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History of IT Industry
Introduction
You are going to read a passage entitled “A Very Short History of Information Technology”.
After you read the passage, you can have some idea about the different phases in the history of IT
industry and how it changes the way we are living.
applications which were no longer limited to enterprise-related activities but digitized almost any
activity in our lives. Most important, it provided us with tools that greatly facilitated the creation
and sharing of information by anyone with access to the Internet (the open and almost free wide
area network only few people cared or knew about before the invention of the World Wide Web).
The work memo I typed on a typewriter which became a digital document sent across the enterprise
and beyond now became my life journal which I could discuss with others, including people on the
other side of the globe I have never met. While computer networks took IT from the accounting
department to all corners of the enterprise, the World Wide Web took IT to all corners of the globe,
connecting millions of people. Interactive conversations and sharing of information among these
millions replaced and augmented broadcasting and drastically increased (again) the amount of data
created, stored, moved, and consumed. And just as in the previous phase, a bunch of new players
emerged, all of them born on the Web, all of them regarding “IT” not as specific function
responsible for running the infrastructure but as the essence of their business, data and its analysis
becoming their competitive edge.
We are probably going to see soon—and maybe already are experiencing—a new phase in the
evolution of IT and a new quantitative and qualitative leap in the growth of data. The cloud—a new
way to deliver IT, big data—a new attitude towards data and its potential value, and The Internet of
Things—connecting billions of monitoring and measurement devices quantifying everything,
combine to sketch for us the future of IT.
1.1 Find out the Chinese equivalent to each of the following technical terms. Then
read aloud the terms.
English technical terms Chinese equivalents
Local Area Networks (LANs)
Wide Area Networks (WANs)
operating systems
build-to-order PCs
World Wide Web (www)
the Internet of Things
mainframe
1.3 Complete the following sentences by using the words and expressions in the box.
and Microsoft did favor its own applications on the Windows desktop screen, Google is now
accused of favoring its Google Shopping product in its search results. (Somewhat more surprisingly,
it is also accused of various Android-related abuses.) Once again, the European intervention seems
likely to curtail certain practices without seriously altering the defendant’s near-monopoly market
control. Google’s share of the search engine market in Europe is estimated to be over 90 percent.
And like its predecessors, Google has also heard the siren’s call, and is said to have pledged to
invest $1 billion (along with Fidelity) in Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The idea is that today’s smaller, less
expensive yet more powerful satellites will prove that this technology has finally come of age.
Similarly, Facebook, with its own set of European (mostly privacy related) legal challenges, hopes
to bring WiFi to the developing world via a fleet of unmanned and solar-powered aircraft.
Does this mean that Google and Facebook’s telecom dreams are destined to fail spectacularly
as others have in the past? Of course not. But what it does mean is that just because today’s dot.com
giants are pouring money into all kinds of exotic projects — digital wallets, robots, electric cars,
network bandwidth, clothing, drones, biotech and so on — doesn’t mean that they will succeed. The
history of the computer business is that its market leaders are both fabulously rich and highly
ambitious. This is a proven formula for all manner of grand adventures and misadventures. IBM,
Microsoft and Intel have all been through it, with surprisingly few lasting results.
This sort of entrepreneurial extravagance is not a bad thing at all. These vast and risky
investments can be seen as essentially a way of recycling the enormous funds that successful firms
and individuals have accumulated from you, the customer. Better to re-deploy one’s fortune chasing
breakthrough dreams in the sky than on palatial corporate headquarters, private islands, ever larger
yachts, and sometimes even huge charitable contributions. But of course, they do all those things
too.
Find out the Chinese equivalent to each of the following technical terms. Then
read aloud the terms.
I. Be an Active Listener
“Active listening” means fully concentrating on what is being said rather than just passively
“hearing” the message of the speaker. Active listening involves listening with all senses.
Appropriate responses to listening can be both verbal and non-verbal:
Eye Contact
Combine eye contact with smiles and other non-verbal
messages to encourage the speaker.
Posture
The attentive listener tends to lean slightly forward or
sideways whilst sitting.
Mirroring
Automatic reflection/mirroring of any facial expressions
used by the speaker can be a sign of attentive listening. These reflective expressions can help to
show sympathy and empathy in more emotional situations.
Distraction
The active listener will not be distracted and therefore will refrain from fidgeting, looking at a
clock or watch, doodling, playing with their hair or picking their fingernails.
C. Reflection. D. Mirroring.
3. Which of the statements is NOT used in the video to demonstrate active listening?
A. What do you mean I just took it?
B. I am eager to help you; I know you are going through some tough challenges.
C. I really understand your need for recognition.
D. You are right that I should have informed you about it.
4. Which of the followings are non-verbal signs of active listening?
SMART goal management was invented by Peter Drucker, the founder of modern management.
Specifically, our SMART reading principle refer to specific, meaningful, assessable, responsive and
time-on .
SPECIFIC reading: we are able to locate the very useful and exact information we are
looking for after reading.
MEANINGFUL reading: we can find out the very meaning of the material or the writer, we
are not doing multiple comprehension like in university, there are no A/B/C/D choices
there for us to choose, and we have to find out the meaning through reading between the
lines.
ASSESSABLE reading: we need to know why we are reading the material. Do not go in
blind and fast reading, repeatedly ask yourself the objective before and in the middle of
reading. If you want to get more information with less time, you can’t just pick up the pace.
You need to bear the question in mind while reading and purposely looking for the answer
until you find the answer.
RESPONSIVE reading: at workplace, we are reading technical and business material rather
than novels or fictions, we have to give our evaluation and assessment. For example, how
am I involved with the activities in the memo? Am I to take the meeting and give a talk?
What is the message of the email from my boss?
TIME-ON reading: at workplace, there is always a time-limit or deadline there for us to
give a definite response after reading, which is the very big difference of reading at
workplace from reading at school.
Maybe these sound theory-like and abstract. Let’s work on an example to practice SMART
reading. This is an email from your colleague, Selina, informing you of a department meeting.
Hello everyone,
Our department will be holding a meeting at the Solar room located at the 3rd floor at
2 pm on May 5, 2017. Our department head, Mr. Ting would like to talk to all of us. Your
attendance is required. Thank you.
Selina Ann
In a school reading setting, most students would say it is just an email to tell us about a
meeting. However, at workplace, your response is supposed to be like this according to SMART
reading goal.
First, according to specific principle: You would immediately remember the specific
information into your mind, as in this email, 2 pm on May 5, Solar room.
Then, following the meaningful principle: the moment of reading the sentence “your
attendance is required”, you should check your schedule at once.
Next, as assessable principle requires: make sure you are available then and if not, what do you
have to do with your schedule.
36 高级职场英语(IT 行业适用)
According to Responsive principle: You should give Selina a reply to confirm your attendance
of the meeting.
Lastly, to follow the Time-on principle: You should send Selina a quick reply ASAP.
科技英语翻译的标准与翻译的过程
主
IT I 37
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
the amount of data generated and how we use networked computers, came with the invention of the
World Wide Web (commonly mislabeled as “the Internet”).
5. We are probably going to see soon—and maybe already are experiencing—a new phase in
the evolution of IT and a new quantitative and qualitative leap in the growth of data. The cloud—a
new way to deliver IT, big data—a new attitude towards data and its potential value, and The
Internet of Things—connecting billions of monitoring and measurement devices quantifying
everything, combine to sketch for us the future of IT.
Task 1
Here are five questions related to the topic of this unit. You can scan the QR code to get the
article entitled with “The Mainstreaming of Augmented Reality: A Brief History” and answer the
questions based on what you will get from the article.
1. What has contributed to AR’s increasing success? (More than one answer)
A. Complex technological advances.
B. Meaningful content.
C. Convincing and realistic interaction of the virtual with the physical environment.
D. Unique value that goes beyond what other technologies deliver.
2. When was the first commercial AR application appeared?
A. In 2004. B. In 2008.
C. In 2010. D. In 2011.
3. Which of the following statements is not true according to this article?
A. Simulating digital products, so that they interact with movements in the real world in
real time (usually through paper printouts), was a popular approach to AR in the early
2010s.
B. Much more successful apps are those that can offer a more seamless experience. Trying
on products virtually, by instant face recognition, has been one of the most successful
uses of AR in the commercial context so far, and make-up companies have been leading
this use.
C. In order to create this personalization of virtual content—and make it seem real—the
software uses 2D modeling technology and advanced thee-tracking techniques.
D. Surprisingly, the fashion industry has touted the technology.
4. Where were the apps for tourism purposes initially created?
A. At university lab. B. In government agency.
C. At shopping mall. D. In hospital.
5. What is consumers’ expectation? (More than one answer)
A. They expect their digital experience to be more human and empathic.
B. They expect their digital experience to surprise them.
C. They expect their digital experience to allow for interactivity.
D. They expect their digital experience to save money.
40 高级职场英语(IT 行业适用)
Task 2
Read the following paragraphs excerpted from “The Essential Drucker” by Peter F. Drucker
and answer the questions.
One important advance in the discipline and practice of management is that both now embrace
entrepreneurship and innovation. A sham fight these days pits “management” against “entrepreneurship”
as adversaries, if not as mutually exclusive. That’s like saying that the fingering hand and the bow
hand of the violinist are “adversaries” or “mutually exclusive”. Both are always needed and at the
same time both have to be coordinated and work together. Any existing organization, whether a
business, a church, a labor union, or a hospital, goes down fast if it does not innovate. Conversely,
any new organization, whether a business, a church, a labor union, or a hospital, collapses if it does
not manage. Not to innovate is the single largest reason for the decline of existing organizations.
Not to know how to manage is the single largest reason for the failure of new ventures.
We have again entered an era of innovation, and it is by no means confined to “high-tech” or to
technology generally. In fact, social innovation may be of greater importance and have much greater
impact than any scientific or technical invention. Furthermore, we now have a “discipline” of
entrepreneurship and innovation. It is clearly a part of management and tests, indeed, on
well-known and tested management principles. It applies to both existing organizations and new
ventures, and to both business and nonbusiness institutions, including government.
Excerpted from The Essential Drucker by Peter F. Drucker
Unit report
A unit report generally includes two parts: summary of key concepts and reflection.
The summary of key concepts highlights what you feel are the most important idea in this unit.
Basically you want to summarize the 5 Ws: who, what, where,
when and why. Your summary should be complete yet concise. The
summary needs to be about half of the unit report.
The reflection highlights what you think. In your reflection,
you should tell the reader what you learned from the reading. Your
reflection paragraph covers another half of the report.
Some questions that you might include are:
I really agree/disagree because…
This reminds me of …I feel….
IT I 41
A question I have…
I could see myself using this knowledge in my classroom or in an interaction with others in
this way…
I didn’t understand… OR: Now I understand…
After this reading I will change…
Performance Review
Can you tell the Chinese equivalents of the following English expressions?
1. mainframe YES NO
2. Local Area Networks (LANs) YES NO
3. Wide Area Networks (WANs) YES NO
4. operating systems YES NO
5. semiconductors YES NO
6. build-to-order PCs YES NO
7. World Wide Web YES NO
8. the Internet of Things YES NO
Can you define the following terms?
9. The Internet of Things YES NO
10. LANs YES NO
11. WANs YES NO
12. World Wide Web YES NO
Do you know
13. the different criteria of translation? YES NO
14. what it means by “faithfulness, expressiveness and YES NO
elegance”?
15. what a translator needs to do in the stage of YES NO
understanding?
16. what a translator needs to do in the stage of YES NO
expression?
17. what a translator needs to do in the stage of YES NO
proofreading?
Can you
18. translate the English sentences in the passages into YES NO
proper Chinese?
19. give a fair review on some services or products? YES NO
20. make yourself across in a discussion? YES NO