Make up situations using the English equivalents of the words given above. 32. Find in the text the right words to complete the sentences:

32. Find in the text the right words to complete the sentences:

1. If you’ve ever taken the case off of a computer, you’ve seen the one piece of equipment that ties everything together — the ___.

2. A motherboard allows all the parts of your computer ___ power and ___ with one another.

3. The motherboard’s main job is to hold the computer’s ___ ___ and let everything else connect to it.

4. The shape and layout of a motherboard is called the ___ factor.

5. There are several specific form factors that most PC motherboards use so that they can all ___ in standard cases.

6. The CPU is the first thing that comes to mind when many people think about a computer’s ___ and performance.

7. The faster the processor, the ___ the computer can think.

8. The chipset is the «glue» that connects the microprocessor to the rest of the motherboard and therefore to the rest of the ___.

9. Chipset selection and CPU selection go hand-in-hand, because manufacturers optimize ___ to work with specific CPUs.

10. The chipset is an ___ part of the motherboard, so it cannot be removed or upgraded.

33. Work in pairs and decide whether these statements are true or false:

1. A motherboard does not allow all the parts of your computer to receive power and communicate with one another.

2. The first IBM PC motherboard had only a processor and card slots.

3. Today, motherboards typically boast a wide variety of built-in features, and they directly affect a computer’s capabilities and potential for upgrades.

4. The motherboard’ main job is to load the computer.

5. The Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) chip controls the most basic functions of the computer but never performs a self-test every time you turn it on.

6. Some systems feature dual BIOS, which provides a backup in case one fails or in case of error during updating.

7. The chipset is the «glue» that connects the microprocessor to the rest of the motherboard and therefore to the rest of the computer.

34. Render the following text into Russian and think of a suitable title for it:

The smart card — a piece of plastic with a computer chip on its face — is becoming entrenched in the United States with uses from defense and health care to retailing and transportation. It looks and acts like your average bank card, but it knows a lot more about you than you may think. The cards have replaced food stamps and meal tickets for students in college. Marines and peanut farmers are whipping them out for boot polish and crop reports.

For businesses, the card is a shortcut to valuable market research. With your card in its computer, a company could learn your ZIP code, shoe size, what magazines you subscribe to, or the date of your sporty sedan's last oil change, and respond accordingly. Already, the Vision marketing system for supermarkets is tailoring coupons to U.S. shoppers who use smart cards. Customers insert their Vision cards into computers at the checkout line. Then the card tracks purchases and supplies the customer with product coupons, allowing the store to collect marketing data and pitch its products more effectively.

New computerized systems are being implemented for drivers’ licenses. Instead of the cumbersome Polaroids, the new system will use a special camera that will store the photographic image that is on the card on a computer instead. Weight, eye colour, and signature will be stored on a magnetic strip on the card as well as to a computer data base. Copies will be shared with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), giving agents quick access to photographs of suspects and victims.

The KBI will share copies with other law enforcement agencies. Smart card acceptance in the U.S. has skyrocketed in recent years. The U.S. State Department is switching over to new passports that will be fitted with chips using radio frequency identification technology (RFID). Reader devices at borders and customs checkpoints will be able to read the information stored on the chip, including the person’s name, address and digital photo. To increase use, card makers are forming alliances with companies that are closer to consumers. Micro Card Technologies Inc. supplies cards to Copicard Inc., which worked with the University of Calgary to convert student and staff IDs to smart cards and is doing the same at several U.S. colleges.

The average American who has a dozen pieces of plastic in their pocket probably doesn’t even know what a smart card is», said Nicolas Samaras, a technology analyst at Dataquest Inc. in San Jose, California. Unlike today’s financial cards, the smart card doesn’t need a magnetic stripe on the back. Instead, it’s equipped with a wiry silicon chip, often displayed at left center but sometimes hidden in the plastic. (Smart cards may also have embossed account numbers, holograms, graphics and photos on the front or back. Like a bank card, the smart card is slipped into a computer. Then the owner enters a four — or five-digit ID number and uses the card to make purchases, convey information, or both.

The card can hold three pages worth of typewritten data, compared to one line of type for a magnetic-stripe card. That means several accounts could be loaded onto one smart card. For example, the same card that checks out library books and buys clothes on credit could give an emergency-room clerk a patient's blood type insurance data and doctor's name. Each account would have a separate ID (identification card - удостоверение личности) number, so the librarian couldn't see your blood type.

35. Fill in the gaps with the words from the box:

The U.S. government plans to use smart cards 1 ___ food stamps and reduce fraud. A national Electronic Benefits transfer system (EBT) will reduce «waste, fraud and abuse, » and cut red tape. With EBT there will be an 2 ___ audit trail for every transaction, making fraud much easier to detect and prosecute.

One concern about the smart card is 3 ___. Even though manufacturers are confident that accounts on the same card would remain separate, some are still unsettled that so much personal 4 ___ could be stored on one little computer chip. What if the librarian could look up someone’s doctor bills?

Could using smart cards as national IDs give the government more 5 ___ over citizens at employment agencies or highway checkpoints? What if the government denied a job or benefits to someone based on personal tidbits gleaned from the card? Manufacturers are optimistic that 6 ___ will warm up to smart cards as they become more prevalent because it looks and feels like a credit card and people already know how to use it.

Check your answers on p. 280.

Consult the TEXTS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING and complete the information about computer and computer technology (Texts 32, 33) and about the informational environment in the sphere of education of Russia (Text 34). Be ready to discuss the information you have read.

37. Read the text to learn about the educational purposes of computer use in Russia:

Text 9 D

The Educational Purposes of Computer Use in Russia

The computer has become an integral part of modern everyday life. The computer has settled comfortably down in its many spheres. While the computer remained an expensive and thus not a fully accessible artifact to the mass consumer, it couldn’t spread broadly in those spheres of human knowledge where complicated calculation was not a vital necessity. But as the computer became very accessible, the sphere of its use significantly widened. With the rapidly developing possibility to store not only texts but graphic information as well, it is now possible to convert a tremendous quantity of pictures and copies of unique documents which were, in former times, inaccessible for most researchers.

Additionally computer technologies permit us to structure the information and to provide easy and free access. Rationally structured easily accessible databases in their turn much increase the possibilities for many people. Most of the higher schools in Moscow, e.g. Moscow State University have their own computer nets which allow the students to get information and to publish their scholarly research as well as to exchange ideas with that additional important element which the computer provides us — the Internet. Of course due to the well-known limitations of the financial capacities of the country in general and of the sciences in particular, the Internet development in Russia is still limited. But the process is going on.

It is not impossible to note an additional sphere in which the computer is being used in Russia. As is true throughout the world, the ability of multimedia to educate and entertain schoolchildren and students is important. In simple and, which is important, easily memorizable form, we can visualize on the monitor with the help of advanced multimedia technologies the whole process of the development of mankind and its separate stages accompanied by fascinating pictures and intelligible texts.

In addition, the use of the computer will become even more important because it allows us to accustom children and young people to the world of knowledge in forms which are very comfortable to them and yet provide programmes with important content.

There are many original Russian multimedia programmes, from games to popular encyclopedias dedicated to significant educational themes. So, as it was mentioned above, it is impossible to recount in detail all spheres of the educational purposes of computer use in Russia.

TEXT AND VOCABULARY EXERCISES

38 Work in pairs, think of some questions to review the contents of the text and ask each other. Use the word combinations below:

39. Find in the text the words or phrases which mean the same as:

40. Read the above text once more. In pairs, discuss the statements below. Say what you think about them and ask your partner if he/she agrees or disagrees with you. Use the following phrases to help you:

1. The computer has become an integral part of modern everyday life.

2. While the computer remained an expensive and thus not a fully accessible artifact to the mass consumer, it couldn’t spread broadly in those spheres of human knowledge where complicated calculation was not a vital necessity.

3. The only possibility of computer is to store only texts but not graphic information.

4. Rationally structured easily accessible databases increase the possibilities for people.

5. The ability of multimedia to educate and entertain schoolchildren and students is not important at all.

6. The use of the computer will become even more important because it allows us to accustom children and young people to the world of knowledge in forms which are very comfortable to them and yet provide programmes with important content.

7. There are no original Russian multimedia programmes, different games and popular encyclopedias dedicated to significant educational themes.

41. Render Text 9D using the expressions below:

§ The aim of this text is to …

§ It is based on …

§ This text is intended to …

§ This text describes …

§ According to …

§ In the words of …

§ In general / On the whole / In the main

§ To sum up / To summarize / On balance / In short

42. Render the following text into English:

Компьютер — машина для проведения вычислений, а также приёма, переработки, хранения и выдачи информации по определённому алгоритму (компьютерной программе). На заре эры компьютеров считалось, что основная функция компьютера — вычисление. Однако в настоящее время полагают, что основная их функция — управление. Слово компьютер является производным от английских слов to compute, computer, которые переводятся как «вычислять», «вычислитель» (английское слово, в свою очередь, происходит от латинского computo — «вычисляю»).

Первоначально в английском языке это слово означало человека, производящего арифметические вычисления с привлечением или без привлечения механических устройств. В дальнейшем его значение было перенесено на сами машины, однако современные компьютеры выполняют множество задач, не связанных напрямую с математикой.

Впервые трактовка слова компьютер появилась в 1897 году в Оксфордском английском словаре. Его составители тогда понимали компьютер как механическое вычислительное устройство.

Первые компьютеры создавались исключительно для вычислений. Даже самые примитивные компьютеры в этой области во много раз превосходят людей. Не случайно первым высокоуровневым языком программирования был Фортран, предназначенный исключительно для выполнения расчётов.

Вторым крупным применением были базы данных. Прежде всего, они были нужны правительствам и банкам. Базы данных требуют уже более сложных компьютеров с развитыми системами ввода-вывода и хранения информации. Для этих целей был разработан язык Кобол. Позже появились базы данных со своими собственными языками программирования.

Третьим применением было управление всевозможными устройствами. Здесь развитие шло от узкоспециализированных устройств (часто аналоговых) к постепенному внедрению стандартных компьютерных систем, на которых запускаются управляющие программы. Кроме того, всё большая часть техники начинает включать в себя управляющий компьютер.

Наконец, компьютеры развились настолько, что стали главным информационным инструментом, как в офисе, так и дома. Почти любая работа с информацией осуществляется через компьютер — будь то набор текста или просмотр фильмов. Это относится и к хранению информации, и к её пересылке по каналам связи.

Наиболее сложным и слаборазвитым применением компьютеров является искусственный интеллект — применение компьютеров для решения таких задач, где нет чётко определённого простого алгоритма. Примеры таких задач — игры, машинный перевод текста, экспертные системы.