Since their first appearance on earth, men have gathered information and have attempted to pass useful ideas to other men. The carving of word-pictures on the walls of ancient caves as well as hieroglyphics on stone tablets represent some men's earliest efforts to convey information. Scenes of hunting, maps of battles, and the stories of heroes were put down for all to see.
自从人类在球上出现以来，人们就开始收集信息，并试图把有用的信息传递给别人。把口头流传的故事刻在古代洞穴的墙壁上，以及石片上的象形文字代表了人类最早的为传递信息而做的努力。打猎的场景，战役的地图，以及英雄的故事都被雕刻下来。
2. But as civilizations grew more complex, better methods of communication were needed. The written word, carrier pigeons, the telegraph, and many other devices carried ideas faster and faster from man to man. In recent years one type of machine, the electronic computer, ahs become increasingly important in the lives of all the people in the industrialized nations of the world. Computers are now widely used aids for communication, calculation, and other activities. Their effect becomes more important every day.
然而文明更趋复杂化，因而需要更好的通讯手段。书面文字、信鸽、电报以及其他很多手段使信息在人们之间传递得越来越快。最近一些年里，在世界工业化国家的人民生活中有一种叫电子计算机的机器，其重要性不断增长。计算机已成为在通讯、计算以及其他活动中广为应用的辅助手段，其影响日趋重要。
3. Man has always been interested in extending the range of his senses and the power of his mind. Through the years, he has invented many instruments to help him see better and understand more. The telescope, for example, was invented to allow him to look at far away objects. To see the very small things in the world, the microscope was developed. Radio, telephone, and telegraph are means by which man has extended the range of his senses of hearing and speech.
人类一直想扩大感知的范围以及思维的能力。多年来，人类已发明了许多工具以帮助人们更好地观看和更多地了解。比如，天文望远镜的发明使人们能够看到更远处的物体。为了看见世界上微小的东西，人们又发明了显微镜。收音机、电话和电报都是人们扩大听说能力范围的手段。
4. While developing his power of thought, man first began to identify and count objects. He began to ask the questions "What is it?" and "How many?" It was a long time ago that this numbering and comparing of things began.
辩认和数清事物是人类思维能力发展的第一步。人类开始问这样一些问题：“这是什么？”“有多少？”这种计算机和对比很长时间以前就开始了。
5.New ways of helping with counting and recording information quantities, and other marks were taken to represent relationships between quantities.
帮助计算和记录信息的新方法产生了。一些不同的符号用来表示不同的数量，另一些符号则用来表示不同数量间的关系。
6. New devices to aid in the manipulation of numbers were added to make the job faster and more accurate.
许多用来处理数字的新方法加在一起又使这项工作做得更快更准确。
7. Electronic computers are among the fastest and most useful instruments for sorting and comparing now in use. Computers provide the means for greater speed and accuracy in working with ideas than had previously been possible. With the development of these new tools, it is as if man has suddenly become a millionaire of the mind.
电子计算机是目前所使用的最快最有用的分类和对比工具之一。计算机提供了处理信息的手段，比以前所可能达到的速度和准确度要快且好得多。随着这些新工具的产生，人类似乎突然间变成了智力上的富豪。
8. Although man has been growing mentally richer ever since he started to think, the electronic computer allows and will continue to allow him to perform tremendous "mental" tasks in a relatively short time. Great scientists of the past produced ideas which were the basis for great advances, but their ideas sometimes had to wait for years before they were understood sufficiently well to be of practical use. With the computer, the ideas of today's scientists can be studied, tested, distributed, and used more rapidly than ever before.
人们自从开始思考以来，精神上就变得越来越富有，但电子计算机已使、今后也将继续使人类在相对很短的时间内完成大量的脑力工作。从前许多伟大的科学家创造许多伟大的思想，成为人类取得巨大进步的基础。但是，他们的思想有时得等好几年才能被人们充分理解，得以实际运用。由于有了计算机，对这些思想的研究、检验发布和运用比以前要快得多。
9. Old lines and methods of communication do not work easily or efficiently with as much information as we have now. The repeated actions of preparing, sorting, filling, distributing, and keeping track of records and publications can be as troublesome as calculating. Errors occur because men grow tired and can be distracted.
旧的通讯方式和方法很难有效地处理我们现在所拥有的信息量。反复的准备、分类、填充、发布以及对出版物的跟踪记录和计算是一件麻烦的事。由于人的疲劳和精力分散，很会产生错误。
10. The basic job of computers is the processing of information. For this reason computers can be defined as devices which accept information, perform mathematical or logical operations with the information, and then supply the results of these operations as new information.
计算机的主要工作是对信息进行处理。由于这个原因，计算机可以被定义为一种可以接受信息、对信息进行数学或逻辑处理，并把处理结果作为一种新信息提供出来的设备。
11. Although a sharp dividing line between types of computers is not always easy to see, comuters are usually divided into two broad groups: digital and analog. Digital computers work by using specific information which is usually in the form of numbers. Analog compurters, on the other hadn, usually process continuous information.
尽管计算机各类型之间难于找到十分明显的界限，但计算机经常被分为两大类：数字计算机和模拟计算机。数字计算机通过运用具体信息来工作，这种信息通常为数字形式。模拟计算机则通常处理连续的信息。
12. To explain this difference, let us consider two devices which handle information in a manner similar to the two types of computers. A turnstile, which has a counter attached to it, cna help to explain the way a digital computer works. Each time a person passes through the turnstile, the indicator quickly jumps from one number to another. each number registered is separate and specific.
为了理解这一不同点，让我们考虑一下以与这两类计算机相类似的方式处理信息的两种装置。一个带有计数器的旋转门可以帮助解释数字计算机是如何工作的。人们每次通过旋转门时，显示器上的数字就迅速地从一个数字跳到另一个数字。每个被记录的数字都是分开和具体的。
13. The continuous change in the level of sand in an hourglass as time passes makes it an analog device. Perhaps the first analog computation was the use of graphs for the solution of surveying problems.
沙漏里随着时间的流逝而不断变动的沙线使之成为一种模拟搁置。也许第一次模拟计算是用图表解决普查问题。
14. Among the first analog computers was the one set up by Lord Kelvin in 1872 to predic the height of tides in English harbours. The machine contained pulleys, levers, and weights whose actions imitated the effect of winds, the moon, and the sun on tides. AS the known in fluence of these factors changed, the complex equations represented by the insides of the machine would give continual indications of how the tides were to rise and fall. The results were to come out in the form of a graph. Although the machine was not a complete success, it did mark a beginning.
在第一批模拟计算机中，有一台是凯文爵士于1872年建造的，用它来预测英国海港的海潮高度。这架机器包括滑轮、杠杆以及砝码，它们能够模拟风、月亮以及太阳对海潮的影响。当这些已知的影响因素变化时，由这部机器内部各部件所描述的复杂等式就会发出连续的信号来表明海潮如何涨落，这个结果将以图表的形式表达出来。虽然那架机器并非十分成功，但它毕竟标志着一个开始。
15. Regardless of their direction of form, computer developments and uses of the future will depend upon the clevenrness and skill of men. Men created computers, and men will continue to improve them.
不论其方向及形式如何，未来计算机的发展和使用将依靠人的智慧和技能。人创造了计算机，也将不断地改进它。
16. Computers can work through a series of problems and make thousands of logical decisions without becoming tired. Computers can reach solutions to problems in a fraction of time it takes men to do the job. Computers can replace men in dull, routine tasks, but they are not creative and cannot exercise value judgements. computers have no orginality; they work according to the instrucions given to them. There are times when computers seem to operate like mechanical "brains", but their achievements are not very great when compared to what the minds of men can do.
计算机可以自始至终地处理一系列问题或进行上千次的逻辑判断而不感到疲劳。计算机只需人类解决同类问题所需时间的极小一部分就能找到问题的答案。计算机可以代替人做枯燥、重复的工作，但它没有创造力，不能进行价值判断。计算机没有创新性，它们只能按照命令行事。有些时候，计算机运行起来的确就象一个机械“大脑”，但它们取得的成就与人脑相比就不那么伟大了。
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