Chapter 1 The History and Future of Computers 1. 1 The Invention of the Computer It is hard to say exactly when the modern computer was invented. Starting in the 1930s and through the 1940s, a number of machines were developed that were like computers But most of these machines did not have all the characteristics that we associate with computers today. These characteristics are that the machine is electronic, that it has a stored program, and that it is general purpose. 很难确切地说现代计算机是什么时候发明的。从20世纪30年代到40年 代,制造了许多类似计算机的机器。但是这些机器大部分没有今天我们所 说的计算机的所有特征。这些特性是:机器是电子的,具有储存的程序而 且是通用的。 《什第机专出美语Chapter 1 The History and Future of Computers 计算机专业英语 1-5 It is hard to say exactly when the modern computer was invented. Starting in the 1930s and through the 1940s, a number of machines were developed that were like computers. But most of these machines did not have all the characteristics that we associate with computers today. These characteristics are that the machine is electronic, that it has a stored program, and that it is general purpose. 很难确切地说现代计算机是什么时候发明的。从20世纪30年代到40年 代，制造了许多类似计算机的机器。但是这些机器大部分没有今天我们所 说的计算机的所有特征。这些特性是：机器是电子的，具有储存的程序, 而 且是通用的。 1.1 The Invention of the Computer