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UNIT 1. LESSON 3

Read the text without a dictionary.

TEXT 1B. MINIATURIZATION

Microelectronics is the branch of electronics which is concerned with the design, production and application of electronic components, circuits and devices of extremely small dimensions. It also includes the technique of putting large numbers of electronic elements on silicon chips when making electronic devices. Many of the technical achievements of the past decades are due to microelectronics.

Making the device small or smaller than small has several advantages.

Weight. Take a modern plane, for example. It carries a lot of electronic apparatus. If it is possible to make any of these smaller and therefore lighter, the plane can carry a heavier load. This is also applied to space satellites, spaceships, and all kinds of computers. Sometimes weight is particularly important. But weight is not the only factor.

Speed. There are several advantages in making, say, computers as small as one can. The smaller the computer, the faster it can work. The signals go to and fro (back and forth) at a very high but almost constant speed. So if one can scale down all dimensions to, let us say, one-tenth, the average length of the current-paths will be reduced to onetenth. So very roughly speaking, the decreasing all the linear dimensions in the ratio of one to ten gives a valuable advantage: the speed of operation is scaled up 10 times.

The increase in operational speed is a real advantage. There are some situations which require very fast reply time. For example, the automatic blind landing of aircraft requires continuous computer calculations which result in control of the aircraft flight. The more immediate the responses are, the more stable that control can be.

Less power is required. Another advantage is that less power is required to run the computer. In space satellites and spaceships this is an important factor but even in an ordinary situation we need not waste power. Sometimes a computer took so much power that cooling systems which required still more power had to be installed to keep the computer from getting too hot, which increased the risk of faults (failures) developing. So a computer which did not need to be cooled saved power.

Reliability. Another advantage is reliability. Minicomputers and all sorts of microelectronic devices have been made possible because of the development of microelectronics.

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It is hard to see how space programmes could have been accomplished without the smallness (compactness), lightness and high reliability of electronic devices on board a spaceship. All the systems of electronic devices on board the cosmic stations and orbital laboratories have proved to be highly reliable. They help astronauts carry out different scientific experiments, among them a number of experiments with semiconductor crystals which are so essential for microelectronics.

Satellites are now intricate (complex) cybernetic apparatus with their own computer systems. At the same time they are much smaller than before, with all their systems having been microminiaturized.

COMPREHENSION TEST

I.Say whether the following statements are true or false.

1.Microelectronics is the branch of electronics.

2.Microelectronics is used for modern technology.

3.Small size of equipment has some advantages.

4.Weight is not important in the modern world.

5.Small computers work faster than large ones.

6.Modern computers require much power.

7.Cooling systems of old computers were very effective.

8.Reliability is an important advantage of minicomputers.

9.Electronic devices on board a spaceship must be compact, light and reliable.

10.Astronauts carry out scientific research with the help of computers.

II.Find the answers to the following questions.

1.What is the field of microelectronics study?

2.Where is the weight of a device very important?

3.Why is the size of a computer important for its working speed?

4.Where is the operational speed needed?

5.What kind of machines were first computers?

6.Where are small and light electronic devices most important?

7.What kind of experiments do astronauts perform?

8.What are the modern satellites?

9.How are satellites controlled?

10.What are the main advantages of miniaturization?

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Translate the text into English. Entitle the text.

TEXT 1C

Компьютер - это автоматический прибор. Он способен выполнять вычисления без вмешательства человека. Компьютер - это часть системы вместе с другими приборами, программами, операторами и процедурами. Операции, выполняемые компьютером, называются обработкой данных.

Компьютер - это прибор, который может выполнять математическую работу. Он может складывать, вычитать и выполнять другие арифметические операции.

Сердце компьютера - это микросхемы. Человек дает инструкции компьютеру. Этот процесс называется программированием.

Компьютеры используются в промышленности и научно-исследовательской работе. Компьютер - это сложное электронное устройство.

TEXT 1D. MODERN WORLD OF SCIENCE

Our epoch is an epoch of scientific and technological revolution when new ideas are being born and new discoveries and inventions are being made at an ever increasing rate. Man has entered space and reached out to the Moon, Venus and Mars; he has created complex cybernetic machines, and made computers work for him. Scientists have developed modern automatic production lines, initiated microminiaturization technology, and produced new types of computers.

Our present activities range from the very basic to the very practical, and include research programmes in advanced automation, communication systems, computer-aided design, human-computer interaction, information science systems, systems and control, man-machine systems, studies of the computer environment.

The most critical need today is not the addition of instrumentation to existing processing and manufacturing machines. Automation must be considered as an inseparable part of general improvement programmes and advances in process technology. Automation, properly coordinated with other phases of technology, can substantially contribute to high productive efficiency.

The future paths for automation are various, and it's difficult to say what the main ones are. It may be the perfection of the highly mechanized material handling systems, the improvement of the self-corrective automatic control technique, commonly referred to as "feedback", the automation of production operations, information handling, and data processing. The work on the problem of automation in the research process is being held.

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Computer technology plays a most important role in the progress of science. Computers have considerably multiplied the range of complicated tasks that can now be solved. This has stimulated scientific thought and given rise to new trends in computations. Computational methods are being effectively introduced in all spheres of science and industry.

Without computational science the development of technology would be impossible. Notable progress has been made in the field of mathematical logic, the theory of information and programming. All this has been important for the contemporary revolution in computing techniques.

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 1E

Listen to the text and complete the sentences.

1.Electronics surrounds us ... : television, tape-recording, radio-receiving.

2.Extremely complicated electronic systems ... the work of huge plants, enterprises and power stations.

3.Electronic computers are widely used in scientific ... and industrial designing.

4.Now mankind is in the new decade of the ... era: it was in 1957 that the first manmade satellite was launched in Russia.

I.Give the main idea of the text.

II. Render the text into Russian.

III. Retell the text.