of playing games, translating languages and even "learning from experience4Not only can computers be taught to prove theorems of geometry and logic, read handwritten letters and other manmade patterns, but they can write sonatas and poems.

This fact has led some writers to liken computers to "brains". But, perfect as modern computers are, they cannot be called "brains", however, because most ol the real brain-work goes into drawing up the orders so that the machine can carry them out. Automatic computers are not able to devisea way of solving a new problem even when given the data. Nor* can computers do any data processing without being instructed. It is the human being that has to think out a way of solving the problem, and then instruct the computer how to solve the problem when given the data. The computer will do exactly what it has been asked to do.

The human operation of instructing the computer is called programming, and the resulting set of instruction is called a program or a routine. This programming activity is actually a combination of two other activities: the breaking down of a complete operation into a sequence" of simple operations (such as adding*, multiplying, comparing, writing, etc.) along with" the modifying* and writing up of the sequence of simple operations into a set of instructions that can cause the computer to do complex operations provided the input data are given.

Computers can "remember" and "recall" and virtually 2" unlimited is the capacity of automatic computers to remember (that is, to storeinformation). Associated with the capacity of remembering is the capacity of recalling - the larger the amount of information computers remember (store), the siower is the recall.

In operation ali computers accept input symbols and produce output symbols. Because of this it is often helpful to think of a computer as a device for converting input information into output information. It must be remembered, however, that not until- a program is prepared does a computer perform any conversion or transforming (that is, a data processing). To be more precise2», not only is it necessary to specify in detailed form the instructions comprising 2* a program, but the detailed instructions must be arranged in a logical sequence which involves listing the logical steps required by the input-to-output conversion. The instructions have to be made absolutely complete in every detail and yet expressed in terms the machine can "understand".

Computers are subject to failures, i. e. they do not completely avoid" making errors. This lack of perfection is not exactly a disadvantage, however, because the proportion of error in the work of a computer is usually very much smaller than

would be the easels if the same amount and type of work were done in the same amount of time by any othei means.

.Now, in considering the capabilities of the computer it is necessary to emphasize that oncers prepared, a program can be reused any number of time. As far as the limitations are concerned o, we may say that although the computer cannot completely avoid errors, it is much more error-free than are the available alternatives 32.

The electronic computer had more effect on the modern world than any other technological development the world has ever known, and its potential appears to be unlimited. Computers are used in science, education and space exploration. In fact, space e.xploration, as we know it today, would be literally impossible without the aid of the computer.

There is no doubt that computers will be used more and more in science and industry. Electronics is the basis of these machines. The third generation of computers now in use is built on tiny microelectronic circuits, called solid logic technology. Some of these computers are smaller than a file drawer *. They are more than 1,000 times faster than the first models. As the art *з of electronics - the basis of these machines-develops, s о з* will the changes be felt** throughout the whole field of computing.

УПРАЖНЕНИЯ

Грамматические упражнения

I. Переведите предложения, содержащие инверсию.

Помните, что на первом месте в предложении с инверсией может стоять неизменяемая часть сказуемого, выраженная причастием I, причастием 11, существительным с предлогом илн прилагательным. Перевод таких предложений следует начинать со слов, стоящих после вынесенной на первое место части сказуемого, а затем перейти к переводу самого сказуемого (§94).

Образцы:

1. Revolving around the nucleus are electrons... Вокруг ядра вращаются электроны...

2. Included in this table are the data... В эту таблицу включены данные...

3. Under development in Dubna is the particle accelerator... В Дубне разрабатывается ускоритель частиц...

4. Important for the investigation of upper atmosphere is the knowledge...

Для исследования верхних слоев атмосферы важно знать...

* file drawer - ящик картотеки

1. Discussed in tiiis ciiapter are some of the general characteristics inherent to semiconductors.

2. Included in this section is a description of a typical airborne liquid oxygen system*

3. Shown on the photo is the equipment available at many airports to start piston-engined aircraft.

4. Described in this book are all the rocket space-probing craft including the sputniks.

5. Associated with each electron is a wave which is propagated in the direction of the motion of the electron.

6. Now under construction at the aircraft plant near N. is the research airplane which will reach a height greater than all the preceding aircraft of this type.

7. Acting on a body are few forces which cannot be neglected.

8. Of primary importance to science will be the knowledge obtained by sputniks of radiations which bombard the outer layers of the atmosphere before they are filtered by absorbing layers in the lower atmosphere.

9. Of primary interest to the nuclear physicists are the so-called mesons, which can be produced and studied in the laboratory and which are believed to be closely related to the forces between nuclei.

10. Similar in structure to the solar system is the atom.

11. Fundamental to the preliminary design of any reactor is a knowledge of the conditions required for nuclear criticality.

2. Переведите предложения с инверсией, в которых на первом месте стоя1 обстоятельственные слова с выделительным или ограничительным значением.

Помните, что в этих предложениях первая (изменяемая) часть сказуемого стоит Перед подлежащим, а вторая-после подлежащего. Если сказуемое состоит только из одного слова, то перед подлежащим стоит вспомогательный глагол do (did), который не переводится (образец 2). Перевод в обоих случаях следует начинать с обстоятельственных слов, затем перевести подлежащее, а за ним сказуемое (§ 95).

Образцы:

1. Only in recent times was the theory developed that... Только недавно была разработана теория, которая...

2. Only in rare instances does the operating time of the rocket engine exceed...

Только в очень редких случаях время работы ракетного двигателя превышает...

1. Only in this century have we found how to control, create and destroy the nucleus of the atom.

2. Not only does the number of protons present in the nucleus determine the element the atom forms, but it determines the chemical characteristics of that element.