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  3. Computers Concern You When Charles Babbage, a professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, invented the first calculati

Computers Concern You When Charles Babbage, a professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, invented the first calculati

admin2010-02-20  124
问题                    Computers Concern You
    When Charles Babbage, a professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, invented the first calculating machine in 1812 he could hardly have imagined the situation we find ourselves in today. Nearly everything we do in the modern world is helped, or even controlled, by computers, the complicated descendants of his simple machine. Computers are being used more and more extensively in the world today, for the simple reason that they are far more efficient than human beings. They have much better memories and can store huge amounts of information, and they can do calculations in a fraction of the time taken by a human mathematician. No man alive can do 500,000 sums in one second, but an advanced computer can. In fact, computers can do many of the things we do, but faster and better. They can pay wages, reserve seats on planes, control machines in factories, work out tomorrow’s weather, and even play chess, write poetry, or compose music. Let’s look now at some of the ways in which computers concern people in their daily lives and work.
Computers and our Cash
    Mr. Woods, a bank manager, discussed some of the ways in which computers control our cash. "I think most of our customers realize that in modern banking we make extensive use of computers. They see that the codes on their cheques are printed in a special way so that they can be read by a computer-computers only seem to like rather square figures. And when they call in at the bank to find out the balance of their accounts, the clerk no longer shows them a big book with band-written entries. Instead he goes and gets a print-out from the computer which records all the details of cash or cheques paid into or drawn out of customers’ accounts. The day may soon come when we no longer need to carry cash around with us, or even a cheque book. The computer where we work will tell our bank computer how much our salary or wages are—and the government computer how much tax we should pay! Then when we go shopping we will just show a special card at the check-out point. The code on the card will be fed into the shop computer, which will check with the bank computer that there is enough money in our account to pay for the goods we want, and that the card has not been stolen. If all is well, the codes from the different items will be fed into the computer and the sum owing will be drawn from our account, but only ’on computer’. No money will ever change hands. Computerized shopping, like computerized banking, will be quick, safe and convenient."
Computers and our Health
    Nurse Penny Atkins works in a large, modern hospital.
    "We use computers a lot in medicine nowadays. For instance, at the hospital where I work we make patients’ appointments through a computer, which saves a lot of time. So does keeping patients’ records on a computer. It also saves space because you can get so much more information on to a piece of computer tape than a piece of paper. Another advantage is that anyone who wants information on a patient can get it quickly, or even at the same time as someone else.
    You just dial the computer. In the past a doctor might take a patient’s records away to his room and keep them for weeks, which could make things difficult for the rest of us! Actually, computers can often do a doctor’s work better than a human being can. Computers don’t suffer from lack of sleep, so they don’t miss important points. And because they never forget anything they’ve ever been told they’re often better at working out what’s wrong with a patient, or the best treatment to give him. Some people even think we should all have regular computer checks on our health and then we would ha able to cure most diseases in the early stages. We’d all spend less time in hospital, so the future would be better for us overworked nurses!"
Computers Catch Criminals
    Chief Inspector Harston talked about ways in which computers can help the police fight crime.
    "Members of the public often think of detective work as fast and exciting when most of it is slow and boring. For example, a detective on a stolen car case may have to check through long lists of information, and in the time it takes him to do this the thief may well escape. With the new National Police Computer we are now able to find out details of car ownership and driving licenses in a fraction of the time it takes by traditional methods. We are also developing systems of storing fingerprint information in computers and even information about people’s appearance. It’s possible to work out codes for visual details and to link a computer with a videotape recorder (VTPO. Then, instead of looking through books of photographs we’ll be able to ask the computer to sort out the right ones, and see photographs of suspects flashed across a VTR screen. In police work speed is often essential, so computers are ideal for helping catch criminals. The only problem is that we now have a new kind of criminal—the very clever man who knows how to make huge sums of money by cheating a computer, and he is very difficult indeed to catch."
When you go shopping, you can show the shopassistant the special card and get the goods you want immediately.
选项 A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案C
解析 第二段倒数第四句话指出“The code on the card will be fed into the shop computer，which will check with the band computer that there is enough money in our account to pay for the goods we want，and that the card has not been stolen．”卡上的密码将会输入商店中的计算机，与银行计算机联网查看是否有足够的钱付我们要买的货物，井确认卡上的存款没有被偷窃，而题干中表达的意思，原文未提及。
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