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Passage One

 How did computing machines begin and develop? The answer to this question is fairly clear. The first computing machine, in use more than 5 000 years ago, was the fingers and hands of people. But this useful and natural computing machine was not equal to keeping track of all the numbers that people needed from time to time. People needed bigger numbers than hands could show; and they needed to be able to store and remember numbers, without always keeping their fingers in certain positions.

    So other ideas and devices appeared.

    The next idea was to use small stones or shells, seeds or beads, to count with. Then a person could talk about some large number (of chickens in a flock or sheep in a herd) as "the number of beads on his string," even if he had no simple name for the number.

    However, people found it troublesome to count only in units, one by one. So, very early, in ancient Egypt, another idea appeared. This was the idea of choosing a new unit equal to 10 of the old units. Clearly, this idea comes from the fact that a man has 10 fingers; and so a person could talk about the number 76 by referring to all the fingers of seven men and six more fingers on one more man.

    In order to handle numbers in the form of a set of counted things, it is helpful to have a fixed place in which to lay them out. Such a place may be a smooth piece of ground, a flat piece of stone, or a board. It is helpful to arrange lines to mark off places－one place for units, another place for tens, a third place for tens of tens (or hundreds), and so on.

    But it is not very convenient to use a board: among other reasons, often when you move the board, the counters fall off. So why not use a frame with little sticks, put holes through the counters, and string them as beads on the sticks in the frame? This simple invention makes a widely useful machine for figuring, the abacus. It is still the most common computing machine and is used all over the world.

    In ancient times another really important idea was noticed－the idea of zero, the number of none, or nothing. It names a place on the board of counters that is empty of counters. Without this idea, no good computing machine can be made.

(415 words)

1. According to the author, the first computing machine was in use ______ years ago.( C )

(a) 500

    (b) 1 000

(c) 5 000

(d) 10 000

2. In order to store and remember numbers people in earlier times might use all of the following to count with except ________.( D )

(a) stones or shells

(b) human hands and fingers

(c) seeds or beads

(d) animals

3. The idea of choosing a new unit equal to 10 of the old units appeared very early in ________. ( B )

(a) India

(b) Egypt

(c) Britain

(d) America

4.The last important idea mentioned in the passage is ________. ( C )

(a) the invention of the abacus

(b) the birth of a good computing machine

(c) the idea of zero

(d) the idea of tens or hundreds

5. Which of the following is a better title for the passage above? ( D )

(a) The Birth of Numbers

(b) The Idea of Zero

(c) The Use of the Abacus

(d) Early Computing Ideas and Devices

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Passage Two

    The first machine that would take in and add numbers mechanically was made by the great French mathematician and philosopher Pascal in 1643. In it were small counter wheels with gears (齿轮) that could be set at any one of ten positions: 0 to 9 . Each gear had a little tooth on its side for pushing the next counter wheel when it passed from 9 to 0.

    By the end of the 1800's, there were many small desk machines that would add, subtract, multiply, and divide. These were being manufactured widely to meet business needs for handling numbers.

    But figuring was still thought of as a single operation (运算) of arithmetic to be done and finished with. It was not thought of as a long list of operations, all of which could be given to a machine to carry out in the proper order. For example, suppose you wanted to find out the average (平均数) of the marks of each of 286 children in six subjects. You would have to carry out 286 additions of six numbers, divide each sum by 6, and list 286 answers. There is a great deal of repetition in this work; why not give all of it to a machine?

    In the early 1800s, such a machine was thought of by Charles Babbage, a professor of mathematics at Cambridge University in England. He worked for many years on his ideas, but failed in the end because the level of engineering in his day was not good enough.

    However, Babbage's idea of an automatic computer came into being in 1944 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The men who made the computer were Professor Howard Aiken of Harvard and engineers of the International Business Machines Corporation. They put together an automatic computer that really worked, called the Harvard IBM Mark I. This was the first machine that could carry out long lists of figuring operations of a great many kinds, all in the proper order.

(336 words)
　

6. The first mechanic computing machine was born in the _______________ century. ( D )

(a) fourteenth

(b) fifteenth

(c) sixteenth

(d) seventeenth

7. The computing machine made by Pascal ______.      ( B )

(a) used electricity as power

(b) had small counter wheels with gears

(c) had nine positions

(d) could add large numbers very quickly 

8. In the early 1800's, Professor Babbage __________. ( B )

(a) thought that figuring was a single operation of arithmetic

(b) thought that a long list of operations could be done by a machine

(c) was known as the best mathematician of his time

(d) invented a machine to do computing

9. Which of the following is NOT true? ( C )

(a) The idea of an automatic computer occurred first in America

(b) Babbage failed to produce an automatic computer because of the limited level of engineering in his day.

(c) The first automatic computer was born in Britain.

(d) The Harvard IBM Mark I could do long lists of figuring operations of a great many kinds.

10. The passage above discusses ________. ( C )

(a) how Charles Babbage tried to invent a modern computer

(b) the birth of the first mechanic computer

(c) the development of computers

(d) the functions of computers

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Passage Three

    Many people have argued about whether or not computing machines can think. Can they or can't they?

    Almost certainly, a machine can do any work in thinking that a person can do－if the correct way for doing the thinking work can be stated exactly. Besides, many programs have been made guiding machines so that they behave in very clever ways. Machines have been taught to play checkers (下棋) and to learn from what happens in the games, so as to make their play better and better. Machines can beat many persons who play checkers. Machines can translate from one language to another. They can prove statements in geometry as taught in school. Machines can recognize printed marks on paper, so that a person is no longer needed to look at the marks.

    There are many ways in which computers can be used in business, science, industry, engineering, and government. Computers study oil-field surveys made by airplanes; they keep track of oil sales; they study stresses (压力) in pipes; they help in planning and running refineries (炼油厂); and much more.

    If people cannot state exactly the correct way to do certain work in thinking, it is an open question as to how much of this work a machine can do. Suppose a person is "teaching" the machine and telling the machine "yes" when the machine is right, and "no" when the machine is wrong. Then the machine can keep on searching among possible ways for solving a problem－until the machine can do as well as the person, and perhaps much better.

    But, what is thinking? People can agree about much that is thinking, and much that is not thinking; but they argue about the rest because the word "think" is not a scientific word with an exact meaning. A lot of the argument is wasted breath because the persons who argue are using different meanings of the word "think."

    People, however, have only had experience with machines that appear to think since 1944. It would be rash to state that after the next 200 years, machines will not be thinking. And to consider that machines can think gives people a big push to give to machines more and more work in thinking.

( 382 words )

11. The author is almost certain that if the correct way of doing the thinking work can be stated exactly _____________. ( A )

(a) a machine can do any work in thinking like a human being

(b) a machine can beat every checkers player

(c) a machine can make guiding programs

(d) a machine can do better translation than human beings

12. Paragraph 3 gives an example of how computers can be used in ______ .                  ( D )

(a) education

(b) government

(c) sports games

(d) the oil industry

13. If people cannot state exactly the correct way to do certain work in thinking, __________. ( A )

(a) it is doubtful how much of the work a computer can do

(b) the machine will have to find out how to do it itself

(c) the machine will say no and stop working

(d) they will have to rely on the machine to search for possible ways to do the work 

14. It seems to the author that _____.( D )

(a) people will never reach an agreement about what the word "think" means

(b) all the arguing about the meaning of "think" is useless

(c) the word "think" is not a word used in science

(d) people are using different meanings of the word "think" in their argument

15. A more suitable title for the passage is___________( A )

(a) Do Machines Think?

(b) Can Machines Be Taught to Think?

(c) What Is Thinking?

(d) Can Machines Beat All Checkers Players?                          

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