Cambridge Professional English Infotech English for computer users Fourth Editiorf

t
advanced■
he most advanced

fantastic ■ powerful ■


Complete these sentences with the superlative form of the adjectives in brackets.
Always buy the (fast)
1
scanner with the (high)
resolution you can afford.
They have created the (revolutionary)
camera to date.
FotoFinish is the (easy)
photo editing software for your digital camera. This scanner gives you the (good)
scans with the
(little) effort.
Our university has bought the (modern) „ computer equipment.
Adjectives with three or more syllables also take the most/least.
the most fantastic the least powerful
But two syllable adjectives ending in -y (for example, noisy) take -est and they changes to i.
noisy —► the noisiest
Note the irregular forms:
good —► the best bad —► the worst little —► the least
(with amounts, not size)

I
С
1
2
3
4
5
6
n pairs, discuss who or what you think is:
the most difficult computer game you've ever played.
the most exciting film you've ever seen.
the funniest programme on TV.
the most dangerous computer virus.
the best blogger or webmaster on the Web.
the most popular web browser.

• I'j

Suffixes

1
2
3
4
5

3. 
   7
   

. of photographic and imaging

Language work: suffixes

A Look at the HELP box and then use suitable suffixes to make adjectives or nouns from these words. In some cases, you can make more than one word. Use a dictionary to help you.
colour
profession
photograph
wire
blur
innovate
underexpose
В Complete these sentences with the word in brackets and one of these noun suffixes: -tion, -er, -ing, -logy, -ness. Use a dictionary to help you.

1. 
   Kodak is a (manufacture)
   

equipment.

2. 
   To avoid red eyes, use the camera's red eye (reduce) feature.
   

Suffixes change the class of the root word. For example, by adding the suffix -al, the noun digit is changed into the adjective digital. Suffixes can help you tell if a word is a noun, an adjective or a verb.
Common adjectival suffixes are: -y, -able, -ible, -ive, -al, -ed, -ful, -ic, -less, -ing
Common noun suffixes are: -er, -or, -ion, -tion, -ation, -ment, -ness, -ity, -ant, - logy, -ing, -y, -ure, -sion
When using suffixes, always check in your dictionary to see if you need to change any other letters.
scan —► scanner (double n)

3. 
   (
   . a photograph means cutting out the parts of an
   . of a photograph is a combination of resolution
   Crop)
   

image you don't need.

4. 
   The (sharp)
   

and acutance - the ability to represent clear edges.
Digital (techno) _... is evolving so rapidly that some cameras
have a resolution of 12 megapixels - that's 12 million pixels.

Press release: a digital camera
C omplete the press release with words from the box.

colour

megapixels

shot

video

optical

brighter

reduction

Kodak has introduced the EasyShare M753 digital camera, with 7.0

1. 
   ) resolution,
   

a huge 2.5-inch LCD screen, and a professional 3x

2. 
   zoom lens. It is the first camera to incorporate proprietary Kodak Perfect Touch Technology. •
   

At the touch of a button, this innovative feature creates better, (3)
pictures by bringing out detail in shadows without affecting
lighter areas. It’s ideal for underexposed pictures caused by shooting beyond the flash range or in adverse lighting conditions.
The M753 uses the exclusive Kodak Colour Science chip for phenomenal image
quality with rich (4) and accurate skin tones. Seventeen programmed
scene modes (e.g. party, fireworks, children) and five colour modes (high, low,
natural, sepia, and black and white) help capture the best (5) with the
least effort.
Other features include cropping, auto picture rotation, digital red-eye
(6) , and blurry picture alert. For capturing more than just still pictures,
the camera also features high-quality (VGA) (7) capture and playback.
Describing a camera
_rj\ In pairs, describe your digital camera, webcam or video camera. Think about these questions.

• 
  What do you use the device for?
  
• 
  Why did you buy that particular make/model?
  
• 
  What are your favourite functions?
  
• 
  What improvements would you make to the device?
  

unit 7 Display screens and ergonomics
Y
An Apple Mac flat screen monitor
our computer screen
p=^j

1. 
   In pairs, discuss these questions.
   

1. 
   What type of display do you have: a cathode ray tube or an LCD flat screen?
   
2. 
   What size is the screen?
   
3. 
   How can you change the picture using the controls?
   
4. 
   Can you watch TV on your PC monitor?
   

How screen displays work
Complete these definitions with words from the box. Then read the text on page 33 and check your answers.
resolution pixel aspect ratio colour depth video adapter plasma screen

1. 
   - the smallest unit on a display screen or bitmapped image (usually
   

a coloured dot)

2. 
   - an expansion card that generates the video signal sent to a
   

computer display

3. 
   - the width of the screen in proportion to its height
   
4. 
   - also called gas discharge display
   
5. 
   - the number of pixels contained in a display, horizontally and
   

vertically

6. 
   - the number of bits used to hold a colour pixel; this determines
   

the maximum number of colours that can be displayed
Read the text again and answer these questions.

1. 
   What do CRT and LCD stand for?
   
2. 
   How is the screen size measured?
   
3. 
   What technology is used by active-matrix LCDs?
   
4. 
   Which unit of frequency is used to measure the brightness of a display?
   
5. 
   What substance produces light and colour when hit by electrons in a CRT monitor?
   
6. 
   What are the three advantages of OLED displays?