上海牛津初中英语九年级上--CHAPTER 2 READING

CHAPTER TWO   READING  pages 18 and 19   COMPUTERS

[00:10.08]Tony plans to write an article about computers.

[00:17.06]This is some of the information he has collected.

[00:23.30]Hidden helpers

[00:26.78]Not so many years ago.

[00:30.90]You hardly ever saw computers.

[00:35.94]Now they are everywhere.

[00:40.70]There may also be tiny hidden computers in your home that you are unaware 1 of.

[00:50.13]There may be one inside your TV set, telephone or washing machine.

[00:57.78]So maybe you depend on computers more than you realize.

[01:06.04]What kind of jobs can a computer do?

[01:11.60]It is common knowledge that computers are super calculators.

[01:18.97]They can calculate very fast and rarely give wrong answers.

[01:26.91]They can also type, print and draw things like diagrams and graphs.

[01:36.97]They can teach you and play games with you.

[01:42.01]More importantly,they can operate railways

[01:47.89](like the Underground) and fly aeroplanes and spaceships.

[01:55.33]For these reasons,we often call them electronic brains

[02:03.19]Is a computer cleverer than I am?

[02:08.86]The answer to this question is,for the time being,'No'.

[02:16.72]Your brain can understand the meaning of things better and create new ideas.

[02:26.47]However,one day computers may be abl to do most things that a human brain can do

[02:35.61]and do them better.

[02:39.45]They may be better than doctors,judges and teachers at doing their jobs.

[02:49.43]If this is true,it raises interesting questions.

[02:56.98]What will happen to us if computers can do our jobs?

[03:03.82]How will we spend our lives? Will we have nothing to do?

[03:11.97]Computers may change our lives.

[03:16.44]But will they make them better?

[03:20.28]How do we give a computer instructions?

[03:25.92]We give a computer instructions by putting a program into it.

[03:34.70]The program is written by a human being,

[03:40.76]and it is essential that the human does make a mistake.

[03:48.13]If we want a computer to do different jobs,

[03:54.19]we have to give it different programs.

[03:59.46]CD-ROMs

[04:03.41]Many of today's computers have CD-ROM drives.

[04:10.57]A CD-ROM can hold over 300,000 pages of writing,

[04:18.74]and can also contain pictures and sound.

[04:24.80]Thus,for example,you can use your computer

[04:32.17]to read  about a famous person in history such as John F Kennedy

[04:39.43]and you can see a photograph or video of him,

[04:44.58]and even listen to him speaking.

[04:49.25]Some people think that CD-ROMs will soon be more popular than books.

[04:57.40]LISTENING Page 21

[05:01.95]Filling in an order form

[05:06.21]Listen to the recording,and complete the details of Mabel's order on the form below.

[05:15.56]The first one is done for you.

[05:20.21]Use the words and pictures to help you.

[05:25.67]After you have finished,work out the grand total.

[05:32.15]A:Top office supplies, how may I help you?

[05:37.71]B:I'd like to play the order please?

[05:42.28]A:Right,may I have your company's name, please?

[05:48.34]B:Yes,it's Hi-Lo Enterprises 2.

[05:54.09]A:And may I have your name?

[05:58.53]B:Yes,I'm Mabel Wang.

[06:02.76]A:Mabel Wang.And do you have your customer number?

[06:10.00]B:Yes,KY-73620

[06:18.64]A:KY-73620,thank you. Now,what did you want to order?

[06:31.31]B:I'll give you the order reference 3 number,shall I?

[06:36.77]The first is J-1505.That's a box of ball-point pens.

[06:47.93]A:What colour?

[06:50.88]B:Black, we would like 3 boxes please?

[06:56.52]A:3 boxes.There, 38 yuan per box.So that the total of, 114 yuan.

[07:10.08]B:Right,next some paper.The reference number is P-1961.

[07:20.66]A:P-1961.That's A4 paper,what colour, white?

[07:30.93]B:Yes,white.We'd like 10 boxes please?

[07:37.27]A:10 boxes at 30 yuan each.That's 3 hundred yuan.Right, anything else?

[07:48.64]B:Yes,I'd like screen filter.It's No.C-4091

[07:59.29]A:C-4091,a screen filter. What size?

[08:09.43]B:Er.Medium.

[08:13.79]A:Medium.Just one.

[08:18.52]B:Yes,that's 480 yuan, right?

[08:25.47]A:Let me check.Yes, 490 yuan,anything else?

[08:34.43]B:Yes,some floppy 4 disks.Reference No. D-2791.

[08:44.77]A:D-2791,floppy disks. That's a box of 10 floppies.

[08:55.22]B:Yes,we'd like 5 boxes please.That's 75 yuan each,I think

[09:04.47]A:Yes,75 yuan for each box,5 boxes,so the total is 375 yuan.

[09:17.92]B:Right,I just want one more thing,I want a good office chair.

[09:26.18]The No.is C-4083.That's the high-back chair.

[09:34.64]A:A high-back chair, one.Do you want a black or white?

[09:43.39]B:Black please.

[09:46.55]A:Black,right.And the price for that is 1,800 yuan.

[09:57.11]B:Yes,that's all.

[10:01.08]A:Thank you very much. We'll deliver those tomorrow morning.

[10:07.74]B:Good,thank you, good-bye.

[10:11.58]A:Good-bye.

[10:14.45]SPEAKING Page 27

[10:19.10]A Talk time

[10:23.26]Giving opinions, agreeing and disagreeing

[10:29.73]A:I think beef tastes better than pork.

[10:34.70]B:I agree.

[10:37.44]A:In my opinion,Amy is a better cook than you are.

[10:43.97]B:I don't agree.

[10:47.13]Exercise A1

[10:51.18]TONY:I think Shanghainese food is better than Sichuan food.

[10:57.42]JOYCE:I don't agree.

[11:01.19]In my opinion,Sichuan food is better.

[11:07.12]TONY:But Sichuan food is hotter.

[11:12.44]JOYCE:I agree.That's why I like it.

[11:17.20]MORE PRACTICE Page 31

[11:22.37]The History of the Internet

[11:28.01]A research team at the United States Pentagon

[11:33.58]first developed the concept of linking computers together in the 1960s.

[11:42.04]They wanted to have a system that would enable universities,

[11:49.20]research departments and the military to share resources with each other.

[11:56.77]Computers at this time were as large as refrigerators

[12:02.94]and could not be transported easily.

[12:08.19]Another problem was that they were often complicated

[12:14.43]and not compatible 5 with each other.

[12:19.29]The research team had to overcome these difficulties

[12:24.93]to create a network that could share computing 6 power.

[12:31.10]Gradually,more and more scholars came online.

[12:37.05]Years later, businessmen began using the Internet, too.

[12:43.53]The number of people using it is increasing all the time

[12:50.80]and it is becoming more widely available across the world.

[12:57.74]In fact,somewhere in every continent in the world,

[13:03.78]it is possible to use the Internet.

[13:08.74]There is a wide range of services available on the Internet.

[13:15.40]This means that there are many different ways to communicate.

[13:21.33]The most popular way is undoubtedly 7 electronic mail

[13:28.10]more commonly called'e-mail

[13:32.36]The second most popular is browsing  on the World Wide Web(WWW).

[13:41.71]Briefly,the WWW is a very big series of connected pages

[13:49.65]containing various forms of multimedia 8.

[13:54.51]The third most popular way is real time text based communication between users

[14:02.76]such as IRC-Internet Relay 9 Chat.