Методические указания по английскому языку для студентов I курса всех факультетов. Часть 2. Богданова Н.А - 82 стр.

       темпах роста информационного потока и об основных достоинствах
       современных информационных систем.

                                           TEXT 10B

1. Познакомьтесь с содержанием текста 108 и выполните следующие за
   ним задания.

                    ELEMENTS OF INFORMATION PROCESSING

      Humans receive information with their senses: sounds through hearing;
images and text through sight; shape and temperature through touch; and odours
through smell. To interpret the signals received from the senses, humans have
developed and learned complex systems of languages consisting of "alphabets" of
symbols and stimuli and the associated rules of usage. This has enabled them to
recognize the objects they see, understand the messages they read or hear, and
comprehend the signs received through the tactile and olfactory senses1
      The carriers of information – conveying signs received by the senses are
energy phenomena – audio waves, light waves, and chemical and electrochemical
stimuli. In engineering parlance2 humans are receptors of analog signals; and the
messages conveyed via these carriers are called analog-form information or simply
analog information. Until the development of the digital computer, cognitive3
information was stored and processed only in analog form, basically through the
technologies of printing photography, and telephony.
       Although humans are adept4 at processing information stored in their
memories, analog information stored external to the mind is not processed easily.
Modem information technology greatly facilitates the manipulation of externally
stored information as a result of its representation as digital signals – i. e., as the
presence or absence of energy (electricity light or magnetism). Information
represented digitally in two-state or binary, form is often referred to as digital
information. Modern information systems are characterized by extensive
metamorphoses of analog and digital information. With respect to information
storage and communication, the transition from analog information to digital is so
pervasive that the and of the 20-th century will likely witness a historic
transformation of the manner in which humans create, access and use information.
  1
      tactile and olfactory senses – чувства осязания и обоняния