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British Cuisine

Some people criticize English food. They say it's unimaginable, boring, tasteless, it's chips with everything and totally overcooked vegetables. The basic ingredients, when fresh, are so full of flavor that British haven't had to invent sauces to disguise their natural taste. What can compare with fresh pees or new potatoes just boiled and served with butter? Why drown spring lamb in wine or cream and spices, when with just one or two herbs it is absolutely delicious?

If you ask foreigners to name some typically English dishes, they will probably say "Fish and chips" then stop. It is disappointing, but true that, there is no tradition in England of eating in restaurants, because the food doesn't lend itself to such preparation. English cooking is found at home. So it is difficult to a good English restaurant with a reasonable prices.

In most cities in Britain you'll find Indian, Chinese, French and Italian restaurants. In London you'll also find Indonesian, Mexican, Greek... Cynics will say that this is because English have no "cuisine" themselves, but this is not quite the true.

Questions:

1. What do foreigners say when they criticize English food?
2. Do English people use a lot of sauces?
3. From a foreigner's point of view, what typically English dishes?
4. Do all English eat in restaurants?
5. What kind of restaurants can you find in Britain?
6. Is it the true that English have no cuisine?

Vocabulary:

to criticize - критиковать 
tasteless - безвкусный
overcooked - переваренный
ingredient - ингредиент, составная часть 
to invent - изобретать
sauces - соус 
to disguise - скрыть 
spice - специя, пряность
herb - трава
delicious - очень вкусный
disappointing - обидно 
to lend - одалживать
cuisine - кухня

Computers

Computer is an electronic device that can receive a set of instructions called program and then carry out them. The modern world of high technology could not be possible without computers. Different types and sizes of computers find uses throughout our society. They are used for the storage and handling of data, secret governmental files, information about banking transactions and so on.

Computers have opened up a new era in manufacturing and they have enhanced modern communication systems. They are essential tools in almost every field of research, from constructing models of the universe to producing tomorrow's weather reports. Using of different databases and computer networks make available a great variety of information sources.

There are two main types of computers, analog and digital, although the term computer is often used to mean only the digital type, because this type of computer is widely used today. That is why I am going to tell you about digital computers.

Everything that a digital computer does is based on one operation: the ability to determine: on or off, high voltage or low voltage or — in the case of numbers — 0 or 1 or do-called binary code. The speed at which the computer performs this simple act is called computer speed. Computer speeds are measured in Hertz or cycles per second. A computer with a «clock speed» of 2000 MHz is a fairly representative microcomputer today. It is capable of executing 2000 million discrete operations per second. Nowadays microcomputers can perform from 800 to over 3000 million operations per second and supercomputers used in research and defense applications attain speeds of many billions of cycles per second.

Digital computer speed and calculating power are further enhanced by the amount of data handled during each cycle. Except two main types of computers, analog and digital there are eight generations of digital computers or processing units. The first generation was represented by processing unit Intel 8086.

The second generation central processing unit was represented by processing unit Intel 80286, used in IBM PC AT 286. The third generation is Intel 80386, used in IBM PC AT 386. The microprocessors of the fourth generation were used in computers IBM PC AT 486. There are also central processing units of the fifth generation, used in Intel Pentium 60 and Intel Pentium 66, central processing units of the sixth generation, used in computers Intel Pentium 75, 90,100 and 133. Few years ago appeared central processing units of seventh and eighth generations. They are much more powerful and can perform from 2000 to over 3000 million operations per second.

Questions:

1. What is computer?
2. What is the main purpose of all computers?
3. Where are computers used?
4. What is the index of computer speed?
5. What speeds do modern computers have?
6. How many generations of digital computer are there?
7. What is the first generation processing unit?

Vocabulary:

electronic device — электронное устройство
to receive — получать, принимать
set of instructions — набор/свод инструкций
to carry out — выполнять
society — общество
storage — хранение
handling — обработка
transaction — операция
to enhance — повышать, увеличивать
essential — существенный
tool — инструмент, орудие
network — сеть
source — источник
analog — аналоговый
digital — цифровой
ability — способность, возможность
to determine — определять
voltage — напряжение
discrete operation — дискретное действие
to perform — выполнять, осуществлять
defense — оборона, защита
to attain — достигать
amount of data — объем данных
except — за исключением, кроме
processing unit — вычислительное устройство