Перепишите и переведите на русский язык следующий текст.

There are several advantages in making computers as small al possible. Sometimes weight is particularly important. A modern aircraft, for example, carries quite a load of electronic apparatus. If it is possible to make any of these smaller, and therefore lighter, the aircraft can carry a bigger load. This kind of consideration applies to space satellites and to all kinds of computers that have to be carried about.

But weight is not the only factor. The smaller the computer the faster it can work. The signals go to and from at a very high but almost constant speed. So if one can scale down all dimensions to, let us say, one tenth, the average lengths of the current paths will be reduced to one tenths. So, very roughly speaking, scaling down of all linear dimensions in the ration of one to ten also gives a valuable advantage, the speed of operation is scaled up to 10 times. Other techniques allow even further speed increase.

The increase of operation is a real advantage. Another advantage is that less power is required to run the computer. In space satellites this is an important matter. Another advantage is reliability. Mini-computers have been made possible by the development of integrated circuits. Repair of any kind is no longer needed. If one component circuit develops a fault, all that is needed is to locate the faulty unit, throw it away and plug in a new one.

 

 

КОНТРОЛЬНОЕ ЗАДАНИЕ № 4

TECHNOLGY AGE

Для правильного выполнения задания № 4 необходимо усвоить следующие разделы курса грамматики английского языка по любым учебным пособиям:

1. Основные сведения о сослагательном наклонении. Аналитические и синтетические формы сослагательного наклонения. Сослагательное наклонение в условных придаточных предложениях.

2. Сложные формы инфинитива, герундия и причастия. Обороты, равнозначные придаточным предложениям:

Объектный инфинитивный оборот (Complex Object);

Субъектный инфинитивный оборот (Complex Subject);

Самостоятельный (независимый) причастный оборот

(Absolute Participial Construction);

Конструкции с герундием (Gerundial Complexes).

3. Сложные предложения. Способы перевода придаточных определительных, обстоятельственных и дополнительных предложений.

 

После изучения указанного выше материала можно приступать к выполнению задания.

ТЕКСТЫ ДЛЯ ИЗУЧАЮЩЕГО ЧТЕНИЯ, ПЕРЕВОДА И

ПОВТОРЕНИЯ ГРАММАТИЧЕСКОГО МАТЕРИАЛА

Text 4 (A). 20^th Century. Summing up…

Technology has made modern society possible. It has added to leisure time and reduced the long hours of work. Technology can allow the world feed itself. It has reduced the effects of natural catastrophes. The world is now a smaller place where people can communicate with each other and travel rapidly everywhere.

The establishment of the assembly line by Henry Ford in 1913 made automobiles inexpensive enough. Technology has raised the standard of living. The 20^th century has become the century of many inventions. New materials (e.g. synthetic rubber, artificial fabrics and plastics) have affected the ways of life and fashion.

Electronics was ushered in when Marconi sent the first transatlantic radio message in1901. Radio and television changed communications and

 

entertainment habits. In 1948 the transistor was invented, and the era of modern computers was started.

In 1957 the Space Age began, when the first Earth-orbiting satellite – Sputnik – was launched by the Soviet Union.

Medical technology was expanded by the use of new medicines and new equipment. New technologies in biology led to genetic engineering, in which living cells can be altered. In 1996 a lamb called Dolly has become the first large animal? which was cloned from the genetic material extracted from the adult cell.

Technology keeps advancing at a rapid rate. It can only be guessed what the “information revolution” of the late 20^th century will bring about.

 

Text 4 (B). Cosmonautics

The development of cosmonautics is closely connected with the achievements of pilots and spacemen, aircraft and spacecraft engineers and builders.

Aviation has become the cradle of cosmonautics. And this was not accidental/ At the turn of the 20^th century the Russian scientists Konstantin Tsiolkovsky solved several problems on the theory of reactive movement and substantiated the possibility of manned space flight. His theoretical calculations have been extensively used by scientists in all countries.

In the 1920s several groups of scientists and engineers worked on the problems of rocketry in the Soviet Union. In 1934 a research Institute of reactive Propulsion was organized and all the fundamental works and investigations in rocketry were concentrated in it. It was this institute that trained many outstanding experts in rocketry, including S. Korolyov who subsequently became chief designer of powerful multi-stage rockets.

Today, outer space is not merely an object of study; it is also an enormous laboratory where new materials and design structures are tested under natural conditions. Cosmonautics is becoming more international in nature, mainly for global scientific, engineering and economic reasons.

A vital step towards understanding the Solar System and the Universe is the flight to another celestial body though such an exploration will take generations. Landing on the Moon is just the beginning – not the end – of a new era of discovery of new worlds. Manned flight to Mars seems to be the next logical step.

From the scientific and engineering standpoint, a typical Mars landing mission might begin with the orbiting of the elements for either one or two identical spaceships by newly developed “space shuttles”. These are reusable carriers for transporting men and equipment between the ground and the Earth’s orbit. While the mission could be carried out with a single ship, the use of two would provide an additional safety factor, since each would be large enough to accommodate the astronauts of its sister ship in the event of a major failure. Furthermore, with two ships, additional equipment could be carried. The nominal crew of each ship would be six men.

The spaceship itself would be divided into major three sections: the forward compartment housing the Mars surface exploration module; the main mission module with living quarters, the control area, experimental laboratories, and a radiation shelter in which the crew could live during periods of intense solar activity; and the biological laboratory for receiving and analyzing surface samples from Mars.

The entire spaceship would be continuously rotated. If two ships made the trip simultaneously, they could be docked end-to-end and rotated in the plane of the longitudinal axis.

No doubt, the time will come when people will build and inhabit orbiting stations and reach other planets in order to harness outer space to serve the mankind.

 

Text 4 (C). Robotics: Japan Takes the Lead

In the mid-1960s Prof. Hiroyasu Funakubo of Japan’s Medical Precision Engineering Institute¹ was handed a particularly challenging assignment: develop an artificial limb for thalidomide² babies born without arms. Eight years later Funakubo produced an aluminum and carbon-fiber arm powered by eleven separate micromotors – which, on command, could duplicate almost any function of the human arm. Professor Funakubo’s arm proved too expensive for its intended purpose. But it has turned out to be a key element in a generation of “mechatronic” robots.

This class of robots seemed to cement Japan’s position as world leader in the business for years to come. Japanese companies moved into the field and quickly conquered the market. By the end of 1980s Japanese producers had supplied about 70% of the industrial robots working in the Western world. Nevertheless, industry leaders in Japan feel their biggest growth is yet to come.

Much of the growth is likely to stem from research like Professor Funakubo’s. The electrical arm is much more accurate than the hydraulic arms used in many robot models, and robot manufactures are now confident they will produce “intelligent robots” that will be able to “see” and “feel” and take over more production-line and commercial functions. For example, there has been developed a snake-like robot that can creep through pipes and other narrow openings to inspect and even do repair work in places inaccessible to humans. One Japanese company is getting ready to market a janitor-watchman³ that is simultaneously able to clean the floor and send out radio signals warning against fires or intruders. In the prototype stage are even more sophisticated devices: a 25-fingered breast-cancer detector, a Seeing Eye dog and a home-care system for invalids.

Most of the new robots are expected to be used in heavy industry, where the current generation of smart machines has already proved popular in automotive and other assembly plants, performing such tasks as spot welding and body painting.

Industry around the world is looking for robots to save on labour costs. Nissan Motor says that its new light-truck plant in Smyrna, U.S., is equipped with more than 200 robots. Experts also point out that demographic trends show fewer people coming into the job market in the years ahead, making robots something of a necessity. Robots may also take over jobs that humans find undesirable – such as coal mining.

While industry should continue to be the biggest markets for robotry, some of the more interesting developments are taking place in the medical field. Funakubo’s arms, for example, have been mounted in pair on a bedside table and linked to a robot cart that shuttles back and forth between a storage cabinet and the patient’s bed. That system can be activated by keyboard, voice command and even by whistles and gasps. The cart and the arms can find and deliver to the patient a newspaper or a piece of fruit – anything that is stored in the cabinet. As yet the fingers of the arms are not able to peel the fruit, but Funakubo thinks they will have that capacity.

Among the other new robots under development is the Melkong, which can pick the patient gently off his bed, put him in a bathtub and deposit him back in bed again.

Not all of the applications on the robotry drawing boards will prove to be practical. But the demand for new smart machines will continue. After all, they never go on vacation, take a break or ask for a rise.

NOTES: ¹ институт точной медицинской техники

² седативный препарат, в результате приема которого женщина

может родить ребенка с деформированными конечностями

³ уборщик и сторож одновременно

 

 

Text 4 (D). The Engineering Profession

Engineering is one of the most ancient occupations in history. Without the skills included in the broad field of engineering, our present-day civilization never could have evoked. The first toolmakers that chipped arrows and spears from rock were forerunners of modern mechanical engineering. The craftsmen who discovered metals in the earth and found ways to refine and use them were ancestors of mining and metallurgical engineers. And the skilled technicians who devised irrigation systems and erected the marvelous buildings of the ancient world were the civil engineers of their time.

Engineering is often defined as making practical application of theoretical sciences such as physics and mathematics. Many of the early branches of engineering were based not on science but on empirical information that depended on observation and experience.

The great engineering works of ancient times were constructed and operated largely by means of slave labour. During the Middle Ages people began to seek devices and methods of work that were more efficient and humane. Wind, water and animals were used to provide energy for some of these devices. This led to the Industrial Revolution, which began in the 18^th century. First steam engines and then all kinds of machines took over more and more of the work that had previously been done by human beings or by animals.

By the end of the 19^th century not only were mechanical, civil, and mining and metallurgical engineering established but newer specialties of chemical and electrical engineering also emerged. This growth in the number of specialists is continuing with the establishment of such disciplines as aerospace, nuclear, petroleum, and electronic engineering.

Engineering has become a profession. Today technological and industrial progress depends on it and the engineer must combine many of the characteristics of the scientists, research engineer and technologist. His interest must be in combining the abstract-theoretical world and the technical-practical world.

 

 

Контрольная работа № 4

Вариант 1