Grammar Study. Harnessing the speed of light

Text C

HARNESSING THE SPEED OF LIGHT

When the American scientist Alan Huang revealed his plants to build an optical computer, most scientists considered this idea as hopeless. It was impractical, if not possible, they said, to create a general-purpose computer that could use pulses of light rather than electrical signals to process data. During one of the scientist’s lectures on the subject, a third of the audience walked out. At another one, some of the scientists laughed, calling the researcher a dreamer.

That was several years ago. Now the scientist demonstrated his experimental computing machine based on optics. It look him five years to develop it. The device – a collection of lasers, lenses and prisms – can serve as the basis for future optical computers 100 to 1,000 times as powerful as today’s most advanced supercomputers. The potential applications are remarkable: robots that can see, computers that can design aircraft, processors that can convert spoken words into written text and vice versa. Such practical optical computers are still years away – some would say light-years.

Yet many scientists are predicting that the device will have an impact similar to that of the integrated circuit which made small personal computers possible.

Photons, the basic unit of light beams, can in theory be much better than electrons for moving signals through a computer. First of all, photons can travel about the times as fast as electrons. And while electrons react with one another, beams of photons, which have no mass or charge, can cross through one another without interference. Thus, photons can move in free space. This could open the door to radically new and different computer designs, including so-called parallel processor that could work on more than one problem at a time instead of one after another, as today’s new generation computers do.

Времена группы Continuous

Времена группы Continuous образуются с помощью вспомогательного глагола to be в соответствующем времени, лице и числе и причастия I, т.е. по формуле to be + Participle I (ing).

The Continuous (Active)

	Present	Past	Future
Утверди-тельная форма	I am writing he, she, it is writing   we, you, they are writing	I, he, she, it was writing   we, you, they were writing	I, we shall be writing   he, she, it, we, you, they will be writing
Вопроси-тельная форма	Am I writing? Is he, she, it writing?   Are we, you, they writing?	was I, he, she, it writing?   were we, you, they writing?	Shall I, we be writing?   Will he, she, it, we, you, they be writing
Отрица-тельная форма	I am not writing he, she, it is not writing   we, you, they are not writing	I, he, she, it was not writing   we, you, they were not writing	I, we shall not be writing   he, she, it, we, you, they will be not writing

Времена группы Continuous употребляются для выражения действия, происходящего в какой-то определенный момент времени в настоящем прошедшем и будущем. Этот момент может подразумеваться из контекста или может быть обозначен либо конкретным указанием на время, например: в 10 часов, либо указанием на другое однократное действие, например: когда мы вошли; когда мы вернулись и т.д.

В Present Continuous момент может быть выражен словами now сейчас, at the moment в этот момент. Например,

They are doing grammar exercises now.	Они делают грамматические упражнения сейчас.
They were doing grammar exercises when he came in.	Они делали грамматические упражнения, когда он вошел.
They will be doing grammar exercises at 10 o’clock tomorrow.	Они будут делать грамматические упражнения завтра в десять часов.

Глаголы, выражающие чувства: to love (любить), to like (нравиться), to hate (ненавидеть) и т.п., восприятия: to see (видеть), to hear (слышать), to feel (чувствовать), to know (знать), to remember (помнить), to understand (понимать) и т. п., а также глаголы to belong (принадлежать), to contain (содержать), to consist (состоять), to possess (обладать), как правило, в форме Continuous не употребляются, например,

Thank you, I feel much better now. – Благодарю Вас, я чувствую себя гораздо лучше.

На русский язык времена группы Continuous переводятся глаголами несовершенного вида настоящего, прошедшего или будущего времени. Длительный характер действия передается словами сейчас, в данный момент, в это время и т. д.:

You can talk to him. He is not working.	Вы можете поговорить с ним. Он не работает в данный момент.
He was getting ready for his final exams when I came in.	Он готовился к выпускным экзаменам, когда я пришел.
She will be working at her article at that time tomorrow.	Завтра в это время она будет работать над своей статьей.

The Continuous (The Passive)

To be + being + Participle II

Present I am he, she, it + is being written we, you, they are

Past I he, she, it + was being written we, you, they were

В страдательном залоге Future Continuous не употребляется. Три способа перевода страдательного залога справедливы и для перевода времен группы Continuous, но последние переводятся глаголом несовершенного вида, например: Книгу читают. – The book is being read.

Глагол to have (to have – had – had)

Синтаксическая функция и значение	Пример и перевод
1. Смысловой глагол со значением «иметь», «обладать» (перед именем существительным, числительным, местоимением)	Now Belarus has many educational establishments. Сейчас в Беларуси имеется много учебных заведений.
2. Вспомогательный глагол для образования времен Perfect (перед причастием прошедшего времени)	Many years have passed since the day when radio was invented. Прошло много лет с тех пор, как было изобретено радио.
3. Эквиваленты модального глагола в значении долженствования (перед инфинитивом смыслового глагола с частицей «to»	He had to make a lot of experiments. Ему пришлось проводить много экспериментов.

I. Explain the use of Continuous Tense in the following sentences. Translate the sentences into Russian.

1. I am at my English lesson. I am sitting and doing my exercises. My friend is not sitting, he is standing at the blackboard and looking at me.

2. It is getting cold now, isn’t it? Look out. Is it raining now?

3. You are late. What were you doing? I was translating a text.

4. When I came home my parents were having supper and at the same time they were watching TV.

5. What was he doing when I rang up an hour ago? He was looking through a newspaper when I rang up.

6. Tomorrow we shall be preparing for a test for the whole evening.

7. In July they will be taking their exams for the whole month.

II. Choose the right form of the verb in brackets.

1. We (are translating, translate) a technical text now.

2. We usually (are not translating, do not translate) stories.

3. She (does not look, is not looking) through all the newspapers every evening.

4. He (looked, was looking) through a newspaper when the telephone rang.

5. What (were, was) you doing a minute ago? I (was watching, watched) television.

6. I (watch, am watching) television every day.

7. I had a late night, I (worked, was working) until midnight.

8. Yesterday he (worked, was working) a lot.

9. The students (had, were having) an interesting discussion when the teacher came in.

III. Define the functions of the verb to have in the following sentences. Translate them.

1. Cosmic television has a great future.

2. He had to work hard to complete his investigation on time.

3. The engineer will have to improve the accuracy of this machine-tool.

4. A new method has been used in order to investigate this problem.

5. I have to do this work now.

6. Our planet has powerful sources of energy.

7. You will have to go to the library to get this book.

8. We’ve got a new teacher.

9. She will have many new subjects next term.

10.They have already passed the examination in electrical engineering.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-24