Alan Mathison Turing (1912-1954): the solitary genius who wanted to build a brain.

Задание I. Следующие слова Вам нужно выучить наизусть, это поможет Вам понять текст.

1. Conjure up – вызывать в памяти;

2. fit – подходить;

3. to relate – относится, иметь отношение;

4. hoard – клад;

5. asset – достояние;

6. find somebody guilty – признать кого-либо виновным;

7. naught – рискованный, сомнительный;

8. douse – окунать, пропитывать;

9. adulthood – совершеннолетие, зрелость;

10. take an interest in – интересоваться;

11. pursue – продолжать;

12. accept – принимать;

13. submit – подать заявление, представлять на рассмотрение;

14. seek – искать, добиваться;

15. to augur well – служить предзнаменованием, предвидеть;

16. loner – одиночка, замкнутый человек;

17. to get on with – уживаться, поладить;

18. raid – совершать налет;

19. resign – подать в отставку, отказываться от должности;

20. in favour of – в пользу.

Задание II. В прочитанном тексте найдите информацию и расскажите по-английски.

1. Расскажите о детстве Туринга.

2. Как называлась диссертация, когда и где он ее защитил?

3. Расскажите об основных открытиях Туринга ,следуя хронологии.

Задание III. Будьте готовы перевести любое предложение в тексте, если преподаватель попросит Вас об этом.

TEXT

Buried treasure conjures up childhood images of. sandy beaches, tropical islands and Long John Silver. The M25 London circular motorway hardly fits this image; but next time you are stuck in a traffic jam, spare a thought for buried treasure. For somewhere near junction 22, during the dark days of 1940 when Britain awaited invasion, Alan Turing buried two bars of silver bullion. It seems strange to relate that the man who did as much as anyone to break the German codes, and whom many regard as the father of the modern computer, was unable to find his hoard again.

A long-distance runner and cyclist, Turing has been described as a self-reliant misfit who ran against the social norms of his time. He was a practicing homosexual at a time when this was not only illegal but was deemed to be a security risk. He paid the price of being found out, if that is the right expression, for Turing was deeply honest to himself and never concealed his homosexuality.

In his trial at Knutsford in 1952 he was described as "a national asset" and "one of the most profound and original mathematic­al minds of his generation". It was true, but he was still found guilty and was given probation on condition that he accepted hormone treatment - in effect, chemical castration. According to his biographer, Andrew Hodges, Turing rode the storm as if he had been caught doing some naughty experiment in the .dormitory. But a little over two years later, on June 7, 1954, he doused an apple with cyanide and killed himself.

Turing's claim to fame is as one of the fathers of electronic computers. His 1936 paper "On Computable Numbers" is the classic in its field. He dreamed of making a "brain", his Universal Machine. His influence was felt by all the early pioneers of computers from von Neumann in the USA to the teams that built the first post'-war British computers. The National Physical Laboratory's ACE computer was his concept of a Universal Machine. Today his memorial is The Turing Institute in Glasgow, dedicated to research and training in artificial intelligence.