еƒ .2%2
*%…2!%ль.
d) mеCеч=2…/L ›=!г%… O .2% 2%2 ƒ/*, *%2%!/м
!еш,2ель…% "“е C!%г!=мм,“2/ "л=дею2 " “%"е!ше…“2"е.
3. g=*%… mеL“е!=. l%›…% “дел=2ь ƒ=?,23 %2 д3!=*=, …% 2%ль*% …е
%2 ,ƒ%K!е2=2ель…%г%.
4. g=*%…/ …е…=де›…%“2, d›,лK=.
a) j%мCью2е!/ …е…=де›…/, …% люд, е?е …е…=де›…ее.
b) kюK= “,“2ем=, ƒ=",“ ?= %2 чел%"ече“*%L …=де›…%“2,,
…е…=де›…=.
c) ),“л% %ш,K%*, *%2%!/е …ельƒ %K…=!3›,2ь, Kе“*%…еч…%
" C!%2,"%"е“ ч,“л3 %ш,K%*, *%2%!/е м%›…% %C!едел,2ь
O %…% *%…еч…% C% %C!еделе…,ю.
d) b C%,“*, C%"/ше…, …=де›…%“2, K3д32 "*л=д/"=2ь“
“!ед“2"= д% 2е. C%!, C%*= %…, …е C!е"/“ 2 "ел,ч,…3
3K/2*%" %2 …е,ƒKе›…/. %ш,K%* ,л, C%*= *2%-…,K3дь …е
C%2!еK3е2, ч2%K/ K/л= “дел=…= .%2ь *=*= -2% C%леƒ…=
!=K%2=.

123
 5. Š!е2,L ƒ=*%… c!,д=. l=ш,……= C!%г!=мм= "/C%л… е2 2%, ч2%
"/ еL C!,*=ƒ=л, дел=2ь, = …е 2%, ч2% "/ K/ .%2ел,, ч2%K/ %…=
дел=л=.
6.oе!"= *%мCью2е!…= =*“,%м= kе% aеLƒе!=.g=*л=д/"= ч2%-2%
" C=м 2ь }bl, C%м…,2е, *3д= "/ .2% C%л%›,л,.
7. p3*%"%д“2"% C% “,“2ем…%м3 C!%г!=мм,!%"=…,ю x2еL…K=.=.
m,*%гд= …е "/ "л L2е " C!%г!=мме %ш,K*,, е“л, "/ …е ƒ…=е2е,
ч2% “ …,м, д=льше дел=2ь.
8. g=*%… a!3*=. r"ел,че…,е ч,“л= 3ч=“2…,*%" C!, C%дг%2%"*е
%C=ƒд/"=ю?еL C!%г!=мм/ 2%ль*% ƒ=медл е2 C!%це““.
9. g=*%…/ м,!= }bl C% c%л3K3.
a) mе2%ч…% “Cл=…,!%"=……= C!%г!=мм= 2!еK3е2 " 2!, !=ƒ= K%льше
"!еме…,, чем C!едC%л=г=л%“ь; 2?=2ель…% “Cл=…,!%"=……= O
2%ль*% " д"= !=ƒ=.
b) p=K%2=ю?= …=д C!%г!=мм%L г!3CC= C,2=е2 %2"!=?е…,е *
е›е…едель…%L %2че2…%“2, % д%“2,г…32/. !еƒ3ль2=2=., C%“*%ль*3
%…= “л,ш*%м "…% “",де2ель“2"3е2 %K %2“32“2",, 2=*%"/..
10.o!,…ц,C x%3.q%ƒд=L2е “,“2ем3, *%2%!%L “м%›е2 C%льƒ%"=2ь“
д=›е д3!=*, , 2%ль*% д3!=* ƒ=.%че2 ею C%льƒ%"=2ь“ .

Literature
1. C. Perron. Computers and Information Systems / Tools for an In-
formation Age. USA, 1993.
2. A. Burgmeier. Lexis. Academic Vocabulary Study. USA, NJ, 1991.
3. R. White. PC Computing / How Computer Works. USA, 1994.
4. P. Duffy. Focus on Innovators and Inventions. USA, NJ, 1994.
5. L. Latuli ppe. Developing Academic Reading Skills. USA, 1994.
6. F. O’Dell. English Panorama. UK, 1998.
7.I. Sinclair. Collins Dictionary of Personal Computers.Moscow, 1996.
8. Webster’s New-World Dictionary of Computer Terms. USA, NY,
1996.
9. Computer magazines: Byte, Computer, Webserver, &d%м=ш…,L
*%мCью2е![ 1997O2000.
10.Reader’s Digest.USA; Forum, USA.; English Learner’s Digest, Kiev.
1997O2000.

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qontents

Unit I.
Hobby, Addiction, or Future Job? ................................................ 3
Unit II.
Computo, ergo sum ...................................................................... 21
Unit III.
The Development of Computers................................................... 34
Unit IV.
Personal Computers ...................................................................... 51
Unit V.
Computer and qrime ................................................................... 65
Unit VI.
Computer Security ....................................................................... 75
Unit VII.
Virtual Reality ............................................................................... 88
Unit VIII.
IT Revolution ............................................................................... 96
Unit IX.
Humor the Computer ................................................................ 110

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 rчеK…%е ,ƒд=…,е

ENGLISH FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE STUDENTS

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Электронное издание для распространения через Интернет.

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Šел./-=*“: 336-03-11; 2ел. 334-82-65. E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

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