A Wonderful
Chip It is tiny, only about a quarter of an inch square, and
quite flat. Under a microscope, it resembles a stylized Navaho rug or the aerial
view of a railroad (51) yard. Like the (52)
of sand on a beach, it is made mostly of silicon, (53)
oxygen, the most abundant element on the surface of the
earth. Yet this inert fleck (小片), still unfamiliar to the
(54) majority of Americans, has astonishing power. It is cheap
to (55) produce, fast, infinitely versatile and
convenient. The miracle chip represents a quantum(重大的)
(56) in the technology of mankind, a development that
(57) the past few years has acquired the force and significance
associated with the development of hand tools or the discovery of the steam
engine. Just as the Industrial Revolution (58) an immense
(59) of tasks from men’s (60) and enormously
expanded productivity, (61) the microcomputer is rapidly
assuming huge burdens of drudgery from the human brain and (62)
expanding the mind’s capacities (63) that man has
only begun to grasp. (64) the chip amazing feats of
(65) become possible in everything from automobile engines to
university laboratories and hospitals, from farms to banks and corporate
offices, from outerspace to a baby’s nursery.