Computer systems. Hardware and software
There exist two fundamentally different types of computers: analog and digital ones. There exist also hybrid types of computers that combine some of the properties of both analog and digital computers. In analog computers problems are solved by considering changing data (electric current, voltage, resistance, pressure). But in practical usage the term “computer” usually refers to digital computers.
A digital computer is a complex system of four fundamentally different elements: a central processing unit, input devices, memory-storage, and output devices. These four parts are linked by a communication network, or a bus. These physical parts and all their physical components are called hardware.
As for the problem of hardware development, specialists believe that radically new computer designs are absolutely necessary. Almost all of today’s computers process information one element at a time. But the problem could be solved much more quickly by the use of a great number of processors simultaneously working on the given task. And there already exists one such design called Thinking machine. By using several thousand microprocessors the Thinking Machine outperforms many of today’s supercomputers.
Without a program a computer is nothing but potential. A computer’s operating system is the software. Without a software a computer does not operate.
The hardware and software systems of a computer work together. Software is often stored in a computer’s memory. Most modern programs exist independently of the computer. When a soft ware is loaded into a computer it automatically programs the computer to perform a specific task.
Programming of a computer is performed by specialists. Software is written by computer programmers. Often programmers in large corporations work in teams, each programmer focusing on a specific problem of a total project.
It should be noted that the hardware developments are dependant on well-written and well-formed software. Software controls the hardware, uses it, and forms an interface between the computer and its user. Nowadays software is becoming more and more user-friendly easy to use even by non-computer professional users.
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Process – подвергать (процессу)
Refer (to)- ссылаться
Bus – канал (информации)
Hardware – аппаратура, аппаратное обеспечение
Memory - память
Storage – запоминающее устройство, память
unit – единица, устройство, блок, элемент
GRAMMAR EXERCISES
I. Translate the following sentences, pay attention to the Verbal Noun.
1. More than three-fourths of the clothing worn throughout the world is made of cotton. 2. Throughout the Middle Ages nearly all the writing stories in Europe was done by monks and nearly all the books written were of a religious nature. 3. Chaucer greatly contributed to the founding of the English literary language. 4. The 16th century in England was a period of the breaking up of feudal relations and the establishing of the foundations of capitalism. 5. When he was relating this story, it seemed to the listeners that they heard the roaring of the waves outdoor. 6. Such was the happy ending an unhappy day and the end of one of Mr. Pickwick’s most exciting experiences. 7. He spoke about the shooting of the birds and the prospects for such shooting in winter.
II. Define the Verbal Noun and translate the sentences into Russian.
1. This splitting of the hydrogen molecule is attended by the absobtion of a large amount of energy. 2. The breaking of the circuit causes the magnetic field to disappear. 3. We know that the conversion of heat into chemical energy is reversed when the burning of coal converts chemical energy into heat. 5. Inductance is provided with the silver coating and capacitance by the inner and outer surface of this silver with the porcelain as dielectric. 6. The original reactor worked successfully at 200 watts and the shielding was not sufficient to allow a higher power level.
III. Translate into Russian. Define the functions of the Participle, Gerund and Verbal Noun.
1. When translated, the article was typed. 2. The results obtained were of great importance. 3. While compressing the gas we can turn it into liquid. 4. We are proud of being students. 5. He went away without waiting for a reply. 6.1 remember my having seen this film. 7. This is a most interesting book, beautifully written and splendidly translated. 8. The melting of copper, iron and cast iron requires a very high temperature. 9. The energy of a body is its capacity for doing work. 10. It is interested in collecting rare minerals. 11. This article is worth reading. 12. At the continued heating of a solid body the movement of its molecules becomes still faster.
IV. Define the functions of the Participle, Gerund and Verbal Noun. Translate into Russian.
1. The results obtained being of prime importance, engineers used them in their investigations. 2. Electrons are obtained by using a heated filament for the negative electrode and protons are produced in a hydrogen-filled discharge tube from which ions pass to the main accelerating tube. 3. There are several types of microphones being used, the most important of these being the dynamic microphone, the velocity microphone and the crystal microphone. 4. Being built one the basis of transistors lasers are successfully used in technology. 5. The lead-acid battery employs a low-voltage constant potential charging arrangement, the lamps being connected in parallel. 6. The charge of the electron being determined, it was easy to calculate its mass. 7. The main advantage of this instrument over the moving coil type instrument is that it is capable of measuring both alternating current and direct current. 8. Obtaining new data on the device sensitivity will be of great help for designers. 9. The new building housing the laboratory will be located at some distance from the main building of the plant. 10. The specific heat solid elements known, the approximate atomic weight can be easily calculated.
V. Translate the following sentences, paying attention to for.
1. In its way the camera can be even more deceptive than a drawing, forthe good architectural photographer can make beautiful photographs of the ugliest structures. 2. A separate consideration of individual elements is in a very real sense artificial, foreach element occurs in a building only forsome definite purpose and gains both its practical and its aesthetic meaning from its relation to other elements. 3. Probably a majority of the houses to be built in the near future time, will be designed forrental or sale. Forthis it is impossible to make so striking a functional analysis as in the case of a house designed forone particular family. 4. If such loads exist, their effect should be carefully studied and provided for.5. Formethods of computing reactions, see chapter on "Reactions".
VI. Define the function forand translate the sentences into Russian.
1. Under these circumstances, it may be shown that maximum efficiency occurs at the load forwhich the constant and variable losses are equal. 2. An ammeter is an instrument formeasuring current. 3. If the cylinder is small the flow of water may be decreased, for the cylinder and piston will have insufficient capacity for high flow. 4. However, for special purposes heat, light and sound are very useful, sources of energy, too. 5. Fora period the worker will not work in radioactive areas and doctors will make periodic checks of his physical condition to make certain that he is not harbouring radioactive substances in his body. 6. Some of the atoms in your bones are exploding at all times, for minute of phosphorus in your bones.
VII. Translate the following sentences, paying attention to the function of the Gerund, Participle and Verbal Noun.
1. Studying science is meaningless without facilities for experimental work. 2. Students are given practical training at the factories. 3. Having graduated from the Institute they work as engineers in many countries of the world. 4. We know of his having graduated from Moscow University.
VIII. Translate the text into Russian in written form.
SOLAR ENERGY
Our Sun, although it is not the largest star in our universe, is a gigantic body. If we make a non-stop flight around it in an airplane at a speed of about 300 km per hour, it will require 565 days to go around it at the equator. The diameter of the Sun is 1,391,000 km, that is, 19 times that of the Earth. The Sun has a surface temperature of about 6,000 °C.
Modern research into the atom indicated that under certain conditions the matter itself may be transformed into energy. It is now thought that the sources of the sun’s energy result from nuclear fissions and is practically unlimited.
Man has used and is still using solar energy through photosynthesis as one of his sources of heat and power. Another way to use solar energy is in the solar, machines; still another is the use of solar heat for cooking and house heating. The future will undoubtedly bring us a lot of new applications of solar energy.
LEXICAL EXERCISES
IX. Translate into Russian, pay attention to the attribute word combinations.
1. The coal miningindustry is one of leading branches of the national economy in the country. 2. Underground hydraulicmining is used at some mines. 3. The conventional longwallmethod is applicable to the seams of all inclinations. 4. Longwall advancingand longwall retreatingworkings are the two main miningmethods employed at our coal mine. 5. Room-and-pillarworking is greatly favoured in the United States of America.
X. State the attribute word combinations and translate the sentences into Russian.
1. Accepted air conditioning practice is expressed this in term of the amount of water vapor per pound of dry air. 2. An automatic batching and mixing plant was used at the site. 3. Where local aggregates are poor a great deal of preliminary test-cube making may be necessary before a final choice of mixture is made. 4. The design of combined waste-water disposal systems was allied to the growth of capital cities.
XI. Form the Nouns using the following suffixes and translate them.
-ment:to arrange, to improve, to move, to achieve, to require, to measure
-ance:to appear, to assist, to resist, to acquaint
-ence:to exist, to depend, to differ, to insist
-ing: to mean, to begin, to broadcast, to build, to draw, to coat
-ness: tough, bright, thick, cold, exact, hard, effective
-ity: intens(e), activ(e), resistiv(e), equal, elastic, electric
-age: to break, to pass, to use, volt
-er:to view, to listen, to fight, to dream, to found, to driv(e), to boil, to burn, to contain, to convert, to condens(e)
-or: to direct, to act, to creat(e), to inspect, to investigat(e), to resist, to conduct, to compress, to react, to accelerate, to ventilat(e)
-ion:to attract, to reflect, to dicuss, to express, to indicat(e), to insulat(e)
-ation:to inform, to consider, to found, to combin(e), to examin(e), to continu(e)
-sion:to conver(t), to divi(de), to explod(e), to deci(de), to conclud(e)
XII. Translate into Russian.
celestial, million, cosmic, fragment of rock, centre of gravity, special shape, a constant, telescope, lecture, astrobiology, ammonia gas, optical instruments, the famous Martian Canals, brilliant, scientific forum, visit, meteorites, comet, idea, fantasy, civilized communities, absolute, climate, climatic, conditions
XIII. Find synonyms of the following words.
Pattern:a shape — a form
| 1. a terminal | 1. real |
| 2. permanent | 2. quickly |
| 3. to make smb. do | З. а rау |
| 4. a beam | 4. to break |
| 5. to guide | 5. a contact |
| 6. rapidly | 6. constant |
| 7. a shape | 7. to force smb. do |
| 8. to hold | 8. a form |
| 9. actual. | 9. to keep |
| 10. to disturb | 10. to direct |
GRAMMAR REFERENCES