雙語散文:中國進入網絡化時代

[1]It is a narrow room, a meter and a half wide, decorated『裝飾；佈置』with the awkward『令人尷尬的；不合適的』minimalism『抽象派藝術』, peeling『剝落；脫落』white paint, tilting『傾斜；翹起』buffet『自助餐』tables, schoolroom chairs bolted『用螺栓拴緊』together into haphazard『雜亂的；隨意的』couches『沙發』 the attraction here isn’t the decor『裝飾；佈置』; it’s the machines: a beige『米色的』Compaq Proliant 2500 computer and an off-white Dell Power edge, hooked『鉤進；鉤住』into a refrigerator-size rack of network routers『路由器（連接數個區域網絡的中繼裝置）』and, from there, via a thumb-thick『拇指粗的』black cable, to the infinite『無限的；無邊的』abundance『豐富』of the Internet. Edward Zeng, the 35-year-old Chinese entrepreneur, can’t resist『忍住；抵抗』a grin『露齒的笑；咧嘴的笑』as he looks around the modest『不太大的；適度的』but astonishing『令人驚異的；令人吃驚的』room buried within a warren『擁擠的地區；擁擠的房屋』of offices in the bunker-like hallways『象地下室樣的過道』under Beijing’s Capital Stadium. “Welcome to ground zero,” he says.

[1]這是間狹小的屋子，1.5米寬，裝飾着製作粗糙的抽象畫，剝脫的白色塗料，傾斜的快餐店用桌，用鉚釘固定在一起的教室用椅。但是這兒引起人們注意的不是它的裝飾，而是機器：一臺米色康柏Proliant 2500計算機和一臺灰白色的德爾Power edge，聯着一臺冰箱大小的網絡路由器，從那兒，通過一條拇指粗的黑色電纜線，進入廣袤無邊的因特網世界。指揮這個小小信息前哨的是35歲的中國企業家愛德華·曾，此刻，當他環視這個擠在北京首都體育館腳下一排擁擠的辦公室中簡樸然而卻令人振奮的小屋時，不禁咧嘴笑了。他說：“歡迎進入信息革命的中心。”

[2]There is very little you cannot reach from Zeng’s tiny room. Zeng’s 1,000 Internet subscribers『預定者；認購者』can dial into his computers from all over Beijing and connect nearly limitlessly『無限地；沒有邊界地』to the electronic world. They can send e-mail, photos and news of China. And they can receive practically『差不多；幾乎』anything else.

[2]在曾的小屋裏你幾乎沒有得不到的東西。曾的1000位因特網用戶可以從北京各個地方撥號進入他的計算機，聯通幾乎沒有邊界的電子世界。他們能夠發送電子郵件、照片以及中國新聞。他們也能夠收到任何其他東西。

[3]At night, hundreds of Chinese who don’t own a PC crowd into『蜂擁而入』Zeng’s six Internet Cafes, where Net time retails『零售』for $3.6 an hour. It’s fast food for the information age.

[3]夜幕降臨時，數以百計沒有自己的個人計算機的中國人就會擁到曾的6間“網絡咖啡屋”中，這裏的上網機收費爲每小時3.6美元。這是信息時代的快餐。

[4]This is China? That shows that Beijing has settled on『確立；確定』a policy for the Net that is as bold as it is surprising. A rising generation of Western-educated『接受西方教育的』officials is pressing『催促；勸說』home the argument that the Net is the perfect vehicle to transport『運送；運輸』the Middle Kingdom into the 21st century. “The Chinese get the Net, O.K.?” says Sean Maloney, who ran Intel’s Asia-Pacific operations for three years. “China is going to be unrecognizable『無法認出的；不能識別的』in five years. And a large part of that change is going to come through『顯露』the Internet and onto computer screens.”

[4]這是中國嗎？這表明北京已經選定了一種贊同網絡的政策，這是一種既大膽又出人意料的舉措。處於上升態勢的一代受過西方教育的官員正在竭力使人們接受這種觀念，即網絡是將中央王國帶入21世紀的最好交通工具。曾經爲英特爾公司負責過3年亞太業務的肖恩·馬洛尼說：“中國人上網了，對嗎？5年後中國人會變得讓你認不出來。這種變化的一大部分將通過因特網反映到計算機屏幕上。”

[5]In January the Chinese government approved『批准』a new series of laws designed『設計；計劃』to control how citizens connect to the Internet. But although the laws featured『以……爲特色』the usual restrictive『約束的；限制性的』rhetoric『辭令；言語』, they were clearly designed not to keep the Chinese off the Net but to get them online in an orderly way.

[5]今年1月，中國政府批准了一系列旨在控制公民接通因特網的新法律，這些法律的初衷是控制公民與國際互聯網相連。儘管法律條文中充滿了具有限制特色的詞語，但其目的顯然不是不讓中國人上網，而是使他們有秩序地上網。

[6]The official curiosity『好奇心』about the power of the Internet, have Beijing buzzing『唧唧喳喳』these days. From dinner parties given by top officials at the Great Hall of the People to bull『通過』sessions『會議』among young technocrat『技術專家官員』planners , the conversation has shifted from how to control the Net to how to exploit it. “The government is betting『斷定；確信』that PCs and the Net can help competitiveness,” says Thomas Lin, a Beijing-based product manager for Microsoft. “Now they want them on every desk.”

[6]官員們對於互連網的能量的好奇這些天來使得北京議論紛紛。在人民大會堂舉行的高層領導晚餐會上，年輕的技術規劃師們已經作出了決定，他們的談話已從控制互連網轉移到了開發互連網上。北京一個負責微軟產品的經理托馬斯·林說：“政府確信，電腦和網絡有助於提高競爭力，現在他們想讓每個辦公桌上都擺一臺。”

[7]And in every home. Every rich promise you’ve ever heard about digital technology sounds even more beguiling『使陶醉；使着迷』in China. The country has 350 million children to educate—what better vehicle than interactive『相互作用的』television? The Finance Ministry needs to establish『建立』bank and savings accounts for china’s 284 million workers—what more effective solution『辦法；解答』than smart cards『智能卡』? Agricultural planners dream of more productive Chinese farms—how better to send weather and agro-science『農業科技』information to 323 million farmers than over the Web?

[7]並且每個家裏都擺一臺。你聽過的每一個有關數字技術前途無限的承諾在中國聽起來都更具誘惑力。中國有3.5億需要接受教育的兒童棗有什麼教育工具能比交互式電視更好？財政部需要爲中國2.84億工人建立銀行和存款帳戶棗什麼辦法能比智能卡更有效？農業規劃者夢想着提高中國農場的生產力棗通過網絡向3.23億農民傳遞有關天氣和農業科學方面的信息豈不是更好？

[8]To tap 『開發』these benefits, China has embarked『開始』on a series of nine “golden projects” that will shotgun『射擊』state-of-the–art 『先進的；時髦的』technology into every field from health care to finance. By 2010 hundreds of millions of Chinese will be wired to the Golden Bridge financial network, carrying Golden Card smart cards and automatically forking『付出』over a chunk『相當大的部分』of their salaries to the government via a microchip-enabled『裝有微芯片而具有某種功能的』Golden Tax. Says Bryan Nelson, Microsoft’s commanding general in the region: “China is going to be the ultimate『最後的；最終的』proof of all that the Internet can do. And the amazing thing is, the Chinese seem to understand that. Better than some people in the West, actually.”

[8]爲利用這些優勢，中國已經開始實行9個“金色計劃”，以期通過這些計劃將最先進的技術輸入到從衛生保健到金融等的各行各業中。到2010年，上億中國人將通過金橋金融網聯爲一體，攜帶着智能金卡四處漫遊，並通過裝有微芯片的金稅卡自動將他們收入的相當部分上繳國庫。布萊恩·內爾森，微軟在這一地區的總負責人，說：“因特網具有的功能最終在中國都將能夠得到應用。令人驚奇的是中國人看起來很清楚這一點。實際上，確實比一些西方人更瞭解這一點。”

[9]At a recent dinner in Beijing, Jim Jarrett, Intel’s president for china, sat next to an eighty something woman whose 80-plus husband is a senior Chinese official. “She told me the first thing her husband does every morning is start up his computer and sign onto『開始工作』the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times,” he says. “That’s his window on the world.”

[9]最近在北京的一次宴會上，英特爾公司中國區總經理吉姆·賈勒特坐在一個80歲左右的老太太身邊，她的年過8旬的丈夫是一位中國高級官員。吉姆說：‘她告訴我，她丈夫每天早上做的第一件事是，打開電腦，瀏覽《華爾街日報》和《紐約時報》，那是他了解世界的窗口。

[10]The window is still small—only 300,000 Chinese have access『路徑；接口』to the Internet, vs. some 25 million in the U.S.—but it is opening quickly. Officials at China’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications say they hope to have 4 million Chinese connected by the year 2000. At the same time, access to the outside world from China has quadrupled『成爲4倍』this year.

[10]這個窗口目前還很小棗只有30萬中國人有進入因特網的接口，而在美國這個數字約爲2500萬棗但是它正在迅速打開。中國信息產業部的官員說，他們希望，到2000年，聯網的中國人達到400萬。與此同時，從中國進入外界的通道今年也擴大了3倍。 【背景知識】不要認爲中國正在錯過國際互連網的革命。據估計現在有120萬人擁有網絡通道，儘管他們還不能與一些政治性或與性有關的網址相連，但是絕大多數還是在商業界和政府部門。楊天星，中國軟件工業協會主席，前電子工業部高級領導估計連網的數字2000年內將達到將近500萬。

[11]China would become one big, self-contained『獨立性的』Internet—what techies『電子學家；電子迷』like to call an intranet『一種企業內部的internet』— sealed off『封鎖』from the rest of the world. Says a Hong Kong engineer who has worked with China on high-level information policy for two decades: “The Chinese worry about the Net. Will it just be an inundation『淹沒；氾濫』of Western content『內容』, or will it reflect Chinese culture? China has every right to find a balance between local and foreign content.”

[11]中國將成爲一個自我封閉的大因特網棗亦即技術人員所稱的內部網，與其餘世界隔絕。20年來一直在高層信息政策方面與中國合作的一位香港工程師說：“中國人對網絡憂心忡忡。它只是西方內容的泛濫嗎？還是說它將反映中國文化？中國完全有權利在本地內容和外部內容之間找到一個平衡。”

[12]That’s a balance the most nimble『敏捷的；靈巧的』Chinese gymnast『體操運動員』would find tough to maintain. The Net, after all, is designed to be open. And if the idea of the Web is to make Chinese firms more competitive, that means letting them have access to everything from DuPont’s chemicals website『電腦網站』to the U.S. Patent Office’s listing of new inventions.

[12]但即便是中國最靈巧的體操運動員也會發現這種平衡很難維持。畢竟，網絡的建立本來就是爲了開放的。如果建立網絡是爲了增強中國公司的競爭力，那麼這就意味着，要讓它們接觸到各種東西，從杜邦公司的化學制品網頁到美國專利局的新發明名單。

[13]Even the most vigorous『精力充沛的；強有力的』Net proponents『提議人；擁護者』argue for a bit of patience. “Some control is needed at this point, because otherwise China would go wild,” says UTStarcom’s Hong Lu. “If you just jump too fast, it’s not good.”

[13]即便是最強烈的網絡擁護者也需要一些耐心。UTStar公司的劉宏說：“在這一點上進行一些控制是必要的，否則的話中國會瘋狂起來。走得太快了並不是什麼好事情。”

[14]Smarter, better-informed businessmen may be more competitive in the new global economy.

[14]在新的全球經濟中，反應靈敏、消息靈通的生意人也許會更有競爭力。