几千年来，人类一直忙于制造工具和机器以减轻工作负担，自动化是机器代替人过程的最新发展阶段。自动化与宇宙飞船一样属于先进技术，但是与其相关的一些想法已有将近200年的历史了。1784年发明的蒸汽发动机是机械自动化控制最早的例子之一。二战期间，美国科学家发明了

Because of its widespread use geographically, and because of the large number of people who speak it, English has been adopted as the language of aviation and air traffic. English has continued as one of the important languages of commerce, as the sphere of political and economic influence of the English-speaking nations has extended beyond the boundaries of England. The use of English in international diplomacy is strengthened by its acceptance as on of the official languages of the United Nations.

For thousands of years man has been busy making tools and machines to make his work easier. Automation is the latest stage in the process of replacing man power with machine. Automation is as up-to-date as space flight, yet some of the ideas behind it are nearly 200 years old. The steam engine invented in 1784 is one of the first examples of the automatic control of machinery. A big step toward automation was taken when the first electronic computer was devised by American scientists during World War Ⅱ.