B) translate the words, mind the meaning of the suffixes.

 

summary

When preparing your summary you may use some of the following key-patterns where neces­sary.

The text (article, book) deals with... As the title implies the text describes... It is specially noted... The text gives valuable information on Much attention is given to … The article is of great help to... The text is of interest to... The text gives a detailed analysis of... It should be stressed that … it is a matter of concern to us all …

Этот текст касается... Согласно названию, в тексте описывается Особенно отмечается … Текст дает ценную информацию о … Большое внимание уделяется … Эта статья окажет большую помощь... Этот текст представляет инте­рес для... Текст дает подробный анализ Следует подчеркнуть, что… это дело большой важности для нас всех…

Read the text following the recording, then dis­cuss, render or translate it.

Text C Information Technology - IT

by Trevor Hamlett

‘I don't think I'm getting the best out of my computer. I switch it on, and I turn the brightness up full - and then I use it as a light!' (Harry Hill)

Computers store¹, arrange², organise³ and process⁴ information. The user of the computer does not really need to know how computers work, unless they are interested in these workings. All you need to know is how to operate the Front End.

THE FRONT END You have to know how to get information into the computer. You have to know how to get the computer to process that information in the way you want, and you have to know how to get the results out.

There are two main problems here. First, you depend on the designer of the computer and the software⁵ that runs it, for the security and safety of your information. Second, the design of the software may force you to work and think in clumsy⁶ or undesirable ways. There are some advantages to the standardization of software by the huge companies that dominate⁷ the market, but variety and flexibility is important. Monopolies⁸ should be resisted.

CHANGE? Are computer ma­chines just for doing what we did before, but doing it much much faster? Or are our lives be­ing changed by computers in a fundamental way?

People who are keen⁹ to promote and sell new tech­nology are predict­ing all sweetness and light. Others predict doom and gloom¹⁰. What seems certain is that the impact and potential of computers for better and for worse has been underes­timated by almost everybody.

For thousands of years we have recorded information in the best ways available.

Writing had a huge effect, but it was slower to spread than IT. It was more under control. Writing was a powerful form of communication. The people who used it were powerful. It is hard to believe that it became the hell¹¹ of bored office workers. The office worker is mostly used as a machine. Does the computer represent freedom from this?

FREEDOM? Strangely, IT has worked both ways at once. Microprocessors, which are at the heart of all computers, control everything from washing machines, to video players, to bank accounts, even the watch on wrist!

Twenty years ago, few people saw the vast computing and processing power that would be used in people's homes today. What people did predict was that the power of computers would free people from dull repetitive jobs. IT did. People are being freed from those dull¹² old tasks. In areas like banking, half or three quarters of the workers! are no longer needed. They are thrown out¹³! Technology is no better than the vision¹⁴ of the people who use it.

'IT’ AND WORKING FROM HOME In modern societies people often live a long way from their work. They COMMUTE¹⁵ and POLLUTE. They WASTE time, WASTE energy, WASTE lives. It is probably obvious to all, that this daily migration¹⁵ is not for the common good. The question is who will pay for change, and what change? There are consequences for people trying to work at home. Perhaps office facilities should be communally owned. Then people could work for their distant company from an office near their home. If companies spread out like this, will they exist anywhere? What will this mean? Where is Coca Cola? Everywhere and nowhere!

DATABASE versus INTERNET Knowledge is power. A database is a store of information. Comput­ers allow the storage, processing and cross-referencing of unthink­able amounts of information. Gov­ernment and large commercial in­terests build databases. They know where you shop, what you buy, your health record¹⁷, your finan­cial record, and they sell this infor­mation to other databases. Help!

The Internet was originally set up by the Americans as a world-wide network of automatically self-healing electronic pathways for military use. It is now available for anyone with a computer, a telephone, and, enough money to pay for the service. People can communicate on their computers throughout the world. Perhaps this will help to control the electronic oppression of people by their governments and big business. It seems that human nature does not change that much down the centuries. The way we express it does.

Like all new technologies, informa­tion technology has had large ef­fects on patterns of work. Some jobs go. Some new jobs are cre­ated. New words enter the lan­guage.

The question remains: are the changes caused by the rise of IT going to be just matters of scale¹⁸ or level of change, or are the changes going to be so fundamental and powerful that we will be living in a different world!

Nowadays, change happens fast. We cannot predict the world of one hundred years away. Even five years is difficult.

The excitement of the glittering lights of our machines may blind us to the possibility that our basic needs and desires are the same as they have always been. How we express these is a matter for the infinite resourcefulness¹⁹ and versatility²⁰ of the human mind.

*How many computer programmers does it take to change a lightbulb? 00000001.

i.27 Translate the explanations of the words used in Text C.

1. store: (here) keep somewhere. 2. arrange: (here) list. 3. organise: rearrange. 4. process:work on and use. 5. software: the internal instructions that control how a computer works. 6. clumsy: awkward, difficult. 7. dominate: rule and control. 8. monopoly: the only provider. 9. keen: eager. 10. doom and gloom: expression meaning disaster and depression.

11. hell: opposite of heaven. 12. dull: boring. 13. thrown out: sacked, lose their jobs. 14. vision: the power of imagination. 15. commute: regular travel to and from work. 16. migration: movement of people or animals. 17. record: here, list of facts for information. 18. scale:proportion. 19. resourcefulness: ability to invent. 20. versatility: flexibility.

 

DialoguesIV a) Answer the questions to make dialogues with your fellow student.

- 1. What are the functions of computers?

- What do you need to know to operate the computer?

- What will the computer Age be like from two existing points of view?

- What is your own opinion?

- For thousands of years we have recorded information in the best ways available.

- What is the role of microprocessor?

- Can it be regarded as blessing that the power of computers is freeing people from dull repetitive jobs?

- Do you see any other disadvantages of the process of global information industry?

- Do you think now daily migration of people to and from work can be eliminated with the help of computers?

- If so, what consequences will it have?

***

- 2. What is knowledge?

- What is a database?

- What was the Internet originally set up as?

- Who is it now available for? And what for?

- What influence has informa­tion technology got on work and life of people?

***

- 3. What do the terms store, arrange, organise and process mean?

- What does software mean?

- What does commute mean?

- What does the only provider mean?

- What is the synonym of awkward, difficult?

- What is the synonym of eager?

- What is the synonym of boring?

- What is the synonym of sacked/ lose their jobs?

- Say in one word: regular travel to and from work.

- How is the following expressed in the text: disaster and depression?

- What is opposite of heaven?

b) Your questions, please!

Do You Think We Are Getting the Best out of our Computers?

- … (Как работает компьютер, и что надо знать пользователю об этом)?

- Computers store, arrange, organise and process information. The user of the computer does not really need to know how computers work, unless they are interested in these workings. All you need to know is how to operate the Front End.

- … (что включает в себя понятие to operate the Front End)?

- You have to know how to get information into the computer. You have to know how to get the computer to process that information in the way you want, and you have to know how to get the results out.

- … (и это все)?

- There are two main problems here. First, you depend on the designer of the computer and the software that runs it, for the security and safety of your information. Second, the design of the software may force you to work and think in clumsy or undesirable ways.

- … (Значит, компьютеры предназначены, чтобы делать то, что мы делали раньше, только делать это гораздо быстрее? Или наша жизнь подвергнется фундаментальным изменениям?)

- People who are keen to promote and sell new tech­nology are predict­ing all sweetness and light. Others predict doom and gloom. What seems certain is that the impact and potential of computers for better and for worse has been underes­timated by almost everybody.

- (Давайте сравним прежние способы хранения информации с имеющимися в нашем распоряжении (available) сейчас).

- For thousands of years we have recorded information in the best ways available. Writing had a huge effect, but it was slower to spread than IT. It was more under control. Writing was a powerful form of communication. The people who used it were powerful. It is hard to believe that it became the hell of bored office workers. The office worker is mostly used as a machine.

- Освободит ли компьютер нас от этого?