III. Oral practice.

Discussion points.

1. Classification of computers.

2. Comparative characteristics of different types of computers.

IV. Reading and translation.

Exercise 6. Read and translate the following text “The Harmful Influence of the Computer” in writing with a dictionary.

The Harmful Influence of the Computer

It is impossible to avoid the computerization process of an entire country. Computers are nowadays used everywhere: in schools, at home, in companies, institutions, and so on.

One of the bad aspects of computer use is that even the children who cannot read and write yet, are already used to this machine. They develop at a very early age the habit of playing on the computers for hours on end.

According to the latest researches, computers do not improve our health and that they can seriously damage our system when they are not properly used.

There certainly is a quite sharp competition in the computer world. Due to this aspect, several different opinions have been developed on this topic. Computer producers assert that computers are absolutely un-harmful. At that time protection remedies producers had different opinions.

The work done by a computer operator is generally quite exhausting and intensive, regardless of the country. For instance, Germans include this type of work among the 40 most health damaging jobs. It is considered that working on the computer should not exceed 50% of the working period.

When we work at the monitor, we need to read, type, analyze something, correct mistakes, and perhaps do all that more than once. Yet in exchange, the eyes have to try adjusting to all that pressure, and for this reason, we may assert that the computer really does have a negative impact on our eyesight.

Even the celebrated multi-millionaire Microsoft manager, Bill Gates, has severely deteriorated his eyesight because of the computer use. People for whom computer work is their bread and butter have the most health complaints because of muscle and joint diseases. This might be restricted to neck torpor, pain in the shoulders and in the loins, etc. However, there can be more grievous problems such as the carpal tunnel syndrome, which refers to the damage of arm nerves due to the excessive time spent working on the computer.

Those who need to spend a lot of time in front of a computer encounter two main problems: the excess of information and the electromagnetic fields.

Firstly, we might try and see what that excess, that overload of information refers to. Whereas our heart spends energy for blood circulation, and while our lungs need energy for the breathing process, when it comes to our brain, it requires energy for managing pieces of information. Some scientists consider that the human brain uses 1,200 Kcal every day.

Another damage brought about by computer work is the unavoidable exposure to the so-called electromagnetic fields. Contrary to some people's opinion, they do affect the biological processes of our body, which can be even more sensitive to weak electromagnetic fields than to strong electromagnetic fields.

In fact, some persons who do not react in any way to strong electromagnetic fields might feel certain dizziness because of exposure to weak electromagnetic fields. That is because those low intensity magnetic fields reduce the intensity of blood pressure. For that reason, we are very likely to sense a decrease in our body temperature after over-using the computer.

Of course, we may find several solutions to avoid or prevent these bad influences of working on the computer.