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The Age of Miracle Chips
神奇的集成電路片時代
New microtechnology will transform society
新生的微型技術(shù)將使社會發(fā)生巨變
It is tiny, only about a quarter of an inch square, and quite flat. Under a microscope, it resembles a stylized Navaho rug or the aerial view of a railroad switching yard. Like the grains of sand on a beach, it is made mostly of silicon,next to oxygen the most abundant element on the surface of the earth.
這是一個極小的薄片，只有大約四分之一英寸見方。在顯微鏡下看起來，它就像一幅繁花似錦的那伐鶴地毯，或是一幅鐵路調(diào)車場的鳥瞰圖。像海灘上的沙粒一樣，它的主要成分是硅--地球表面除氧之外蘊含量最為豐富的元素。
Yet this inert fleck-still unfamiliar to the vast majority of Americans-has astonishing powers that are already transforming society. For the so-called miracle chip has a calculating capability equal to that of a room-size computer of only 25 year s ago. Unlike the hulking Calibans of vacuum tubes and tangled wires from which it evolved,it is cheap, easy to mass produce, fast, infinitely versatile and convenient.
然而，這種惰性小薄片--大多數(shù)美國人尚不熟悉--卻具有驚人的本領(lǐng)，正在使我們的社會發(fā)生著巨變。這種被稱為神奇的集成電路片的東西有著與二十五年前制造出的足有一間房子大的老式計算機相同的計算能力。那種老式計算機內(nèi)有許許多多的真空電子管和亂麻似的導線，又大又笨，形似怪物。集成電路片是由老式計算機衍化而來的，所不同的是它造價低廉，易于批量生產(chǎn)，計算速度快，功能繁多，使用方便。
The miracle chip represents a development in the technology of mankind that over the past few years has acquired the force and significance associated with the development of hand tools or the discovery of the steam engine. Just as the Industrial Revolution took over an immense range of tasks from men's muscles and enormously expanded productivity, so the microcomputer is rapidly assuming huge burdens of drudgery from the human brain and thereby expanding the mind's capacities in ways that man has only begun to grasp. With the chip, amazing feats of memory and execution become possible in everything from automobile engines to universities and hospitals, from farms to banks and corporate offices, from outer space to a baby's nursery.
神奇的集成電路片代表了人類科技的新發(fā)展。近幾年來，這項技術(shù)的發(fā)展勢頭之迅猛和意義之深遠足可與人類歷史上生產(chǎn)工具的出現(xiàn)和蒸汽機的發(fā)明相提并論。正如工業(yè)革命替人類承擔了大量繁重的體力勞動，并極大地發(fā)展了生產(chǎn)力一樣，微型計算機正迅速地替人類承擔起大量繁重的腦力勞動，并以人們現(xiàn)在才開始掌握的各種方式擴大了人腦的功能。有了集成電路片，計算機存儲信息和執(zhí)行指令的驚人本領(lǐng)就在以汽車發(fā)動機到大學和醫(yī)院，從農(nóng)場到銀行和公司辦公室，從外層空間到托兒所等各個領(lǐng)域發(fā)揮作用。
