Computers are machines that can help us in many ways.
However, they
cannot think or do things on their own. Humans have to feed them with
information and tell them what to do with it. They cannot come up with any
new information, but they can save much time and work. For example, all the
information and the office files can be stored in a computer’s memory. If a
clerk were to trace any information from a particular file, the computer would
only take seconds to find it. It could take a clerk days or even weeks to go
through every file if no computers were used.
The first computers were huge and costly. They filled up almost the
whole floor of large offices. Later, because of the usefulness and demand for
computers in business, scientists soon found ways to produce cheaper and
smaller computers. They invented chips which made it possible to store more
information in less space.
Today, computers are only cheaper, but also more compact. They can
just be placed on top of an ordinary writing table. They can even be carried
from place to place easily. Computers are not only used in offices by
companies, but they are used at home by families who can afford them.
Robots, on the other hand, are not mechanical people. They are only
moving parts controlled by a computer. A robot can do the same work for
twenty four hours, and yet, it does not complain or get tired. In the United
States, robots are computers that tell them where to guard and what to do.
These robots are programmed to list for certain noise and signals for help in
case of trouble or danger.
In Japan and in some places in America, robots are used in factories to
assemble cars. As computers become more common in businesses and
factories, people fear that one day computers and computer controlled
robots will put human workers out of work
Answer the following questions
1) Why do humans have to feed the computers with information and tell
them what to do?
2) Why did the first computers fill up almost the whole floor?
3) List two places where computers can be used as stated in the passage
4) Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?
a) Robots are controlled by a computer
b) Robots are mechanical people
c) Robots do not get tired
d) Robot guard factories and museums in the United States
5) Humans fear that one day, computers and robots
a) will be busier than humans
b) will be cleverer than humans
c) will make humans jobless
d) will make humans listen to certain noise
Break the following words into syllables
1) Independence
2) Accessibility
3) Intellectual
4) Commemomorate
5) Originality
6) Socialisation
7) Consequences
8) Metamorphosis
9) Administration
10)
Complete these sentences with the correct modal auxiliaries
Can, may, must, shall, should, will and would
1) It is raining, I close the windows?
2) You be home before dark for it is dangerous to walk home alone
at night
3) You spend more than a hundred naira if you want to get the free
gift
4) Mother, I go to the cinema with my friends tomorrow?
5) Don’t worry. Eka definitely find her way out of the forest without
a map
Use the correct form of the verb in the bracket to complete each of the
following sentences
1) She before you (come)
2) Anyone who is a thief (steal)
3) Do you like what he has with the money (do)
4) Modola is the apple into two (cut)
5) The child will be. At the party (sing)
6) The headmaster to us yesterday afternoon (speak)
Complete the following sentences with “to has or have”
1) The universities decided to go on strike
2) The dog come back to the house
3) Akin and his brother done the work
4) We enough water at home
5) It been long since I saw him
