Role of automation in technology
Automation plays an important part in the great advances in technology. Automation, properly coordinated with other phases of technology, can substantially contribute to high productive efficiency. In Russia, mechanization of production operations and their automation is one of the most important problems and that is being done in this sphere at present greatly exceeds what has been close in the past,
Advanced automation is impossible without computers. Computer science is a relatively new and exciting field of study and research. It is a broad discipline, covering logic design, hardware, and the theory of computation, numerical analysis, programming and computer application.
There are different kinds of computers. Some do only one job over and over again. These are special — purpose computers. One such computer automatically controls the movements of anti-aircraft cannon. It was built for this purpose alone, and cannot do anything else. But there are some computers that can do many different jobs. They are called general-purpose computers. These are the "big brains" that solve the most difficult problems of science. They answer questions about rockets and planes, bridges and ships long before these things are even built.
Today there are computers small enough to carry in one's pocket or about the size of a typewriter. These new computers are called personal computers. Computers help our space programme, our armed forces, our business and industry, sports and medicine. Computers are the most efficient servants man has ever had and there is no limit for their explication in improving our lives and saving time for leisure (rest and recreation).
Computers are capable of doing extremely complicated work in all branches of learning. They can solve the most complicated mathematical problems or put thousands of unrelated facts in order. As computers work accurately and at high speeds, they save research workers years of hard work. This whole process, by which machines can be used to work for used to work for us, is called automation. Automation will have important social consequences.
Robots can perform an almost infinite variety of tasks. ln the research laboratory, the office, and the factory, thousands of robots are already at work.
Now assume that somebody develops a robot to coordinate the activities "of all the robots in a factory. It would be a sort of super-robot, whose special function would be to see that all the lesser robots did their job correctly. If you took a robot like that and put it in charge of a factory, you would have "automation". as a matter of fact, automation is not just a thing of the future. Super robots have already been developed and put into operation in a number of places. The result of the idea to connect all the robots together with one control system is the automated assembly line.
From the automated engine shop.
In the engine shop, rows and rows of machines can be seen. They grind, drill, ream, polish, and perform dozens of other operations. But not a machine operator can be soon.
They can't be seen because there aren't any. These machine tools are all robot-run. A roughcast engine, fresh from the foundry, enters the machine shop on a belt. The belt moves it under one machine. Reamers drop down and clean out the cylinders' holes, cutting and grinding the metal to the exact size. The engine moves on. Drill presses drop down, bore holes where they are needed, and withdraw. As the engine moves down the line, tappets, cylinders, crankshafts and spark plugs are added. Then generator, carburetor, and other parts are added. At the end of the line a robot crane picks up the engine and puts it on a belt for transfer to the main assembly line.
In another part of the factory great sheets of metal are put into giant rollers. The rollers twist, bend doors and bodies. These, too, are automatically assembled, then moved to the main assembly line. Each machine must be set so that it will co-operate with all other machines in the factory.
Automation starts as the result of months and years of planning by engineers (using computers, by the way). Automation begins with a team of highly skilled men, automation experts, programmers. They consult with the people who run a factory about the type of operation desired. They prepare a master plan. After the green light is given on the master plan, there are months of detail planning. A medium or large computer is brought in to help solve some of the complicated problems. One of its tasks will be to keep track of production scheduling and inventory control. When you have hundreds of machines working on thousands of items every day, it becomes impossible for human clerks to keep things under control. In the first place, you would have to have too many clerks. In the second place, even with enough clerks, they could not possibly get together and intergrate - combine their information fast enough to do any good. What is needed is a controller robot. It can receive masses of information in a short time and come up with new requirements - parts, machines, raw materials, and men.
VOCABULARY
1) properly – зд. соответствующим образом
2) substantially– существенно
3) efficiency– производительность
4) to exceed– превосходить
5) exiting– вызывающий интерес
6) hardware– аппаратная часть (физические, электронные и электромеханические устройства)
7) anti-aircraft cannon– противовоздушное оружие
typewriter– пишущая машина
consequence– последствие
to put smth. in charge– снабдить/ оборудовать чем-либо (чего-либо)
to put into operation– вводить в эксплуатацию
engine shop– мастерская по сборке двигателей
1) grind – точить
2) ream – расширять (разбуривать) скважину ; зд. отверствие
3) to be robot-run– быть управляемым роботом
4) roughcast – грубо отлитый
5) reamer – расширитель
6) drop down– опускаться
7) drill press– перфоратор
8) withdraw – извлекать, вынимать, удалять, отводить
9) tappet – кулачок, палец
10) crankshaft – коленчатый вал
11) spark plug– свеча
12) twist– закручивать
13) bend– сгибать
14) keep track – проследить
BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE
A business letter.
There are certain rules of writing letters. The paper for a letter must be absolutely pure, with even edges. It is desirable to have the firm form of the letter with an emblem of the firm, with its complete name, the post and telegraphic address, with a telephone number, fax and bank properties.
The business letters are printed on a computer on a face side of the sheet. The pages are numbered in the Arabian figures, except for the first. Width of a field from the left side of a sheet must be not less than 2 cm. The text is printed through 1,5-2 intervals. The paragraph begins with a red line, with a deviation of 5 intervals from the edge. It is desirable to avoid division. In the right top comer under the address of the organization, which sends the letter the date of departure should be put.
If it is not the first letter to your partner, it must begin with the polite reference to the last letter, received from him.
If you write to the partner for the first time, it is necessary to begin with the performance of the firm, its purposes and tasks. The text of mis material must be in the language of your partner or in English. The letter ends with the words of gratitude for the cooperation. And of course with: "Sincerely yours", etc.
The signature is put on the right party under the formula of politeness. The surname of the signing man is printed under his hand-written signature.
About envelopes. Abroad all large firms have envelopes, on which the same items of information as on the form are repeated. The firm envelope relieves you of the necessity to inform the return address. Abroad the order of writing of an address is as following: first comes "whom", then "where". The first position of the address is the surname of the addressee with the initials before it and one of reductions: Mr (if it is a man) or Mrs (if it is a woman). The second position of the address is the post of your addressee. It indicates that the letter was not accepted as personal. If the addressee at the given moment is absent, the letter will be opened by his assistant. If you want to keep the content of the letter in a confidence, after the surname it is necessary to specify: private (personal, confidential). The following position of the address is name of the firm. Here it is possible to apply the following reductions:
Company - Co.
Corporation - Corp.
Department - Dept.
Incorporated - Inc.
The number of the house and the name of the street, the name of the city, the name of the state (for the USA, India, etc.) come after. The address end with the postal index and the name of the country.
The letter to a foreign partner has some canons. For example, the letter begins with recurrence in the left top comer of the address written on an envelope. From the right side and a little below of the address they write the date of departure of the letter. For example: 12 December 1997 December 12, 1997
12th December 1997
December 12th, 1997
Reductions of dates such as 12/XII1997 or 12.12.1997, which are accepted by us, in the international correspondence, are not used. Here and in the text of the letter only the reductions of some months are accepted:
January - Jan.
February - Feb.
April - Apr.
September - Sept.
October - Oct.
November - Nov.
December - Dec.
From the left side they write an appeal Dear Mr or Dear Mrs and the surname of the addressee. After the introductory reference in the English correspondence comma is put, and in the correspondence with the addressee from the USA colon and hyphen are put (Dear Mr ..., / Gentleman : -).
By the following line after a designation "Re" (Reference) in business correspondence briefly the theme of the letter is designate, for example:
Re: 1997 Moscow Book Fair In business letters it is accepted to write with the large letter:
• proper nouns, and also adjectives designating the national and state accessory (Russian, English, French etc);
• words in the names of firms and organizations, departments of organizations; words in a designation of a borrowed post (Chief Engineer, Director etc);
• words designating names of cities, republics, streets, areas, areas, hotels, and also numeration of floors, apartments, rooms (12 Wall Street, London, Hotel International, Room 346 etc);
• the complete and reduced names of months and days of week (Saturday, March, Dec. etc);
• the names of the goods, trade marks and some documents (Iron, Coal, Bills of Lading, Charter Party etc).
To write long letters in the business correspondence is not accepted. If your letter is not located in one page, at the end of the sheet it is necessary to put: (continued over) or (see overleaf),
Usually letters end by words Sincerely Yours or Yours and signature with the indication under it of your surname and post.
If you are, for example, on nonresident business trip and have dictated the answer to the urgent letter to your assistant on the phone, he must put the letters pp (per procurationem) against your surname, sign the letter himself and attribute below: Dictated by Mr <... > and signed in his absence.
A BUSINESS LETTER
Mr. A. Green,
Manager,
Co. British Telecom,
109 Kingsway st, London,
126783 UK.
4 February 2002 Dear Mr. Green,
We would like to inform you that Mr. Petrov is arriving in Little Rock on the 14th February to begin talks with you.
Please make the necessary hotel reservation for him and let us know the name of hotel.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Yours faithfully, Mr.Ivanov.
A REPLY
Mr. Ivanov,
Manager,
Co. Mobile Tele Systems
14 Peace st, Moscow,
456321 Russia,
5 February 2002 Dear Mr. Ivanov,
We regret to inform you that we cannot reserve the hotel
accommodation for Mr. Petrov for the week of the 14th February. Our three hotels are completely booked up for the week. They have no rooms available because the National Word Processors Association will be holding their convention in Little Rock during the week of the 14th February. As you will surely understand they have to reserve as many rooms as possible for the members of the Association.
We propose to postpone your visit for a week. We can safely book a room for Mr. Petrov for the 21st February. We hope mis will suit you and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours faithfully, Mr.Green.
With the development of industry, technology, trade and economic ties among the countries and ordinary people a great volume of business is done by mail. It is true that the telephone telegraph, telex and fax do speed transactions, but they also run up expenses to such an extent that practical businessman and economic people use these modem means of communication for mailers requiring immediate action or messages which can be expressed briefly.
Business letters concern us in our daily living, especially those of us who live abroad and deal with foreigners.
People write business letters in many situations: concluding contracts, booking i seat in an airplane, reserving hotel accommodation, booking theatre tickets, writing order - letters, letters of inquiry and claim letters (letters of complaint) covering letters, letters of confirmation, letters of guarantee. A business letter, like a friendly or social letter, should make a favorable impression. In order that a letter may create this impression, it should be neatly written or typed, properly spaced on the page and correctly folded in the envelope.
The parts of a business Letter. The basic outline for a business letter is that of any letter: the heading, the inside address, the salutation, the body of the letter, the complimentary close and the signature. If you forget something you mean to say in the letter, put it in a PS at the bottom of the page.
Vocabulary
developmenl of industry -paзвитиу промышленности
volume -объем
a great volume of business - большой объем дел
to speed -ускорять
to speed transactions -ускорять дело
to run up expenses -увеличивать расходы
to a great extent -в значительной степени
to concern -касаться
letter - письмо, буква
order-letter -письмо-заказ
inquiry letter -письмо-запрос
claim letter -письмо-жалоба
covering letter -сопроводительное письмо
letter of confirmation -письмо подтверждение
letter of guarantee -гарантийное письмо
to type -печатать на машине
to space -размещать
to fold
-сгибать
envelope -конверт
heating - заголовок
inside -адрес получателя
salutation -приветствие