電腦內部探秘 - Bettina Bair：英語精讀講義

Do you remember when you first realized that your computer was more than just a monitor and keyboard? 文法

你還記得第一次意識到電腦不僅僅是螢幕和鍵盤的時候嗎？

That between the mouse click and the video playing, 文法

在點擊滑鼠和播放影片之間，

there was something that captured your intention, understood it, and made it real? 表達脈絡

有某種東西捕捉到了你的意圖，理解了它，並將其變成了現實？

What is that something?

那個東西是什麼？

Is it gremlins?

是搗蛋鬼嗎？

Let's imagine that we can shrink down to the size of an electron and inject ourselves into a click of a mouse. 講解

讓我們想像一下，我們可以縮小到電子的尺寸，然後將自己注入到滑鼠的一次點擊中。

If you took your mouse apart, 文法

如果你把滑鼠拆開，

you'd see that it's really a very simple machine.

你會發現它實際上是一個非常簡單的機器。

It has a couple buttons and a system for detecting motion and distance. 片語搭配

它有幾個按鈕和一個用來檢測運動和距離的系統。

You might have an optical mouse that makes these measurements with lights and sensors, 片語搭配

你可能有一個用燈光和感測器來進行這些測量的光學滑鼠，

but older ones did this with a hard rubber ball and some plastic wheels,

但老式滑鼠是用一個硬橡膠球和一些塑膠輪子來做這件事的，

same concept.

概念是一樣的。

When you click the button on your mouse, 文法

當你點擊滑鼠上的按鈕時，

it sends a message to the computer with information about its position.

它會向電腦發送一條包含其位置訊息的訊息。

When your mouse click is received, 文法

當接收到你的滑鼠點擊時，

it's handled by the basic input output subsystem. 文化背景

它會由基本輸入輸出子系統處理。

This subsystem acts like the eyes and ears and mouth and hands of the computer. 慣用語

這個子系統就像電腦的眼睛、耳朵、嘴巴和手。

Basically,

基本上，

it provides a way for the computer to interact with its environment. 文法

它為電腦提供了一種與環境互動的方式。

But it also acts like a buffer to keep the CPU from being overwhelmed by distractions. 講解

但它也像一個緩衝區，防止CPU被干擾訊息淹沒。

In this case,

在這種情況下，

the I/O subsystem decides that your mouse click is pretty important,

I/O子系統認為你的滑鼠點擊非常重要，

so it generates an interrupt to the CPU. 用詞

所以它向CPU生成了一個中斷。

Hey CPU, 語氣意圖

嘿，CPU，

got a click here.

這裡有一個點擊。

The CPU or central processing unit 文化背景

CPU或中央處理器

is the brains of the whole computer. 慣用語

是整台電腦的大腦。

Just like your brain doesn't take up your whole body, 表達脈絡

就像你的大腦並沒有佔據你的整個身體，

the CPU doesn't take up the whole computer,

CPU也沒有佔據整台電腦，

but it runs the show all the same. 慣用語

但它同樣主宰著一切。

And the CPU's job,

而CPU的工作，

its whole job,

它的全部工作，

is fetching instructions from memory and executing them. 文化背景

就是從記憶體中獲取指令並執行它們。

So while you're typing, typing, typing, maybe really fast,

所以當你在不停地打字，也許非常快，

like 60 words a minute,

比如每分鐘60個字的時候，

the CPU is fetching and executing billions of instructions a second. 片語搭配

CPU正在每秒獲取並執行數十億條指令。

Yes,

是的，

billions every second.

每秒數十億條。

Instructions to move your mouse around on the screen,

移動螢幕上的滑鼠的指令，

to run that clock widget on your desktop,

運行桌面上的時鐘小工具的指令，

play your internet radio,

播放你的網路廣播，

manage the files you're editing on the hard drive,

管理你在硬碟上編輯的檔案，

and much, much more.

還有很多很多。

Your computer's CPU is one heck of a multitasker. 用詞

你電腦的CPU簡直是個多任務處理大師。

But oh my gosh,

但是我的天哪，

there's a very important mouse click coming through now. 片語動詞

現在有一個非常重要的滑鼠點擊傳過來了。

Let's drop everything now and deal with that. 講解

我們現在放下一切來處理它吧。

There are programs for everything that the CPU does,

CPU做的每一件事都有對應的程式，

a special program for the mouse,

有專門針對滑鼠的程式，

for the clock widget,

針對時鐘小工具的，

for the internet radio,

針對網路廣播的，

and for dealing with letters sent by the keyboard.

還有處理鍵盤發送的字母的。

Each program was initially written by a human in a human-readable programming language 用詞

每個程式最初都是由人類用人類可讀的程式語言編寫的，

like Java, C++, or Python.

比如Java、C++或Python。

But human programs take up a lot of space 片語動詞

但是人類程式佔用了很大空間，

and contain a lot of unnecessary information to a computer,

並且包含了許多對電腦來說不必要的資訊，

so they're compiled and made smaller and stored in bits of ones and zeros in memory. 講解

所以它們被編譯縮小，並以1和0的位元形式儲存在記憶體中。

The CPU realizes that it needs instructions for how to deal with this mouse click, 文法

CPU意識到它需要如何處理這個滑鼠點擊的指令，

so it looks up the address for the mouse program and sends a request to the memory subsystem for instructions stored there. 講解

所以它查找滑鼠程式的位址，並向記憶體子系統發送請求以獲取那裡儲存的指令。

Each instruction in the mouse device driver is duly fetched and executed. 文化背景

滑鼠裝置驅動程式中的每一條指令都被適時地獲取並執行。

And that's not nearly the end of the story. 慣用語

而這遠未結束。

Because the CPU learns that the mouse was clicked

因為CPU了解到，滑鼠是在

when the cursor was over a picture of a button on the monitor screen,

游標懸停在顯示器螢幕上的一個按鈕圖片上時被點擊的，

and so the CPU asks memory for the monitor program to find out what that button is. 片語搭配

所以CPU向記憶體請求顯示器程式，以弄清楚那個按鈕是什麼。

And then the CPU has to ask memory for the program for the button,

然後CPU必須向記憶體請求該按鈕的程式，

which means that the CPU needs the monitor program again 文法

這意味著CPU再次需要顯示器程式

to show the video associated with the button. 片語搭配

來顯示與該按鈕相關的影片。

And so it goes. 慣用語

就這樣繼續下去。

And let's just say that there are a lot of programs involved 語氣意圖

我們就說這涉及到了很多程式，

before you even see the button on the screen light up when you clicked it. 片語動詞

甚至在當你點擊它、看到螢幕上的按鈕亮起之前。

So just the simple task of clicking your mouse 文法

所以，僅僅點擊滑鼠這樣一個簡單的任務，

means visiting all of the critical components of your computer's architecture, 文化背景

意味著要訪問你電腦架構中所有關鍵的組件，

peripherals, 文化背景

周邊設備，

the basic input output system,

基本輸入輸出系統，

the CPU,

CPU，

programs, and memory,

程式和記憶體，

and not one gremlin. 表達脈絡

並且沒有一個搗蛋鬼。