BCA Semester 1 – English I – Unit 1: (I). Personal Computing

Reread the following passage and answer the questions that follow:Computers are machines that can help us in many ways. But, 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 would 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 not 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 also 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 listen for certain noises and signals for help in ease 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 time day computers and computer-controlled robots will put human workers out of work.Questions:a) Why do humans have to feed the computers with information and tell them what to do?b) Why did the first computers fill up almost the whole floor?c) Do you think 'artificial intelligence can make computers independent? Why?d) What if there were no computers in the world? Write in brief.e) Think of a suitable title for the passage and justify in brief.

Compose a dialogue between a computer dealer and a customer on the major problems with hand-based input/output.

Write comparative and superlative forms of the following adjectives/ adverbs:little, well, quiet, awful, similar.