Welcome to the computer world. Practice materials for 1st year students. Еранина Т.И - 41 стр.

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          computers, which used large numbers of transistors were able to reduce
          computational time from milliseconds to microseconds, or millionths
          of seconds. Second-generation computers were smaller, faster and
          more reliable than first-generation computers.
                    Advances in electronics technology continued, and micro-
          electronics made it possible to reduce the size of transistors and
          integrate large numbers of circuit elements into very small chips of
          silicon. The computers that were designed to use integrated circuit
          technology were called third generation computers, and the
          approximate time span of these machines was from 1960 to 1979. They
          could perform many data processing operations in nanoseconds, which
          are billionths of seconds.
                    Fourth generation computers have now arrived, and the inte-
          grated circuits that are being developed have been greatly reduced in
          size. This is due to microminiaturization, which means that the circuits
          are much smaller than before; as many as 100 tiny circuits are placed
          now on a single chip. A chip is a square or rectangular piece of silicon,
          usually from 1/10 to 1/4 inch, upon which several layers of an
          integrated circuit are etched or imprinted, after which the circuit is
          encapsulated in plastic or metal.

Task 9.   Choose the correct word to complete each sentence.

          1. British scientists invented a ______ way of multiplying and dividing.
             a) mechanical;
             b) electrical;
             c) optical.
          2. A new branch of mathematics,_______, was invented in England
             and Germany independently.
             a) mechanics;
             b) arithmetic’s;
             c) calculus.
          3. A young American clerk invented a means of coding ______ by
             punched cards.
             a) letters;
             b) data;
             c) numbers.
          4. Soon punched cards were replaced by _______ terminals.
             a) printer;
             b) scanner;
             c) keyboard.