Unit One A Short History of the Computer 1.Passage One. The Introduction of ENIAC

Training target: In this part ， our target is to train your reading comprehension. We have made the flexible sentences strong black and marked the subject ， predicate and object of them. Try to grasp the main idea of these sentences.

Text. Electronic computer was one of the greatest inventions in the20th century.Once talking about the computer ， we have to think of the birth of ENIAC （ Electrical Numerical Integrator& Calculator) ElectronicIntegratorCalculator

The start of World War II produced a large need for computer capacity ， especially for the military. New weapons were made for which trajectory tables and other essential data were needed.In1946 ， John P. Eckert ， John W. Mauchly and their associates at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering of University of Pennsylvania decided to build a high-speed electronic computer to do the job. This machine became known as ENIAC.

The size of ENIAC’s numerical “word” was 10 decimal digits ， and it could multiply two of these numbers at a rate of 300 per second ， by finding the value of each product from a multiplication table stored in its memory. ENIAC was therefore about 1,000 times faster than the previous generation of relay computers.

ENIAC used 18,000 vacuum tubes ， about 1,800square feet of floor space ， weighed 30 tons and consumed about180,000 watts of electrical power. It had punched card I.O ， 1 multiplier ， 1divider.square rooter ， and 20 adders using decimal ring counters ， which served as adders and also as quick access （ seconds ） read write register storage. The executable instructions making up a program were embodied in the separate “units” of ENIAC ， which were plugged together to form a “route” for the flow of information.

These connections had to be redone after each computation ， together with presetting function tables and switches. This “wire your own” technique was inconvenient （ for obvious reasons ）， and only with some latitude could ENIAC be considered programmable. It was ， however ， efficient in handling the particular programs for which it had been designed.

By today’s standards ， ENIAC was a monster ， but ENIAC was the prototype from which most other modern computers evolved. vacuum

Key words electronic ［ ilektr nik ］ adj. 电子的，电子学的 numerical ［ njumerik ］ adj. 数字的，数值的 integrator ［ int reit ］ n. 积分器 calculator n. 计数器

 vacuum ［ v kju m ］ tube 电子管  punched card 穿孔卡片 counter ［ kaunt ］ n. 计数 器  inconvenient ［ ink nvinj nt ］ adj. 不方便的  latitude ［ l titjud ］ n. 范 围，幅度  monster ［ mnst ］ n. 怪物 prototype ［ pr ut taip ］ n. 原型，样品.End..Exercise. ［ Ex1 ］

Exercise. ［ Ex1 ］ Answer the following question according to the text above. What is ENIAC? Try to describe it by words in this passage. ［ Ex2 ］ Fill in the blanks with the information given in the text. 1.The first electronic numerical computer was named as. 2.The size of ENIAC’s numerical“word”was10 digits. 3.ENIAC contained18 ， 000 ， about1 ， 800square feet of floor space ， weighed30tons and consumed about180 ， 000watts power.4. ENIAC was the of modern computers.