新概念英语第三册 less51_new

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[00:00.00]喜欢chazidian.com，就把chazidian.com复制到QQ个人资料中！Lesson 51 Predicting the future
[00:07.35]51 预测未来
[00:14.71]Listen to the tape then answer the question below.
[00:17.28]听录音,然后回答以下问题.
[00:19.85]What was the 'future' electronic development
[00:22.09]莱昂.巴格瑞特根本不可能预测的
[00:24.32]that Leon Bagrit wasn't able to foresee
[00:29.79]'未来'电子技术发展是什么?
[00:35.27]Predicting the future is notoriously difficult.
[00:37.75]众所周知,预测未来是非常困难的.
[00:40.23]Who could have imagined,in the mid 1970s,for example,
[00:43.31]在20世纪70年代中叶又有谁能想象得到
[00:46.39]that by the end of the 20th century,
[00:48.38]在20世纪末的时候,
[00:50.36]computers would be as common in people's homes as TV sets?
[00:53.49]家庭用的计算机会像电视机一样普遍?
[00:56.61]In the 1970s,computers were common enough,
[00:59.18]在70年代,计算机已经相当普及了,
[01:01.75]but only in big business,government departments and large organizations.
[01:05.37]但只用在大的公司政府部门和大的组织之中,
[01:08.99]These were the so-called mainframe machines.
[01:11.56]它们被称为主机.
[01:14.14]Mainframe computers were very large indeed
[01:16.56]计算机主机确实很大
[01:18.99]often occupying whole air-conditioned rooms,
[01:21.52]常常占据了装有空调的多间房间,
[01:24.04]employing full-time technicians and run on specially-written software.
[01:27.31]而且得用专门编写的软件才能运行.
[01:30.59]Though these large machines still exist,many of their functions
[01:33.62]虽然这种大计算机仍然存在,但是它们的许多功能
[01:36.65]have been taken over by small powerful personal computers,
[01:39.63]已被体积小但功能齐全的个人电脑所代替了,
[01:42.61]commonly known as PCs.
[01:44.83]这就是我们常说的PC机.
[01:47.05]In 1975,a primitive machine called the Altair,was launched in the USA.
[01:51.22]1975年,美国推出了一台被称为"牛郎星"的原始机型.
[01:55.38]It can properly be described as the first 'home computer'
[01:58.52]严格地说,它可以被称为第一台"家用电脑",
[02:01.65]and it pointed the way to the future.
[02:03.68]而且它也指出了今后的方向.
[02:05.70]This was followed,at the end of the 1970s,by a machine called an Apple.
[02:09.44]又出现了一种被称为"苹果"的机型.
[02:13.17]In the early 1980s,the computer giant,
[02:15.80]80年代初计算机行业的王牌公司,
[02:18.42]IBM produced the world's first Personal Computer.
[02:21.56]IBM生产出了世界上第一台个人电脑.
[02:24.69]This ran on an 'operating system' called DOS,
[02:27.42]采用了磁盘操作系统（DOS）的工作程序,
[02:30.15]produced by a then small company named Microsoft.
[02:29.65]由当时规模不大的微软公司生产的
[02:29.15]The IBM Personal Computer was widely copied.
[02:32.08]IBM的个人电脑被大规模地模仿.
[02:35.00]From those humble beginnings,
[02:36.92]从那些简陋的初级阶段,
[02:38.84]we have seen the development of the user-friendly home computers
[02:41.96]使用简便的家用电脑的发展,
[02:45.09]and multimedia machines which are in common use today.
[02:47.97]以及多媒体微机发展,现在它们都已普及
[02:50.86]Considering how recent these developments are,
[02:53.13]想一想这些发展的时间多么短,
[02:55.40]it is even more remarkable that as long ago as the 1960s an Englishman,Leon Bagrit
[03:00.19]就更觉得英国人莱昂.巴格瑞有着非凡的能力了,早在60年代,
[03:04.97]was able to predict some of the uses of computers which we know today.
[03:08.24]他就能预言我们今天知道的计算机的一些用途
[03:11.52]Bagrit dismissed the idea that computers would learn to 'think' for themselves
[03:15.00]不相信计算机可以学会自己去"思考"
[03:18.47]and would 'rule the world',
[03:20.40]和计算机可以"统治世界"这种说法.
[03:22.34]which people liked to believe in those days.
[03:24.47]而这种想法是当时的人们都愿意相信的.
[03:26.60]Bagrit foresaw a time when computers
[03:28.97]巴格瑞特预示有一天计算机
[03:31.35]would be small enough to hold in the hand,
[03:33.37]可以小到能拿在手上
[03:35.40]when they would be capable of providing information about traffic jams
[03:38.53]计算机可以提供有关交通阴塞的信息,
[03:41.67]and suggesting alterative routes,
[03:43.80]并建议可供选择的其他路线,
[03:45.93]when they would be used in hospitals