2012年职称英语综合类B级新增文章.doc

*第十一篇　Computer Mouse　　The basic computer mouse is an amazingly clever invention with a relatively simple design that allows us to point at things on the computer and it is very productive. Think of all the things you can do with a mouse like selecting text for copying and pasting1，drawing，and even scrolling on the page with the newer mice with the wheel. Most of us use the computer mouse daily?without stopping to think2 how it works until it gets dirty and we have to learn how to clean it. We learn to point at things before we learn to speak，so the mouse is a very natural pointing?device. Qther computer pointing devices include light pens，graphics tablets and touch screens，but the mouse is still our workhorse.　　The computer mouse was invented in 1964 by Douglas Englehart of Stanford University. As computer screens became more popular and arrow keys were used to move around a body of text，it became clear that a pointing device that allowed easier motion through the text and even selection of text would be very useful. The introduction of the mouse，with the Apple Lisa computer in 1983，really started the computer public on the road to relying on the mouse for routine computer tasks.3How does the mouse work? We have to start at the bottom，so think upside down for now. It all starts with the mouse ball. As the mouse ball in the bottom of the mouse rolls over the mouse pad，it presses against and turns two shafts. The shafts are connected to wheels with several small holes in them. The wheels have a pair of small electronic light-emitting devices called light-emitting diodes (LED) mounted on either side4. One LED sends a light beam to the LED on the other side. As the wheels spin and a hole rotates by，the light beam gets through to the LED on the other side. But a moment later the light beam is blocked until the next hole is in place. The LED detects a changing pattern of light，converts the pattern into an electronic signal，and sends the signal to the computer through w