英语翻译
第一篇
Numbers:Everyone'slanguage.Howmanylanguagesdoyouknow?Everyoneknowsatleasttwohisorherownlanguageandtheinternationallanguageofnumbers.AncientnumbersInancienttimes,peoplewrotenumbersinmanydifferentways,asthesepicturesofthenumber6show.However,theynearlyallcountedinthesameway--intens.ZeroThesystemofnumbersthatnearlyeveryoneusestodayconsistsofthenumbersfrom1to9and0(zero).Withthesetennumberswecanwriteanynumberfromthebiggesttothesmallest.TheIndiansfirstinventedanddevelopedthe1to9systemofnumbers.Theytheninventedthezero.Thiswasaveryimportantinventionbecauseitmadeiteasiertowritebignumbersandtocalculate.CalculatingmachinesOneofthefirstcalculatingmachineswasanabacus.Abacusesaresofastandaccuratethatpeoplestillusethemtoday.Ontheabacusinthepicture,thebeadsonthewiresrepresentones,tens,hundredsandthousandsstartingfromthebottomwire.Thepictureontherightshowsamodernelectroniccalculator.Itcanadd,subtract,multiplyanddivide.Itcanalsocalculatepercentagesandsquareroots.Thispictureshowsacomputer.Computersareverypowerfulcalculatingmachines.Inaflash,acomputercandoacalculationthatyoucouldnotdoinyourwholelifetimeBrainagainstcomputerSomepeoplecallthebrainalivingcomputer.Isahumanbrainamorepowerfulcalculatorthanacomputer?Thefollowingstorymaygiveananswer.ShakuntalaDeviisaladyfromIndiawithanamazingbrain.Shecancalculatelikelightning.InAmerica,Shakuntalaandaverypowerfulcomputerweregiventhisproblemtosolve.Shakuntala'sbraintookfiftysecondstofindtheanswer.Thecomputertookaminute.However,beforethecomputercouldbegincalculating,someonehadtoprogramitwithinstructions,andthattookmanyhours.NoonehadtoprogramShakuntala!Useyourownlivingcomputertosolvetheproblemabove.Ifitisnotpowerfulenough,youwillfindtheansweronpage59