【一起听英语】网络的发展
网络从诞生到有现在的发展也有20多年了，在这20年间，网络已经在悄然得改变着我们的生活....
Rob: Hello, I'm Rob.
Yvonne: I'm Yvonne.
Rob: And this is 6 Minute English! Today we’re celebrating a very special
anniversary - the 20th anniversary of the World Wide Web.
Yvonne: Ah, the World Wide Web. That’s something that's really changed our lives -
and in such a short space of time.
Rob: Hmm - definitely. Well, we’ll talk more about that in a moment - but first I
have a question for you: on average, how long does someone spend surfing the
net each day in the UK? Is it:
a) 7 minutes
b) 27 minutes or
c) 57 minutes
Yvonne: Umm – I'm going to say 27 minutes Rob, because I think people spend much
more time on things like Facebook.
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Rob: Hmm – that's true. Well, I’ll give you the right answer at the end of the
programme. But now, let’s find out more about the World Wide Web – or
'www' for short.
Yvonne: www – that’s an acronym 1! It was on Christmas Day, 20 years ago, that a
breakthrough was made in the development of the internet.
Rob: Yes, a breakthrough or a discovery. The man most associated with this
discovery is Sir Tim Berners-Lee. He’s been nicknamed 2 ‘The Father of the
Web’.
Yvonne: What an amazing thing to invent - but of course, other people were also
involved.
Rob: Yes, of course. Tim Berners-Lee has been quoted as saying: “the remarkable 3
progress of the Web today has been quite gratifying to me”. 'Gratifying' – that
really means being satisfied - or pleased.
Yvonne: Mm... so he’s really pleased with what has happened to the web – and rightly
so! Rob, can you tell me a bit more about his achievement?
Rob: Well, Sir Tim Berners-Lee worked on the first web page in his spare time. He
was a computer scientist and a computer programmer.
Yvonne: And what did his groundbreaking web page say?
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Rob: It was just information about the project that he was working on. The web
page had a very catchy 4 address: nxoc01.cern.ch!
Yvonne: Ha ha! Yeah, really catchy!
Rob: C.E.R.N spells CERN, and that’s the European Organisation 5 for Nuclear
Research, which is where he worked. But the page didn't actually go online
until August 1991.
Yvonne: But this really heralded 6 the start of people communicating by computer?
Rob: Yes. It really showed how computers could talk to each other using a language
called Hyper Text Mark up Language.
Yvonne: Ah - that’s HTML for short!
Rob: Very good!
Yvonne: So, HTML is the language that computers use to talk to each other – to
communicate with each other.
Rob: It’s very clever isn’t it?
Yvonne: Hmmm.
Rob: And since then the internet has evolved at a rapid rate. Now, there are believed
to be around one trillion web pages.
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Yvonne: Whew! And I’m sure almost everyone uses the internet now – but I wonder
how we'd cope without it?
Rob: Well, we've been asking people just that. Listen to what they said when we
asked: how would you cope without the World Wide Web?
Insert:
Man:
I'd just have to do without it, wouldn't I? If you remember all the scare stories of the
millennium 7 that, you know, all the power stations would shut down and all that – it
didn't happen. As long as my central heating wasn't controlled by the internet, I'd just
have to manage.
Woman:
Probably not very well. Umm - I imagine that most of my social relationships would be a
lot more difficult. And also keeping in contact with people far away would also be
impossible.
Man:
Err 8 – with great difficulty (laughs)! It would be the phone, I imagine, and lots more
writing, lots more paper. Umm – we'd need bigger file cabinets.
Rob: So the first man would cope without the internet, as long as the computers
which help provide power for his central heating – that's the system he uses to
keep warm – isn't affected 9! He says he'd just have to 'do without it'.
Yvonne: The woman was most worried about her social relationships – keeping in
contact with her friends and family.
Rob: Yes, especially those who are far away. In fact, she thinks keeping in contact
with them would be impossible without the internet. But the last man we heard
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from doesn't agree. Although he says he would cope with great difficulty, he
does have some alternatives – ideas about what we could do instead.
Yvonne: And he has a good point I think, Rob. We could write to each other - like we
used to before we had the internet. It would be lovely to get more hand-written
letters from friends and family rather than just e-mails, I think.
Rob: That's what we call 'snail-mail'. But of course, as that man pointed 10 out, lots
more paper would mean that we'd need bigger file cabinets – the pieces of
furniture that are used to keep all those bits of paper safe.
Yvonne: It’s incredible 11 how the World Wide Web has expanded in twenty years, and
how much we now rely on it. I wonder what it will be like after another twenty
years.
Rob: Well, Sir Tim Berners-Lee has said: “we have only scratched the surface of
what could be realised with deeper scientific investigation 12 into the Web’s
design, operation and impact on society”.
Yvonne: It’s true. We've only just begun to understand how useful the World Wide Web
can really be, especially for people in developing countries.
Rob: So this technological 13 breakthrough, twenty years ago, is something worth
celebrating! Now, Yvonne, earlier I asked you a question. On average, how
long does someone spend surfing the net each day in the UK?
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Yvonne: And I said 27 minutes.
Rob: And you were wrong.
Yvonne: Oh no!
Rob: The average time people spend on the internet each day is a lot longer than that.
It's 57 minutes.
Yvonne: Oh - and without Sir Tim and his colleagues’ work, it wouldn’t be possible at
all.
Rob: That’s right. Well, we do hope you’ve enjoyed today’s 6 Minute English.
Both: Bye bye.
- That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
- TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。
- 'The human sound-track' he nicknamed her in his own mind. 在心里他给她个绰号，就叫"人体录音带"。 来自英汉文学
- People said that he had jaundice and urchins nicknamed him "Yellow Fellow." 别人说他是黄胆病，孩子们也就叫他“黄胖”了。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说
- She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
- These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。
- We need a new slogan.The old one's not catchy enough.我们需要新的口号，旧的不够吸引人。
- The chorus is very catchy to say the least.副歌部分很容易上口。
- The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
- His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。
- The singing of the birds heralded in the day. 鸟鸣报晓。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King. 嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
- We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。
- He did not err by a hair's breadth in his calculation.他的计算结果一丝不差。
- The arrows err not from their aim.箭无虚发。
- She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
- His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。
- He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
- She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
- Some planets run at incredible speed.某些星球以难以置信的速度运行着。
- Her answer showed the most incredible stupidity.她的回答显示出不可思议的愚蠢。
- In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
- He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。
- A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
- Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。