SelectingaPersonalComputerSystem

Inaninformationsociety,youmaywanttopossessacomputerofyourownbutlacksomebasicknowledgeaboutcomputerpurchase.Ifyouwanttoknowhowtoselectapersonalcomputerandwheretomakethepurchase,readon...

Choosingtherightcomputer,peripherals,andsoftwareisnotaneasytask.1Therapid-growthofthepersonalcomputerindustrygivestheconsumeragreatnumberofchoicestomake.Inordertomakeagoodpurchase,youshouldconsiderthefollowingimportantactorsbeforeyouchooseapersonalcomputersystem.

Thedecisiontobuyaparticularcomputersystemmaybedecidedbymanyfactors,butthefollowingthreefactorsareessentialforyou.

(1)Whatyouwanttousethecomputerfor.

(2)Howmuchpower(speedandmemory)youneed.

(3)Howmuchmoneyyouwanttospend.

2Todevelopaclearpictureofwhatyouwanttouseapersonalcomputerfor,youmustknowwhatsuchmachinescanandcannotdo.3Readcomputernewspapersandmagazines,andyouwillhaveaprettygoodideaofthekindsoftasksthatpersonalcomputercanperform.Anhonestevaluationofyourneedsisthenextstep,toseeifapersonalcomputercanreallybeofanyhelptoyou.Ifitcanbeofsomehelptoyou,thenperhapsthefirstthingforyoutodoistoanswerthefollowingquestions:“Whatsoftwaredoyouwanttouse?”“Doyouprimarilywanttodowordprocessing,orareyoulookingforamachinetoruncomputergames?”Dosomeresearchonthesoftwareavailableformicrocomputersanddecidewhatprogramsyouwanttorun.Pickingoutthesoftwarefirstwillmeanyou’llbesureaboutexactlywhatyouwanttousethecomputerfor.

Onceyouknowwhatprogramyouwanttorun,youcanthenlimityourconsiderationtohardwaresystemsthatcanexecutethesoftware.You’llneedasystemthatisfastenough,hasenoughmemory,andhasversionsofyourchosenprogramsspecificallydesignedforit.Byselectingyoursoftwarefirst,youaremorelikelytoendupwithamachinewellsuitedtoyourneeds,notonethatistoopowerfulortoolimited.

Finally,thebottomlineis,ofcourse,yourbudget.Whichcomputeryoubuyorwhetheryoubuyoneatallisultimatelydependentonhowmuchmoneyyouhavetospend.But,aswe’vesaid,thereisawidepricerangeintoday’smarket.

Besidesthethreebasicquestionswe’vejusttalkedabout,anotherdecisionthattoday’scomputerconsumerhastomakeiswhethertobuyanIBMcompatiblesystem.Atpresent,thewholeclassofpersonalcomputersystemsintheUnitedStatedfallsintothreemajorcategories:IBMandIBMcompatiblemachines,theAppleMacintoshfamily,andallothers.

Ingeneralterms,compatibilityreferstohowwelltwodevicesorapieceofhardwareandapieceofsoftwareworktogether.InthecaseoftheIBMPersonalComputer,theindustryhasacceptedthreeclearlydefinedcompatibilitylevels:operationallycompatible,datacompatible,andMS-DOScompatible.

Furthermore,wheretobuyacomputerisstillanotherdecisionforthecomputerconsumertomake.Personalcomputershavebecomesopopularthattherearemanydifferentplaceswherecomputers,peripherals,andsoftwarecanbebought.Independentornationalcomputerstores,regulardepartmentstores,andmail-orderhousesarethebiggestmarkets.Computerstoresofferawideselectionofbrandsandmodelsbecausetheyspecializeinsalesofcomputerhardwareandsoftware.Salespeopletherecanofferadvice,helptheconsumertryoutproducts,andassistinhisdecision.Theyusuallyofferlocalserviceandmaintenance.Relatively,computerstorepricestendtobehigh.Departmentstorescanoftensellcomputersandperipheralsatlowpricesbecausetheybuyinvolume.Butsalespeoplethereareusuallynotcomputerexpertsandmaynotoffertheconsumermuchtechnicaladvice.Besides,thesestorescanneitherfixnormaintainthecomputerproductstheysell.Mail-orderhousesofferanextensivechoiceofproducts,anddemandlowprices,buttechnicaladviceandassistancecanbehardtoobtain.Sinceeachoftheseoffersbothadvantagesanddisadvantages,thewisepersonalcomputerconsumershouldconsiderallthepossibilitiesbeforebuying.NewWords

factorn.因素,要素,代理人criterian.標準essentialadj.必要的,基本的,本質(zhì)的;n.本質(zhì),實質(zhì),要素considerationn.考慮,體諒executevt.執(zhí)行,實行,完成budgetn.預算;vi.做預算categoryn.種類,別definevt.定義,詳細說明brandn.商標,牌子,烙印;vt.打火印,污辱assistv.援助,幫助maintenancen.維護,保持,生活費用,撫養(yǎng)advantagen.優(yōu)勢,有利條件,利益disadvantagen.不利,不利條件,缺點,劣勢PhrasesandExpressionsperipheral外圍的,外部設(shè)備wordprocessing文字處理computergame計算機游戲IBMcompatiblemachineIBM-兼容機TheAppleMacintoshfamily蘋果機Macintosh系列compatibility兼容性operationallycompatible操作兼容datacompatible數(shù)據(jù)兼容maintenance維修，維護TheExplanationofDifficultStatements

1.Therapidgrowthofthepersonalcomputerindustrygivestheconsumeragreatnumberofchoicestomake.

分析:其中,不定式tomake作定語修飾choice,被修飾的名詞是不定式的邏輯賓語,比如:Thereisreallynothingtofear.(真的沒什么可怕的。)

句意:個人計算機的迅猛發(fā)展給消費者提供了大量可選擇的余地。

2.Todevelopaclearpictureofwhatyouwanttouseapersonalcomputerfor,youmustknowwhatsuchmachinescanandcannotdo.

分析:不定式在這里作目的狀語,其中whatyouwanttouseapersonalcomputerfor作介詞of的賓語,what作for的賓語。

句意:你想用計算機干什么,要對此形成清晰的思路,你必須知道這種機器能夠做什么,不能夠做什么。

3.Readcomputernewspapersandmagazines,andyouwillhaveaprettygoodideaofthekindsoftasksthatpersonalcomputercanperform.

分析:本句中Do...,andyouwill...(做……,你就會……)是英語中的一個句型。比如:Workhard,andyouwillsucceed.(努力工作,你就會成功。)

句意:閱讀計算機報刊和雜志,你就會對個人計算機可以做什么有一個明確的認識。ExercisesⅠ.Decidewhethereachofthefollowingstatementsistrueorfalseaccordingtothetext:(1)Itisimportantforapotentialcomputerbuyertoknowwhatthe

computercanandcan’tdo.(2)Onceyoupickoutthesoftware,youcanbuyagoodcomputer.(3)Thepricesofcomputerssellingincomputerstoretendtobe

highbecausetheyofferfreelocalservice.(4)Acomputerdoingwordprocessingneedsdifferentsoftware

fromonerunningcomputergames.(5)Accordingtotheauthor,softwareratherthanhardwareisthe

moreimportantfactortobeconsideredinbuyingacomputer.Ⅱ.Answerthefollowingquestions:(1)Doesaconsumerhavealotofchoicesnowifhewantsto

makeacomputerpurchase?Whyorwhynot?(2)Whatarethethreebasicfactorsapotentialcomputerbuyer

shouldconsider?(3)Whatfactordoyouthinkisthemostimportant?Why?(4)Wherecanapotentialcomputerbuyergetsomeinformation

aboutthatpersonalcomputerscanperform?(5)HowmanymajorcategoriescanAmericanpersonalcomputer

systemsbedivided?Whatarethey?Ⅲ.TranslatethefollowingsentencesintoChinese:(1)Wherethere’ssmoke,there’sfire.(2)Operatingsystemsexistbecausetheyaresupposedtomakeiteasiertocomputewithanoperatingsystemthanwithoutit.(3)Theprofessorarrivedwhileweweretryingtophonehim.(4)Petrolhasgottooexpensive,sowearesellingthecar.(5)Lateasitwas,theystillcontinuedtheirwork.(6)Agoodengineerlearnsasmuchfromhismistakesasfromhissuccesses.(7)Doasthemanagertoldyou.(8)Youwon’tfinishtheworkunlessyouhurryup.Ⅳ.Choosethebestanswer:______________IstayedintheAAAcompanyonlyashort

time,butIlearnedalot.

A.ThoughB.AlthoughC.AsD.不填(2)______________,helivedaverysimplelife.

A.AsEinsteinwasagreatscientist

B.AsgreatscientistEinsteinwas

C.GreatscientistwasasEinstein

D.GreatscientistasEinsteinwas(3)Ifthisprinterdoesn’twork,bringitback______________we’llgiveyouyourmoneyback.

A.because

B.but

C.and

D.since(4)______________youunderstandthisrule,you’llhaveno

furtherdifficulty.

A.Once

B.Though

C.UntilD.Unless(5)Therewas______________muchnoise______________the

speakercouldnotmakehimselfheard.

A.so...that

B.so...as

C.such...that

D.such...as(6)Theywent______________theycouldbuyalaserprinter.

A.where

B.wherever

C.when

D.unless(7)Youcan’tworkouttheproblem_________youthinkhard.

A.after

B.when

C.if

D.unless(8)Shedidn’tcome______________themeetinghadbegan.

A.unless

B.until

C.while

D.as(9)Pollutionaffectsmorepeoplelivingintoday’ssociety

______________itdidinthepast.

A.as

B.since

C.than

D.before(10)_________hecouldpasstheexam,heworkedveryhard.

A.Inorderto

B.Inorderthat

C.Evenif

D.ThoughReadingMaterialsLAN

LAN,acronymforlocalareanetworkisagroupofcomputersandotherdevicesdispersedoverarelativelylimitedareaandconnectedbyacommunicationslinkthatenablesanydevicetointeractwithanyotheronthenetwork.LANscommonlyincludemicrocomputersandshared(oftenexpensive)resourcessuchaslaserprintersandlargeharddisks.Most(modern)LANscansupportawidevarietyofcomputersandotherdevices.Eachdevicemustusetheproperphysicalanddata-linkprotocolsfortheparticularLAN,andalldevicesthatwanttocommunicatewitheachotherontheLANmustusethesameupper-levelcommunicationsprotocol.AlthoughsingleLANsaregeographicallylimited(toadepartmentoranofficebuilding,forexample),separateLANscanbeconnectedtoformlargernetworks.SimilarLANsarelinkedbybridges,whichactastransferpointsbetweennetworks;dissimilarLANsarelinkedbygateways,whichbothtransferdataandconvertitaccordingtotheprotocolsusedbythereceivingnetwork.

ThedevicesonaLANareknownasnodes(NODE),andthenodesareconnectedbycablingthroughwhichmessagesaretransmitted.Typesofcablesincludetwistedpairwiring,coaxialcable,orfiberoptic(lighttransmitting)cable.Nodesona