Alice and Paul are talking in the University coffee-bar. Read their conversation and name the advantages of computers.

 

Alice: Paul, what are you going to do at your laboratory classes today?

Paul: I’m going to work on computer.

Alice: And do you often work at the computer centre?

Paul: Not very often. But I like to work on computer. It does the work of many human beings at fantastically high speeds.

Alice: Well, if I’m not mistaken it’s primarily a calculating machine.

Paul: Oh, I believe that it’s almost a human machine with “brains”. A computer usually replaces people in dull, routine tasks. It works according to the instructions.

Alice: Well, I see. In my opinion, it’s a fascinating machine.

Paul: Exactly.

 

Express your attitude.

a) The global problems caused by technological progress.

b) The necessity of further technological advancement.

 

Fill in the gaps with one of the following words.

Invented, discovered, changed, improved, developed,changed

 

1. The Wright brothers … the world when they flew the first plane in 1903.
2. The invention of radar has … navigation and safety at sea.
3. Alexander Fleming … penicillin by accident.
4. In 1838, Louis Daguerre … the first practical process of photography.
5. The TV was … by John Logie Baird in 1926.

 

Match column A to column B, then make sentences about satellities.

A	B
receive	a) the weather every day
send	b) TV pictures in our houses
forecast	c) international phone calls
connect	d) messages around the world
map	e) aeroplanes and ships find their way
study	f) the earth and other planets
make	g) weather patterns
help	h) to the Internet

 

Example: If we didn’t have satellites, we couldn’t/wouldn’t be able to receive TV pictures in our houses.

 

Put the words into the text.

Antenna, satellite dishes, space shuttle, telescope, computer, solar cells.

Hundreds of satellites orbit the earth and transmit information that makes our lives better. There are special instruments on all satellites which help them to work properly.

All satellites have a (an) 1) … which receives signals and sends them back to 2) …on earth. Satellites also have 3) … that collect energy from the sun as well as a 4) …to run everything. Satellities which study the planets have a 5) … and weather satellites have cameras. Some satellites are launched into space by rockets and others are carried by the 6) ….

 

Replace the words in bold in the text above with their synonyms.

Sent off, go around, tools, power, send.

 

Read the articles. Use a dictionary if necessary. Retell one of the articles.

 

Steve Jobs

 

In 1975, Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer, a company that revolutionised the personal computer. Born in 1955, Steve grew up in Silicon Valley, California. He dropped out of college after the first term and took a job as a video game designer. Here he met up with an old friend, Steve Wozniak, and together they founded Apple.

The pair built their first computer in Jobs' parents' garage. A local electronics shop bought fifty of these computers and the company was on its way to success. The company's second model, Apple II, changed the computer industry forever by making computers smaller and more user-friendly, so they could be used by ordinary people. Both charming and demanding, Jobs managed to push Apple Computer to the head of the computer revolution. Steve Jobs' visionary designs changed people's idea of computers. "We started out to get a computer in the hands of everyday people, and we succeeded beyond our wildest dreams," he once said. He now has plans to lead another revolution, this time in software, by making it quicker and cheaper to develop.

Albert Einstein

 

Albert Einstein is one of the most gifted scientists of all time. He is best known for his theory of relativity, which he developed when he was only twenty-six and which changed the way scientists looked at space and time.

Einstein was born on 14 March 1874, in Ulm, Württemberg, Germany . He studied Mathematics and Physics at Zurich University and continued to live in Switzerland after finishing his studies. He worked in an office, but spent his spare time doing scientific research and experiments.

He became professor at Zurich University in 1909, but even before that his research had made him an important force in the world of physics. In 1921, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Einstein's genius changed the course of history, since it was central to the development of atomic energy. Einstein was an outspoken believer in world peace, however, and he was deeply sadden when he realised the outcome of his research would be an atom bomb. He said at the time, "If only I had known, I'd have become a watchmaker."

In 1933, Einstein accepted a position for life as a professor at Princeton University. He lived there, dedicated to the study of physics, until his death in 1955.