2005年成人高考英语试题及答案1(高起点).docVIP

Pets 4 lessson one name : History of computer The first design for a programmable computer--one that would follow a set of instructions--is usually considered to be the Analytic Engine invented by English inventor Charles Babbage in 1832. His device was designed to perform a sequence of calculations using instructions input on punched cards,and it included a memory storeand a processing unit. It was entirely mechanical in design. Unfortunately,Babbage never assembled his computer,and it was not until the1900s,with the invention of the electron tube, that components for a viable electronic computer became available. An electron tube is a device that can block,amplify,or act as an on/off switch for an electric current. During the 1920s and 1930s,scientists investigated how to link these devices in arrays that would accept electric signals representing numbers, process the signals according to programme,and output the results. Whereas electron-tube computers were huge,and programming them involved changing their circuitry by plugging and unplugging cables. ? Aside from their large size,computers based on electron tubes had other drawbacks. The heating filaments in the tubes made the computers hot,and the filaments would often blow. But in 1947,the development of the transistor by scientists at Bell Telephone Laboratories transformed the computer landscape. These tiny components were made from crystals of semiconductors such as germanium and silicon,and could do everything an electron tube could do,but were smaller and more reliable. Cheaper,more compact computers were soon in production,although some still occupied a whole room. ?Along with the developments in hardware,there were changes in software. Originally,all instructions for computers were written in binary code(machine code). In 1951,a programmer named Grace Hopper proposed reusable software,code that could be assembled according to instructions written in a higher-level language (somethin