1.10 Other devices

1. cash dispenser / cash machine / ATM	h. outside a bank
2. barcode reader	a. at a supermarket checkout
3. magnetic strip	g. on the back of a credit card
4. MP3 player	b. connected to a pair of headphones
5. photocopier	d. in an office, school or copy shop
6. telex machine	c. in an office in 1974
7. video camera	e. in the hands of a tourist
8. mainframe computer	f. in the headquarters of a large company

9. When you pay by credit card, your card is swiped.

10. A laptop computer with a screen you can write on is called a tablet PC.

11. An image on TV or computer screen is made up of thousands of pixels.

12. You can draw directly onto a computer screen with a light pen.

13. A camera connected directly to the internet is called a webcam .

1.11 Inside a computer

The "brain" of a computer is the processor. Most of these are made by Intel and AMD, and are

sometimes referred to as "chips". The fastest processors are dual core, which means

that there are two processors working together. The speed of a processor is measured in

megahertz, which is usually written as MHz.

A computer's memory is measured in megabytes. If a computer has 1,024 megabytes of memory,

and the memory type is SDRAM, this is written as 1,024 MB SDRAM, and is pronounced "a thousand and

twenty-four megabytes ess-dee-dram".

The processor and memory modules are located on the motherboard. Changing a computer's

processor is not generally practical, but the memory can usually be upgraded.

B. Power

1. Laptops are powered by batteries or mains electricity.

2. Mains electricity is converted to lower voltage by a transformer.

3. A surge protector protects electronic equipment from damage caused by power spikes.

4. If you remove the cover from a computer, make sure you disconnect the electricity Supply. Otherwise, you may get an electric shock.

5. The computer is cooled by a fan. This prevents the processor from overheating.

1.12 Data storage

1. The data and applications on your computer are stored on the hard drive.

2. To run this application you need at least 50MB of free space on your hard drive.

3. My computer's hard drive has a capacity of 120GB.

4. Do you like this CD? I can burn you a copy if you want.

5. The opposite of "Insert the DVD" is "eject the DVD".

6. I can't eject the CD. I think the drawer's stuck.

7. Digital cameras usually store pictures on a memory card or a memory stick.

Which do you think is the best solution for each problem?

1. I want to make a copy of a music CD. b. Use a CD-R.

2. I want to store some files. I may need to update them in the future. e. Put them on a CD-RW.

3. I want to back up data from my computer. I want to update it every day. c. Try a USB flash drive.

4. My computer's having problems with reading and writing CDs. d. Perhaps you need a new internal CD drive.

5. I want to add 100MB of extra storage to my computer. a. You need an external hard drive.

6. I want to send a copy of a small file to a friend. He has an old computer. g. You could put it on a floppy disk.

7. My computer's running slowly. f. Perhaps you need to defragment the hard drive.