Exercises

Ex. 1. Pronounce correctly:

preoccupy, preoccupation, preoccupied;

store, storage, data storage, stored data; medium, media, multimedia;

source, resource, material resources, energy resources;

produce, reproduce, producer, produced;

particular, particularly; apply, applied, application;

exist, existence; process, processes, processing, processed data;

technique, technical, technology, technologies, technological;

first, firm, prefer, verse, versatility, versatile;

analyse, analyses, analysis, analyst, analytic(al);

mean, means, meaning, meaningful, meaningless, by means of;

system, subsystem, information systems, computer-based information systems;

able, available, availability, ability, capability, human problem solving capability.

Ex. 2. Pay attention to the nouns in the function of an attribute:

energy resources; information phenomena; information service industries; information-transforming technologies; information systems applications; human know-how; interoffice mail; telephone links; data storage; on-line methods; expert software systems; human problem-solving capabilities; off-the-shelf software; manufacturing activities.

Ex. 3. Translate the following word combinations:

• great advances; all the technological advances together;

• to reproduce information; the information service industry;

• a new basic resource; pervasive systems;

• a set of components; a computer-based information system;

• at a soaring rate; interoffice mail; during the course of daily life;

• maintain files of data; engineering calculations;

• custom-built programs; an extremely efficient means of;

• a cost-effectiveness of societal investments;

• powerful information-transforming technologies;

• at levels of complexity and efficiency far exceeding human capabilities;

• the most important aspect of any system; to process data using on-line methods.

Ex. 4. Form pairs of synonyms:

a) advance, important, to use, to begin, purpose, to generate, progress, programme, to do, on-going, manufacturing, tool, process, data, software, essential, aim, equipment, to provide, to locate, to assist, on-line, produce

b) application, milieu, domain, instrument, to find, to give, apparatus, procedure, information, to generate, field (sphere), environment, application, to harness, to accomplish, production, to apply, essential, to help, to perform, continuous, real-time.

Ex. 5. Finish the following sentences:

1. Great advances have been made in the human capability to…

2. All the technological advances together have made information…

3. The information service industry has become…

4. In the broadest a system is simply a set of…

5. The most important aspect of any system is…

6. To be of any use, a computer-based information system must…

7. Information system is a means by…

8. Information systems link together…

9. The purposes of information systems are to…

10. Information systems consist of subsystems…

11. Information systems are an extremely efficient means of…

12. Information systems are able to carry out diverse tasks…

13. Powerful information transforming technologies broaden…

14. Interactive applications of networked multimedia computers may replace…

15. Information services provide mechanisms…

Ex. 6. Translate the following word combinations using the text:

• новый основной ресурс по важности наряду с материальными и энергетическими ресурсами;

• система – это совокупность (определенный набор) составляющих элементов;

• наиболее важный аспект любой системы – это человеческие знания;

• высоко-развитая система слов условных обозначений (символов), которые

несут (имеют) определенные значения;

• информационная система может охватывать все от…;

• многие информационные системы обеспечены готовыми программами;

• многосторонность (универсальность) современных информационных систем связана с …;

• информационные системы способны (могут) выполнять разнообразные задачи;

• …по уровню сложности и эффективности, намного превосходящие возможности человека;

• практически мгновенно;

• новые стандарты (параметры) для будущего образования и воспитания всех слоев общества;

• информационные системы являются основным инструментом повышения прибыльности инвестиций;

• информационные системы постоянно совершенствуются (развиваются).

Ex. 7. Useful English (read, translate and learn):

during the past few centuries; during the course of daily life;

all the technological advances together; interest to information phenomena;

a computer system generates information for various users;

are able to perform calculations at a very high speed;

information systems are a major tool; an extremely efficient means;

to carry out diverse tasks; in the broadest sense;

information systems are on-going; the information service industry.

Ex. 8. Pay attention to the sentences with “ing” forms and Perfect tenses, analyse and translate them.

Ex. 9. Answer the questions

1. Why is preoccupation with information stronger today than at any other time in history?

2. What is a system?

3. Why time is the most important aspect of any system?

4. What is an information system?

5. In what way (how) do information systems serve all the systems?

6. What is the main purpose of information systems?

7. What do information systems consist of?

8. How do you understand the terms “generic off-the-shelf” software and “custom-built” programmes?

9. What are the electronic information systems?

10. Why are information systems an extremely efficient means?

11. What are computer-based information systems able to do?

12. In what three domains are the effects of the information systems application?

13. What tasks are the information systems able to carry out?