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T H E C O M P U T E R
The computer is basically a device for ingesting, judging, and otherwise
processing or usefully modifying knowledge. Thus it enlarges brainpower in the
same way that other man-made machines enlarge muscle power. Like man, the
computer expresses knowledge in terms of symbols; man's symbols are letters and
numbers, and the machine's symbols are electromagnetic impulses that represent
letters and numbers. Although man must usually instruct or program the machine
minutely, its chief present advantage is that it can manipulate symbols a million
times faster than a man with pencil and paper, and can make calculations in a few
minutes that might take man alone a century. An expert has
remarked that the difference between doing a calculation by
hand and by computer is the difference between having one
dollar and having a million. Sometimes the difference is
infinite; only a computer can calculate swiftly enough to
analyze the data from a satellite, or to enable man to control
the flight of a missile.
E X E R C I S E 1: Find words or phrases in the passage which mean the same as:
COLUMN A COLUMN B
a) fundamentally
b) something invented for a special purpose
c) take in
d) change slightly
e) make bigger
f) intellectual capability
g) bodily strength ,
h) as indicated by; in units of (phrase)
i) in detail
j) handle skilfully
k) process of finding a result through figures
I) a hundred years
m) say; comment
n) without end
o) very quickly
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E X E R C I S E 2: Choose the correct answer according to the passage.
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