上海牛津初中英语八年级上--Numbers: Everyone's la

Numbers:  Everyone's language

[00:08.70]How many languages do you know?

[00:13.45]Everyone knows at least two his or her own language

[00:22.52]and the international language of numbers.

[00:28.45]Ancient numbers

[00:32.21]In ancient times,

[00:36.15]people wrote numbers in many different ways,

[00:42.42]as these pictures of the number 6 show.

[00:47.99]However,they nearly all counted in the same way--in tens.

[00:56.74]Zero

[00:59.51]The system of numbers that nearly everyone uses today

[01:06.27]consists of the numbers from 1 to 9 and 0 (zero).

[01:13.25]With these ten numbers we can write any number from the biggest to the smallest.

[01:22.99]The Indians first invented and developed the 1 to 9 system of numbers.

[01:32.06]They then invented the zero.

[01:36.71]This was a very important invention

[01:41.75]because it made it easier to write big numbers and to calculate.

[01:49.40]Calculating machines One of the first calculating machines was an abacus 1.

[01:58.94]Abacuses are so fast and accurate that people still use them today.

[02:07.87]On the abacus in the picture,

[02:12.13]the beads 2 on the wires represent ones, tens,hundreds and thousands

[02:23.67]starting from the bottom wire.

[02:27.62]The picture on the right shows a modern electronic calculator.

[02:34.28]It can add,subtract, multiply and divide.

[02:42.46]It can also calculate percentages and square roots.

[02:50.00]This picture shows a computer.

[02:54.76]Computers are very powerful calculating machines.

[03:01.60]In a flash, a computer can do a calculation

[03:07.56]that you could not do in your whole lifetime

[03:12.91]Brain against computer Some people call the brain a living computer.

[03:22.66]Is a human brain a more powerful calculator than a computer?

[03:29.53]The following story may give an answer.

[03:34.67]Shakuntala Devi is a lady from India with an amazing brain.

[03:42.54]She can calculate like lightning.

[03:47.00]In America,Shakuntala and a very powerful computer

[03:53.85]were given this problem to solve.

[03:58.52]Shakuntala's brain took fifty seconds to find the answer.

[04:05.05]The computer took a minute.

[04:09.29]However,before the computer could begin calculating,

[04:15.63]someone had to program it with instructions,

[04:20.68]and that took many hours.

[04:24.72]No one had to program Shakuntala!

[04:29.30]Use your own living computer to solve the problem above.

[04:36.56]If it is not powerful enough,you will find the answer on page 59.

[04:42.20]LISTENING   Page 52

[04:47.16]A quiz about numbers

[04:51.24]Now try a quiz about numbers.

[04:55.99]Listen to the instructions on the recording 3,

[05:00.96]and draw a circle around the right answer.

[05:06.52]1 Which one of these is an even number?

[05:14.88]2 Which one of these is a fraction?

[05:22.32]3 Which one of these is a percentage?

[05:30.68]4 Multiply 8 by 4.What is the answer?

[05:40.24]5 Subtract 11 from 32 What is the answer?

[05:51.01]6 Which one of these is a decimal 4 number?

[05:58.45]7 Which one of these is an odd number?

[06:06.03]8 Which one of these is a number showing degrees?

[06:14.88]9 Add a half and one point five.What is the answer?

[06:25.83]10 Divide 99 by 9 and add one.What is  the answer?

[06:37.58]11 My phone number is 25652881.

[06:54.75]12 You must take the thirteen A minibus from central.

[07:05.01]13 The taxi rate is going up to 18 percent next year.

[07:16.56]14 This ring costs fifty thousand dollars.

[07:25.70]15 The maximum temperature today was 30.5 degrees.

[07:37.74]SPEAKING   Pages 55 and 56

[07:43.78]A Talk time

[07:47.72]Numbers

[07:50.36]Exercise A11

[07:54.44]1.3 three  5 five

[07:59.01]6 six    9 nine

[08:03.27]13 thirteen 15 fifteen

[08:08.12]16 sixteen 19 nineteen

[08:13.77]30 thirty  50 fifty

[08:18.63]60 sixty   90 ninety

[08:24.87]32 thirty-two

[08:28.24]55 fifty-four

[08:31.40]67 sixty-seven

[08:35.55]98 ninety-eight

[08:39.03]2.100 one hundred

[08:43.76]200 two hundred

[08:46.79]210 two hundred and ten

[08:50.55]375 three hundred and seventy-five

[08:55.09]1,000 one thousand

[08:58.46]4,189 four thousand one hundred and eighty-nine

[09:04.10]15,362 fifteen thousand three hundred and sixty-two

[09:10.16]100,000 one hundred thousand

[09:13.82]3.284,653  two hundred and eighty-four thousand six hundred and fifty-three

[09:22.89]1,000,000  one million

[09:25.94]one million three hundred and sixty-seven thousand nine hundred and eighty-two

[09:30.48]1,367,982

[09:35.01]Exercise A2

[09:39.16]May is first.

[09:42.71]Alan is second.

[09:46.66]Danny is third.

[09:50.21]June is fourth.

[09:53.97]Peter is twelfth.

[09:57.60]Alice is nineteenth.

[10:01.55]Steve is twenty-eighth

[10:05.81]Exercise A3

[10:09.96].3 point three

[10:12.91]0.3 zero point three

[10:16.57].368 point three six eight

[10:21.82]7.145 seven point one four five

[10:28.30]36.36 thirty-six point three six

[10:34.78]Exercise A4

[10:40.52]2921 5143   2565 1351

[10:58.68]2471 0122   2389 4167

[11:15.32]2010 5100   2724 5566

[11:30.78]2978 1121   2356 4399

[11:46.04]Exercise A5

[11:50.17]2890 6521(two eight nine zero, six five two one).

[11:56.54]Hello,Rita. This is May.

[12:01.29]Hi,May.What can I do for you?

[12:07.22]I think I copied down a homework problem wrongly.

[12:12.06]Can I check it with you?

[12:15.82]Sure.Which one?

[12:20.36]Number 5.

[12:23.52]Is it 0.92(zero point nine two)

[12:29.17]multiplied by 18.18(eighteen point one eight)?

[12:35.41]No.It should be multiplied by 18.16 (eighteen point one six).

[12:45.39]Thanks,Rita. See you tomorrow. Bye.

[12:51.63]Goodbye,May.