Computers Today we use computers in factories and offices, in schools and hospitals, and in our homes. Our computers now are small enough for us to carry, and some computers are quite cheap. More and more people can use them at work or at home. But computers are not new. Where do they come from? What is their history? The first step towards our modern computer was the abacus. People in China have used abacuses for hundreds of years. it, with numbers on them. It was automatic, but it was not electronic. An abacus An abacus is an ancient calculator. You can do many easy and many difficult calculations with an abacus, but it cannot work by itself: it is not automatic. And it is not electronic. A man called Charles Babbage made the first automatic calculator nearly 170 years ago, in 1822. It had a lot of wheels inside 4 Babbage's automatic calculator 120 years later, in the 1940s, some English scientists made the first electronic computer in Europe. It was much too big to carry or move, and it used a lot of electricity. Scientists had to find new and better ways to make the electronic parts of computers. They had to make computers small enough to carry and move easily. They had to make all the parts smaller. Since the 1940s, computers have become smaller and smaller. Some small pocket calculators today can do more difficult calculations than this first big electronic computer! Scientists can now Exercises A True or false? 1 Computers today are not very big. 2 An abacus is a modern, automatic computer. 3 English scientists made an electronic computer 120 years ago. 4 There are silicon chips inside today's computers. 5 Soon perhaps we will pay for things in shops with plastic cards. B Read and match. 1 Today people use computers.. 2 170 years ago a man made 3 English scientists made .. 4 Scientists can now make 5 Soon perhaps we will ... a. the first electronic computer in Europe. 6.. not have to carry money in our pockets. 6.. the first automatic calculator. d.. at work and at home. e.. a whole computer on one silicon chip. C Finish the sentences. modern cheap easy 1 I did not have to pay a lot of money for this book. It was . 2 This calculation is not difficult. It is quite..... 3 Cameras with silicon chips are not old. They are. 4 Computers work with electricity. They are ...... 5 The abacus is a very old calculator. It is ..... ancient electronic