是谁发明了互联网？为什么？：英语精读讲义

So, have you ever wondered who actually invented the internet? 語法

那么，你是否曾想过究竟是谁发明了互联网？

Some people have become zillionaires thanks to the internet, 短語搭配

有些人因为互联网成了亿万富翁，

but all they did was invent clever ways of using the internet. 語法

但他们所做的只是发明了使用互联网的巧妙方法。

So, the person who invented the internet should be a gazillionaire equivalent to say God,

所以，发明互联网的人应该是个富甲天下、甚至堪比上帝的人，

shouldn't they?

不是吗？

Who should get the credit then? 短語搭配

那么，这份功劳应该归功于谁呢？

Was it a British geek in a Swiss underground lab?

是在瑞士地下实验室的一位英国极客吗？

Maybe.

也许吧。

Clever Americans threatened with nuclear annihilation by the Russians?

还是受到俄国核毁灭威胁的聪明的美国人？

Nice idea.

想法不错。

French scientists who decided to call their computer network the Le Internet?

或者是决定将他们的计算机网络称为 Le Internet 的法国科学家？

Interesting.

挺有趣。

Or was it thanks to a myriad of smart scientists working on something they knew was useful, 短語搭配

又或者是归功于无数聪明的科学家，他们研究着自己知道有用的东西，

but didn't realize would be so big?

却没意识到它会变得如此庞大？

Well,

好吧，

let's try and get some facts straight. 習語

让我们试着理清一些事实。

There's the internet, 表達脈絡

首先是互联网（internet），

a whole bunch of computer networks connected to each other, 短語搭配

它是相互连接在一起的一大堆计算机网络，

and then there's the World Wide Web,

然后是万维网（World Wide Web），

a way of making it easier to share information using all those interconnected computers.

它是一种利用所有这些互联计算机让信息共享变得更容易的方式。

The internet as we know it today was at least 40 years in the making. 講解

我们今天所知的互联网至少经过了40年的发展。

One popular but wrong story is that the internet was developed by the USA so they had a communication network that would survive a nuclear war.

一个流行但错误的说法是，互联网是美国为了在核战争中拥有一个能存活下来的通信网络而开发的。

According to one of the founders of the first network,

根据第一个网络的一位创始人的说法，

the ARPANET in the 1960s, 文化背景

也就是20世纪60年代的 ARPANET，

this first network experiment wasn't about communication at all.

这个最初的网络实验根本与通信无关。

It was about optimizing processor usage or time-sharing, 文化背景

它是关于优化处理器使用或分时操作的，

which basically meant that scientists could share computer power too.

这基本上意味着科学家们也可以共享计算机的算力。

That was because until the 1960s,

那是因为直到20世纪60年代，

there was basically no network.

基本上还没有网络存在。

You had big machines called mainframes,

那时候有叫做大型机的大机器，

which sat in the room and processed computing tasks one at a time. 短語搭配

它们放在房间里，一次处理一个计算任务。

With time-sharing,

通过分时技术，

these behemoths could process several tasks at a time,

这些庞然大物可以同时处理多个任务，

which meant their power could be used by several scientists at once.

这意味着它们的算力可以被多位科学家同时使用。

And obviously,

而且很显然，

once you start connecting computers together, 語法

一旦你开始将计算机连接在一起，

you start to wonder about what you need to do to make communications between them easier.

你就会开始思考需要做些什么来让它们之间的通信变得更容易。

Scientists around the world were trying to solve this problem.

世界各地的科学家都在努力解决这个问题。

So, let's look at some of the other key concepts that were developed elsewhere. 表達脈絡

那么，让我们看看在其他地方开发的一些其他关键概念。

Starting with packet switching. 講解

首先是分组交换（packet switching）。

In Britain,

在英国，

there was a commercial network developed by the National Physical Laboratory,

有一个由国家物理实验室开发的商业网络，

but which never really got off the ground because it didn't get funding. 習語

但它从未真正起步，因为它没有获得资金。

But they did come up with the idea of packet switching, 短語動詞

不过他们确实提出了分组交换的想法，

a way of avoiding congestion in busy networks by cutting up data at one end and putting it back together at the other. 短語動詞

这是一种通过在一端将数据切分，然后在另一端将其重新拼装，从而避免繁忙网络拥堵的方法。

The French also played a role. 短語搭配

法国人也发挥了作用。

They were working on a scientific network called Cyclades,

他们当时正在研究一个名为 Cyclades 的科学网络，

but they didn't have a big budget so they decided to work on direct connections between computers as opposed to working with gateway computers. 短語搭配

但由于预算不多，他们决定研究计算机之间的直接连接，而不是使用网关计算机。

Now, as an aside here, 表達脈絡

这里顺便插一句，

this admittedly isn't very scientific,

虽然这诚然不太科学，

but according to one theory, 表達脈絡

但根据一种说法，

a spinoff of their research was the word internet.

他们研究的一个副产品就是“internet”（互联网）这个词。

But you don't have to believe it if you don't want to. 語法

不过你如果不愿意，也可以不信。

So, now it's the early 1970s.

那么，现在到了20世纪70年代初。

There's quite a lot of computer infrastructure,

已经有相当多的计算机基础设施，

but communication is awkward and patchy because different networks can't talk to each other. 講解

但是通信既笨拙又零碎，因为不同的网络无法相互交流。

TCP/IP solves this problem.

TCP/IP 解决了这个问题。

The TCP/IP protocols form the basic communication language of the internet, 文化背景

TCP/IP 协议构成了互联网的基本通信语言，

which labels the packets of data and makes sure that even though some pieces of the same data take a different route, 語法

它为数据包贴上标签，并确保即使同一数据的某些部分走不同的路线，

they all arrive at their destination and can be reassembled.

它们也都能到达目的地并被重新组装。

Networks really began communicating with each other in 1975.

网络真正在1975年开始相互通信。

So, you could argue that was the beginning of the internet. 語氣意圖

所以，你可以说那是互联网的开端。

Email was also very important.

电子邮件也非常重要。

It was developed for ARPANET in 1972.

它是1972年为 ARPANET 开发的。

Most internet traffic in 1976 was email because academics thought electronic post-it notes were dead cool. 用詞

1976年的大部分互联网流量都是电子邮件，因为学者们觉得电子便利贴简直酷毙了。

With networks that could talk to each other,

有了能够相互交流的网络，

communication was becoming easier.

通信变得越来越容易。

But all this communication was just text-based and it was pretty ugly to look at. 用詞

但所有这些通信都只是基于文本的，而且看起来相当简陋。

In the 1980s,

在20世纪80年代，

a Brit called Timothy Berners-Lee spent time with CERN, 文化背景

一位名叫蒂莫西·伯纳斯-李的英国人在 CERN 待了一段时间，

the European Organization for Nuclear Research,

也就是欧洲核子研究中心，

where physicists are trying to work out what the universe is made of. 短語動詞

那里的物理学家们正试图弄清楚宇宙是由什么组成的。

He wanted to manage the scientists' information and make it possible for them to share and interconnect their work easily, 語法

他想要管理科学家的信息，并让他们能够轻松地共享和互联他们的工作，

making progress more likely.

从而更有可能取得进展。

He did so by inventing an interface using HTTP, 語法

他通过使用 HTTP 发明了一个界面实现了这一点，

HTML,

加上 HTML，

and URLs that made internet browsers possible.

以及让互联网浏览器成为可能的 URL。

He called his browser the World Wide Web.

他将他的浏览器称为万维网（World Wide Web）。

So, he didn't invent the internet, 語法

所以，他并没有发明互联网，

but he did invent the web.

但他确实发明了网络（Web）。

The first ever website, which he created,

他创建的史上第一个网站，

was at CERN in France in August 1991.

于1991年8月在法国的 CERN 诞生。

So, once the initial infrastructure was in place, 短語搭配

所以，一旦最初的基础设施到位，

the key technologies had been invented,

关键技术被发明出来，

internet message boards exploded in the 1980s,

互联网留言板在20世纪80年代呈爆炸式增长，

the phone companies saw the commercial potential of digital communication,

电话公司看到了数字通信的商业潜力，

web browsers spread like wildfire in the early 1990s, 習語

网络浏览器在20世纪90年代初如野火般蔓延，

and ordinary people discovered email.

普通人也发现了电子邮件。

Then,

然后，

the internet expanded rapidly and steadily and became workable for the masses from about 1995.

互联网快速稳步地扩张，从1995年左右开始成为大众可用的工具。

Hold on. 語氣意圖

等一下。

Didn't US Vice President Al Gore invent the internet?

互联网不是美国副总统阿尔·戈尔发明的吗？

Ugh,

呃，

no.

不是。

And if you read what he said exactly, 語法

如果你确切地读过他所说的话，

you'd know he never claimed to have done.

你就会知道他从未声称自己这么做过。

But many people credit him with energetically pushing legislation that encouraged the spread of the internet. 短語搭配

但许多人将积极推动鼓励互联网传播的立法归功于他。

The internet exists because we need to communicate and most of us like doing it.

互联网的存在是因为我们需要交流，而且我们大多数人都喜欢交流。

That's why humans have become the dominant species on Earth.

这就是为什么人类成为地球上占统治地位的物种。

You could argue that the internet is a natural evolutionary step and a manifestation of that need.

你可以说互联网是一个自然的进化步骤，也是那种需求的一种体现。

It wasn't invented by anyone in particular, 短語搭配

它不是由某个特定的人发明的，

but when the building blocks were put together by all those cool scientists from all over the place, 講解

但是当所有那些来自世界各地的超酷科学家把这些基础构件拼凑在一起时，

the internet became a communication tool,

互联网就成了一种通信工具、

a retail tool,

一种零售工具、

a research tool,

一种研究工具、

a propaganda tool,

一种宣传工具、

a spying tool,

一种监视工具、

a shopping tool,

一种购物工具、

a dating tool,

一种约会工具、

an entertainment tool,

一种娱乐工具、

and a way of skiving off work while making it look like you're working or studying, 講解

以及一种表面在工作或学习实则在摸鱼的方法，

which is what you may be doing now.

这也是你现在可能正在做的事。

Ultimately, 表達脈絡

不过，

though,

归根结底，

you're communicating,

你正在进行交流，

especially if you leave a comment,

特别是如果你留下一条评论的话，

and that might make you a better human being.

而这可能会让你成为一个更好的人。