豆知识 2009-06-07&06-13 电脑硬件小常识

If you’re like most people, computers are becoming a part of your life, and it helps to know how they work. They seem complicated¹ inside. But by understanding just a few parts, you can see a simpler side of computers. 

 

This is Computer Hardware² In Plain English. 

 

You’ve seen them. They come in all shapes and sizes, but work pretty much in the same ways. In fact, if you could look inside these computers, they’d have the same basic parts. It’s these parts, the hardware, that do a lot of the work in computers. 

 

To explain, let’s look at something you already know: a house. One of the great things about living in a house is that you have room for all of your stuff³. In fact, many houses have basements that become the perfect place for storing things you want to use later. And the bigger the basement, the more you can store. The same thing is true for computers. Instead of boxes and bicycles, we need a place to store things like photos, music, documents and software. In a computer, it’s not the basement but a hard drive. A computer’s hard drive is where you keep all the things you want to use later, and like basements, the bigger the hard drive, the more you can store. 

 

The basements aren’t perfect. Going to the basement takes too much time whenever you need something. Closets on the main floor can help. They’re small and make things easier to access when you need them. You don’t need to go all the way downstairs. It’s the same with computers. Some of the information stored on computers is hard for the computer to open quickly because it needs to take the long way. To solve this problem, computers use RAM⁴ or Random⁵ Access Memory. It makes information easier for the computer to access. This means RAM makes computers faster. Plus, this kind of closet gets cleaned out every time you restart⁶ your computer. 

 

Of course, houses have all kinds of parts that need to work together. It will help to have someone like a butler in the house, making sure the house is always in working order. If it’s too hot, maybe the air conditioning needs adjustment; when it’s dark, lights are needed. Computers need this too. Something has to make sure all the parts run smoothly⁷. In computers, this is called the processor. It’s a tiny part that’s like the butler of the computer. It sends and receives information, completes tasks and puts the software to work. And the faster it can complete tasks, the faster your computer will be. 

 

So, let’s review. The hard drive is like a basement. It stores all the things you need for later. RAM is like a closet on the main floor. It makes some information quick and easy to access. And the processor is like having a butler around, always completing tasks and making things work together. 

 

The next time you use a computer, think about what’s happening under the hood⁸. Computer hardware is working together to help you get things done.

1 complicated   

adj.错综复杂的，麻烦的，结构复杂的

参考例句：

• The poem is so complicated that I cannot make out its meaning.这首诗太复杂，我理解不了它的意思。
• This is the most complicated case I have ever handled.这是我所处理过的最为复杂的案子。

2 hardware   

n.重型武器；五金器具；硬件

参考例句：

• He bought a pot and other hardware at the store. 他从商店买了一个壶和其他金属制品。
• That family has carried on a hardware business for five generations.那家已经经营五金生意五代了。

3 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。

4 ram   

(random access memory)随机存取存储器

参考例句：

• 512k RAM is recommended and 640k RAM is preferred.推荐配置为512K内存，640K内存则更佳。

5 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

6 restart   

vt.重新开始，重新启动；vi.重新开始，重新启动

参考例句：

• Restart the computer in Safe mode or VGA mode.重新启动计算机在安全模式或VGA模式。
• After the restart the program continues to run automatically.重启后，程序仍然自动运行。

7 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

8 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。