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UNIT 8. LESSON 3

Read the text without a dictionary.

8B. THE AGE OF AUTOMATION

'Automation' has been, and still is, a greatly misused word, but its proper meaning, and therefore its implications, is gradually becoming better understood. Well, automation is a concept through which a machine system is operating with maximum efficiency by means of adequate measurements, observation, and control of its behaviour. It involves a detailed and continuous knowledge of the functioning of the system, so that the best corrective actions can be applied immediately when they become necessary.

Automation in this true sense is brought about only through exploitation of its three main elements, communication, computation, and control - the three 'Cs'.

Provided with the assistance of a computer the managers are free to concentrate on making policy decisions and on changing the decision of the computer if they feel the operation does not really make the best sense. Without automation, the manager would have to spend his time making a series of decisions on the basis of very limited information and a great deal of experience. The computer-aided manager is in a completely different position. Before he gets it, and even before he needs it, the information is processed, all actions which can be decided by the machine already taken, giving him the important facts in a clear-cut form, so that he may sometimes be faced with one, two, or three basic choices. He still has to make his selection of these choices, but he knows what the choices are, and he knows the consequences of his choices in advance, because the computer allows him to test them. Before he makes his final decision, he will probably ask the computer a question: 'If I decide to do this instead of that, what will consequences be?' And he may then find, from the answer the computer gives him, that he has to refer the problem to his superior for a final decision.

Mention should be made that automation does not in the least replace human decisions on important problems. It makes sure that the people who have to make these decisions have adequate pre-digested information to work on. It is not a question of machines replacing men: it is largely a question of extending men's abilities by machines so that in fact they become better, more competent men. If you want to see across the ocean, you must use radar. You cannot see across the ocean with a telescope: you have to use the most adequate tools for your purpose; the further you want to see, the more complex your tools have to be. In the same way, if you want someone thousands miles away to hear you, you do not use a megaphone: you have to use

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telecommunications.

Automation which is one of the main factors of technical progress today is impossible without electricity.

Our life can't be imagined without telephone, telegraph and radio communications. But it is also electricity that gives them life. In recent years electricity has made a great contribution to radio communication between the spaceships and also between the astronauts and the earth. Nearly all of the measuring devices used in developing the newest branches of science are electrically operated.

COMPREHENSION TEST

I.Put in the missed word.

1.Automation is a greatly ... word. (misused, misunderstood)

2.An automatic machine system ... with maximum efficiency. (controls, operates)

3.The three main 'Cs' are - communication, ... and control. (computation, correction)

4.Without automation, the manager would have to ... his time making decisions. (spend, save)

5.The computer-aided manager may be ... with a few main choices. (faced, headed)

6.The computers ... the manager to test choices. (allow, give)

7.The computer-aided manager can ... the machine questions. (answer, ask)

8.Automation does not ... in human decision on important problems. (take place, take part)

9.If you want to see across the ocean you must use ... . (telescope, radar)

10.If you want to be heard in a thousand miles away you have to use ... .

(megaphone, telephone)

11.It is electricity that gives life to ... . (spaceship, radio)

II.Find the answers to the following questions:

1.What word is still 'automation'?

2.What does automation involve?

3.What would the manager have to do without automation?

4.What are the three main elements of automation?

5.Through what is automation brought about?

6.May the computer-aided manager sometimes be faced with several choices?

7.Will automation replace men or not?

8.In what position is the computer-aided manager?

9.What question will he probably ask the computer before he makes his final decision?

10.What is the result of using automation?

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Translate the text into English. Entitle the text.

			TEXT 8C
Некоторые первые станки были настолько					автоматизированы, что			их
операторам	оставалась	лишь	квалифицированная		работа	по	установке
обслуживанию	этих	станков. Позднее		бремя	погрузки, разгрузки			и
транспортировки между станками было полностью снято.
Наилучший	пример	высокоавтоматизированного			оборудованияэто
транспортировочная линия, состоящая из серии станков, выполняющих одну
операцию автоматически.
Первоначально автоматизация			обозначала	любое улучшение		в	управлении

какой-либо деятельностью или процессом автоматическими средствами. Автоматизация имеет множество сторон. Она включает в себя механизацию

процессов, а также автоматическое управление процессами и оборудованием.

8D. ELECTRONICS AND TECHNICAL PROGRESS

Large-scale application of electronic technique is a trend of technical progress capable of revolutionizing many branches of industry.

Electronics is a science that studies the properties of electrons, the laws of their motion, the laws of the transformation of various kinds of energy through the media of electrons.

At present it is difficult to enumerate all branches of science and technology which are based on electronic technique. Without radio electronics we would not have cybernetics, cosmonautics and nuclear physics. It is no mistake, therefore, to compare the birth of electronics to such great achievements of mankind as the discovery of fire, the use of the wheel, and the penetration into the secrets of the atom.

Electronics makes it possible to raise industrial automation to a higher level, to prepare conditions for the future technical equipping of the national economy. It is expected to revolutionize the system of control over mechanisms and production processes. The use of electronic and cybernetic machines led to radical changes in the management of big economic organizations, large plants, and so on. Electronics greatly helps to conduct fundamental research in nuclear physics, in the study of the nature of matter, and in the realization of controlled thermonuclear reactions. Electronic telescopes are used by astronomers to penetrate far into the unknown regions of the universe. An even greater role is being played by electronics in the development of the chemical industry.

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Electronics includes many independent branches. The main among them are vacuum, semiconductor, molecular and quantum electronics.

It is hard to overestimate the role of radio electronics in technical progress and in the life of modern society in general. In our time achievements in this branch are associated with the utilization of crystals, among them semiconductor crystals. More attention was given to the study of thin film properties. The use of film elements promised a new and even greater progress in radio electronics, computer engineering and automation.

I. Translate the text using the dictionary.

II. Give the main idea in 2-3 sentences.

III. Make up a short plan of the text.

LISTENING COMPREHENSION. TEXT 8E

Listen to the text and choose the right word.

1.The invention of electronic devices has enlarged the application of energy for various/serious industrial purposes.

2.Electronics has become a new important stage in the development /dependence of electrical engineering as a whole.

3.Electronic devices made it possible/positive to solve the problem of obtaining high frequency currents.

4.In the beginning of the computer era, electron tubes were the dominant/prominent devices in the electronic field.

I.Give the main idea of the text.

II. Render the text into Russian.

III. Retell the text.