Machines through the age

Mechanization, or the use of machines to do the work of animals or people, has been with us for centuries. There are six basic kinds of mechanization. Classification depends on whether machines, or combinations of animals and people, are responsible for the three fundamental elements r in every type of activity — power, action and control.

The first kind of mechanization is introduced by typing. In typing words, a body produces "the power" to drive a machine, but the machine produces "action"; control is with the body. In one of the early mechanized devices, the horse and cart, an animal is responsible for power, while a person controls the mechanism, but the element responsible for action — the cart's wheels and axles — is mechanical. The horse and cart is a simple example of a mechanism that saves the human body from doing something.

In the second kind of mechanization, hardware is responsible for both power and action. In a car, for example, the wheels, gears and so on provide action while the engine supplies power.

Wind-and water- mills are another kind of mechanized device. But their power sources are not within a person's control.

The next 2 types of mechanized devices are all partly automatic. They are mechanically controlled; it is not necessary for a person to supervise them.

Simple automatic devices are not new. After the first machine-tools appeared late in the 18th century, engineers modified them. So they could work by themselves for some of the time. An operator would set his machine so that it cut a piece of metal automatically. He would not have to do anything while the operation took place. The control devices here were camshafts and stops.

The fifth example of mechanization is semi-automatic equipment. Here people are required for only some elements of control. In this category are assembly lines with the conveyer systems of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry Ford's first factories assembled cars on such lines. In this system parts move from one part of the factory to another on an automatic conveyer. But people have to be present. They stand next to the lines to fit things onto the parts as they move past.

Finally, the sixth kind of mechanization is truly automatic devices, such as transfer lines, computer controlled machine-tools, robots.

VI. Прочтите весь текст еще раз и ответьте письменно на следующие вопросы.

1. What does the term mechanization mean?

2. How many kinds of mechanization are there? Name them.

3. What does this classification depend on?

4. Which device produces action while typing?

5. What is a simple example of a mechanism that saves the human body from doing something?

6. Where is hardware responsible for power and action?

7. Which devices are called partly automatic?

8. Which devices are semi-automatic and which are trulyautomatic?

Вариант 4

I. Перепишите следующие предложения, подчеркните в каждом из них глагол - сказуемое и определите его видов-ременную форму и залог. Переведите предложения на рус­ский язык, обратите внимание на особенности перевода пассивных конструкций (см. образец 1):

1. His book was commented on by the newspapers.

2. He will be remembered long after his enemies have been forgotten.

3. Julia had an uncomfortable feeling that she was being laughed at.

4. The women throughout the world are opposing war and are actively working for peace and justice.

5. The principles of equality, sovereignty and self-determination are being supported by all people interested in peace.

6. She knew that George would be waiting for her.

7. The people she met seemed to know where she had been, what she had been doing.

П. Перепишите следующие предложения, подчеркните Participle I, Participle II и установите функции каждого из них, т. е. укажите, является ли оно определением, обстоя­тельством или частью глагола-сказуемого; предложения переведите на русский язык (см. образец 2).

1. She told me that she would often spend a whole morning working upon a single page.

2. They sat on a fallen tree that made a convenient seat.

3. I’ve never been so deseived in a man as I was in George.

4. Nothing is so dangerous as being too modern.