Vocabulary

ability to monitor their own motion

способность наблюдать, следить за собственным движением

actuator

силовой привод; соленоид

are all wired to

все присоединены кабелем

are set in motion

приводятся в движение

be powered (by a battery)

питаются от батареи

circuit powers electrical motors

цепь питает электромоторы

computer controls everything attached to the circuit

компьютер управляет всем, что присоединено к цепи

employ, use

использовать

jointed

шарнирный; сочлененный

motorized wheels

моторизованные колеса

overwhelming majority

преобладающее большинство

plug into the wall

включить штепсель в розетку на стене

pressurize

создавать давление

reprogrammable brain

перепрограмируемый мозг

sensory system

сенсорная система

switch on

включать, включить

valve

клапан

Exercise 1: Fill in gaps in the text with words from the table below:

movable compressed set overwhelming powered

1 The … (1) …majority of robots have several common features.

2 Almost all robots have a … (2) … body.

3 These jointed segments are … (3) … in motion by actuators.

4 Most robots are … (4) … by a battery.

5 Pneumatic robots need an air compressor or … (5) … air tanks.

Exercise 2: Put words into right word order

Example: wired – actuators – electrical – to an – The – circuit – are – . => The actuators are wired to an electrical circuit.

1 have a – body – Robots – by the – physical – controlled – computer.

2 The – circuit – are – to an – electrical – all – wired – actuators – .

3 robots – sensory – all – systems – have – Not – .

4 most of – have – monitor – their – The – motion – robots – ability to – own – .

5 electrical – powers – motors – The – directly – circuit – .

Exercise 3: Make questions beginning with the words in bold

Example: Robots have a reprogrammable brain. (What brain … ?) – What brain do robots have?

1 Some robots have dozens of movable segments. (How many … ?)

2 The individual segments are connected together with joints. (How … ?)

3 Hydraulic robots need a pump to pressurize the hydraulic fluid. (What … for?)

4 The circuit powers the hydraulic or pneumatic system by manipulating electrical valves. (How … ?)

5 Only few of robots have the ability to see, hear, smell or taste. (What ability ? )

Exercise 4: Rewrite the text above in your own words (about 100 – 150 words)

Recommendations how to do it:

Reread the text and make notes to express main ideas of the paragraphs.

Find the key words in each paragraph. They are the words of key importance to the meaning of the paragraph. Use a thesaurus or a dictionary to find synonyms to these words.

Think of alternative phrases for the longer sentences in the paragraphs.

Write your own text using the notes you have made and the vocabulary you have prepared.

Reread again the original text and correct or change anything if necessary.

Good luck!

Text 2

Web 2.0 characteristics

The term “Web 2.0″ concerns the second generation of web development and design, which aims to facilitate communication, secure information sharing, interoperability, and collaboration on the WWW. Web 2.0 concepts have led to the expansion and evolution of web-based communities, hosted services, and applications such as social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs.

The term Web 2.0 became known after the O’Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004. According to O’Reilly:

“Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as a platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform. “ ”

Although the term Web 2.0 suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not contain any update to any technical specifications. It is rather about changes in the ways software developers and end-users utilize the Web.

Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, has questioned whether one can use the term in any meaningful way, because many of the technological components of Web 2.0 have existed since the early days of the Web.

Nonetheless, Web 2.0 websites allow users to do more than just retrieve information. The users can build on the interactive facilities of Web 1.0. It allows the users to run software applications entirely through a browser. The users can own the data on a Web 2.0 site and exercise control over those data. These sites may have an “Architecture of participation” that encourages users to add value to the application as they use it. Moreover, under the architecture of participation users contributing to website content help to create network effects. A network effect is the effect that one user of a good or service has on the value of that product to other people. For example, the telephone: the more people own telephones, the more valuable the telephone is to each owner.

Web 2.0 technologies tend to foster innovation in the assembly of systems and sites composed by pulling together features from distributed, independent developers.

It is in contrast to traditional websites, which only limited visitors may view and whose content only the site’s owner could modify. Web 2.0 sites often feature a rich, user-friendly interface and similar client-side interactivity frameworks.

For Web 2.0 the next characteristics are representative: rich user experience, user participation, dynamic content, metadata, web standards and scalability (i.e. a property of a system, a network, or a process to either handle growing amounts of work or to be readily enlarged). Further characteristics, such as openness, freedom and collective intelligence by way of user participation, can also be viewed as essential attributes of Web 2.0.

Vocabulary

any meaningful way

любой, имеющий смысл способ

blog

блог

client-side interactivity frameworks

рамки интерактивного поведения клиентов

collective intelligence

коллективный интеллект, ум

end-user

конечный пользователь

entirely through a browser

всецело через веб-браузер

essential attributes of Web 2.0

неотъемлемый атрибут, неотъемлемый признак

exercise control over those data

осуществлять надзор над данными

foster innovation

стимулировать нововведения, инновации

hosted services

услуги по размещению информации (в узлах сети)

interactive facilities

интерактивные устройства

interoperability

интероперабильность – способность к взаимодействию различных аппаратных и других средств, возможность взаимодействия сетей

metadata

метаданные, данные о данных

network effect

сетевой эффект

pulling together

объединяя (для работы сообща)

readily enlarged

быстро, без задержки расти (расширяться)

retrieve information

получать информацию

scalability

расширяемость, масштабируемость (модульное наращивание системы в рамках унифицированной архитектуры)

secure information sharing

надежное совместное [коллективное] использование

social-networking sites

сайты социальных сетей

software developers

разработчик программного обеспечения

user-friendly interface

удобный для пользователя (дружественный) интерфейс

wikis

вики

Exercise 1: Fill in gaps in the text with words from the table below

technological interactive development allow update

1 The term “Web 2.0″ concerns the second generation of web … (1) … and design.

2 Web 2.0 suggests a new version of WWW, which does not contain any … (2) … to any technical specifications.

3 Many of the … (3) … components of Web 2.0 have existed since the early days of the Web.

4 Nonetheless, Web 2.0 websites … (4) … users to do more than just retrieve information.

5 The users can build their applications on the … (5) … facilities of Web 1.0.

Exercise 2: Use the word in capitals given in brackets at the end of each line to form a related word that fits in the space in the same line

Example:

Web 2.0 concepts have led to the ……… and evolution of web-based communities. [expand]

Web 2.0 concepts have led to the expansion and evolution of web-based communities.

1 Web 2.0 allows the users to run software ……… entirely through a browser. [apply]

2 An architecture of ……… encourages users to add value to the application as they use it. [participate]

3 The architecture of participation helps users to create network………. [effective]

4 Web 2.0 technologies tend to foster ……… in the assembly of systems and sites. [innovate]

5 Web 2.0 systems and sites are composed by pulling together features from distributed ………. [development]

Exercise 3: Make questions beginning with the words in bold

Example:

Web 2.0 technologies sustain innovation in the assembly of systems and sites by pulling together features from distributed developers. (How … ?)

How do Web 2.0 technologies sustain innovation in the assembly of systems and sites?

1 Only limited number of visitors may view traditional websites. (Who … ?)

2 The content of traditional websites can be modified only by the site’s owner. (Who … by?)

3 Web 2.0 sites offer a rich, user-friendly interface and client-side interactivity frameworks. (What…?)

4 Openness, freedom and collective intelligence can also be viewed as essential attributes of Web 2.0. (What else … ?)

5 Web 2.0 assumes changes in the ways software developers and end-users utilize the Web (What changes … ?)

Exercise 4: Rewrite the text above in your own words (about 100 – 150 words).

Recommendations how to do it:

Reread the text and make notes to express main ideas of the paragraphs.

Find the key words in each paragraph. They are the words of key importance to the meaning of the paragraph. Use a thesaurus or a dictionary to find synonyms to these words.

Think of alternative phrases for the longer sentences in the paragraphs.

Write your own text using the notes you have made and the vocabulary you have prepared.

Reread again the original text and correct or change anything if necessary.

Text 3

Shortly about the WWW history – Part 1

The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is a system of interlinked, hypertext documents that runs over the Internet. A Web browser enables a user to view Web pages that may contain text, images, and other multimedia. Moreover, the browser ensures navigation between the pages using hyperlinks. The Web was created around 1990 by the English Tim Berners-Lee and the Belgian Robert Cailliau working at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.

The term Web is often mistakenly used as a synonym for the Internet itself, but the Web is a service that operates over the Internet, as e-mail does. The history of the Internet dates back significantly further than that of the Web.

The origins of the World Wide Web can be traced back to 1980. Then Tim Berners-Lee and Jedda Smith built ENQUIRE, as a personal database of people and software models at CERN. Each new page of information in ENQUIRE had to be linked to an existing page. Later Berners-Lee considered problems of information sharing among high-energy physicists from around the world. So, in March 1989 he wrote a proposal for “a large hypertext database with typed links”, but it generated little interest. Nevertheless, Berners-Lee began implementing his system on a newly acquired NeXT workstation. The system was called World Wide Web.

Vocabulary

hypertext документ, который содержит видимые ссылки на другой документ в Интернете

Web browser веб браузер

Web pages веб-страница

hyperlink гиперссылка – фрагмент HTML-документа,

указывающий на другой файл в Интернете

NeXT workstation NeXT компьютер, работающий в составе компьютерной сети

information sharing распределенное использование информации

high-energy physics физика высоких энергий

CERN (European Council for Nuclear Research, derived from the French Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire) Европейская лаборатория физики элементарных частиц

Exercise 1: Fill in gaps in the text with words from the table below

mistakenly over linked software hyperlinks

The World Wide Web is a system of hypertext documents running … (1) … the Internet.

The Web browser ensures navigation between the Web pages using … (2) ….

The term Web is often … (3) … used as a synonym for the Internet itself.

Each new page of information in ENQUIRE had to be … (4) … to an existing page.

ENQUIRE was a personal database of people and … (5) … models at CERN.

Exercise 2: Use the word in capitals given in brackets at the end of each line to form a related word that fits in the space in the same line

Example:

The _______of the World Wide Web can be traced back to 1980. [ORIGINAL]

The origins of the World Wide Web can be traced back to 1980.

1 The Web was created around 1990 by T. Berners-Lee and R. Cailliau ________at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. [WORK]

2 The Web is a service that __________ over the Internet. [OPERATION]

3 The history of the Internet dates back __________ further than that of the Web. [SIGNIFY]

4 Berners-Lee considered problems of ____________ sharing among high-energy physicists from around the world. [INFORMING]

5 Berners-Lee began implementing his system on a newly ____________ NeXT workstation. [ACQUISITION]

Text 4

Internet structure – Part 1

The Internet is a collection of separate and distinct networks, each one operating under a common framework of the globally unique Internet Protocol addressing (IP addressing) and global Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routing. IP address is assigned to devices participating in computer networks under Internet Protocol for communication between its nodes. BGP allows fully decentralized routing. Owing to that the Internet functions as a truly decentralized system.

The relationships between Internet networks are generally described by one of the following three categories:

Transit (or pay) – You pay money to another network for the Internet access.

Peer (or swap) – Two networks exchange traffic between each other’s customers freely, and for mutual benefit.

Customer (or sell) – Another network pays you money to provide them with the Internet access.

The Internet is based on the principle of global reach ability. It means that any Internet user can reach any other Internet user as though they were on the same network.

The Internet is extremely heterogeneous, for instance, data transfer rates and physical characteristics of connections vary widely. The Internet exhibits “emergent phenomena” that depend on its large-scale organization. More than one computer can use the Internet through only one its node. It creates the possibility for a very deep and hierarchal based sub-network that can theoretically be extended infinitely.

Vocabulary

English Russian

addressing адресация; способ адресации

computer network сеть ЭВМ

border gateway protokol пограничный межсетевой протокол маршрутизации

routing маршрутизация (в сети)

node узел (в сетях – точка присоединения к сети)

peer равноправный пользователь или узел сети

swap oбмен, перекачка

Internet access выход / доступ в Интернет

heterogeneous гетерогенный, неоднородный

emergent phenomena эмерджентный эффект, т.е. эффект организации, который является результатом возникновения между элементами системы связей

large-scale organization большая или сложная система

Exercise 1: Use the word in capitals given in brackets at the end of each line to form a related word that fits in the space in the same line

Example:

The Internet is … … of separate and distinct networks. [COLLECT]

The Internet is a collection of separate and distinct networks.

The relationships between Internet networks are … … described by three categories. [generalize]

Transit means you … … money to another network for the Internet access. [payable]

Peer means two networks exchange traffic between each other’s customers … … . [free]

The Internet is … … on the principle of global reach ability. [basic]

Data transfer rates and physical characteristics of … … on the Internet vary widely. [CONNECT]

Text 5