Text c. Gottfried wilhelm leibniz (1646–1716)

Leibniz was a polymath almost without peer. He was a mathematician, jurist, historian, scientist, diplomat, poet, inventor, and courtier. His father was a professor of philosophy at Leipzig University, but Leibniz turned down an academic career. He entered into the employ of Baron Boineburg in Frankfurt, while also continuing his study in the law and pursuing his interest in physics, especially of motion.

Just a few years after Pascal, the German Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (co-inventor with Newton of calculus) managed to build a four-function (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) calculator that he called the stepped reckoner because, instead of gears, it employed fluted drums having ten flutes arranged around their circumference in a stair-step fashion. Although the stepped reckoner employed the decimal number system (each drum had 10 flutes), Leibniz was the first to advocate use of the binary number system which is fundamental to the operation of modern computers. Leibniz is considered one of the greatest of the philosophers but he died poor and alone.

Exercise 18. Answer the following questions.

1. What was Leibniz? 2. Did he follow his father’s footsteps in his career? 3. What was stepped reckoner? How did it work? 4. Who were Lebniz’s co-inventors of this kind of calculator?

Exercise 19. Prove that Leibnitz was a polymath.

Exercise 20. Make all types of questions to the following sentence.

His father was a professor of philosophy at Leipzig University, but Leibniz turned down an academic career.

Exercise 21. Translate from Russian into English.

a) эрудит, отвергать, движение, двоичная система, десятичная система, основной, современный компьютер;

b) Лейбниц отказался от карьеры ученого.

Несколько лет спустя Лейбницу и Паскалю удалось создать калькулятор, выполняющий четыре функции: сложение, вычитание, умножение и деление.

Лейбниц выступал сторонником двоичной системы, которая является основой работы современных компьютеров.

Лейбниц считается одним из выдающихся философов, но умер он в бедности и одиночестве.

Exercise 22. a) Fill in the gaps, read and translate the text.

b) Give a summary of the text.

Text d. Joseph marie jacquard (1752-1834)

 According to Wikipedia Joseph Marie Jacquard 1. ______ at Lyon, France 2._______ the 7th of July 1752. On the death of his father, who was a working weaver, he inherited two looms, with which Joseph Marie Jacquard started business on his own account. Joseph Marie Jacquard did not, however, prosper, and was at last forced to become a limeburner at Bresse, while his wife supported 3. ______ at Lyon by plaiting straw.

After some years Joseph Marie Jacquard again returned to Lyon. There Joseph Marie Jacquard was employed in 4. _____ factory, and use his spare time in constructing his improved loom, of which he had conceived the idea several years 5. _________.

6._____ 1801, French silk weaver Joseph Marie Jacquard invented the Jacquard Loom that weaved complex designs. Jacquard invented a way of automatically controlling the warp and weft threads on a silk loom by recording patterns of holes in a string of cards. Jacquard exhibited his 7. ________ at the industrial exhibition at Paris.

Joseph Marie Jacquard's invention was fiercely opposed by the silk-weavers, who feared that 8. ________ introduction, owing to the saving of labor, would deprive them of their livelihood. However, its advantages secured its general adoption, and by 1812 there were 11,000 looms 9. _______ in France. The loom was declared public property in 1806, and Jacquard 10. __________ with a pension and a royalty on each machine.

Joseph Marie Jacquard died at Oullins (Rhóne) on the 7th of August 1834, and six years later a statue was erected to him at Lyon.

The Jacquard cards were later modified and evolved into 11. _________ punch cards by Charles Babbage and 12. _____ Herman Hollerith.

1. a) bore b) to be born c) was born d) bear

2. a) on b) in c) at d) after

3. a) she b) itself c) hers d) herself

4. a) a b) an c) the d) –

5. a) previous b) previously c) before d) earlier

6. a) At b) On c) By d) In

7. a) invent b) inventing c) invented d) invention

8. a) it b) her c) itself d) its

9. a) in order b) in use c) on use d) using

10. a) reward b) rewarding c) was rewarded d) to reward

11. a) computing b) computer c) computation d) computerize

12. a) later b) late c) last d) after

Exercise 23. Read and translate the text.