Assignment 4

I. This part of the assignment consists of a number of sentences, in which some part or the whole is in bold print. Each sentence is followed by five alternative versions of the marked portion. Select the alternative you think both the most effective and most correct to the requirements of standard written English. Do not select the answer which changes the meaning of the original sentence.

1. The desktop computer has revolutionizes office procedures more than any machine of modern times.

a) has any machine

b) any other machine

c) any other machine has

d) has any other machine

2. Anyone interested in Web site design can find a job in contemporary industry if you learn the basic coding languages, such as HTML and Java.

a) if you will learn

b) if he would learn

c) if he/she learns

d) by the study of

II. For the following question, choose the best answer among the listed alternatives.

1. Bob Roger, along with some other members of his class, took the Computer Science History exam on July, 19. The average class score was 539 compared to the average 524. On learning the result, Bob happily explained that the class was very well prepared for the exam.

Which of the following is true about Bob Roger and his group-mates?

a) The average score was 524.

b) Bob’s class comprised “high achievers”.

c) Bob could not complete the test.

d) Bob Roger and his group-mates took a long time to do the exam.

III. Each of the following sentences has four words or phrases marked A, B, C and D. Identify the one word or phrase that must be changed in order for the sentence to be correct.

1. He gently (A) took the (B) expensive hi-tech camera that (C) his sister had boughten (D).

2. The equipments (A) in the office (B) was so old that looking at it (C) one (D) can even name it antique.

3. Nora has ever (A) missed an (B) opportunity to play (C) in the college computer games tournaments (D).

4. The (A) explanation that our professor gave us on the peculiarities of (B) this computer language was (C) difficult (D) than the one in the textbook.

5. The customer was interested (A) to see one of those new pocket-size (B) camera (C)with the built-in flash (D).

6. Attention to (A) automatic data processing has grown rapid (B) since the (C) first large calculators were introduced (D) in 1950.

7. In the (A) relatively short history of computer science development USA (B) has played (C) a (D)vital role.

8. Supersonic transport such (A) the Concorde will probably (B) be widely (C) accepted as soon as (D) problems of noise and atmospheric pollution are resolved.

IV. The following sentences are incomplete. Beneath each sentence you will see four words or phrases. Choose the one word or phrase that best completes the sentence.

1. Often a team of developers is …

a) work on one project

b) on one project work

c) working on one project

d) to working on one project

2. In his autobiography, The Education of Henry Adams, Adams wanted to show that his generation …

a) did not know how to live in a technological society

b) did not know living in a technological society

c) was not knowing how to live in a technological society

d) had not known living a technological society

3. A computer is usually chosen because of its simplicity of operation and ease of maintenance … its capacity to store information.

a) the same as

b) the same

c) as well as

d) as well

4. Galileo’s experiments with falling bodies, Pasteur’s work with disease germs, … on heredity are significant events in the history of science.

a) and Mendel’s research is

b) and Mendel’s research

c) and Mendel did research

d) and the research of Mendel

5. … the Space Age, a new dimension has been added to the study of the planets.

a) Came

b) It is coming

c) When came

d) With the coming of

6. Many craters on the earth’s surface were probably formed by very large meteorites …..

a) smashing into the ground and exploding

b) which smashed into the ground and an explosion

c) when smashed into the ground was an explosion

d) they smashed into the ground and exploded

7. If …. for the computerized register tape from the grocery store, I would never have been able to figure on my expenditures.

a) it is not

b) it would be not

c) it has not been

d) it had not been

8. The telegraph opened up the possibility of almost instant communication and thereby offered … to people in all spheres of life.

a) a lot of practical advantage

b) much practical advantages

c) plenty of practical advantage

d) many practical advantages

V. Questions 1-5 are based on the following reading:

One of the greatest advances in modern technology has been the invention of computers. They help us, fascinate us and occasionally scare us. The latest fear concerns children and computers. Some experts claim that siblings are starting to play more with computers than with one another, and that computers are distancing children from their parents.

Walking around a toy shop one finds a home computer game to satisfy any child’s violent imagination. Adult computer addicts are familiar figures: pale exhausted people who stay in front of the screen hour after hour. That is their choice. But the idea of a child living in front of a flashing green screen is somehow less acceptable. Canadian child psychologist Jams-Norton explains: ‘These are children with few friends, afraid of making conversation. They are children who are usually allowed to do whatever they feel like. They cannot concentrate for long periods of time except in front of the screen. If the computer games they play are violent, she adds, they become indifferent to violence faster than they would through watching violent movies’.

A frightening picture starts to appear. Jams-Norton sees a good many troubled children. They usually persuade their parents to buy them a computer by saying it “will help education.” Computers, after all, are a central part of education today. Some educationalists are enthusiastically looking forward to the day when every child will have a personal computer in the class room and the class teacher will be nothing but a technician. That is not particularly appealing either, although with the current lack of teachers someone may soon decide it makes good economic sense. Jams-Norton disapproves of such attitude, it is relationship with the teacher and other students that make and help one learn.

We may be at a sort of crossroads. It is a question whether we use the machines wisely or stupidly in bringing up and educating children. The computer is only a surface problem but the real problem is not computers. It is parents who have forgotten how to be parents, or do not have the confidence. “I wish they started noticing and worrying about what is happening a bit sooner”

1. People are worried that children’s dependence on computers may result in

a) serious learning difficulties

b) serious problems with health

c) families having communication problems

d) permanent anxieties

2. Computer-dependent children

a) concentrate on the screen for short periods only

b) become violent or aggressive

c) find it hard to communicate with other children

d) stammer more often than other children

3. The idea of computer-dependent adults is acceptable because

a) they can control their violent imagination easily

b) they are old enough to make their own decisions

c) they can not stop looking at the flashing screen

4. Some experts believe that in the future

a) every teacher will have a PC in the classroom

b) it will be too expensive to give every schoolchild a computer

c) children will be educated at home using computers

d) mostly teaching will be done by computers

5. What is the real problem behind children’s dependence on computers, according to the child psychologist?

a) Children’s learning can be slowed down

b) Parents do not participate in their children’s education

c) Children regard computers as toys not tools

d) Parents do not have confidence when using computers

VI. Write an essay about the following topic:

Although computer technologies have brought the world together, people tend to be very isolated from one another. Do you agree or disagree?

Give reasons for your choice and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge and experience. Write about 150 words