Топик: Тексты для экзамена 11 класса

They speak , write and sing of “ Home , Sweet Home”, and by this means have built up the tradition that it is a thoroughly English institution. Once tradition is firmly established , the thing is done.

Another tradition that is firmly established not only in Britain , but in the minds of the rest of the world, is the devotion of the English to animals. Certainly , they will speak with love to and of their dogs and horses, which is more than they will do concerning their friends and family. However , the fox, the deer, the pheasant and many others would have but little to say in praise of the animal-loving English if they were consulted.

But by never thinking about it , the English firmly believe themselves to be the only nation in the world that is really kind to its animals.

Indeed, the power of believing the English have is almost phenomenal. A very short list of such beliefs comes to one’s mind almost automatically.

Most Englishman are convinced that God is in Englishman- probably educated at Eton.

that England is finest country in the world;

that all foreigners are slightly mad;

that anyone disagreeing on any of these points ought to be short;

that all men are just like children;

that children are blessing to their parents.

Enough has now perhaps been said to show that the English , whatever else they may be , are agreeably inconsistent.

(After On British Character by E.M. Delafield )

EPICAC

EPICAC covered almost the entire fourth floor of the physics building at Wayndotte College. He was seven tons of electronic tubes , switches , etc.

I won’t go into details about how EPICAC worked expect to say that you would set up you problem on paper , turn dials and switches that would get him ready to solve it. The answers came out Typed on a paper ribbon.

The minute EPICAC’s last tube was in place , he was put to work sixteen hours a day with two operators working eight hours each. It didn’t take long to find out that he was a good bit below his specifications . But we went ahead and used EPICAC anyway. The operator who worked with me was Pat Callaham, a brown- eyed blond mathematician . I loved Pat and Wanted to marry her , but she wouldn’t marry me because she said I wasn’t poetic.

One night after Pat had gone home , just as a joke , I typed a message for the computer: “ What can I do?” EPICAC responded : “ What’s the trouble?” I was so surprised that I laughed. Playfully I typed , “ My girl doesn’t love me.”

“What’s love ? What’s girl?” asked EPICAC.

I defined love and girl and told him that I wasn’t getting either because I wasn’t poetic. That got us on the subject of poetry which I defined for him.

“Is this poetry? He asked. He began to working again. The paper ribbon was coming out onto the floor at a great speed. I stayed there until morning decoding. When the sun came over the horizon, I had rewritten and signed my name to a too – hundred – eighty – line poem entitled “ To Pat” , I put it on the Pat’s desk and went home.

Pat was crying over the poem when I came to work the next evening. “ It’s beautiful,” she said , and she kissed me.

When I was along again I switched on the computer. EPICAC was the first to ask me a Question. “ Tell me how she look. Did she like the poem?”

It was impossible to change the subject without answering him, since he could not take up a new matter without having solved the problems before him. If he was given a problem to which there was no solution, he would ruin himself trying to solve it.

I told him what Pat looked like and assured him that his poem was a big success.

“She wants to get married,” I added.

“Good.” said EPICAC. “I’ll marry her.”

I understood . I had told EPICAC about love , about Pat. Now , automatically, he loved Pat . Sadly I told him ,”She loves me. She wants to marry me.”

“Your poem was better than mine?” EPICAC asked.

“I signed my name to your poem,” I admitted . “ Machines are built to serve men.” “Women can’t love machines,” I typed.