Ex. 24. Choose the required variant to complete each sentence

1. Computers are divided into generations according to a number of improvements in ___.

A. operating systems C. input devices

B. logic circuitry D. application software

2. ___ marks the beginning of the so-called first-generation computers.

A. The Analytical Engine C. ENIAC

B. The Difference Engine D. The Harvard Mark II

3. As long as computers were tied down to vacuum tube technology, they could only be ___.

A. large, heavy, costly C. enormous, lightweight, expensive

B. huge, heavy, cheap D. small, inexpensive, powerful

4. Germanium transistors ___ the electrical signals that operated the computer.

A. produced and eliminated C. generated and controlled

B. consumed and heated D. devised and developed

5. During the 1970s, computers were big machines requiring thousands of ___.

A. electromechanical relays C. separate transistors

B. vacuum tubes D. integrated circuits

6. Mass-produced minicomputers built by such companies as Digital Equipment Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Company were used in ___.

A. higher schools C. scientific research institutes

B. small businesses D. secondary schools and at homes

7. The third-generation computers could perform many data processing operations in ___.

A. milliseconds C. nanoseconds

B. microseconds D. picoseconds

8. In the 1970s, more and more people could afford to buy computers because ___.

A. the IC was invented C. the computers became faster and reliable

B. the price of computers fell D. all people became computer-literate

9. In the beginning of the 1980s, ___ was introduced.

A. IC C. VLSI

B. LSIC D. IBM

10. The term "fifth-generation computers" was devised by the Japanese to describe ___.

A. the intelligent computers they wanted to build by the mid-1990s.

B. artificial intelligence

C. the application of natural languages for inputting data

D. ultra-large-scale integration technologies

Ex. 25. Three words in each sentence should be replaced by another one. Try to do it!

1. The switches in the first-generation computers were bulky, reliable, time-consuming devices generating large amounts of heat.

2. The vacuum engineers of one machine generated enough electricity to power a huge town.

3. The invention of the transistor in 1947 resulted to the creation of smaller, less powerful and faster computers known as microcomputers.

4. Minicomputers were operated by specialized techniques, which were rarely dressed in black lab coats.

5. There were three types of the second-generation computers such of locomotive-sized supercomputers and refrigerator-sized minicomputers.

6. The invention of the integrated circuit in 1957 marks the ending of the third generation of microprocessors.

7. Microcomputers – systems smaller than portable television programs yet with large computing capabilities – began to be called personal mainframes.

8. Microprocessors are used in analogue watches, pocket calculators, ENIAC computers, steam ovens, mobile telephones, spaceships, Global Positioning System devices.