Методические указания по английскому языку для студентов I курса всех факультетов. Часть 2. Богданова Н.А - 28 стр.

13. Прочтите и переведите текст 7A.

                               ELECTRONIC COMPUTER

      The first general-purpose computer for commercial and scientific
applications was invented in 1949. Today we find computers to have become quite
common. Present-day computers include supercomputer and microdevices which
operate in instruments and machines. They help us solve different problems in
many branches of industry, science, culture, management and at home.
      An electronic computer is a device which can perform highly complex
mathematical operations. It can store and select data put into it. It can do a great
amount of complicated work in a short period of time, A supercomputer does
millions of computations per second. A problem that might take the human brain
two hundred years to solve can be solved by a computer in one minute.
       Computers are known to be of two kinds – digital and analog. They perform
different operations and solve different tasks.
      Digital computers count numbers (digits) and they have a wider application.
They can be used in any process connected with counting or what is known as
"logical analysis". To perform arithmetical and logical operations a digital
computer has three basic elements: a calculator, a control unit and a memory unit.
Magnetic tapes, disks or drums are among the types of media for data to be stored.
A digital computer is made up of thousands of electrical circuits that can be
switched on or off. The computer deals with binary arithmetic which is known to
use only two digits – one and zero.
       Analog computers are specialized in solving particular problems, for
example differential equations. The elements of analog computers are electronic
circuits called blocks. Some of these blocks do the addition, others - the integration.
During the operation the blocks are connected so as to form a closed system»
Analog computers solve the problems by means of physical modelling. They
produce analogs or parallels of the processes to be described or the problems to be
solved. Analog computers are widely used for the study of mechanical processes in
automatic regulation systems.
       A computer works by means of a program, that is instructions fed into it.
First the instructions go into the input unit. The computer stores the program in its