hi
if you want to measure any analog signals, you need to convert it to a digital form
either you can use ADC or voltage to frequency converter, some thing like that
ATMega had the inbuilt adc in that. normal 8051 does not have the inbuilt adc. there you need external adc or some converter as mentioned above. if you dont required good accuracy, you can use the comparator (in built in at89c2051) and simple rc circuit to make a slope type adc. but no guarantee of accuracy.
regards
ml