Задание 3. Прочитайте текст и обсудите следующие вопросы в группе.

a) How are robots used in manufacturing?

b) What is «material handling»?

c) What does a robot need to be equipped with to do loading and unloading operations?

d) What does robot manipulate in robotic processing operation?

e) What are the main reasons to use robots in production?

f) How can robots inspect the quality of production?

g) What operations could be done by robots in hazardous or uncomfortable for the human workers conditions?

Task 4. Study these ‘System upgrades and options’ for the computer. Which upgrades and/or options would improve these aspects of this computer?

• capacity

• speed

• protection from damage due to power failure

• network connections

Upgrades and options

3Com 10/100 Ethernet controller

CD-RW Drive

Extra memory module

APC 1400 Smart-UPS

3 Year Next-Business-Day On-site Service

Task 5. Put these instructions for opening a computer in the correct sequence.

Задание 5. Поставьте данные инструкции в правильной последовательности.

• Release the two catches underneath and lift up to remove panel.

• Shut down your computer by choosing Shut Down from the apple menu or the Special menu.

• If there are security screws on the vertical plate on the back of the computer, remove them with Philips screwdriver.

• Unplug all the cables except the power cord from your computer.

• Pulling gently, slide the tray out.

LESSON 7

Computers

Task 1. Read and translate the text:

Задание 1. Прочитайте и переведите текст:

    50 years ago, people hadn’t even heard of computers, and today we cannot imagine life without them. Computer technology is the fastest-growing industry in the world. The first computer was the size of a minibus and weighed a ton. Today, its job can be done by a chip the size of a pin head. And the revolution is still going on. Very soon we’ll have computers that we’ll wear on wrists or even in our glasses and earnings. Such wearable computers are being developed now. Japan’s biggest mobiles-phone company has just released its cleverest product - a mobile phone that allows you to stuff the Internet as well as make calls. People are already using the phone to check the news headlines, follow the stock market and download the latest jokes. Soon they will be able to buy cinema tickets and manage their bank accounts. The next generation of computers will be able to talk and even think for themselves. They will contain electronic ‘neural networks’. Of course, they’ll be still a lot simpler that human brains, but it will be a great step forward. Such computers will help it diagnose illnesses, find materials, understand and control the world’s money markets, identify criminals and control space travel.

Computer revolution is changing our life and our language, too. We are constantly making up new words or giving new meanings to old ones. Most of computer terms are born in Silicon Valley, the world’s top computer-science center.

Task  2. Answer the following questions:

Задание 2. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. What do you know about computer science and technology on the contemporary level?

2. Who has a computer in your group? Ask them what do they use it for?

3. What are the most important applications of computer? (Are computer games just a «waste of time» or it is a nice hobby and a lot of fun?)

4. Read the text “Computers”, do the task below and organize a round - table discussion on the problem.

Task  3. Read the text.

Задание 3. Прочитайте текст.

How a Disk Cache Works

    Disk caching works in essentially the same way whether you have a cache on your disk controller or you are using a software-based solution. The CPU requests specific data from the cache. In some cases, the information will already be there and the request can be met without accessing the hard disk.

    If the requested information isn’t in the cache, the data is read from the disk along with a large chunk of adjacent information. The cache then makes room for the new data by replacing old. Depending on the algorithm that is being applied, this may be the information that has been in the cache the longest, or the information that is the least recently used. The CPU’s request can then be met, and the cache already has the adjacent data loaded in anticipation of that information being requested next.

Task  4. Mark the following as True or False:

Задание 4. Отметьте следующее Истина или Ложь:

• Cache memory is faster than RAM.

• The processor looks for data in the main memory first.

• Write-through cache is faster than write-back cache.

• Write-back cache requires a more intelligent cache controller.

• Most programs use instructions that are stored in sequence in memory.

• Most cache controllers transfer one item of data at a time.

• Hardware and software disk caches work in much the same way.

Task 5. Study these sentences.

Задание 5. Изучите эти предложения.

• The radar sends out a beam of radio waves.

• The information is stored on a smart card.

In 1 the verb is active and in 2 it is passive, the Present passive. Why is this so? What difference does it make? In 1 the agent responsible for the action is included - the radar. In 2 the agent is not included although j we know what it is - the microprocessor. The passive is often used to describe the steps in a process where the action is more important than the agent and where the agent is already known to the reader. If we need to add the agent, we can do so like this: 3 The information is stored on a smart card by the microprocessor.

Task  6. Describe the operation of the new speed trap by converting each of these statements to the Present passive. Add information on the agent where you think it is necessary.

• The first unit records the time each vehicle passes.

• It identifies each vehicle by its number plates using OCR software.

• It relays the information to the second unit.

• The second unit also records the time each vehicle passes.

• The microprocessor calculates the time taken to travel between the units.

• It relays the registration numbers of speeding vehicles to police headquarters.

• A computer matches each vehicle with the DVLC database.

• It prints off a letter to the vehicle owners using mailmerge.

LESSON 8    

What is a Computer?

Task  1. Read and translate the text:

Задание 1. Прочитайте и переведите текст:

    The term computer is used to describe a devicemade up of a combination of electronic and electromechanical (part electronic and part mechanical) components. Computer has no intelligenceby itself and is referred to as hardware. A computer system is a combination of five elements:

• Hardware

• Software

• People

• Procedures

• Data/information

    When one computer system is set up to communicate with another computer system, connectivity becomes the sixth system element. In other words, the mannerin which the variousindividual systems are connected— for example, by phone lines, microwave transmission, or satellite — is an element of the total computer system. Software is the term used to describe the instructions that tell the hardware how to perform a task. Without software instructions, the hardware doesn’t know what to do. People, however, are the most important component of the computer system: they createthe computer software instructions and respondto the procedures that those instructions present. The basic job of the computer is the processing of information.

    Computers accept information in the form of instruction called a program and characterscalled datato perform mathematical and logical operations, and then give the results. The data is rawmaterial while information is organized, processed, refined and useful for decisionmaking. Computer is used to convertdata into information. Computer is also used to store information in the digital form.

Task  2. Answer the following questions:

Задание 2. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1. Is computer intelligent?

2. Why so many people are still «computer illiterate»?

Task  3. Read the text “What is a Computer?” and discuss the following questions in group: