Text B. Communication system
“I communicate with a computer system. I have always used IBM compatible computers, on my wheel chair. They run from batteries under the wheel chair, although an internal battery will keep the computer running for an hour if necessary. The screen is mounted on the arm of the wheel chair where I can see it, more recent systems have the whole computer in a box on this arm. The original systems were put together for me by David Mason, of Cambridge Adaptive Communications. This company manufacture and supply a variety of products to help people with communication problems express themselves. Recently, Intel engineers designed a new computer for me powered by a Pentium II processor, which I now use. On the computer, I run a program called Equalizer™, written by a company called Words Plus inc. A cursor moves across the upper part of the screen. I can stop it by pressing a switch in my hand. This switch is my only interface with the computer. In this way I can select words, which are printed on the lower part of the screen. When I have built up a sentence, I can send it to a speech synthesizer. I use a separate synthesizer, made by Speech+. It is the best I have heard, though it gives me an accent that has been described variously as Scandinavian, American or Scottish. I also can use Windows 98 through an interface called EZ Keys, again made by Words Plus. I am able to control the mouse with the switch through cleverly selected process from a small box shown on the desktop.
I can save what I write to the disk. I write papers using a formatting program called TEX. I can write equations in words, and the program translates them into symbols, and prints them out on paper in the appropriate type. I can also give lectures. I write the lecture beforehand, and save it on disk. I can then send it to the speech synthesiser, a sentence at a time. It works quite well, and I can try out the lecture, and polish it, before I give it.”
Stephen Hawking
6. Answer the following questions:
1. What types of computers has Professor Hawking always used?
2. What companies manufacture products for the disabled people?
3. What program does Professor Hawking use to build up sentences?
4. How does he write equations?
5. What device helps Stephen Hawking give lectures?
7. Study the list of the words describing different features of character. What words can be used to characterize Stephen Hawking? Explain why:
| patience | stamina | training |
| intelligence | assiduity | courage |
| talent | determination | wittiness |
| imagination | kindness | helpfulness |
| creativity | charm | energy |
| greed | meanness | envy |
| laziness | Rage | foolishness |
| absent-mindedness | Infirmity | impatience |
Text 8. MAGNETIC STORAGE
1. Discuss the following questions in pairs:
1. Do scientific discoveries and inventions make our life more comfortable? Give some examples.
2. What is the difference between the discovery and the invention?
3. What famous inventors or scientists do you know? What did they invent or discover?
4. How are these inventions used now?
5.How did they influence our life?
2. We can’t imagine our life without the things that surround us. Choose from the list below the things you can live without ant the things you cannot live without and explain why:
| colour TV | computer |
| washing machine | mobile phone |
| personal computer | |
| ballpoint pen | CD |
| DVD | computer mouse |
| webcam | microwave oven |
3. Read the text:
The Digital Compact Disc
The digital compact disc, now commonplace in stereos and computers, was invented in the late 1960s by James T. Russell.
Russell was born in Bremerton, Washington in 1931. At the age of six, he invented a remote-control battleship, with a storage chamber for his lunch. Russell went on to earn a BA in Physics from Reed College in Portland in 1953. Afterward, he went to work as a Physicist in General Electric's (GE) nearby labs in Richland, Washington.
At GE, Russell initiated many experimental instrumentation projects. He was among the first to use a color TV screen and keyboard as the sole interface between computer and operator; and he designed and built the first electron beam welder. In 1965, when Columbus, Ohio - based Battelle Memorial Institute opened its Pacific Northwest Laboratory in Richland, Washington, Russell joined the effort as Senior Scientist. He already knew what avenue of research he wanted to pursue.
Russell was an avid music listener. Like many audiophiles of the time, he was continually disappointed by the wear and tear suffered by his vinyl phonograph records. He was also unsatisfied with their sound quality: his experimental improvements included using a cactus needle as a stylus. Alone at home on a Saturday afternoon, Russell began to sketch out a better music recording system -- and was inspired with a truly revolutionary idea.
Russell envisioned a system that would record and replay sounds without physical contact between its parts; and he saw that the best way to achieve such a system was to use light. Russell was familiar with digital data recording, in punch card or magnetic tape form. He saw that if he could represent the binary 0 and 1 with dark and light, a device could read sounds or indeed any information at all without ever wearing out. If he could make the binary code compact enough, Russell saw that he could store not only symphonies, but entire encyclopedias on a small piece of film.
After years of work, Russell succeeded in inventing the first digital-to-optical recording and playback system (patented in 1970). He had found a way to record onto a photosensitive platter in tiny "bits" of light and dark, each one micron in diameter; a laser read the binary patterns, and a computer converted the data into an electronic signal -- which it was then comparatively simple to convert into an audible or visible transmission.
This was the first compact disc. Although Russell had once envisioned 3x5-inch stereo records that would fit in a shirt pocket and a video record that would be about the size of a punch card, the final product imitated the phonographic disc which had been its inspiration. Through the 1970s, Russell continued to refine the CD-ROM, adapting it to any form of data. Like many ideas far ahead of their time, the CD-ROM found few interested investors at first; but eventually, Sony and other audio companies realized the possibilities and purchased licenses.
By 1985, Russell had earned 26 patents for CD-ROM technology. He then founded his own consulting firm, where he has continued to create and patent improvements in optical storage systems, along with bar code scanners, liquid crystal shutters, and other industrial optical instruments. His most revolutionary recent invention is a high-speed optical data recorder / player that has no moving parts. Russell earned another 11 patents for this "Optical Random Access Memory" device, which is currently being refined for the market.
James T. Russell has many interests beyond optical data devices. In fact, he has claimed, "I've got hundreds of ideas stacked up --- many of them worth more than the compact disc. But I haven't been able to work on them." Digital engineers and consumers alike will be lucky if he does find the time.
4. Read the definitions of the following words. Find them in the text and translate the sentences with these words:
| battleship | a heavily armoured warship of the largest type having many large-calibre guns |
| BA (Bachelor of Arts) | a bachelor's degree in arts and sciences |
| welder | a special device that joins pieces of metal together |
| avoid | enthusiastic |
| wear and tear | loss, damage, or depreciation resulting from ordinary use and exposure |
| to envision | to picture in the mind, imagine |
| punch card | a card on which data can be recorded in the form of holes |
| platter | sound recording consisting of a disk used to reproduce music by rotating while a phonograph needle tracks in the spiral channel |
| inspiration | a product of your creative thinking and work |
| refine | improve or perfect by pruning or polishing |
| bar code | code consisting of a series of vertical bars of variable width that are scanned by a laser |
| shutter | something that opens and closes |
Task 5. Look through the text again and match the sentences given below:
| 1. The digital compact disc, now commonplace… | a. …began to sketch out a better music recording system - and was inspired with a truly revolutionary idea. |
| 2. At GE, Russell… | b. …dark and light, a device could read sounds or indeed any information at all without ever wearing out. |
| 3. Alone at home on a Saturday afternoon, Russell… | c. …many interests beyond optical data devices |
| 4. He saw that if he could represent the binary 0 and 1 with… | d. …recent invention is a high-speed optical data recorder / player that has no moving parts. |
| 5. After years of work, Russell… | e. …initiated many experimental instrumentation projects |
| 6. Like many ideas far ahead of their time, the CD-ROM found few interested investors at first; but eventually… | f. … in stereos and computers, was invented in the late 1960s by James T. Russell. |
| 7. His most revolutionary… | g. …succeeded in inventing the first digital-to-optical recording and playback system (patented in 1970). |
| 8. James T. Russell has… | h. .…Sony and other audio companies realized the possibilities and purchased licenses. |
6. Answer the questions:
1. What did he invent at the age of six?
2. What experimental projects did James T. Russell initiate at GE?
3. When did he start working as Senior Scientist?
4. Was he satisfied with the sound quality of phonograph records?
5. Why did he begin to sketch out a better music recording system?
6. What system did he envision?
7. How did the first digital-to-optical recording and playback system work?
8. Why did the final product imitate the phonographic disc?
9. By 1985, Russell had earned 36 patents for CD-ROM technology, hadn’t he?
10.What did he continue to do at his own consulting firm?
11. What is his most revolutionary recent invention?