第一篇 Passage 1
In 1900, They Never Imagined…
The Computer Revolution
In 1900, they never imagined…
1944 The Harvard-IBM Mark I computer
1946 The 24-metre long ENIAC computer
1964 The IBM System 360 mainframe
1965 The Digital PDP-8 mini-computer
1974 The Altair 8800 mini-computer and the communications system ARPANET
1981 The IBM Personal Computer
In 1900, they never imagined… the computer and its miniaturization. Thanks to more and more capacity for memory processing through smaller and smaller silicon chips, the mainframe computer which needed a large room became a desktop computer and workstation, which eventually even had greater capacity.
The personal computer, revolutionized by the introduction of IBM’s Personal Computer (PC) in 1981, spread to 245 million PC users by century’s end. The PC was not only word processor, business organizer, research and educational tool, home study center and games player, but allowed global communication through the Internet.
The Internet. The Internet was prefigured by the communications system ARPANET, initially a US Defense Department network expanded by universities. The Internet is a linked computer communications network used for information, e-mail, business and education. US-based International Data Communications predicts the Internet economy will reach $US 1 trillion by 2002.
In 1900, they never imagined…
Diagnosis of a car’s mechanical problems by laptop computer, 1997.
The wrist watch becoming a miniature computer, 1998.
The notebook in the form of a portable laptop computer, 1996.
The Man/Woman of the Year displaced by a machine, in TIME magazine’s prophetic recognition of the dominant future of the Personal Computer. Instead of Man of the Year or Woman of the Year, in 1982 TIME magazine nominated the computer as Machine of the Year.
The Air Transport Revolution
In 1900, they never imagined…that there would be flight by heavier-than-air machines, beginning with Orville and Wilbur Wright’s Flyer in 1903, reaching a climax in 1969 with the first flight of the Boeing 747 Jumbo jet, which can carry 400 people.
In 1900, they never imagined…space travel. The space shuttle, able to ferry men and women to and from an orbiting space station, was put into service from 1981, 20 years after the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin.
Mass air transport. This was begun with the development of small passenger planes after World War I. At century’s end, the top 20 airlines carry more than 500 million passengers annually.
Supersonic flight. The Concorde in commercial service from 1976, cruises at twice the speed of sound, and makes the trans-Atlantic flight in 3 1/2 hours, compared to seven hours for a Jumbo jet.
The Telephone Revolution
In 1900, they never imagined…
That people would be able to walk through the street carrying on a conversation with someone in distant cities by using a tiny, hand-held mobile phone. They never envisaged that messages could be sent and received from such a machine through the use of email, fax and electronic paging.
In 1900, they never imagined…
1901 Telegraph poles carrying up to 150 telephone wires each.
1919 the first Dial Telephone in general use.
1959 The first mobile in-car phone by Bell Telephone, US.
1973 The first portable cellular phone by Motorola, US.
1978 The first city cellular radio mobile radiotelephone system, Chicago, US. Systems linked to new phone communication technology include 1991 Cordless Phones.
1993 Pagers, alerting wearers to phone messages.
1996 Teleconferences, using a speaker-locating camera for video images.
1996 The portable fax machine, hooked up to a portable phone.
The Science Revolution
In 1900, they never imagined… that Max Planck’s quantum theory, introduced in 1900, and which changed our understanding of the physical universe, would give rise to…
1905 Albert Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, and in…
1988 The research of Stephen Hawking, noted for his theories on black holes in space. Hawking’s best-selling book on modern cosmology, A Brief History of Time (1988) attempts to reunite quantum theory and Einstein’s theory of relativity.
In 1900, they never imagined …
Atomic research. 1942, the first nuclear reactor built by Enrico Fermi.
Medical research. Sir Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin, 1928. Protection of wounded soldiers from blood poisoning speeds up manufacture of the drug in World War II.
Organ transplants. The first kidney transplant operation is in 1954, the first heart transplant in 1967.
Genetic research. Genetic research escalates after the description of the DNA double helix, 1953. Following genetic experiment and breeding, the first living mammal is patented, 1988. In 1997 cloned sheep Dolly, in Roslyn, Scotland, is created as a genetically identical sheep to her mother using DNA.
The Hi-tech Revolution As Commonplace
In 1900, they never imagined…1906 the beginning of public radio broadcasting, Massachusetts.
1936 The beginning of first public television service, London. TV development speeds up after the invention of the cathode ray tube “kinescope” by Vladimir Zworykin, head of RCA’s TV research. This tube displaces John Logie Baird’s mechanical system. Worldwide television broadcasts are now possible through satellite technology.
1935 The first practical radar developed by Sir Robert Watson-Watt, England. Radar is extensively used today in air traffic control, tracking weather patterns and spacecraft.
1937 The Xerography electrostatic copying process. Chester Carlson develops the Xerography electrostatic copying process, which is commercially produced in 1950. The first Xerox machine appears on the market in 1958. Office photocopying is now worldwide. As machines become smarter, they can print on both sides, print color, sort in order and staple copies, and also act as printers instructed by computers.
1947 The transistor. The transistor was developed in the Bell Laboratories in the United States in 1947 after a long program of research. The transistor won for its inventors, John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain and William Shockley the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1956 and was a key development in speeding up the way electric current was carried. The transistor was smaller, more robust, used less power and produced less heat than a valve.
The transistor begins the process of miniaturization so important to late 20th-century electronics. The microchip is developed by Kilby and Noyce in 1959, the microprocessor by Hoff at Intel in 1971. In 1998, Intel produces a 6cm-square microchip containing 5.5 million transistors.
1960 Laser technology, developed by Charles H. Townes and Arthur Schawlow, Columbia University (1951), and Dr Theodore H. Maiman working at the Hughes Research Labs (1960). Laser technology is now vital in telecommunications, medicine, the defense industry, mass production, ozone measurements, and supermarkets (bar-code reading). Traveling through fibre optic cables, lasers carry phone, fax, computer, TV and radio communications are used in medical operations, business, industry, commerce, construction and in the home.
1972 Calculators. Based on the principles of the abacus, small electronic calculators become pocket-size when one Integrated Circuit was able to perform all functions, batteries became rechargeable or replaceable, and liquid crystal displays began to use less energy to show the numbers in a small window.
课文词语 Words and Expressions from the Text
mainframe 主机
silicon chip 硅片
workstation 工作站
word processor 文字处理器
International Data Communications 国际数据通信组织
portable laptop computer 便携式膝上电脑
the Man / Woman of the Year 年度风云人物
Jumbo jet 大型喷气式客机
supersonic flight 超音速飞行
Concorde 协和式飞机
portable cellular phone 便携式移动电话
cordless Phones 无绳电话
pager 传呼机
quantum theory 量子理论
Special Theory of Relativity 狭义相对论
Cosmology 宇宙学
genetic research 基因研究
DNA double helix DNA双螺旋线
cathode ray tube (kinescope) 阴极射线管（显像管）
Xerography electrostatic copying process 静电复印处理技术
sort in order 排列顺序
transistor 晶体管
valve 电子管
miniaturization 微型化
laser technology 激光技术
ozone measurement 臭氧测量
fiber optic cable 光缆
bar-code reading 条形码识别
liquid crystal 液晶显示器
