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Text 3

Dr Cameron Porter advises companies on future trends so that they can keep up with the fast changing world of hardware development.
Interviewer:
Dr Porter: Computers are breaking out of the study and the office. The boring grey box is changing into a fashion item that you can display in your sitting room. Computers are becoming media machines. Far fewer people use their computers for programming than use them to play music, watch films and play games. This trend will increase yet further in the coming years - computers will be a central part of everyone's life, yet they will become much less obvious.

Interviewer:
Dr Porter: Well, let me give you an example. Look behind your computer at home or in the office. Its probable that there is a terrible tangle of wires there. Well, for a living room or a portable device, this is not acceptable. The trend toward wireless is accelerating. Soon all computers and all the parts of a computer will communicate in this way. This means that the computer and its parts will become more separate. You might have a screen in your lounge and another in your bedroom, but the computer transmitting the image will be hidden away under the stairs.

Interviewer:
Dr Porter: Yes, but that was just an example. As the internet becomes a part of everyday life we will never be out of touch with our data. You will be able to call your favourite songs from your home computer even while you are on a beach on the other side of the world, and chat to your friends as if they were on the deckchair next to you. And this will be done with small devices that do their job so well that we take them for granted, as we do with wrist watches today. Doing your computing while tied to a grey box is becoming a thing of the past.

Interviewer:
Dr Porter: It's happening already. The computer is breaking into its different parts. Devices such as wireless USB will mean that you can tell a device, for example a DVD player, to talk to your computer and the computer will automatically take the data and send it to the part of the house where you want to watch it on your extra-wide screen. Screen, DVD player and computer no longer have to be next to each other. Hard disks are now small enough to carry in a pocket so you can see your personal data on any computer anywhere.

Interviewer:
Dr Porter: The future is in invisible computing. You won't think that you are using a computer. You will just expect to be able to talk to anyone from anywhere, and read your mail and listen to your music and favourite TV shows anywhere and anytime as well. And you will also be able to write, compose, sculpt and explore imaginary worlds. It will be wonderful if we do it right - but if we make the wrong decisions today the future could become a nightmare.
1. In the discussion above, the interviewer's questions have been removed and placed at the bottom of the text. Put the number of each question next to the box in the text where it belongs.

• 
  Can you explain what you mean by that?
  
• 
  So what will replace this?
  
• 
  We have to leave it there, so can you quickly sum up what you have told us?
  
• 
  Dr. Porter what do you think will the most important development in computer hardware in the near future?
  
• 
  So you believe that the future computer will be wire-free?
  

2. After you have read the text, decide if the statements below are true or false.

1. Dr Porter has a company which is changing the world of hardware development	T F
2. It has now become fashionable to have a grey box in the living room.	T F
3. Dr Porter believes that wired connections will mostly disappear from home computers.	T F
4. While use of computers will increase, the computers themselves will fade into the background.	T F
5. Soon Dr Porter will be able to see your personal data on any computer anywhere.	T F
6. What we decide about the use of hardware development today will affect how society works in the future.	T F

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Text 4

1. What is considered to be the first computer was made in 1944 by Harvard Professor Howard Aiken. The Mark I computer was very much like the design of Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, having mainly mechanical parts but with some electronic parts. His machine was designed to be programmed to do many computing jobs. This all-purpose machine is what we now know as the PC or personal computer. The Mark I was the first computer financed by IBM and was about 50 feet long and 8 feet tall. It used mechanical switches to open and close its electric circuits. It contained over 500 miles of wire and 750,000 parts.

2. The first all electronic computer was the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer). ENIAC was a general purpose digital computer built in 1946 by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly. The ENIAC contained over 18,000 vacuum tubes (used instead of the mechanical switches of the Mark I) and was 1000 times faster than the Mark I. In twenty seconds, ENIAC could do a math problem that would have taken 40 hours for one person to finish. The ENIAC was built at the time of World War II and as its first job had to calculate the feasibility of a design for the hydrogen bomb. The ENIAC was 100 feet long and 10 feet tall.

3. A more modern type of computer began with John von Neumann’s development of software written in binary code. It was von Neumann who began the practice of storing data and instructions in binary code and initiated the use of memory to store data, as well as programs. A computer called the EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Computer) was built using binary code in 1950. Before the EDVAC, computers like the ENIAC could do only one task; then they had to be rewired to perform a different task or program. The EDVAC’s concept of storing different programs on punched cards instead of rewiring computers led to the computers that we know today.

4. While the modern computer is far better and faster than the EDVAC of its time, computers of today would not have been possible without the knowledge and work of many great inventors and pioneers.

1. Определите, является ли утверждение:
1. What is considered to be the first computer was faster than Babbage’s Analytical Engine.

1. 
   в тексте нет информации
   
2. 
   истинным
   
3. 
   ложным
   

2. Babbage was the first to store data in binary code.

1. 
   в тексте нет информации
   
2. 
   истинным
   
3. 
   ложным
   

3. Charles Babbage built a machine to help him store the answers to different problems, and print them on paper.

1. 
   в тексте нет информации
   
2. 
   истинным
   
3. 
   ложным
   

4. EDVAC could perform several tasks.

1. 
   в тексте нет информации
   
2. 
   истинным
   
3. 
   ложным
   

5. Mark I - electric powered, used mechanical switches to open or close electrical circuits.

1. 
   в тексте нет информации
   
2. 
   истинным
   
3. 
   ложным
   

2. Укажите, какой из абзацев текста (1, 2, 3, 4) содержит следующую информацию:
1. Machines like that could perform only one task or program.

1) 2 2) 1 3) 2 4) 3
2. The computer, that had mainly mechanical parts, was developed to be programmed to do many computer-related tasks.

1) 4 2) 1 3) 2 4) 3
3. Some years later a machine that used binary code was developed.

1) 4 2) 1 3) 2 4) 3
3. Определите, является ли утверждение:

“The Harvard Mark I and the ENIAC are both historical computers that have meant a great deal to the developement in the computer field”

1. 
   в тексте нет информации
   
2. 
   истинным
   
3. 
   ложным
   

4. Ответьте на вопрос:

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What were the differences between the Mark I and the ENIAC?

1. 
   The processing speed
   
2. 
   The size
   
3. 
   Both
   
4. 
   Not stated
   

5. 
   Озаглавьте текст.
   

Text 5. Computer Games

1. Computer game has a long history, in which we can trace back its root from 1947, when Thomas T Goldsmith Jr and Estle Ray Mann designed the first game for playing on a cathode ray tube in US. During 1960s to 1970s, games developed were simple, primitive and mainly in two-dimension (2D). Many games, in particular of different types, were developed. Two of the most unforgettable examples are Space Invaders and Pac-Man. In 1980s, there was a major growth in computer game technologies. For hardware, a variety of personal computers and game consoles were developed. For software, three-dimensional (3D) games and network games were first developed. In addition, different forms of input and output devices were developed. These included color monitors, sound cards and various types of game pads. They offer game players better game feedbacks and greater flexibility in controlling game characters. In 1990s, games developed planted the seeds of today’s game development. Many classic game types, including first-person shooters (FPS), real-time strategy (RTS), daily life simulators and graphical multiplayer games, were developed during this period. Also, there was a trend for developing 3D games. Nowadays, many new games are developed based on these classic games. The major difference of the new games from the classic ones is that the new games are mainly in 3D.

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1. According to the passage, from which decade did the game developers turn their focus to 3D games?

1. a) 1970s b) 1980s c) 1990s d) 1940s

2. 2. Which one of the following statements is false?

3. a) Classic games developed in 1990s planted the seeds of today’s game development.

4. b) Development of different forms of input and output devices offers game

5. players greater flexibility in controlling game characters.

6. c) In 1990s, many classic game types were developed, but there was no effort to develop 3D games during this period.

7. d) Graphical multiplayer games are a type of classic games.

8. 3. In which decade did the computer game technologies improve significantly?

9. a) 1980s b) 1990s c) 1970s d) 1940s

4. According to the passage, primitive means ………

a) modern b) industrial c) unusable d) very basic

5. What are the advantages of developments in input and output devices for game players?

Text 6. How to Move Pictures from a Memory Card to a Laptop

1. Remove the memory card from your camera.

2. Insert the memory card into your laptop's PC card slot. If your laptop doesn't have a PC card slot, put the memory card into an external memory card reader, which you can plug into your computer. Most cameras come with a USB cable to connect them with a computer. You can move pictures from your camera's memory card to your laptop via the USB cable. This will be a bit slower than using a memory card reader. If you decide to use the USB cable you can leave your memory card in your camera. Your computer will recognize the memory card and the files on it.

3. Locate the destination folder where you want to store your pictures, in your laptop. This could be the My Pictures file or the Windows Live Photo Gallery.

4. Open the destination folder of your choice. A message will pop up saying that the device is connected, and asking what you want Windows to do.

5. Select Import pictures to my computer from the choices offered.

6. Select the pictures you want to transfer. Make sure the box under each picture you want to transfer has a check mark in it.

7. Name your pictures, when prompted to do so. Label them in some identifiable way, so you'll be able to find them when you want to look at them again.

You can transfer your pictures manually by dragging and dropping the image files in the PC card's folder to your computer's folder that you opened. Simply click on the picture you want to transfer and, while holding down the mouse button, move it and the mouse pointer to the folder you'd like to save it in.

Text 7. How to install a software program

The installation process for software depends on your OS and the program you are installing.

General Tips

1. Make sure your computer meets the system requirements of the program, game, or utility you are attempting to install.

2. The manual or the readme file contains exact instructions on how to install a program and are in the same directory as the installation files.

3. When installing a program, utility, or game, it is always a good idea first to close or disable any other programs that are running.

4. After installing a new program, if it prompts you to reboot the computer.

How to install from a Download

1. Download the program from the website providing the program.

2. Open the download folder.

3. If the file you downloaded is an executable file, double-click the file icon to start the setup process. If the downloaded file is compressed (e.g., .zip), you must extract the file’s contents before setup can begin. Fortunately, this function is build into most versions of Windows.

4. Once the files are extracted, double-click the setup to install.

How to install from a USB flash drive

1. Open Windows Explorer or My Computer and find the USB drive that is typically the last drive letter.

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