Программа дополнительного образования "Business English".
рабочая программа по английскому языку (10 класс) на тему

Комитет образования администрации города Тамбова

ПРОГРАММА

дополнительного образования

                             «Business English »  

 (Деловая речь на английском языке)

 для учащихся 10-х классов

                                       Тамбов

                                         2011

Допущено

комитетом образования

администрации города Тамбова

Кружок по английскому языку «Business English»

(Деловая речь на английском языке) для учащихся 10-х классов

      Автор: Севастьянова Елена Владимировна, учитель английского языка МОУ лицей №14, учитель высшей квалификационной категории

     Рецензенты:

Киселева Татьяна Вадимовна, учитель английского языка МОУ лицей № 29, учитель высшей квалификационной категории.

Чуксина Людмила Николаевна, кандидат педагогических наук, доцент кафедры ТиПП английского языка ТГУ им. Державина.

ПРОГРАММА

дополнительного образования

«Business English »

(Деловая речь на английском языке)

для учащихся 10-х классов

72 часа

                                           Пояснительная записка

Данная программа имеет культурологическую направленность; реализуется в учебной группе численностью 10-14 человек; возраст обучающихся - 15 -16 лет; срок реализации программы – 1 год.

Востребованность английского языка в современном мире сейчас очевидна для всех. Английский язык играет исключительно важную роль в таких областях человеческой деятельности, как наука, техника, экономика, торговля, дипломатия и  туризм. Он выступает в качестве рабочего языка абсолютного большинства международных научных, технических, политических и профессиональных международных конгрессов, конференций, симпозиумов и семинаров. Таким образом, стремление стать высокопрофессиональным специалистом своего дела требует овладения определенным запасом умений и навыков, необходимым в дальнейшей трудовой деятельности на любом уровне, где английский является основным языком при ведении деловых переговоров, деловой переписки с иностранными партнерами, при оформлении контрактов, договоров, деловых документов.

Как известно, личностно-ориентированная парадигма образования представляет собой исходный концептуальный подход к образованию и воспитанию, нацеленный на развитие личности школьника, на его самоопределение, самореализацию и социальную адаптацию.

При изучении английского языка иноязычная коммуникативная деятельность выступает не только как средство, но и как цель обучения, предусматривающая функциональное владение изучаемым иностранным языком, что должно сделать возможным межличностное и межкультурное общение выпускников с носителями данного языка. На базовом уровне курс английского языка  не предоставляет языковую подготовку для делового общения.

В связи с этим возникла необходимость разработать данный курс в соответствии с тенденциями в быстроразвивающемся мире. Курс позволяет расширить учебную тематику и уделить внимание стилистическим особенностям устной и письменной речи, терминологии, а также привлечь научно-популярные профильно-ориентированные тексты. Большое внимание уделяется письменной речи, а именно, переписке применительно к деловой сфере общения. Отдельно рассмотрены особенности составления американских деловых писем. Перевод выступает не только как средство уточнения непонятного, но и как вид речевой деятельности, как профессиональное умение. Отобранный языковой минимум (лексический, грамматический и т.д.) коммуникативно достаточен, чтобы обеспечить функциональную грамотность во владении английским языком.

Актуальность программы и её новизна для системы дополнительного образования детей определяется ее направленностью на создание условий для профессионального самоопределения и социализации личности, что соответствует приоритетам образовательной политики «Концепция модернизации российского образования на период до 2010 года».

Ведущей идеей программы является организация дополнительной подготовки учащихся 10-х классов, обеспечивающей формирование готовности к самоопределению относительно профиля обучения в старшей школе и дальнейшей профессиональной деятельности.

Основной методической особенностью данного кружка является то, что программа  базируется на широком диапазоне речевых клише, текстов. Для ознакомления с основами делового общения в типичных ситуациях, со структурой деловых писем приведены примеры и варианты их применения, упражнения и диалоги, профильно-ориентированные тексты. Курс предполагает использование в учебном процессе проектной технологии, элементов проблемного обучения, информационных технологий и игровых методик, что способствует самообразовательным целям обучающихся в интересующих их сферах человеческой деятельности и их профессиональным намерениям ближайшего будущего.

Одной из ведущих дидактических идей курса является его практическая направленность, овладение лексико-грамматическим минимумом для понимания текстов по специальности в дальнейшем. Обучение предполагает подготовку к будущей профессиональной деятельности.

             Основная цель курса:

-обучение школьников основам делового общения в устных и письменных формах с тем, чтобы обеспечить ребенку возможность выбора будущего профиля обучения и будущей профессии.  

Задачами курса являются:

-сформировать систему знаний лексико-грамматического материала, необходимую для делового общения;

-обеспечить овладение лексико-грамматическим минимумом для понимания профессионально-ориентированных текстов;

-ознакомить с всесторонней информацией об англоязычных странах (реалиями делового мира);

-развивать умения практического владения языка в различных видах речевой деятельности и формах речи (письменной, устной: диалогической и монологической, в аудировании и чтении);

-сформировать умение вести деловую переписку с зарубежными партнерами;

-развивать культуру речи и сформировать навыки корректного отстаивания своих интересов и убеждений на английском языке.

уроки – переговоры, практические работы по аудированию, чтению и письму, Интернет-уроки, проекты «Электронное письмо» и другие.

На основе изученного материала по данной программе возможны различные научно-практические исследования и подготовка докладов к научно-практической конференции.

Ожидаемые результаты реализации данной программы и способы определения их результативности

Возраст детей, участвующих в реализации данной программы – 15-16 лет. Сроки реализации программы – 1 год.

Работа по реализации данной программы предполагает разнообразные формы и режимы занятий:    групповые, парные и индивидуальные практикумы, компьютерные презентации, конференции, проекты, ролевые игры, аукционы и др.

Требования к учащимся, изучившим данный курс

Учащиеся должны:

- знать определения ведущих понятий курса;

- уметь вести на английском языке беседу делового содержания на уровне речевых клише;

 - уметь соблюдать правила речевого этикета;

- готовить резюме, оформлять деловые бумаги и писать письма установленного образца;

- уметь работать с соответствующей справочной литературой;

- читать литературу по специальности без словаря с целью поиска информации;

- переводить литературу по специальности со словарем.

Работа учащихся в ходе изучения элективного курса оценивается с учетом их активности, качества подготовленных сообщений и выступлений, докладов и творческих проектов.

По результатам обучения у учащихся должны быть сформированы основные компетенции.

Развитие предметной компетенции преследует следующие задачи:

• сообщение учащимися предметных знаний, а именно:

а) общеэкономических знаний, необходимых каждому гражданину общества с рыночной экономикой (потребление и торговля/права потребителя, денежное обращение, профессиональное образование и обучение/поиск работы);

б) знания о функционировании некоторых сфер рыночного хозяйства (маркетинг и реклама, выставочное дело, история и основы построения Европейского Союза, евро как денежная единица единого европейского экономического пространства, принципы организации предприятия/фирмы);

с) реалий экономической действительности в перечисленных в п. а) и б) содержательных аспектах.

Эта содержательная часть компонента транспортируется монологическими и диалогическими текстами для чтения и аудирования различных видов, а именно словарными и газетными статьями, рекламными текстами и объявлениями, учебными тематическими текстами, бытовыми диалогами и интервью.

Языковая компетенция предусматривает овладение учащимися следующими языковыми действиями:

• принять участие в дискуссии в различных ситуациях делового общения (общее для всех тематических блоков языковое действие);
• написать рекламацию на товар/услугу.
• вступить в контакт с потенциальным деловым партнёром;
• заказать по телефону гостиницу/билет на самолёт, обговорить условия участия в выставке.
• комментировать графики, таблицы и статистические данные;
• заполнить чек на оплату товара/услуги;
• составить Mind-Map по заданной теме.
• подготовить мини-презентацию своей фирмы/своего предприятия.
• подготовить пакет документов для трудоустройства;
• представиться в качестве соискателя рабочего места;
• подготовится в качестве соискателя к интервью с потенциальным работодателем.

Социальная компетенция включает:

• умение общаться в заданной ситуации, т.е. определять стратегию общения и выбрать адекватные методы её воплощения;
• осознание и умение учитывать в процессе общения национальные межкультурные различия в поведении и коммуникации.

Методическая компетенция основывается на выработке умений и навыков наиболее рациональным способом решить поставленную коммуникативную задачу.

Учебно-тематический план

Содержание дополнительной образовательной программы

                                  Темы 1 Рабочий день в офисе. (2 часа)

Офисный стиль общения. Формы обращения, приветствия, прощание, благодарности и ответы на них. Речевой этикет. Офисный стиль в одежде.

Тема 2   Встреча с бизнесменом. (4 часа)

Встреча в аэропорту, знакомство, профессии. Вопросы о профессии, должности и месте работы.

Тема 3 Устройство на работу. (4 часа)

Примеры анкет, сопроводительного письма, резюме, CV(жизнеописание), интервью. Советы психолога перед собеседованием о приеме на работу.

Тема 4 Деловой разговор. Беседа по телефону. (3 часа)

Заказ такси, места в гостинице, покупка билета на самолет. Телефонный разговор с компанией. Социокультурные и социолингвистические особенности телефонных разговоров.

Тема 5 Основные различия между английским и американским  вариантами английского языка. (6 часов)

Различия в произношении, в написании слов, в лексике, в грамматике, в единицах измерений. Различия в  американской и английской деловой терминологии.

Тема 6 Написание официального письма. (6 часов)

Обращение, адрес, письмо-приглашение, письмо-благодарность, письмо-извинение, письмо-жалоба, поздравительная открытка.

Тема 7 Схема английского делового письма. Особенности структуры американского делового письма. (6 часов)

Заголовок, дата, внутренний адрес, приветственные формулы, подпись.

                      Тема 8 Коммерческая корреспонденция. (6 часов)

Письмо-запрос в адрес иностранной компании. Письмо-запрос, письмо-предложение, письмо-заказ.

Тема 9 Формы деловых отношений. Деньги. (2 часа)

               Виды компаний в Великобритании и США. Формы оплаты, денежные средства. Деньги и чеки в Англии и США.

Тема 10 Контракт. Английские товарные знаки. (4 часа)

Предмет контракта, срок поставки, условия оплаты, отгрузочная документация. Гарантии, упаковка, страхование.

Тема 11 Что такое вычисление? (4 часа)

            Виды компьютеров. История вычислительной техники. Супер-,мини-,      

                  микрокомпьютеры. Портативные   компьютеры.

Тема 12Архитектура компьютера. (4 часа)

Устройство ввода, вывода информации в компьютере, память, процессор и магистраль.

Тема 13 Память или запоминающее устройство. (2 часа)

Виды памяти, память на магнитных доменах. Гибкие диски, жесткий диск.

Тема 14 Применение компьютеров. (4 часа)

Области применения компьютеров. Роль компьютерных программ и ИКТ в обучении. Перспективы применения компьютеров в будущем.

Тема 15 Компьютеры в банке. (4 часа)

Применение компьютеров в банковских операциях, кредитные карточки, банкоматы, ведение банковских счетов, кредитование населения и организаций, компьютерная база кредитных историй.

Тема 16 Программное обеспечение компьютера. (4 часа)

Операционные системы, прикладные программы.  Электронные энциклопедии и словари. Компьютерные игры. Обучающие программы.

Тема 17 Современные средства передачи информации. (7 часов)

Факс, смс-сообщения, электронная почта. Список основных сокращений, используемых в деловой корреспонденции. Глобальная компьютерная сеть Internet. IP-address.            

Методическое обеспечение дополнительной образовательной программы

Примерные темы сочинений, докладов, рефератов, проектов

1. «Что надо и не надо делать в поисках работы»

2.Структура делового письма

3. Резюме (Resume)

4. Жизнеописание (Curriculum vitae(CV))

4.Различия между английским и американским вариантами английского языка

5.Различия в  американской и английской деловой терминологии

6.Основные сокращения, используемые в деловой корреспонденции

7. Net Slang

8. An essay “A job I’d choose. /A job I’d never choose”

9. A letter of application for a part-time job

10. A list of tips on how to prepare for a job interview

11. A first job interview

12. Business correspondence

13. E-male message

14. Job requirements

15. Job profiles

16. Job prospects

17. Advertisement design

18. Advantages and disadvantages of working in a place where food is either prepared, sold or served

19. Positive and negative aspects of a career in modeling

20. In what ways can working as a tour guide be enjoyable or difficult?

21. Проект «Выбор профессии»

22. Проект «Карта характерологических особенностей и умений для выбора профессий»

23. Проект «Портфолио выпускника»

24. Оформить рекламный проспект.

Список литературы и ресурсов сети Интернет

1. Oxford University Press, “Business Objectives”, Students book.
2. Oxford University Press, “Business Objectives”, Workbook.
3. Oxford University Press, “Business Objectives”, Teacher’s book.
4. Cambridge University Press, “Business Communicative Games”, 1998.
5. Cambridge University Press, “International Business English”, 1995.
6. L.P. Tarnaeva, “Tests on Business English”, 2001.
7. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/business/index.shtml
8. http://www.better-english.com/exerciselist.html
9. http://www.eslcafe.com/search/Business_English/

     10 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_English 

Приложение 1

Рекомендуемые профильно-орентированные тексты для чтения.

1. Types of Businesses in the U.K.

Most businesses in the United Kingdom operate in one of the following ways:

• sole trader
• partnership        
• limited liability company
• branch of a foreign company        

The sole trader is the oldest form of business. There are many one-man owners, for example: a farmer, a doctor, a solicitor, an estate agent, a jobber, a builder, a hairdresser etc.

The partnership is a firm where there are a few partners. They are firms of solicitors, architects, auditors, management consultants etc. The names of all the partners of the firm are printed on the stationery of a partnership.

The most common type of company in the U.K. is the limited liability company. At the end of the name of such a company the word Ltd. is used. For example: Wilson and Son Ltd.

Many of such companies are joint-stock companies owned by shareholders.

Limited liability companies are divided into public and private ones. Only public companies may offer shares to the public at the stock exchange. The names of such companies end in p.l.c. which stands for public limited company.

For example: John and Michael p.l.c.

Private limited companies may not offer shares to the public. The names of such companies end simply in Ltd.

A branch of a foreign company in a part of a company incorporated outside Great Britain but acting under the law of the U.K. Usually these companies act in, the U.K. under their normal foreign names.        

2. Forms of businesses in the U.S.A.

       Businesses in the U.S.A. may be organized as one of the following forms:

• individual business;
• general partnership;
• limited partnership;
• corporation;
• alien corporation.

An individual business is owned by one person.

A general partnership has got several owners. They all are liable for debts and they share in the profits.

A limited partnership has got at least one general owner and one or more other owners. They have only a limited investment and a limited liability.

A corporation is owned by persons, called stockholders. The stockholders usually have certificates showing the number of shares which they own. The stockholders elect a director or directors to operate the corporation. Most corporations are closed corporations, with only a few stockholders. Other corporations are owned by many stockholders who buy and sell their shares at will. Usually they have little interest in management of the corporations.

Alien corporations are corporations of foreign countries.

All the corporations are to receive their charters from the state authorities. The charters state all the powers of the corporations. Many corporations try to receive their charters from the authorities of the State of Delaware, though they operate in other states. They prefer the State of Delaware because the laws are liberal there and the taxation is rather low. Such corporations, which receive their charters from an outside state are called foreign corporations.

All the corporations require a certificate to do business in the state where they prefer to operate.

3. FOREIGN TRADE

          In the realm of foreign commerce, the US led the world in the value of imports in 1986, and was second only to the Federal Republic of Germany in the value of exports. Exports of domestic merchandise, raw materials, agricultural and industrial products, and military goods amounted in 1985 to nearly $207 billion. One rapidly growing export category was computers, which rose from $1.2 billion in 1970 to $13.8 in 1985, grain exports rose from $2.6 to $11.25 in 1985.

From the value of combined exports and imports, the largest proportion of US foreign trade is with the nations of the Western Hemisphere. Canada is the nation's single best customer and supplier.

The UK, the world's fourth-largest trading nation, is highly dependent on foreign trade. It must export almost all its copper, ferrous metals, lead, zinc, rubber, and raw cotton. Its exports, about 67 % of which are manufactured goods, account for more than 30 % of GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

Principal trade partners in 1986 were as follows:  FRG, US, France.

4. WHAT IS COMPUTING?

       1. Suppose you sit down with pencil and paper and centre your attention on adding a set of figures. You add first all the digits in the right-hand column, then all the digits in the next column, and so on—until you finally arrive at the answer. When you do this, you are computing.

2. When you stop at a street corner, looking first to the left for any coming car, then to the right, to cross the street or to wait on the sidewalk —you are computing.
3. When you are walking along a poorly marked path in the woods, thinking if you are really on the path or have lost it — you are computing.

4.        When you are taking in information or data, performing reasonable operations (mathematical or logical operations) on the data, and are producing one or more answers— you are computing.

5. A machine can also do this. It can take in information or data perform a sequence of reasonable operations on the information which it has received, and put out answers. When it does this, it is computing.
6. A very simple example of a computer is the ordinary business-adding machine which prints on paper tape the number entered into its keyboard, and also prints a total when you press the total key. A complex example of a computer is a modern automatic digital computer which in each second can perform morethan100,000,000,000 additions, subtractions, multiplications, or divisions.
7. A computing machine can take in and store information because the hardware inside the machine expresses arithmetical and logical relations, such as adding or subtracting, comparing or selecting. A computer can also put out information; display the answers when it receives them. Hardware is useless without software which is computer instructions and programs.

8. The modem computers are of three kinds called analog, digital, and hybrid. An   analog   computer   computes   by   using   physical   analogs   of numerical measurements. A digital computer computes by using the numbers (digits) arid yeses and noes expressed usually in 1's and O's. A hybrid computer is a machine which combines some of the properties of digital and analog computers.

5. INFORMATION, MACHINE WORDS, INSTRUCTIONS, ADDRESSES AND REASONABLE OPERATIONS

1. Information is a set of marks or signs that have meaning. These consist of letters or numbers, digits or characters, typewriter signs, other kinds of signs, and so on. A computer reacts differently to different digits or characters, and reacts to them as units that have meaning. For example, information for an analog computer has to be in the form of distances, or rotations, or voltages, or other physical variables. And for a digital computer information has to be in the form of digits or numbers.
2. Any information may be represented by the binary system including two digits: one (1) and zero (0). Each 1 and 0 is a separate binary digit called a bit. A bit is the smallest part of information. Bits are typically grouped in units that are called bytes. A byte is the basic unit of information used in modern computers and consists of eight bits.

3.        The bytes are handled usually in standard groups called machine words or just words. There are two basic types of information or words that can be put into a memory cell or location: words that are numerical quantities and words that are computer instructions. Regularly, an instruction to the machine is expressed as a word; and so the same set of characters may have meaning sometimes as a number, sometimes as an instruction. A speed of 96,000 characters per second is the same as a speed of 8,000 words per second. Most human beings could not take even 12- digit number per second.

4. Physically the set of bits is a set of arrangements of some physical equipment. One of the ways of storing information in a computer is storing by using a set of small magnetically polarized spots on a magnetic surface.
5. The computer is told what operations to perform by means of instructions. An instruction is a command to the computer. It consists of a verb (an operational code) and a noun (an operand). For example, if the computer is instructed "Add 365 the number of times stated in the register R", and if the register R stores the code for number 3, then the computer will perform that operation three times. An instruction word looks like a number, and there is no way to tell from the word itself whether it is a quantity or an instruction. The computer must be told exactly which address contains an instruction and which contains a quantity.
6. An address is the name of particular memory location or cell. Each memory location (word or byte) has its own unique address or number just like a post office box. For example, if the computer contains 100 memory cells, their respective addresses might be the numbers from I to 100 (or 0 through 99). And instead of saying "A word is in a memory cell", the computer personnel say, "The content of an address is a word."

7.        Reasonable   operations   are   mathematical   and   logical.   Mathematical operations include arithmetic and algebraic operations. Arithmetic operations are addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, taking a square root, etc.; and algebraic operations are called raising to a power as well as differentiating and integrating.

8. Logical operations include comparing, selecting, sorting, matching, etc. These are operations which may be performed either on numbers, or on expressions consisted of letters such as ordinary words. A very important logical operation performed by a computer is determining, i.e., which of two operations is to be performed next.

6. Text A.MEMORY OR STORAGE UNIT

      1. The part of a digital computer which stores information is called storage or memory. The computer's memory stores the numbers to be operated on; it stores intermediate results that are generated during the course of a computation; and it stores the final results.  The instructions themselves are also stored in the computer's memory.

2. There are two important factors about the memory I unit: an access time and a capacity. The time required to I transmit one computer word out of the memory to where it will be used is called the memory access time; it usually amounts to a few millionths of a second or less in modem fast computers. The speed of modern computers is the speed of access to their memories. The capacity of a computer is the quantity of data that its memory unit can hold.

3. There are many ways of memorizing information in memory cells of a digital computer. External memory or storage units may use magnetic tapes, magnetic drums, magnetic disks and floppy disks. The magnetic dram and magnetic disk are called a Direct Access, or Random Access, Storage Device (DASD).

4. The magnetic disk is very similar to the magnetic drum but is based upon the use of a flat disk with a series of concentric circles of magnetizable material, one read/write head being for each concentric circle, i.e., for each track. Memory units on magnetic disks may store more than 100,000,000 bytes.

5. Internal or main memory units were constructed of magnetic cores about 8 hundredths of an inch in diameter, each core storing one 'yes' or 'no', that is, each core representing one bit of information.        

6. Information that is stored inside a computer is stored in registers, electronic units of hardware in which the positioning of physical objects stores information. Each register holds one machine word consisting usually of 32 bits or 4 bytes. Registers hold information temporarily during processing. The slower models of registers use magnetic cores; the faster models use special electronic circuits or film memory devices.        

7. Usually the registers are of three types:

• General-Purpose Registers are sixteen registers, each being able to contain one word. These registers are used for storing the integer operands taking part in binary arithmetic operations.
• Floating-Point Registers are four registers, each being able to contain a double word. These registers hold the operands taking part in arithmetic operations on floating-point numbers.
• Control Registers form a group of registers differing from one model to another.

8. The development of semiconductor integration technology has led to creation of memories on LSI circuits. For constructing memory units on LSI circuits either bipolar or MOS memory are used. The access time of bipolar memory is about 100 nanoseconds, while the access time of MOS memory is 500 nanoseconds. But on the other hand the density of memorizing elements allocation in the latter is very high and amounts to 4 thousand memorizing elements for one chip. The latest achievement of modern electronics is creation of memories on electronic circuits made by spraying layers of different memorizing materials.

9. Nowadays the main memory RAM which is regularly used in microcomputers can accept new instructions or information from a peripheral device. Terms synonymous with the computer are working memory RAM are: core, core storage, and main memory, main storage, primary storage, read / write memory. Other memories, such as ROM or PROM, which are used in microcomputers as well s store instructions or information permanently. ROM, PROM, EPROM, and EEPROM are all together called firmware which is 'hard' software.

Text B.THE FLOPPY DISKS

      Floppy disks are a magnetic storage medium which can be recorded, erased and used over and over again. Floppy disks are flexible plastic disks which have several standard sizes. Full size floppy disks are 8 inches in diameter; minifloppy disks are 5 inches in diameter. Both foil size floppy disks and minifloppy disks are housed in a paper-like plastic envelope, usually black, and remain in the envelope at all times.

Microfloppy disks are in sizes from 3 to 4 inches. They are housed in a rigid plastic shell of different design. The number of bytes that can be recorded on a floppy disk are about 80,000 to 1,000,000 and more. Floppy disks are used extensively in personal computers, small business computers, word processing, etc.

Text C.BUBBLE MEMORY

       Bubble memory is a storage for programs and information. It is a storage technology which combines both semiconductor and magnetic recording techniques to create a solid state storage device. Bubble memory is unique, because it is a disk that doesn't spin. The bits on the surface spin around the disk instead. Bubble memory units are only two square inches in size, and contain a thin film recording layer. The bits, called bubbles of their globular shape, are electromagnetically generated in circular strings inside this layer. In order to read or write the bubbles, the strings of bubbles are made to rotate past the equivalent (the string of bubbles) of a read/write head in a disk.

Bubble memory holds its contents without power, like disk and tape. It is considerably faster than floppy disks and many hard disks. It is often used in portable terminals and computers instead of disks.

7. APPLICATION OF COMPUTERS

      Computers are getting deeper and deeper into our life. They are indispensable in space research, communication, medicine, metallurgy, light industry, information technology and many others branches of industry.

Many countries have introduced computers into agriculture, education, transport and many other spheres. Computers provide security and safety of various processes, diagnose numerous cases and do a lot in monitoring different developments. In short they help to carry out increasingly complex tasks and their application sometimes helps to prevent disasters, tragedies and accidents.    

The applications of computers appear to be so numerous that it is hard to visualize any aspect of contemporary life that will escape its impact.

Modern jet aircraft depends on a variety of sophisticated microprocessor systems for navigation, communication, passenger comfort and safety engine control and control of aerodynamic surfaces.

In business offices among the first applications of computers involve the distribution and control of information. Desk-sized computers have become nearly as common as typewriters. They handle small, specialized data bases appropriate to each person's job as well as accounting information and personal data.

Computers are being used as part of educational process. Guidance and control computers have made possible automated factories. They can also be expanded to serve specialized control functions in the area of industrial tools and machinery. Microcomputers have made possible a new generation of "intelligent" robot arms and hands capable of factory assembly operation.

In the home they have already appeared in a host of video games and such household appliances as microwave ovens and food blenders. They will rapidly be extended to temperature controls, refrigerators, telephones, solar-energy systems and to fire - and burglary-alarm systems.

HAND-HELD COMPUTER

        One of the Japanese companies has begun manufacturing the world's first all-purpose hand-held computer.

This machine is like a translator device but it makes use of several attachments: those now of the drawing board include a mini-printer that effectively turns the translator into a typewriter, a video screen that can make the machine function as a miniature computer-display terminal and a voice synthesizer so that users can hear as well as see the information stored in the machine. The computer applications become broader, extending to home accounting, telephone and address filling and even device is a new memory bank. This machine will be available for export sometime in future years.

8. IN THE BANK

(after A. Hailey)

In a large, dimly lighted room with acoustic walls and ceilings to deaden sound, about fifty operators - predominantly women - are sitting at a battery of monitors with a keyboard beneath each. It is here that holders of the blue, green and gold credit cards are given or refused credit.

When a card is presented anywhere in payment for goods or services, the place of business can accept the card without a question if the amount is below an agreed limit, usually between twenty-five and fifty dollars. For a larger purchase, authorization is needed, though it takes only second to obtain.

The approval procedures move at jet speed. From wherever thy are, merchants and others dial directly to the credit card processing, centre of the bank. Automatically each call is routed to a free operator, whose first words are, "What is your merchant number?" As soon as the answer has been given, the operator types the figures, which appear simultaneously on the monitor. Next credit being sought. They are also typed and displayed.

The operator presses the key, feeding the information to a computer, which instantly signals "accepted" or "declined". The first means that credit is good and the purchase has been approved, the second the cashholder is delinquent and credit has been cut off. The operator informs the merchant, the computer records the transaction. On a normal day fifteen thousand calls come in.

Sometimes a monitor flashes a message from the computer - "stolen card". In this situation an operator, speaking calmly, as trained, has to answer, "The card presented to you has been reported as stolen. If possible, detain the person presenting it and call police. Retain the card. The bank will pay you thirty dollars reward for its return".

Store keepers are usually pleased at the prospect to get an easy thirty dollars. For the bank it is also a good deal, since the card, left in circulation, can be used fraudulently for a much greater total amount.

But this system works well only when the bank has got the information and can program the computer. Unfortunately most of the defrauding happens before a missing card is reported. To avoid this the computer also warns the operators about excessive purchasing: when a cardholder makes ten or more purchases during a single day, the computer alerts an operator. Since an ordinary cardholder never makes more than six or eight purchases a day, a card showing more than normal use may be fraudulent, even though the owner might be unaware of its loss.

However, despite all the warning systems, a lost or stolen card, if used cautiously, is still good for twenty thousand dollars' worth of fraudulent purchases in the week or so during which most stolen cards stayed unreported.

Moreover, there are devices used by criminals to decide whether a stolen card can be used again or if it is hot. A favorite is to pay a waiter twenty-five dollars to check a card out. He can get the answer easily by consulting a weekly confidential a weekly confidential warning list issued by the credit card company to merchants and restaurants.

9.KINDS OF PROGRAMS

      There are two main kinds of programs which are subdivided as well. They are control programs and system service programs. Control Programs There are some control programs handle interruptions, I/O operations, transition between different jobs and different phases of the same job, initial program loading (IPL), and symbolic assignment of I/O devices.

Actually, the control program consists of three components:

1. IPL Loader. When system operation is initiated, the hardware IPL reads in this program which then clears unused core storage to zeros, generally performs some housekeeping operations, and then reads in the Supervisor.
2. The Supervisor. It is resident in the low order part core storage whenever any job is being run. It can handle execution of any I/O operations and can provide standard processing for all interrupts. It may also queue I/O operations so that the operation will start as soon as the required channel and device are free.
3. Job Control.  When the end of a job is sensed, the user normally turns control over to the Supervisor which then reads in the Job Control program. This program senses arid processes all cards; after the new job is loaded, it turns control over to the new job. This system of operation eliminates the necessity of operation intervention between jobs, something which is of particular importance on large computers where the average job time may be less than one minute.

The control program is a large program occupying thousands of bytes. It is usually stored on a magnetic tape or a magnetic disk. The particular unit on which the program resides is called the System Resident unit.

System Service Programs. They are used to maintain the library: to place new programs into the library, to delete, replace, or change existing programs, to read programs from the library into memory, to link segments of programs written at different times into one program, etc. They art called Librarian and Linkage Editor.

There are three libraries maintained by the Librarian program: 1) Core Image library, 2) Relocatable library, 3) Source Statement library.

The core image programs includes the processors and control programs and as many of the application programs as the user desires. The relocatable library contains modules which are stored in such a way that each module can b arbitrarily relocated and still be executed correctly. A module may be a complete program or it may be a relatively independent part of a larger program. The source statement library contains macro definitions, a sort of collection of standard type statements which can be incorporated into a program to provide some special functions.

10.THE INTERNET

The Internet, a global computer network which embraces millions of users all over the world, began in the United States in 1969 as a military experiment. It was designed to survive a nuclear war. Information sent over the Internet takes the shortest path available from one computer to another. Because of this, any two computers on the Internet will be able to stay in touch with each other as long as there is a single route between them. This technology is called packet swishing. Owing to this technology, if some computers on the network are knocked out, information will just route around them. One such packet swishing network already survived a war. It was the Iraqi computer network which was not knocked out during the Culf War.

Most of the Internet host computers (more than 50 %) are in the United States, while the rest are located in more than 100 other countries. Although the number of host computers can be counted fairly accurately, nobody knows exactly how many people use the Internet, there are millions, and their number is growing by thousands each mouth worldwide.

The most popular Internet service is e-mail. Most of the people, who have access to the Internet, use the network only for sending and receiving e-mail messages. However, other popular services are available on the Internet: reading USENET News, using the World-Wide Web, telnet, FTP, and Gopher.

In many developing countries the Internet may provide businessmen with a reliable alternative to the expensive and unreliable telecommunications systems of these countries. Commercial users can communicate over the Internet with the rest of the world and can do it very cheaply. When they send e-mail messages, they only have to pay for phone calls to their local service providers, not calls across their countries or around the world. But who pays for sending e-mail messages over the Internet long distances, around the world? The answer is very simple: an user pays his/her service provider a monthly or hourly fee. Path of this fee goes towards its costs to connect to a large service provider. And path of the fee got by the larger provider goes to cover its cost of running a worldwide network of wires and wireless stations.

But saving money is only the first step. If people see that they can make money from the Internet, commercial use of this network will drastically increase. For example, some western architecture companies and garment center already transmit their basic design and concepts over the Internet into China, where they are reworked and refined by skilled - but inexpensive - Chinese computer - aided - design specialists.

However, some problems remain. The most important is security. When you send an e-mail message to somebody, this message can travel through many different networks and computers. The data are constantly being directed towards its destination by special computers called routers. Because of this, it is possible to get into any of computers along the route, intercept and even change the data being sent over the Internet. In spite of the fact that there are many strong encoding programs available, nearly all the information being sent over the Internet is transmitted without any form of encoding, i.e. "in the clear". But when it becomes necessary to send important information over the network, these encoding programs may be useful. Some American banks and companies even conduct transaction over the Internet. However, there are still both commercial and technical problems which will take time to be resolved.