ENGLISH FOR COMPUTER

The Computer

A computer is a machine with an intricate network of electronic circuits that operate switches

or magnetize tiny metal cores. The switches, like the cores are capable of being in one of two possible

states, that is, on or off; magnetized or demagnetized. The machine is capable of storing and

manipulating numbers, letter, character. The basic idea of a computer is that we can make the

machine do what we want by inputting signals that turn certain switches on and turn others off, or

that magnetize or do not magnetize cores.

The basic job of computer is the processing of information. For this reason, computer can be

defined as devices which accept information in the form of instruction called by a program and

characters called data, perform mathematical and/or logical operation on the information, and then

supply result of these operations on the information, and then supply result of these operation. The

program, or part of it, which tells the computers what to do and the data, which provide the

information needed to solve the problem, are kept inside the computer in a place called memory.

Computers are thought to have many remarkable powers. However, most computers, whether

large or small have three basic capabilities. First, computers have circuits for performing arithmatic

operations, such as: addition, substraction, division, multiplication and exponentiation. Second,

computers have a means of communicating with the user. After all, if we couldn’t feed information in

and get results back, these machines wouldn’t be of much use. However, certain computers

(commonly minicomputers and microcomputers) are used to control directly things such as robot,

aircraft navigation system, medical instruments, etc.

Some of the most common methods of putting information are to use punched cards,magnetic

tape, disk, and terminals. The computer’s input device (which might be a tape driver of disk driver,

depending on the medium used in inputting information) reads the information into the computer. For

out putting information two common devices used are a printer which prints the new information on

paper, or a CRT desplay screen which shows the result on a TV-like screen.

Third, computers have circuits which can make decisions. The kinds of decision which

computer circuits can make or not of the type: ‘who would win a war between two countries?’ or ‘ who

is the richest person in the world?’

A computer can solve a series of problems and make hundreds, even thousands, of logical

decisions without becoming tired and bored. It can find the solution to a problem in a fraction of the

time it takes of human being to do the job. A computer can replace people in dull, routine task, but it

has no originality; it works according to the instruction given to it and cannot exercise any value

judgements.

Exercise:

Decide whether the following statements are true of false (T/F) by referring to the information in the

text. Then make necessary changes so that the false statements become true.

A computer can store or handle any data even if it hasn’t received information to do so

All computers accept and process information in the form of instructions and

Characters

The information necessary for solving problems is found in the memory of the

Computer

Not all computers can perform arithmatic operations, make dicisions, and

communicate in some way with the user

Computers can still be useful machines even if they can’t communicative with the

User

Computers can work endlessly without having to stop restunless there is a

breakdown

Complete the following statement with the appropriate words

1. Every computer has circuits for performing arithmatic operations, operating _______ or

magnetized _______

2. A _______ with a screen is normally referred to as a _______ unit

3. A computer is a _______ that processes information in the form of _______ and _______ and can

store this information in a _______

4. Card readers, tape drives are different _______ for putting information

Structure Present simple and present continuous Present simple # Use

We use the present simple to talk about the facts or permanent activities:

Example: The company has 1,000 employees worldwide.

The staff aren’t very friendly.

What does this company do?

# Form

Positive and Negative

I/you/we/they Work Don’t work

He/ she/ it Works Doesn’t work

Question

Do I/ you/ we/ they Work?

Does He/ she/ it Work?

Tobe Subject

Am I

Is She, He, It

Are We, They, You

Exercise:

My name (be) ________(1) John. I (be) ________(2) fifteen years old. I live on a farm. It (be)

________(3) in the country. It is quiet in the country. It (be, not) ____ ____(4) loud in the country.

I ______(5) up early. Sometimes, I wake up before the sun rises. Sometimes, it (be) ________(6)

still dark when I wake up. But I (not, mind)______(7). I like waking up that early. I like the way the

country looks in the morning.

Present continuous

# Use

We use the present continuous to talk about:

Things which are happening at the time of speaking.

Example: I’m trying to call Geoff Peters.

He isn’t working today.

What are you doing?

Things which are happening around the time of speaking.

Example: The country is developing a new drug against asthma.

The company isn’t recruiting at the moment.

What are they planning to do?

# Form be + ______ ing

# Exercise

Put the following verbs into the correct tense—either the present simple or the present progressive.

Use all the elements in the brackets. Note the importance of certain key words. Use a highlighter to

indicate the key words.

1. They (sell) my grandfather six eggs every Saturday.

2. Mr Brown (have) a cold shower every morning, but at the moment he (have) a hot bath.

3. She (dislike) playing tennis but she (adore) swimming.

4. (he, not, work) in his room at the moment?

5. Mrs Poole seldom (eat) crisps.

6. The plane (leave) Heathrow at 8 a.m. and (arrive) at Kennedy seven hours later.

7. He always (phone) me every Saturday evening. He never (forget).

8. I (send) this book to Tim next week.

9. He (catch) the same train every evening.

10. I (look) for my glasses and I (not, can) find them anywhere.

11. We (have) lunch with the Smiths on Tuesdays.

12. We (have) dinner with the Browns on Friday.

13. Mr Green (come) to see us next week.

14. My cousins (go) to Greece this summer. They (go) there nearly every year.

15. James (want) a new pair of trousers.

16. Julie (need) to have her hair cut.

17. Mr Stowcrat (own) five cars and a plane.

18. I (not, know) who these socks (belong to), but they (smell) like cheese.

19. John (hardly ever, write) to me these days, but he (usually, phone) me once a week.

20. They (want) to stay here for another week.

Virus Origins

Computer viruses are called viruses because they share some of the traits of biological viruses.

A computer virus passes from computer to computer like a biological virus passes from person to

person.

Unlike a cell, a virus has no way to reproduce by itself. Instead, a biological virus must inject

its DNA into a cell. The viral DNA then uses the cell's existing machinery to reproduce itself. In some

cases, the cell fills with new viral particles until it bursts, releasing the virus. In other cases, the new

virus particles bud off the cell one at a time, and the cell remains alive. A computer virus shares some

of these traits. A computer virus must piggyback on top of some other program or document in order

to launch. Once it is running, it can infect other programs or documents. Obviously, the analogy

between computer and biological viruses stretches things a bit, but there are enough similarities that

the name sticks.

People write computer viruses. A person has to write the code, test it to make sure it spreads

properly and then release it. A person also designs the virus's attack phase, whether it's a silly

message or the destruction of a hard disk. Why do they do it?

There are at least three reasons. The first is the same psychology that drives vandals and arsonists.

Why would someone want to break a window on someone's car, paint signs on buildings or burn down

a beautiful forest? For some people, that seems to be a thrill. If that sort of person knows computer

programming, then he or she may funnel energy into the creation of destructive viruses.

The second reason has to do with the thrill of watching things blow up. Some people have a

fascination with things like explosions and car wrecks. When you were growing up, there might have

been a kid in your neighborhood who learned how to make gunpowder. And that kid probably built

bigger and bigger bombs until he either got bored or did some serious damage to himself. Creating a

virus is a little like that -- it creates a bomb inside a computer, and the more computers that get

infected the more "fun" the explosion.

The third reason involves bragging rights, or the thrill of doing it. Sort of like Mount Everest --

the mountain is there, so someone is compelled to climb it. If you are a certain type of programmer

who sees a security hole that could be exploited, you might simply be compelled to exploit the hole

yourself before someone else beats you to it.

Of course, most virus creators seem to miss the point that they cause real damage to real

people with their creations. Destroying everything on a person's hard disk is real damage. Forcing a

large company to waste thousands of hours cleaning up after a virus is real damage. Even a silly

message is real damage because someone has to waste time getting rid of it. For this reason, the legal

system is getting much harsher in punishing the people who create viruses.

How Computer Viruses Work

Strange as it may sound, the computer virus is something of an Information Age marvel. On

one hand, viruses show us how vulnerable we are -- a properly engineered virus can have a

devastating effect, disrupting productivity and doing billions of dollars in damages. On the other hand,

they show us how sophisticated and interconnected human beings have become.

For example, experts estimate that the Mydoom worm infected approximately a quarter-

million computers in a single day in January 2004. Back in March 1999, the Melissa virus was so

powerful that it forced Microsoft and a number of other very large companies to completely turn off

their e-mail systems until the virus could be contained. The ILOVEYOU virus in 2000 had a similarly

devastating effect. In January 2007, a worm called Storm appeared -- by October, experts believed up

to 50 million computers were infected. That's pretty impressive when you consider that many viruses

are incredibly simple. When you listen to the news, you hear about many different forms of electronic

infection. The most common are:

Viruses - A virus is a small piece of software that piggybacks on real programs. For example, a virus

might attach itself to a program such as a spreadsheet program. Each time the spreadsheet program

runs, the virus runs, too, and it has the chance to reproduce (by attaching to other programs) or

wreak havoc.

E-mail viruses - An e-mail virus travels as an attachment to e-mail messages, and usually replicates

itself by automatically mailing itself to dozens of people in the victim's e-mail address book. Some e-

mail viruses don't even require a double-click -- they launch when you view the infected message in

the preview pane of your e-mail software

Trojan horses - A Trojan horse is simply a computer program. The program claims to do one thing (it

may claim to be a game) but instead does damage when you run it (it may erase your hard disk).

Trojan horses have no way to replicate automatically.

Worms - A worm is a small piece of software that uses computer networks and security holes to

replicate itself. A copy of the worm scans the network for another machine that has a specific security

hole. It copies itself to the new machine using the security hole, and then starts replicating from there,

as well.

How to Protect Your Computer from Viruses

You can protect yourself against viruses with a few simple steps:

If you are truly worried about traditional (as opposed to e-mail) viruses, you should be running a more

secure operating system like UNIX. You never hear about viruses on these operating systems because

the security features keep viruses and unwanted human visitors) away from your hard disk.

If you are using an unsecured operating system, then buying virus protection software is a nice

safeguard.

If you simply avoid programs from unknown sources (like the Internet), and instead stick with

commercial software purchased on CDs, you eliminate almost all of the risk from traditional viruses.

You should make sure that Macro Virus Protection is enabled in all Microsoft applications, and you

should NEVER run macros in a document unless you know what they do. There is seldom a good

reason to add macros to a document, so avoiding all macros is a great policy. You should never

double-click on an e-mail attachment that contains an executable. Attachments that come in as Word

files (.DOC), spreadsheets (.XLS), images (.GIF), etc., are data files and they can do no damage (noting

the macro virus problem in Word and Excel documents mentioned above). However, some viruses can

now come in through JPG graphic file attachments. A file with an extension like EXE, COM or VBS is

an executable, and an executable can do any sort of damage it wants. Once you run it, you have given

it permission to do anything on your machine. The only defense is never to run executables that arrive

via e-mail.

QUESTIONS ON Computer Virus

1. What is a computer virus?

2. What kind of files can spread viruses?

3. How do viruses spread?

4. What do viruses do to computers?

5. What is a Trojan horse program?

6. What's the story on viruses and E-mail?

7. What can I do to reduce the chance of getting

8. According to you, what is a computer virus?

Structure

Simple past tense We use the simple past to describe things that happened in the past and finished at a specific time.

Example: He started the company in 1969.

They didn’t make a profit in the first year.

Did she work there in 1975?

We often use a time reference which refers to the finished event. E.g. yesterday, last week, last night,

three years ago, in 1969, in the first year.

Form

verb stem + ed

Positive and Negative

I/ you/ she/ he/ it/ we/ they Arrived Did’t arrive

Question

Did I/ you/ she/ he/ it/ we/ they Arrive?

The verb to be

Positive and Negative

I/ he/ she Was Was not/ wasn’t

You/ they/ we Were Were not/ weren’t

Question

Was I/ he/ she/ it

Were You/ they/ we

Exercise: Answer the following question using the past form

1. Where were you last weekend?

2. What did you do last night?

3. Was your mother at home?

4. Why your lecturer angry with you?

5. Did you do your assignment?

Past continuous

# Use

We use the past continuous to talk about:

Things which were happening at the time of speaking.

Example: I was trying to call Geoff Peters.

He wasn’t working today.

What were you doing?

# Form

be + ______ ing

Exercise

The State Bank

This morning at 8:33, someone (rob) the State Bank downtown. The thief (enter) the bank

while he (threaten) that he (want) all their money. The thief (smile) but (look) very tired while the tellers

(look) worried. The thief (receive) the money he (request), when people in the bank (start) to scream. He

(leave) the bank. He (dash) down the street and (go) away in a red car that rattled, squeaked and

smoked when the police (arrive). They hurried and chased the thief down the street when the

neighbors (come) near the scene. They (search) and questioned bystanders, but the thief vanished. The

police (fail) to catch him. Investigators abandoned the case while they (neglecte) to do anything else.

The money was never recovered while the thief (start) to think about the easy fortune obtained.

INTERNET

Thousands of people go surfing in the seas around Indonesia each year, but millions of

people in Indonesia go surfing on dry land. How can this be? Well, of course, it’s a very different

type of surfing. The second type of surfing is ‘surfing the web’ the ‘World Wide Web’ which is

found on the internet. So, what exactly is the internet and what is the World Wide Web? Well, it

all dates back to the beginning of the 1970’s. the American government wanted to find a way

that different areas of the military could communicate with each other. It also wanted to

provide a way for scientists and researchers in universities to communicate directly with each

other.

For nearly twenty years, the use of the internet was limited by the American

government, but in the early 1990’s, it allowed the internet to be used for commercial use. In

1995, the World Wide Web opened up a global communication system for anyone who had

access to computer which could be connected to the internet.

Today, the internet is used by people sitting in their own homes, or by company employees

sitting in their office. Every hours of every day, thousands of people around the world are

sending electronic mail to other people, either for business or private reasons. Electronic mail

or email as we all call it, has for many people replace the handwriting letters that are sent

through postal services. Emails have also largely replace the faxes and telexes that business

used to send.

Around the world, many students use the internet for research as it contains website

with information on just about every subject that it is possible to imagine. In some countries

school even provide free internet access for students in their Learning Resource Centers.

However, possibly the biggest use of the internet by young people is the access it gives to chat

rooms’. These are virtual meeting rooms where people from all over the world can ‘get together’

and chat about things that interest them.

Whatever your age, the internet is a great place to hang out. It’s not only fun, but it lets you

keep in touch with friends with family and provide an enormous amount of information. There

a lot of great educational sites as well as place to keep in touch with your favorite sports,

hobbies, music, and much more.

(English in Action for senior high school)

Exercise 1

Answer the following questions!

1. What are different types of surfing that people can do in Indonesia?

2. When was the internet first used?

3. What do many people use the internet for every day?

4. What have emails replaced for many people?

5. Why do many students use the internet for research?

6. Why do many young people access ‘chat room’?

7. Is the internet a great place to hang out? Why?

Exercise 2

Match the following words with their meaning on the right

A B

Surfing a. An area on the internet where people can ‘meet’

Internet b. A system for sending copies of documents

World Wide Web c. Electronic mail sent over the internet

Communicate d. An international text communication system

Commercial e. A place on the internet where information is

found

Email f. Not real, made to exist by use of computers

Telex g. To share information, ideas or feelings with

people

Fax

Website h. A multimedia system for finding information

Chat room i. Connected with the buying and selling of things

Virtual j. Riding on waves, or using the internet

k. A World Wide computer network

Exercise 3

Find out the meanings about the words below

• Chat rooms

• Computer

• Email

• Internet connection

• ISP (Internet Service Provider)

• Laptop computer

• The Internet

• URL (Webpage address)

• Web browser

• Webpage

• Build a Webpage (also, Website)

• Check your email

• Download music files

• Go on the Internet / go online

• Install software

• Meet people online

• Scan for viruses

• Send email

• Start up / shut down your computer

• Surf the Internet

Exercise 3

Make question using these prompts. Then practice asking and answering the questions.

Example:

When/ first/ use the internet When did you first use the internet?

1. What type of internet connection/ have at home?

2. How fast/ your internet connection?

3. How much/ pay for broadband access?

4. Which email program/ use?

5. How often/ access the internet?

6. Who/ send email to?

7. Do/ use your mobile phone to access the internet?

8. Can/ use the internet in public spaces using Wi-Fi

9. Must/ play game online?

10. How many newsgroups/ subscribe to?