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

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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 （ 0.0002seconds ） 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.

7. 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.

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

9. 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

10.  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 ］

11. 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.