Since their first appearance on earth,men have gathered information and have attempted to pass useful ideas to othermen. 46. The carving of word-pictures on the walls of ancient caves as wellas hieroglyphics on stone tablets represent some of men's earliest efforts toconvey information. Scenes of hunting, maps of battles, and the stories ofheroes were put down for all to see.
But as civilizations grew more complexbetter methods of communication were needed. The written word, carrier pigeons,the telegraph, and many other devices carried ideas faster and faster from manto man. 47. In recent years one type of machine, the electronic computer,has become increasingly important in the lives of all the people in theindustrialized nations of the world. Computers are now widely used aids forcommunication calculation, and other activities.Their effect becomes moreimportant every day.
Man has always been interested inextending the range of his senses and the power of his mind. Through the years,he has invented many instruments to help him see better and understand more. 48.The telescope, for example, was invented to allow him to look at farawayobjects. To see the very small things in the world, the microscope wasdeveloped. Radio, telephone, and telegraph are means by which man hasextended the range of his senses of hearing and speech.
While developing his power of thought manfirst began to identify and count objects. He began to ask the questions Whatis it?" and "How many?". It was a long time ago that thisnumbering and comparing of things began
49. New ways of helping with counting andrecording information evolved. Marks of different kinds were taken to representcertain quantities, and other marks were taken to represent relationshipsbetween quantities.
New devices to aid in the manipulation ofnumbers were developed.
Electronic computers are among thefastest and most useful instruments for sorting and comparing in use today.50.Computers provide the means for greater speed and accuracy in working withideas than had previously been possible. With the development of these newtools, it is as if man has suddenly become a millionaire of the mind
Although man has been growing mentallyricher ever since he started to think, the electronic computer allows and willcontinue to allow him to perform tremendous"mental" tasks in arelatively short time. Great scientists of the past produced ideas which werethe basis for great advances, but their ideas sometimes had to wait for yearsbefore they were understood sufficiently well to be of practical use. With thecomputer, the ideas of today's scientists can be studied, tested, distributed,and used more rapidly than ever before.
51. Old lines and methods ofcommunication do not work easily or efficiently with as much information as wehave now. The repeated actions of preparing, sorting, filling, distributing,and keeping track of records and publications can be as troublesome ascalculating. Errors occur because men grow tired and can be distracted.
The basic job of computers is theprocessing of information. For this reason computers can be defined as deviceswhich accept information, perform mathematical or logical operations with theinformation, and then supply the results of these operations as newinformation.
Directions: In the following passage, there are five groups of underlined sentences. Read the passage carefully and translate these sentences into Chinese. Write the Chinese version on your Answer Sheet.
【正确答案】：46.刻在古代洞穴墙壁上的代表文字的图形以及石碑上的象形文字都代表着人类传达信息的最初努力。
47.近年来出现了一种叫做电子计算机的机器,它在世界工业化国家的人民生活中变得越来越重要。
48.比如,人类发明了望远镜,使他们能够看到远处的物体。为了看见世界上微小的东西,人们又发明了显微镜。
49帮助计算和记录信息的新方法产生了不同类型的符号用来表示特定的数量,另一些符号则用来表示数量之间的关系。
50.计算机提供了更快速、更精确的办法用以处理各种信息,这在以前是不可能的。随着这些新型工具的产生,人类似乎突然间变成了头脑的富翁。
51.旧的通讯方式和方法很难轻易或有效地处理我们现在所拥有的大量信息。对信息反复的准备、分类、填充、分配跟踪记录和发布等跟计算一样麻烦。人类会变得疲劳和分心,并因此而导致错误的发生。