Before reading text 8, learn the words and combinations.

human-readable form — удобная для чтения форма

performance — (рабочая) характеристика; производительность; быстродействие; скорость ра­боты; пропускная способность

character printer — принтер с посимвольной печатью; символьный принтер

line printer — принтер с построчной печатью

page printer — принтер с постраничной печатью

(поп) impact printer — (бес)контактный принтер

letter-quality printer — принтер с типографским каче­ством печати

dot-matrix printer — точечно-матричный принтер

ink-jet printer — струйный принтер

laser-beam printer — лазерный принтер

to identify — идентифицировать; распознать; обозначить

approach — подход; метод; принцип; прибли­жение

at a time — за один раз; одновременно

to cause — вызывать; приводить к (ч.-л.); застав­лять; вынуждать

to strike against a ribbon — ударять по ленте

typewriter — печатное устройство

to spray drops of ink — распылять капли чернил

to affect — влиять; воздействовать; сказываться на (ч.-л.)

technique — метод; способ; техника; методика; технология

printer output — вывод на печать; распечатываемые дан­ные

Text 8. Output Devices. Printers.

Printers provide information in a permanent, human-read­able form. They are the most commonly used output devices and are components of almost all computer systems. Printers vary greatly in performance and design. We will classify printers as character printers, line printers and page printers in order to identify three different approaches to printing, each with a dif­ferent speed range. In addition, printers can be described as ei­ther impact or nonimpact. Printers that use electromechanical mechanisms that cause hammers to strike against a ribbon and the paper are called impact printers. Nonimpact printers do not hit or impact a ribbon to print.

Character printers print only one character at a time. A type­writer is an example of a character printer. Character printers are the type used with literally all microcomputers as well as on computers of all sizes whenever the printing requirements are not large. Character printers may be of several types. A letter-quality printer is a character printer which produces output of typewriter quality. Letter-quality printers typically have speeds ranging from 10 to 50 characters per second. Dot-matrix print­ers form each character as a pattern of dots. These printers have a lower quality of type but are generally faster printers than the letter-quality printers — in the range of 50 to 200 characters per second. One of the newest types of character printer is the ink-jet printer. It sprays small drops of ink onto paper to form print­ed characters. The ink has a high iron content, which is affect­ed by magnetic fields of the printer. These magnetic fields cause the ink to take the shape of a character as the ink approaches the paper.

Line printers are electromechanical machines used for high-volume paper output on most computer systems. Their print­ing speeds are such that to an observer they appear to be print­ing a line at a time. They are impact printers. The speeds of line printers vary from 100 to 2500 lines per minute. Line printers have been designed to use many different types of printing the drum and the chain. Drum printers use a solid, cylindrical drum, rotating at a rapid speed. Speeds of dram printers vary from 200 to over 2000 lines per minute. Chain printers have their character set on a rapidly rotating chain called a print chain. Speeds of chain printers range from 400 to 2400 lines per minute.

Page printers are high-speed nonimpact printers. Their print­ing rates are so high that output appears to emerge from the printer a page at a time. A variety of techniques are used in the design of page printers. These techniques, called electrophoto­graphic techniques, have developed from the paper copier tech­nology. Laser-beam printers use a combination of laser beam and electrophotographic techniques to create printer output at a rate equal to 18000 lines per minute.

Exercise 1. Find in the text the English for:

Удобная для восприятия человека форма; наиболее ча­сто употребляемые устройства вывода информации; раз­личаться по рабочим характеристикам и внешнему виду; принтеры с посимвольной печатью; принтеры с построч­ной печатью; принтеры с постраничной печатью; различ­ные методы печати; диапазон скорости; принтеры контак­тные и бесконтактные; ударять по ленте; печатать по одному символу; буквально все компьютеры; а также; тре­бования печати; принтер с типографским качеством печати; точечно-матричные принтеры; струйные принтеры; разбрызгивать капли чернил; высокое содержание железа; магнитные поля; принимать форму символа; кажется, что печатают по строчке; барабанный принтер; цепочечные принтеры; лазерный принтер.

Exercise 2. Translate the word combinations into Russian

Approach: comprehensive approach; database approach; ed­ucational (training) approach; general approach; graphic ap­proach; self-study approach; step-by-step approach; trial-and-error approach.

Performance: application performance; computer perfor­mance; device performance; disk performance; display perfor­mance; error performance; execution performance; memory performance; network performance; processor performance.

Printer: black-and-white printer; color printer; character (at-a-time) printer; dot-matrix printer; graphical (image) printer; impact printer; ink: jet printer; laser printer; letter-quality print­er; matrix printer; network printer; page (at-a-time) printer.

Technique : advanced technique; analog technique; comput­ing technique; display (video) technique; formatting technique; hardware technique; measuring technique; modeling (simula­tion) technique; multimedia technique; numerical technique; programming technique; scanning technique; software tech­nique; testing technique.

Exercise 3. Answer the questions on the text.

1. What are the three types of printers?

2. What is a letter-quality printer?

3. What is a dot-matrix printer?

4. What type of printer is the most common with microcomputer systems?

5. What is the most common printer type used on large com­puter systems?

6. What is an impact printer? Give an example.

7. What is a nonimpact printer? Give examples.

8. What are the most widely used printers?

9. How do you distinguish between a letter-quality printer and a dot-matrix printer?

10. Which of these printers is slower?

11. What types of character printers do you know?

12. How are printed characters formed by means of an ink-jet printer?

13. What are the main types of a line print­er? Which of them is faster?

14. What techniques are used in the operation of page printers?

 

 

Unit 6

Personal computers and Computer Programming

Learn the new terms

competitive operating systems — конкурирующая опера­ционная система

IBM (International Business Machine) — фирма по про­изводству компьютеров

to enter the fray — ввязаться в драку

computer of choice — лучший компьютер

to fall by the wayside — остаться в стороне; уступить до­рогу

to survive onslaught — выдержать конку­ренцию

word size — размер слова; разрядность двоичного слова

soft-copy output — вывод электронной, программно-управляемой копии

hard-copy output — вывод «твердой» печатной копии

online storage — неавтономное хранение данных в ЗУ

offline storage — автономное хранение данных отдельно от компьютера

input media — носитель для входных данных

output media — носитель для выходных данных

general -purpose — универсальный; общего назначения

stand-alone — автономный

to plug in — подключать; подсоединять

leisure activities — досуговая деятельность

 

Text 1. Personal Computers.

 

Personal computers are supposed to appear in the late 1970s. One of the first and most popular personal computers was the Apple II, introduced in 1977 by Apple Computer. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, new models and competitive oper­ating systems seemed to appear daily. Then, in 1981, IBM en­tered the fray with its first personal computer, known as the IBM PC. The IBM PC quickly became the personal computer of choice, and most other personal computer manufacturers fell by the way-side. One of the few companies to survive IBM's on­slaught was Apple Computer, which is sure to remain a major player in the personal computer marketplace. In less than a de­cade the microcomputer has been transformed from a calcula­tor and hobbyist's toy into a personal computer for almost ev­eryone.

What is a personal computer? How can this device be char­acterized?

First, a personal computer being microprocessor-based, on its central processing unit, called a microprocessor unit, or MPU, is concentrated on a single silicon chip.

Second, a PC has a memory and word size that are small­er than those of minicomputers and large computers. Typical word sizes are 8 or 16 bits, and main memories range in size from 16 К to 512 K.

Third, a personal computer uses smaller, less expensive, and less powerful input, output and storage components than do large computer systems. Most often, input is by means of a keyboard, soft-copy output being displayed on a cathode-ray tube screen. Hard-copy output is produced on a low-speed character printer. A PC employs floppy disks as the principal online and offline storage devices and also as input and output me­dia.

Finally, a PC is a general-purpose, stand-alone system that can begin to work when plugged in and be moved from place to place.

Probably the most distinguishing feature of a personal com­puter is that it is used by an individual, usually in an interactive mode. Regardless of the purpose for which it is used, either for leisure activities in the home or for business applications in the office, we can consider it to be a personal computer.

Exercise 1. Find in the text the English for:

Конкурирующая операционная система; появляться ежедневно; ввязаться в драку; лучший компьютер; остаться в стороне; выдержать конкуренцию; главный поставщик на компьютерном рынке; игрушка для любителя; микро­процессорный; цельный кристалл (микросхема) из крем­ния; размер слова; компоненты меньшей мощности; по­средством; вывести на экран; низкоскоростной принтер с посимвольной печатью; использовать гибкие диски; при­боры (не) автономного хранения данных; универсальный; автономная система; отличительная черта; интерактивный режим; независимо от цели; досуговая деятельность.

Exercise 2. Make grammar analyses of the text.. find the sentences with:

1. The Passive Voice. Detect the tense.

2. Participial construction.

3. Infinitive construction.

Mind!

Participial construction. The first calculating device called abacus appeared in ancient times.

Infinitive construction. The parents are expected to come late in the evening.

Exercise 3. Answer the questions.

1. When did the first personal computer appear?

2. What was one of the first PC model?

3. What is a personal computer?

4. What are the four main characteristics of a PC?

5. What does the term * microprocessor-based" mean?

6. What are the typi­cal word sizes of a PC?

7. How is input carried out in personal computers?

8. What principle storage devices do PC use?
9. What kind of a system is a PC?

10. What differs personal com­puters from large computer systems?

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6. HANDLING CONTEXT-BOUND WORDS
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8. II. Find the English words and word-combinations in the text
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10. Learn the terms from text 2.
11. Practice the pronunciation of the following words and word-combinations.