Учебное пособие по чтению математических текстов на английском языке. Нижний Новгород: нгпу, 2011. 65с

GRACE HOPPER

'Retired Rear Admiral Grace M. Hopper, an internationally renowned computer programming pioneer, died on January I, 1992. She was 85 years old. Her career in the US Navy spanned 43 years, from World War П to her retirement in 1986.

In 1949 she joined the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation. The company, whose founders had developed the ENIAC, one of the world's first digital computers, was at that time building the first commercial computer, the UNIVAC I. Grace Hopper played an active role in the design and development of COBOL, the Common Business Oriented Language, for usе on the UNIVAC. COBOL is still widely used today for business applications.

After retiring from the Naval Reserve in 1966, Grace Hopper was recalled a year later to work on standardizing the Navy's computer languages. She finally retired in 1986 at the grand old age of 80. She had been promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral by presidential appointment in 1983.

It was Grace Hopper who coined the term "bug" for anything that causes trouble in a computer. The first computer bug wаs actually a moth, discovered one night in 1945 in a Harvard computer. This is how Grace Hopper tells the story.

"Things were going badly. There was something wrong in one of the circuits. Finally, someone located the trouble spot, and, using ordinary tweezers, removed the problem, a two-inch moth. Frоm then on, when аnуthing went wrong with a computer, we said it had bugs in it".

I. ANSWER THE QUESTIONS:

1. 
   Why was Grace Hopper hired by the Naval Reserve?
   
2. 
   What services has she to the country?
   
3. 
   How was her work recognized?
   
4. 
   Do you want to work for the state? Why?
   
5. 
   What kind of reward would you like to get for your work?
   

development

retirement

assignment

temperament

appointment

achievement

establishment

III. TRANSLATE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES, USING THE TEXT:

1. 
   Грейс Хоппер была прославленным на весь мир компьютерным программистом.
   
2. 
   Она принимала активное участие в создании и развитии компьютерного языка КОБОЛ.
   
3. 
   КОБОЛ до сих пор используется в деловых прикладных программах.
   
4. 
   Именно Грейс Хоппер придумала термин “вирус” для всего, что вызывает сбои в работе компьютера.
   

1. 
   Grace Hopper worked for US Navy for half of her life.
   
2. 
   She wanted to work at the Bureau of Ordnance Computation Project at Harvard University, where Howard Aiken worked, but failed to get a vacancy.
   
3. 
   From 1949 she worked with Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation until her retirement in 1966.
   
4. 
   Grace was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral three years later.
   
5. 
   The term "bug" belongs to Grace Hopper.
   

1. 
   Grace Hopper was a (...) in computing.
   
2. 
   Eckert-Mauchly (...) the ENIAC.
   
3. 
   The term (…) was (...) by Grace Hopper.
   
4. 
   She was (...) to the rank of Rear Admiral.
   
5. 
   The "bug" is everything that (...) trouble in a computer.
   

BENJAMIN BANNEKER

"There is so much to admire in the life of Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806). Не was the first American Negro mathematician; he published a very meritorious almanac from 1791 to 1806, making his own astronomical calculations; using a borrowed watch as a model, he constructed entirely from hard wood a clock that served as a reliable timepiece for over twenty years; he won the enthusiastic praise of Thomas Jefferson, who was then the Secretary of State; he served as a surveyor on the Commission appointed to determine the boundaries of the District of Columbia; he was known far and wide for his ability in solving difficult arithmetical problems and mathematical puzzles quickly and accurately. These achievements аre all the mоre remarkable in that he had almost no formal schooling and was therefore largely self-taught, studying his mathematics and astronomy from borrowed books while he worked for a living as a farmer.

But laudable as all the accomplishments of Benjamin Banneker mentioned above are, there is a further item that perhaps draws stronger applause. In his almanac of 1793, he included a proposal for the establishment of the office of Secretary of Peace in the President's Cabinet, and laid out аn idealistic pacifist plan tо insure national peace. Every country in the world has the equivalent of a Secretary of War. Had Benjamin Banneker's proposal been sufficiently heeded, the United States of America might have been the first country to have a Secretary of Реacе! The possibility of realizing this honor still exists and the time for it is overripe".

I. ANSWER THE QUESTIONS:

1. 
   What was there to admire about Benjamin Banneker?
   
2. 
   In what period of American history did he live?
   
3. 
   Was it easy for him to become a mathematician?
   
4. 
   Did he have any formal schooling?
   
5. 
   How did he thrust his way in science?
   
6. 
   What did it depend on: personal qualities, political situation, reliable backing, local authorities?
   
7. 
   Why did he propose to establish the office of Secretary of Peace in the President's Cabinet?
   
8. 
   How do you understand the expression "to have а social conscience"?
   
9. 
   What is more important: to be a professional or to have a social соnscienсе?
   
10. 
    How do they correspond to each other?
    

II. DEFINE TO WHAT PART OF SPEECH THE FOLLOWING WORDS BELONG TO, TRANSLATE THEM:

astronomical remarkable

arithmetical reliable

mathematical laudable

III. TRANSLATE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES, USING THE TEXT:

1. 
   В жизни Бенжамина Беннекера есть многое, чем можно восхищаться.
   
2. 
   Он делал свои собственные астрономические вычисления.
   
3. 
   Беннекер, используя заимствованные часы в качестве модели, собрал полностью из дерева часы, которые более 20 лет показывали точное время.
   
4. 
   Он был широко известен из-за своей способности быстро и точно решать арифметические задачи и математические головоломки.
   

IV. ARE THESE SENTENCES TRUE OR FALSE?

1. 
   Thomas Jefferson paid much attention to Benjamin Banneker's inventions.
   
2. 
   Banneker was able to solve quickly any arithmetical problem.
   
3. 
   He never worked devoting all his time to studying.
   
4. 
   The idea of establishing the post of Secretary of Peace belongs to him.
   
5. 
   If Banneker's suggestion had been given consideration the USA would have been the 1^st country with a Secretary of Реacе.
   

V. FILL IN THE BLANKS WITH SUITABLE WORDS:

1. 
   A (…) almanac was published by Benjamin Banneker from 1791 to 1806.
   
2. 
   Benjamin Banneker constructed a (...) clock entirely from hard wood.
   
3. 
   He was appointed to determine (...) of the District of Columbia.
   
4. 
   Though Benjamin Banneker had (...) and was (…) he made a great progress in sciences.
   
5. 
   The time for the establishment of the office of Secretary of Peace in the President's Cabinet is (…).
   

Directory: 2013
2013 -> Annual InStructional unit plan
2013 -> The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine
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2013 -> Name(s): your name here team or Group #(if applicable): Professor’s name
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2013 -> Table Of Contents introduction 2
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2013 -> 【Education&Working Experience】

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