科技英语阅读1-10篇原文word版

科技英语阅读1-10篇word版

I - 1 Safe Sex[1] for Your Computer

I hate to sound preachy[2], but if you come down a computer virus, it's probably your own fault. Dodging most of these electronic infections isn't very hard.

The creations[3] of a small coterie of malicious hackers who invent toxic software for the sheer deviltry of it[4], viruses are short strings of software code that have three properties: First, they conceal themselves in legitimate files or programs; second, they replicate like bacteria to spread from machine to machine; and third, they do things to your computer that make you want to tear your hair out[5]. Viruses have been around[6] longer than PCs, and are not without a certain mathematical and[7] scientific interest. Indeed, not all viruses are malignant. Used properly[7] , viral techniques are a valuable programming tool. Used improperly, they are pestilentially destructive.

There's no perfect cure. Like the flu, computer viruses evolve. Last year's immunization isn't any good for this year's disease because every time[8] someone invents a new medication, someone else invents a new malady. Nonetheless, a few simple precautions will buffer you against all but[9] the cleverest hacker.

Rule one: Use good virus-checking software. Outfits like Network Associates-McAfee[10] and Symantec sell strong virus medicine, keeping their cures up-to-date by posting revisions at their Web sites[11]--which you should check often. Further, there are more than a dozen public domain virus checkers[12] that you can download for free. https://www.wendangku.net/doc/8a12411487.html, is a good place to find them. You can also get virus repellents from services like America Online[13]. But a word of caution[14]: Not every program fixes every virus, and when a new bug hits, the remedy takes a while to reach the market[15]. Rule: Back up[16] your data. Anyone who doesn't have a backup drive is begging for trouble[17]--and not just because of viruses. I keep a square 6.2-gigabyte disk drive hooked to my PC, religiously saving redundant copies of everything--but only after performing a virus check Storage is cheap, and I'd rather be safe than sorry[18]. Rule three: Whenever you load a new file or application software onto your computer, immediately pass it through antivirus software. Most viruses aren't activated--and will not spread --until you use the stuff in which they're hiding. You can catch them and kill them before they do any harm. Rule four: Don't take candy from strangers--or careless friends. These days most viruses and their cousins[19], network-infecting worms[20], are spread through files attached to e-mail or downloaded from the Web. If you receive mail with a file hooked to it from someone you don't know, then do not open that file. (If your e-mail program automatically opens attachments, get a new e-mail program.) Instead, do what I do: Write a polite note to the sender saying you don't accept downloads, but will be more than happy[21] to look at a plain-text version[22] of the document he or she is trying to send you. Slightly more risky, you can open a file as plain ASCII text[23]; most executable commands within it simply become hieroglyphics on your screen. By the same token[24], avoid downloading anything from dubious sites. Even the most innocuous-seeming document can be a viral carrier. But don't be paranoid, either; Web sites run by reputable outfits (especially the ones that certify they've checked material for downloading with a well-known antivirus program) generally can be trusted.

Rule five: Postpone that upgrade[25]. New versions of the most popular operating systems and application software attract virus writers like[26] sugar attracts flies. I haven't upgraded my e-mail program since 1995 or my word processor since 1996; they work just fine and are too old to attract hackers.

Last role: Don't panic. If you get zapped by a virus[27] and don't have an uncorrupted spare hard drive to reboot from[28], then use a friend s computer to search the Web[29] for a cure.Odds are, if the virus has exploited a weakness in a major software vendor's product, that vendor will have a remedy at its Web site[30].

Where viruses are concerned, what grandma used to tell you is extremely relevant: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure[31].

I - 2 Caught iii[32] the Web of the Internet

It's[33] the equivalent of inviting sex addicts to a brothel or holding an Alcoholics Anonymous[34] (AA) meeting at the pub. Intemet addicts tired of[35] their square-eyed, keyboard tapping ways[36] need look no further than[37] the Web for counseling. There is now an online counseling service at https://www.wendangku.net/doc/8a12411487.html, for Intemet obsessives. Just e-mail the details of your Intemet-induced crisis and help comes direct to your inbox. The new breed of cybertherapists see nothing strange about offering help through the very medium that is swallowing their clients' free time and splitting their marriages.

Sue Hine, of Relationship Services, says: "Intemet obsession has become a more noticeable problem over the last 18 months. At least this[38] is an area addicts are familiar with and they'll be able to use it as a tool to overcome their obsession." Nor do experts worry that the Relate Website[39] might become a favourite--a place to spend hours online in the name of Intemet therapy. Dependency is always a risk with any form of counseling[40]. There are various strategies we can adopt to keep that in perspective[41], says Hine.

Though some may regard Intemet addition as another dubious ailment dreamed up to keep therapists in work[42], Relationship Services says the problem is real.

Intemet usage is up to four-and-a-half hours on the Web each week, compared to three-and-a-half hours a year ago. Therapist Robin Paul says there tend to be two scenarios[43]. Some people meet through chatrooms and fall in love. It's like having an affair[44], then they meet and it's like a whirlwind honeymoon. It's devastating for the person left behind[45] and quite often it has no real foundation.

"I saw one couple who were still together but it was very rocky[46]. He met someone on the Net and went overseas to meet the woman. Then he left his wife and children to be with her. In another case I saw recently, a man left his three children to be with a woman (who was) leaving her four children. It's terribly hard on the kids[47] when this happens."

"The second scenario is that a person starts spending more and more time on the Net. They may not meet someone else but they don't spend any time with their partner and of course the relationship suffers."

Such stories may appear to be almost urban legends, so ashamed ares Intemet addicts and their partners[48]. After all, who wants to admit they have a 100 a day habit (e-mails, that is) or are somehow less alluring than a piece of hardware? But in America, which has long had a love affair with[49] both therapy and the Net, these stories are common.

A recent survey of 17,251 Intemet users found nearly 6 per cent had some sort of addiction to the medium[50]. They revealed that their online habit contributed to disrupted marriages, childhood delinquency, crime and overspending.

Tap into online addiction sites and[51] you'll find messages such as: "Hello, my name is Bob and I'm a Webaholic."

Witness the plight of Ohio woman Kelli Michetti, who literally became a computer hacker because of her husband's constant online chatting. When she crashed a meat cleaver[52] through her husband's computer terminal that[53] solved the problem, although naturally it led to difficulties with the police.

Or take the classic Intemet addiction story of Ingrid Parker, a woman who became such a slave to the Intemet--especially chat rooms--that it took over her life[54]. She made do[55] with two hours' sleep a night, had marathon weekend computer sessions[56] of up to 17 hours and fell in love with a married man in the US state of Oregon.

Her computer dream turned to nightmare when she sold up and moved to be with her cyberpal (who had just left his wife), only to be told[57] a week later that the couple were getting back together.

The heart-breaking turn of events gave her the motivation to control her addiction--and write the book Caught in the Web.

Dr Kimberly Young, who set up The Center for Online Addiction[58] (https://www.wendangku.net/doc/8a12411487.html,) in America, studied 396 people whom she considered were psychologically dependent on the Net. They ranged in age from 14 to 70 and spent an average of 38.5 hours a week on the Web.

Her study, backed by further research in Britain, found that women were more likely to

become addicts. So while the old stereotypical addict was a young man who spent hours playing games, d ownloading software or reading messages on newsgroups, the new image is of a young woman who fritters away hours e-mailing friends, buying books and CDs online, talking in chatrooms and looking for information for next year's holiday[59]

"I guess I was a typical example of someone hooked on the Intemet," says Parker, who now spends just an hour a day online. "I was coming home at lunchtime to get on the computer. At 6 p.m., I'd feed my son and put him to bed but all the time I was going backwards and forwards to the computer. Then I'd stay up until 5 a.m. or 6 a.m., typing away[60] 'chatting' on my computer screen all night."

"I learned from my experience with romance on the Net that people aren't always what they seem. The guy I met, for example, was very nice but also quite mixed up[61]. The trouble is you get[62] lonely housewives talking to someone and they think, 'This guy sounds nice compared to what I've got."[63]

But I don't think anyone who is married or in a sound relationship should really be spending hours talking to someone else and ignoring their nearest and dearest. While Parker provided her own therapy by putting her experiences down on paper, she recommends others take up the online counseling offer, or log off from the Worldwide Web gradually.

"It is like smoking. It's not a good idea to suddenly go cold turkey[64]. People often e-mail me about the problem and I tell them to gradually wean themselves off and not to switch to a scheme where you pay per hour for online time[65]. If they break their resolution, all[66] they end up with then is the same old problem plus money difficulties for the long hours they have spent log ged in to[67] the Intemet."

Computer whizz Steve Phillips grins at the mention of[68] Intemet Addiction Disorder (IAD)[69]--he's been there, done that[70] Now 28, and a seven-year veteran on the Intemet[71], he spends a mere 10 to 15 hours "for entertainment" on the Web each week. A few years ago, when he was in the grip of his addiction[72], that was the amount of time--10 to 15 hours--he spent online each day.

"I'd go to polytechnic and log on[73] at 9 a.m. and sometimes I'd stay online until 9 at night. Then I'd go home and plug in the laptop and stay online until 4 or 5 a.m.," says the Intemet systems maintenance expert.

You always hear about Intemet addicts being isolated but in fact the Web was very social. I wasn't addicted to the/Net. I was addicted to the social side of meeting and talking to people every day."

While other Intemet junkies spend their hours searching for nuggets[74] of information or downloading MP3 music programmes, the lure for Phillips was the chat service Intemet Relay Chat.

"I was doing a computer course and a lot of people on the Net at the time were in computing[75] It helped a lot."

It didn't help enough, however, for him to pass all his tests. He cheerily admits he failed exams two years in a row because of his Intemet addiction. Later, he also lost a girlfriend who felt the computer was his first love.

"I justified it by saying I was building up a business[76], but in fact I was just too keen on the Intemet."

The habit started hitting hard[77] when he finished his studies in the big city and moved back home. Without the support of a school paid computer, he racked up hundreds of dollars in ntemet-related toll bills[78]. The huge expense, followed by a few months offiine while he searched for a job, was the wake-up call he needed.

"When I got access again it didn't have the same appeal any more. Now I use it more as a tool, but I would say a lot of my friends are addicts. One friend was talking about a deal with a set rate for 200 hours of Intemet access a month. He said that wouldn't be enough. I end up counseling people about it because I've been through it. It definitely isn't worth neglecting real-life relationships for romances on the Net[79]. Often they don't work out." [80] Phillips should know. A few years ago he became heavily involved with an American woman he had spent a couple of years chatting to. Wisely, they decided not to make any

commitment to marriage until they had met face-to-face. Phillips spent a month in the United States before they agreed the relationship wouldn't work. "Because I've been on the Net so long I've got some good friends that I've been chatting to for years. I occasionally meet people I've talked to online at the pub, and I could certainly travel through America on a budget[81] know so many people there."

"The Intemet is definitely addictive but if you can keep it in control it has.advantages, too. Using it can be a steep learning curve so it helps you become very quick at learning. Also there is a huge demand for people in the field of Information Technology (IT) and hours on the Intemet are great training."[82]

I - 3 Why Cloning of Humans Must Forever Be Seen as Unethical

In February 1997, my colleagues and I announced the arrival of Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. The reaction of the scientific community was, on the whole, friendly, if[83] somewhat incredulous. In contrast, the public's reaction was extremely negative, primed partly by a media weaned old a diet of cloning scare stories and pulp fiction [84].

The issue was not that this new technology created an abomination, a freak animal; after all, Dolly was,and remains, a rather handsome sheep. It[85] was the fear that the techniques could, and some said would, be applied to humans that provoked the//enzied debate

The first old chestnut[86] raised was that there would be the clomng of dictators, followed by[87] these possibilities,positive and negative: celebrity cloning,self-cloning,the pre-selection of citizens by the state with its echoes of[88] Aldous Huxley's futuristic novel Brave New World,the reincamation of dead loved ones, treatment for infertile couples, a route to avoid parental genetic disease being passed on to children and a way to cure terminal illness.

Enough time has passed since Dolly's arrival for[89] a sober, thorough reassessment of the prospects for human cloning and what it is about such cloning that causes people fear and concern[90].

Many people had a genuine gut.reaction to[91] news of Dolly, and that apparently remains undiminished in its intensity. An affront to nature, a blasphemy, man playing God--such comments were often made. But we should recognize that human reproduction is a sensitive topic and a new method that has an impact on human reproduction will always be greeted with fear and revulsion by the majority who have no problems procreating[92].

The techniques of donor sperm insemination and in vitro fertilization, introduced in the 1950s and 1970s respectively, were met with great hostility and threats of criminal legislation[93] in some countries.

That hostility moderated over the years as some early fears evaporated, and great joy was brought to some couples. But controversy remains in the very low success rates in IVF, and in the disputes that can arise over legal paternity between a child's biological and non-biological parents[94]. Although human cloning would further complicate the legal issues, this is not grounds for banning it.

Charges that Man is "playing God" by controlling Nature are easily dismissed because, for as long as[95] he has been able to intervene in nature, Man has been "playing God." Medical practice is just one example.

As to the cloning of dictators and celebrities, or the manufacture of a "super race," we all understand that genetic identity does not guarantee identical personality and behaviour. These uses, along with the cloning of dead loved ones, are unethical: they inevitably diminish the new individual's sense of esteem and identity[96] because may consider themselves to be the product of an assembly line.

I would argue that human cloning denies an individual's right to inherit a unique set of genes; unique because that particular permutation has not appeared before. It is inherently unfair that we should be able to choose the genetics of our offspring. Admittedly, already, through our own genotypes, and by our choice of mate[97], we limit the gene pool[98] available to each child.

Cloning removes the chance element from the lottery of reproduction[99]. A cloned child would be born with a baggage of unrealistic expectations and hopes for his or her development

and future achievements. Most parents have hopes for their children, but here the parents' aspirations would be press-ganged by what had transpired in the line of the original clone[100].

Human cloning is unsafe. The process that led to Dolly began with the transfer of the nucleus of an adult cell[101] to an unfertilized egg taken from a donor animal[102] by a process known as cell fusion. The "reconstructed" embryo is cultured[103] and eventually returned to the womb of a foster mother[104] and brought to term[105].

From more than 430 attempted fusions, 277 reconstructed embryos were made in this way; of these[106], only 29 survived to the stage that they could be returned to foster mothers, and only one survived to term. In other experiments, some of the lost fetuses were abnormal. Just think of the huge waste of material and human suffering such a low success rate would imply.

As well, there are grounds for believing that, as we get older, our cellular DNA gradually accumulates mutations and suffers other changes, which account for why we are increasingly likely to develop cancer as we get older. A person cloned from an adult cell might have a higher risk of cancer or premature aging[107], but we wouldn't know that for years[108]. Is society prepared to take that risk?

Not all uncertainties can be wiped from the system by animal experiments. There are too many differences between mammals and their reproductive physiology and embryology to be sure that[109] no deformed foetus or infant would be bom. No doctor could take that risk. Cloning would join the unsafe drug Thalidomide in the teratogenic hall of infamy[110]. All new medical advances are potentially unsafe, and no progress would be made if safety alone were the issue[111].

But risk-to-benefit ratios[112] are always considered before new treatments are sanctioned. Their application to new productive treatments is particularly problematic because whose risk are we talking about--that of the egg donor, womb donor or the unborn child?

Perhaps the only reasonable case for human cloning is when the prospective mother suffers from a genetic disease not attributable to main body of genes found in the nucleus, but to genes elsewhere in the cell. With all existing methods of conception, both natural and assisted, all children of such women would inherit the disease causing genes[113].

A case[114] has been made for such women conceiving[115] normally and then allowing a cell from the doomed embryo to be fused to the fertilized egg from a healthy human egg donor. If successful, this would result in a child free from the disease which has a unique genetic blueprint and oneIH61 made up from equal contributions from the original couple. Using such an early donor cell might avoid the risk, of accumulated DNA damage. Even so, with[117] a frequency of mitrochrondrial disease of one in 20,000[118], the procedural risk greatly outweighs the benefit.

So human cloning is, and will, I hope, continue, to be unethical. A child so "manufactured" could be a 21St-century circus actIl 191. Even if the child's uniqueness is not compromised[120], the technique is unsafe and inefficient and the risks greatly outweigh any marginal benefit.

The question of whether the research should have been done is often asked. The answer has to be an unequivocal "yes." There is an immense potential for non-human cloning work to provide insight and benefit for the human condition[121]

I - 4 The Ancient History of the Internet

The Intemet seems so information-age[122], that[123] its devotees might find the circumstances of its birth hard to grasp. More than anything else, the computer network connecting tens of millions of users stands as a modem--albeit unintended--monument to military plans for fighting three wars. Specifically, the Net owes its existence to Allied battle strategies[124] during World War II, to the geopolitical pressures of the Cold War, and to preparations for the postapocalypse of nuclear holocaust[125] (the never-fought "final war" with the Soviet Union).

As with[126] most great advances in the history of ideas, there was no one defining[127] Intemet event. It began with a modest[128]. analytical system, devised early in World War II, that set the stage for[129] the supportive research environment and the key technical developments that produced today's global network.

The analytical system, called operations research[130] (O.R.), applied scientific modeling principles to military planning. The first O.R. was done for the Allies by military scientists and civilian technologists. These boffins conducted statistical studies of antisubmarine tactics that showed how the Allies could increase the U-boat kill rate[131] by setting the charges to explode a t a different depth.

Following the victories in Europe and Japan, American military planners turned attention to their new Cold War adversaries, primarily the Soviet Union but also China (known then as Red China). The three U.S. military services[132] contracted out[133] O.R. work to universities and nonprofit corporations. This produced, among others, the Center for Naval Analysis, administered by the Franklin Institute, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the Army-backed Operations Research Office, run by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland; and, perhaps the most effective of all, the RAND Corporation[134], the Air Force's principal advisory organization. The Defense Department created yet another O.R. group, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, and charged it with[135] doling out high-tech research funds.

Among ARPA's first priorities were projects[136] on command, control and communication, known among war planners as C3. The Defense Department wanted to use computers not only in the Pentagon but also in the field. Bulky, balky[137] mainframes of the era were ill suited for the battlefield, so ARPA sought a communications solution. For signals sent from a battlefield terminal to reach a headquarters-based computer[138], they would have to be translated from wire to radio to satellite and back. Nothing like it had ever been done before. In fact, most computer time-sharing[139] then involved transportation rather than communication: Computer scientists keyed their jobs onto paper tapes or punch cards and then shipped them to the closest computing center.

At the same time, America's command posts[140] were burrowing underground in the name of C3/nd "nuclear survivability." NORAD[141], the air defense headquarters, carved a control center into the side of a Colorado mountain[142]. In Washington, nuclear-war plans called for evacuating the president and key officials to supersecret reinforced shelters in the Catoctin Mountains in nearby

Maryland, while all 535 members of Congress were supposed to hold up in an elaborate complex under the grounds of the Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. From these subterranean hideouts, federal officials would govern the nation--that is, the parts that survived.

The war-planning needs of the military and the research interests of computer scientists began to converge. The Pentagon asked RAND to analyze how the military could communicate (by voice telephone as well as data hookups) after a nuclear war. The existing phone network seemed far too fragile for such a task.

RAND's solution, developed by Paul Baran on an Air Force contract, was a network that could route around damageI1431 and continue to communicate. In such a system, Baran wrote, "there would be no obvious central command and control point, but all surviving points would be able to re-establish contact in the event of an attack on any one point" through a "redundancy of connectivity." The key to creating this survivable grid[144] was what later came to be called packet switching[145].

Baran, at RAND, did the basic research on packet switching, but many of his reports were classified. Donald Davies of the National Physical Laboratory in Britain independently outlined the same general concept and contributed the word "packet" for the message components[146]. Other researchers also began to focus on the idea of a packet-switching architecture.

It[147] was an idea that appealed to ARPA, particularly its Command and Control Research Office, headed by a computer scientist named J. C. R. Licklider.

As part of its research support, ARPA agreed to fund an experimental computer network. The network, ARPA officials hoped, would demonstrate the feasibility of remote computing from[148] the battlefield as well as test the potential of a post-World War IH military communications network. In addition, the network would enable widely dispersed researchers to share the few supercomputers of the era, so that the Defense Department would not have to buy one for every contractor. In 1968, ARPA solicited bids for[149] an expandable network linking four sites already conducting ARPA research: the University of California campuses at Los Angeles (UCLA) and

Santa Barbara (UCSB), the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in Stanford, California, and the University of Utah (Salt Lake City).

The ARPAnet construction contract was awarded to Bolt Beranek & Newman (BBN), a research finn based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which had close ties to MIT. BBN shipped the new communications software in August 1969 to UCLA and then to SRI in October. At a November demonstration the two California machines exchanged data. The first long-distance packet-switching network was in operation. By the end of the year, all four nodes were online.

At this point, the striking figure of[150] Vinton Cerf, the computer scientist The New York Times called the father of the Intemet[151], begins to take a leading role in the narrative[152] Born in 1943 in New Haven, Connecticut, Cerf turned his back on Yale University to do his undergraduate work in mathematics at Stanford University and to get his master's and doctorate in computer science from UCLA. In 1969, Cerf was a graduate student working at UCLA's Network Measurement Center, observing how the new four-node ARPAnet was functioning--and what it would take to make it malfunction.

Soon he was collaborating with Robert Kahn, an MIT math professor on leave to work at BBN[153]. Cerf and Kahn developed a set of software "protocols" to enable different types of computers to exchange packets, despite varying packet sizes and computer clock speeds. The result[154], TCP/IP was released in 1973 (by which[155] time Cerf was teaching at Stanford). TCP--Transmission Control Protocol--converts messages into packet streams and reassembles them. IP --Intemet Protocol--transports the packets across different nodes, even different types of networks. Cerf credits[156] many people, "thousands by now," for helping create the computer-network communications system we have come to know.

In 1977, having left Stanford for ARPA (then called DARPA, the D for "Defense" added in 1972), Cerf worked on a different sort of interconnectivity. From a van cruising along a San Francisco Bay Area freeway, a computer sent messages that traveled, by packet radio, satellite, and landlines, a total of 94,000 miles (150,400 km). "We didn't lose a bit!" Cerf later recalled. The project demonstrated that computers could communicate to and from the battlefield.

Cerf has suffered severely impaired hearing since birth and has worn a hearing aid since he was 14. It is serendipitous but fitting, then, that his TCP/IP made possible[157] the textbased Net communications systems so popular today, including electronic mail (e-mail), discussion lists, file indexing and hypertext. E-mail, of course, is the most widely used of the Net services, the mo

st convenient and the most functional.

By the mid-1980s, TCP/IP was linking ARPAnet to other networks, including the NSFnet of the National Science Foundation, another federal agency, and Usenet, a network created by graduate students at the University of North Carolina and Duke University, also in North Carolina. The result was first called ARPA-Intemet and then simply the Intemet. ARPAnet split in two, with military communications going onto MILNET and the computer researchers finally taking over ARPAnet in name as well as in practice. ARPAnet shut down in 1990, and NSFnet went off-line last April, the most heavily traveled routes of the information superhighway now are in private hands. Nearly all the various networks used the TCP/IP language. "I take great pride in the fact that the Intemet has been able to migrate itself on top of[158] every communications capability invented in the past twenty years," Cerf told Computerworld in 1994. "I think that's not a bad achievement."

I - 5 The World of E-Books Is Here

Alan Brooker and Loren Teague are authors who have a book due out[159] soon. You probably won't find their titles on the shelves of your local book store. Their prose is published in computerized, digital bits. They are authors publishing e-books (short for "electronic books" or[160] books published only on the Intemet, and not in paper form).

They're not getting big fat advances[161] from publishers. Not even a small cheque. Instead, Brooker will get 35 per cent of each e-book sold[162], and Teague will get 30 per cent. That's way[163] above what either could expect in royalties[164] if their titles were published in the

familiar book format, as beautifully bound bits of trees[165].

The usual author royalty is anywhere between ten and fifteen percent of a book's selling price. But the large percentage royalty for an e-book will come from a much smaller price--e-books sell online for somewhere between $ US 2.50 and $ US 7 a copy, compared to the bookstore retail price of between $ US 10 and $ US 90 depending on the size and quality of the publication.

But how many e-book copies can authors expect to sell in an electronic market which is still in its infancy? The best-selling e-author of 1999, Leta Nolan Childers, sold just over 6,000 copies of her book The Best Laid Plans. "I'm expecting to sell more than I would in the traditional market, simply because the US market is so much bigger," says Teague, whose novel, Jagged Greenstone, was runner-up in the UK Romantic Novelists Association New Writers Award.

E-mail, e-commerce, e-authors, e-books ... eeeargh! The whole world is on a technological treadmill. Surely not books?[166] The pleasure of reading isn't just in the way it allows escape into other worlds[167]. Physical[168] books are a tactile, visual experience. There's nothing like the anticipation of a new book in your hands, the appeal of a cover, and the smell of ink and paper, not to mention a small frisson of guilt at all those murdered trees[169]. You can curl up in an armchair, or in bed, with a good book. But surely it will not be the same with a small electronic device, even if it is the size of a paperback[170] and the weight of a hardback, and has a simple button that tums the page. Even if you like the idea, you first have to have SoftBook and the Rocket e-book--hand-held electronic readers[171] with high resolution screens, the ability to store several books at once, and a page by page text display. You can download e-books from various US web sites, but unless you have the small reading devices, that means reading books on a large computer screen, and that definitely doesn't lend itself to[172] a late-night reading experience in bed. So far, those are the two forums[173] for e-publishing, a field still the focus of the technologically infatuated[174]. Teague still meets responses such as that of the librarian in her home town of Nelson. "When I told her about them (e-books), she just looked at me blankly," says Teague, laughing. Or the response of the unnamed executive from a top publishing house who said of e-book publishing: "Isn't that for failed authors?"

But the Bigs[175] are moving in[176]. https://www.wendangku.net/doc/8a12411487.html,, which has partnered with Adobe, will let anyone sell digital books on its website and is negotiating with publishers such as Macmillan and McGraw-Hill to find new ways of packaging their titles. Best-selling authors like mystery thriller writers Patricia Comwell and Jonathan Kellerman are now posting electronic titles on the Intemet

. The website www. https://www.wendangku.net/doc/8a12411487.html, also displays only e-books that have never been published in paper form.

Recently, top-selling horror story author Stephen King wrote and published

his first e-book, Riding the Bullet, a 66-page "ghost-story in the grand mann

er." It was published only on the Intemet on the website of American publisher

s Simon & Schuster who charges visitors $ US 2.50 to download it. In the first

week, 450,000 people visited the site, before other sites copied it and made

it available without charge--it's typical of the Intemet, that[177] something

will always be copied for free. Computer giant Microsoft and leading US bookst

ore chain https://www.wendangku.net/doc/8a12411487.html, now plan to create a giant e-book store. Microsoft

is also leading a push to standardize formats for online books to allow them

to be downloaded to any computer[178] Steve Riggio, vice chairman of Barnes an

d Noble, can se

e a time in the near future when[179] there will be an electron

ic version of virtually every book in print.

For unknown authors, e-books offer a better chance to get published. Fatbr

ain allows any would-be author to store a manuscript online for just $1 a mont

h. For publishers, it could mean a whole new headache because already establis

hed authors could cut out the middleman and release titles straight to their a

udience, although there will still be a role for the publishing houses in edit

ing and marketing[180].

Small book publisher Hazard Press, however, is excited by the possibilitie

s. Managing director Quentin Wilson believes that it[181] will be especially i

nvaluable for selling the company's back catalogue because it won't require a

print run of thousands[182] just a quick electronic format.

With the kind of heavyweights now backing e-publishing[183], it's a matter

of when, not if, the phenomenon rolls into town. Does it mean the death of bo

oks as we now know them[184] What happens when electronic readers are as cheap

as dirt[185], or when media conglomerates give them away[186] to help to sell

their vast archives of material[187]? Would you rather pack a box of discs ne

xt time you move to a new house, instead of seemingly endless cartons of books

? There is still a romance to books that it's hard to see their electronic cou

sins replacing[188].

"I don't think we've reached anything like the version of e-books that wil

l probably come about within a year," says Wilson. "And I don't see the actual

physical book disappearing. But I do see the future including the downloading

of a particular book in a formatted file of some kind. It's inevitable."

"Nothing beats[189] a beautifully produced book," says Wilson.

I - 6 Will Your PC Crash on January 1, 2000?(过时题目，不会考吧？)

Armies of programmers are racing to fix[190] the Year 2000 problem, but many are using shortcuts that merely play for time[191]. On a chilly Monday morning in south central Virginia, a former motel clerk and an ex-McDonald's cashier settle in at their desks. Down the hall[192], a recently laid-off plant manager pours coffee for a police officer who's in the midst of a career change[193]. Just before 8 a.m., they gather to discuss the day's mission, which, as they see it, is to save the world. Or at least the state of Connecticut.

Welcome to the Software Factory's Year 2000 remediation facility[194] in South Boston, Virginia, a town of 7,000 that no one is likely to mistake for Silicon anything[195]. It [196] is here, however, that a group of computer neophytes--some of whom hadn't even heard of the Year 2000 problem until a few months before--are working to ensure that Connecticut residents don't get bitten by the millennium bug[197] on January 1, 2000.

Why South Boston[198]? Why not? With a little more than a year to go before the change of century, companies and government agencies are working feverishly to ensure that their computer systems don't read the year 2000 as the year 1900. As the immovable deadline draws closer, however, many are facing an irresistible force- there's more programming to do than programmers to do it[199]

. Most are turning to outside vendors[200] like the Software Factory for help--more than 600 have materialized[201] across the nation over the past two years alone. Which[202] underscores the essence of the issue: The Year 2000 bug is proving so pervasive that some computers will likely not be ready.

But perhaps more disturbing is this reality: In many cases, it's too late to fix the problem correctly. Instead, programmers are reaching into a bag of tricks and pulling out ways to work around the problem[203]--a fact[204] that has[205] more than a few experts worried that we'll be dealing with Year 2000 issues long after the year 2000.

The Year 2000 problem, as you've likely heard, is the unfortunate result of years of shortcuts that programmers, mostly because of shortsightedness, used to save computer memory, which historically has been extremely expensive. It is prevalent in mainframe computer systems, many of which run on ancient (by computer standards, anyway[206] programming languages like Cobol, in so-called firmware (tiny chips with simple programs etched into them that, among other tasks, control many facets of manufacturing), and even in[207] older PCs. Instead of depicting years as four digits--1998, for example--years appear in computer code as two digits: 98. The "19" is

understood--even after January 1, 2000, when[208] millions of computers around the world will read "00" as "1900."

Big deal?[209] Actually, it is. In today's society, computers control everything from defense systems to the electric grid that powers your home. So if the thought of a huge mainframe spewing out bad data[210] prompts a yawn, consider the consequences. Your credit card bill is suddenly 99 years overdue, you owe another century's worth of interest on your home, and Grandma gets a noti ce to enter kindergarten (assuming the mall is still moving). Phone lines are busy, and e-mail is down because the electricity is out. You're under a boil-water alert[211], and the shelves at the local supermarket are bare. And--oh, yeah--the money in your bank account disappear faster than it did last time you visited Vegas[212].

Okay, that's a worst-case scenario. But the year 2000 bug will likely hit some people harder than their New Year's Day hangover[213]. Embedded chips, for example, show up in the unlikeliest of places[214], such as on the ocean floor (oil rigs) and in space (satellites). And though only a small percentage of them are affected by the bug--less than 1 percent--billions are in circulation[215]; finding the susceptible ones is not easy. A single chip could, say, br

ing a power plant to a halt because it detects overdue maintenance[206]. Or, closer to home[217], freeze traffic lights and elevators. Or make them work improperly. January 1,2000 is a Saturday, but some embedded chips--such as those used in some bank vaults and building systems--will think it's Monday, as it was in 1900t2181, and operates on a weekday schedule. Likewise, they'll go into weekend mode on Thursday, January 6.

And if the Year 2000 problem itself wasn't challenging enough, a few related issues are complicating matters. The first is February 29, 2000. The 1900 calendar had no leap day[219], but the year 2000 does. Because leap days during millennial years are somewhat rare, many programmers mistakenly did not include one for 2000. As a result, even Year 2000-compliant systems must be checked for leap day compliance[220].

In addition, in what can only be considered a cruel joke from the patron saint of bad timing[221], the world could get a taste of a Year 2000-1oke fiasco next year. Many old-time programmers used the number 9999 as a signal to the computer that[222] it has reached the end of a file. On September 9, 1999, dates in some codes will appear as 9999; if not corrected, computers, as instructed, will quit reading the file, freezing the machine. Likewise, systems that use so-called short Julian dates[223] (the numerical day of the year[224] instead of the month and the day) could fail on April 9, 1999--the 99th day of 1999.

All of this has Bob Reinke preparing for the worst[225]. The 49-year-old programmer and Year 2000 Consultant has worked for a number of federal agencies in the Washington, D.C. area during his 29-year career. "I knowingly put buggy code in[226],'' he says. "And I was quite proud of the fact that I saved two bytes of memory every time a date was used. No one thought these programs would still be around[227].'' But they are, and Reinke believes history won't measure the effects in dollars. He predicts global chaos lasting as long as six months. He's stocking up on[228] food and water, expects to be without electricity for days, maybe weeks, and plans to take much of his money out of the bank. "January 1, 2000," he says, "will be remembered as Black Saturday."

Though Reinke's dire predictions are by no means common in the information technology (IT) world, they do underscore the complexity of a fix that-- at least on the surface-- seems pretty basic: Just find each date field[229] in a piece of code and expand it to four digits. The main problem is that programmers are a wacky sort[230], not willingly constrained by either logic or consistency. So in a medical software program, for example, a patient's date of birth might be defined as DOB in one place and PDB in another. Or, just for fun, the programmer may have defined it as the name of his golden retriever[231]. Finding all these dates takes an enormous amount of time and testing.

As a result, many companies are looking at alternative approaches, the most popular of which is called windowing[232]. In fact, it's become the preferred Year 2000 methodology around the world. With windowing, instead of expanding year fields to four digits, the existing two-digit field is assigned two windows that define the century. Windowing works[2331 as long as the date doesn't span more than 100 days, which eliminates it as a possible solution for programs that feature, for instance, dates of birth[234] (including Social Security and IRS systems[235]).

Freddie Mac, the multibillion-dollar mortgage buyer based in McLean, Virginia, is relying

heavily on windowing. The company purchases more than one million mortgates[236] each year, most having a life span of 30 years. Payment, term, interest, and other information about each mortgage is kept on the company's vast computer network. In its windowing scenario, numbers falling between 50 and 99 in the year field are interpreted as occurring in the 20th century, while numbers between 00 and 49 are read as the 21st century. So, for example, 09/01/98 would be interpreted as September 1, 1998, while 09/01/05 would be read as September 1, 2005.

The main advantage of windowing is that programmers do not have to find and expand every date field in the code. That's because each computer language has specific words reserved for ate-related functions, such as "sort,"[237] "difference," or "compare." Programmers search for the keywords, then program the window[238] over these functions. (They also ensure that the 00 in the year 2000 won't mess up[239] date-related calculations.)For all its benefits, however, the industry's reliance on windowing is raising a few eyebrows[240]. "It's a Band-Aid[241], or maybe a tourniquet, because it constrains the useful life of the system," says Robert Martin, head of Year 2000 efforts for Bedford, Massachusetts-based Mitre[242], and a government-funded organization[243] advising the Department of Defense and the Federal Aviation Administration. "Eventually, either the code will have to be expanded, the systems replaced, or the window moved forward[244]." Freddie Mac[245], for its part, plans to phase out windowed systems in the early 2000's. Will your PC crash on January 1, 2000? Will these tiny electronic time bombs shut down the manufacturing sectors? One thing is for sure--you will not be able to rely on an aging GPS receiver[246] to find your way around the backwoods[247].

I - 7 Technology and Its Positive Impacts on Kids

Speech by Tom Kalinski, President and CEO[24sl, Sega America, Inc.f2491 delivered before the Commonwealth Club California[250], San Francisco, California.

Good afternoon, and thank you for this opportunity to talk about a subject which is both dear to my heart[251] and extraordinarily important--the relationship between kids and technology--and why that relationship is so vital to their education and their future. Let me begin with a story, a true story which originates from a friend of mine who was hired to shoot a documentary filmabout computers and education.

The film was about an experiment in a Southern California junior high school, a test of a new computer system which was programmed with learning games that reinforced the fundamentals of mathematics, reading and writing. This particular school was chosen to make the computer's job as tough as possible[252]--because year after year, its students scored in the lowest statewide[253] percentiles in every subject.

The experiment took place when computers were still pretty exotic contraptions to find in a public school. Naturally, the principal wanted to minimize the risk that the computers would be damaged in any way. And so he made a decision to exclude the special education class from the experiment. The special education class contained the slow learners[254], those[255] with physical or mental disabilities, or those whose behavior made it hard for them to learn.

You see, the special education kids were always a bit out of control. It seemed you could never get them to pay much attention, and they'd fight at the drop of a hat[256]. Their classroom was never really under control, and their academic performance--well, although these kids were technically[257] in junior high school, few of them could read books or add numbers at much above[258] a second grade level.

That would have been the end of the story if it weren't for a very dedicated special education teacher. When she heard that her kids were going to sit on the sidelines[259] while everyone else got time on the computers, she made such a fuss[260] that the principal gave in to this irresistible force.

And so the special education kids, whom the school system and just about everyone else had given up on[261], got their four hours a week at the computers. And when, in just one semester, some of these kids learned more than in the preceding ten years, the administration realized that something very special and very unexpected had happened. There was a Hispanic[262] girl in special education because she just never learned to read. And she was terribly intimidated in class, so she never was able to communicate that she simply didn't get the basic phonic concepts. But the computer didn't intimidate her, and in one semester, she'd begun to read at her proper grade level.

The most touching story, however, was a kid named Raymond, who had every problem in the book[263]. A dysfunctional home, acute shyness, bad eyesight and zero academic performance. But in the one semester he had with the computer, Raymond caught up[264] seven years of mathematics learning. They got him in front of the camera for an interviewand asked how it was that[265] he "Well," he replied, "you see, all the kids here called me retard[266]. The computer calls me Raymond." The breakthrough for Raymond, and for many thousands of other kids who unlocked their academic potential with the helpof technology, was a learning process based on exploration, discovery, constant feedback, and individual experience. Up until recently, the history of formal education has been a series of rejections of this learning model[267]. But these days, it's very clear that technology must play an increasingly important role preparing kids for a world[268] where mastery of thinking machines is the key survival skill.

Just look how the job market has changed. A generation or two ago, a consumer products manufacturer the size of Sega[269] would have had perhaps ten percent of its workforce designing products, half its workforce making them, and the rest handling administrative details. But today, we have over 40 percent in research and development, and just three percent in traditional manufacturing.

But in fact, it's the 40 percent who[270] are really making the computer products; the folks in the factory are just duplicating them. And most of the 40 percent owe their jobs to[271] the fact that they began playing with technology before they were ten years old.

Remember, it was just 50 years ago when[272] Tom Watston, the founder of IBM, and usually a pretty reliable visionary, proclaimed that the world couldn't possibly need more than five computers. Today, the average Sega employee has 1.2 computers on his or her desk. The pace of change has accelerated so rapidly that, for the first time, we parents are faced with the prospect of preparing our children for jobs most of us can't conceive of, and have frightening little to pass along in the way of experience[273]. Fortunately, the kids have already started adapting.

Most children born after 1970 have a profoundly different relationship to technology than their parents do. For most teachers and parents, technology may be useful, but it's usually intimidating. Who among today's adults hasn't complained about voice-mail hell, inscrutable e-mail, unprogrammable VCRs, un-usable CD-ROMs.

But you've probably never heard a kid swear at a computer. Just watch a girl or boy walk up to an unfamiliar piece of software. It's like the great Russian concert pianist Vladimir Horowitz sitting[274] down at an unfamiliar piano. There's no question about who's the master, and who's the slave.

Whether you're in the video game business, the education business, or the parenting business[275], it's vital to understand why kids have such an affinity for interactive software.

I - 8 What's New in the Computer World?

In the past few years, personal computers (PCs) have become better, stronger and faster--but so have the bits and pieces[276] you plug into them. Peripherals, as those pieces are called[277], can have as much impact on the usefulness of a computer as anything in the computer itself. For example, households with children have probably gained more in recent years from being able to print high-quality colour pictures than they have from the latest improvement in computer technology. Others have found a whole new dimension[278] to their PCs after plugging in a fast modem to connect to the Intemet.

Peripherals are now such an integral part of the PC experience[279], particularly in the home,that they're often "bundled" or sold as free additions in a total offer with the computer itself[280].Many deals offer an all-in price[281] for a printer and modem--and, strictly speaking, even the screen, keyboard and mouse that come with your PC "box" are themselves peripherals.

Buying individual pieces of equipment over time[282] can be a good way of spreading the cost of[283] acquiring a PC setup, or of upgrading without having to sell all the outdated computer equipment at once. Even if people buy major peripherals as part of a "bundle"--and most people do, especially the first time--understanding something about the pieces helps them to assess the worthiness of that deal.Monitors

If big is better[284] when it comes to screens or monitors, it is also more costly. As with[285] big TVs, big computer screens are expensive. The Americans' touching devotion to imperial measurements still holds in the computer industry[286], so people still shop for goods by the inch rather than by the centimeter.

Anyone planning to do any desktop publishing with a PC will want a larger screen,increasingly, however, World Wide Web users and game players are also discovering the rewards of a larger monitor[287].The future

American medical television series [288], such as ER[289], regularly show the hi-technology used in modem US hospitals. A good example is the thin flat screens used on all computers. Know why they have thin, flat monitors? Because they're LCD (Liquid Crystal Diode)[290], which is less bulky and smaller than the standard CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), the kind used in television sets. The LCD screens don't emit any electromagnetic radiation, which could interfere with the heart machines and other sophisticated electronic equipment in hospitals and thereby cause a crisis[291]. LCD screens are lighter, flatter and throw out less heat than CRTs. They're also at least three times the price--and, as much[292], out of the league of home users[293]. This won't be the case forever, and technologies such as Fujitsu's super-thin Plasmavision[294] screen ($ 16,000 for the 42-inch or 1.07 meter model) will get cheaper, too.Scanners

A scanner is a device a bit like a photocopier, which creates a digital image of a page and stores it on disk. These days most handle color images and are beginning to come in[295] quite a variety of shapes and sizes. The scanner market is a great example of the way the ground can shift in peripherals[296]. Scanners used to be expensive pieces of professional equipment; now, they are an increasingly useful addition to the home or small business PC environment.

The most practical home scanners used to be hand-held[297] devices that the users could slowly track across the desired image, strip by strip[298]. Now, however, there is a wide range of both flat-bed and sheet-fed[299] scanners available[300] between $ 500 and $1200.

The first application for scanners has been to scan images or photographs, especially for reproduction in publications[301]. Besides scanning images, the other major application for scanners is OCR (Optical Character Recognition[302] ) scanning in printed articles and converting them to text[303] on the PC.

Scanners come with their own software, and some are much better at the job than others. Low-end[304] scanners offer resolutions of 300 dpi (dots per inch[305]), but 600 dpi is the bench- mark for scanning in[306] drawings or photographs or for reliable Optical Character recognition. The future

Compaq and Hewlett-Packard[307] computer manufactures have offered keyboards with built-in sheet-fed scanners, but these have not been well received. Packard Bell includes a "photo drive" just under the floppy disk drive in its PCs. You can use this slot to scan standard-size photographs -- but that' s all[308]

HP's new Office Jet Pro 1150C seems the best-conceived combination device yet, combininga colour copier, printer and scanner into one box for about $1500.Printers There are three main types of printers--dot matrix, inkjet and laser[309]. Dot matrix models still have their place in high-volume commercial jobs (churning out[310] invoices and printing cheques, for example), but few home and small office users choose them now. They might be cheap, but they're noisy and the results (especially in colour) simply aren't very good.

By contrast, inkjet printers have taken the consumer market by storm[311] in recent years.

Unlike dot-matrix printers, which hammer pins against a ribbon[312] as a typewriter does, inkjets silently squirt ink onto the page. Replacement of ink cartridges for thermal models (such as Cannon or Hewlett-Packard inkjets) can be as much as $ 65, or four cents per page, but some printer shops will now happily[313] refill the cartridge (into which the print head is built) rather than sell the customer a new one. Electrostatic models, such as those made by Epson, are cheaper to keep supplied with ink[314].

The truly great thing about inkjet printers, of course, is that they print colour images so well, indeed, colour printing quality just keeps getting better[315]. If children are using the computer, a colour inkjet is really the only option. The cheapest colour models take only one ink cartridge,meaning that computer users have to switch cartridges for different jobs. This is fiddly a nd possibly messy, so a model with separate black and colour cartridge is a better idea. Inkjets, however, are slow, and the quality of their printed type isn't as crisp[316] as you'd want for professional use. So the next step up is a laser printer. Since the introduction of[317] GDI(graphics device interface) technology--which cuts down the demands on the printer hardware by getting the PC to do the hard work of the printing process--laser printers have come down mark

edly in price.

Personal laser printers are now coming down to the $ 600 mark and represent very good value. The catch is that they don't do colour[318].The future

Colour laser printers are a bit like colour laser copiers--they exist, but only in larger offices and specialist graphics businesses[319]. The various kinds of colour laser will inevitably get cheaper--but they may be overtaken in the consumer market by new printers on the US market, which turn out glossy prints[320] which look like photographs and are aimed at users of the new computerized, digital cameras.

I - 9 Hackers Are Enemy Number One on the Internet

Until comparatively recently the opportunities for criminal activity on the Internet have been low. However, the volume of business done on the Internet is growing rapidly, as[321] people order books and other products and make money ransactions. All this is creating temptations for hackers.

Hackers are often young people who are obsessed by computers. They use them to prowl the Intemet[322], looking for ways to break into computers systems run by banks, telephone companies and even government departments. They look for examples[323] of credit cards and try to steel the numbers.

Recently in America, hackers have been caught testing[324] the security system at the Pentagon, headquarters of the American Defense Department. But still the hackers persist often for a dare "because it's there''[325] although with what success nobody really knows[326].

Hackers rarely admit to a successful break-in[327]. The first indication of a security breach may be when a customer discovers a fraudulent money transaction on a credit card account. It is harder to check on somebody misusing[328] an online connection unless there is a massive download of information which would alert the consumer.

Estimates for worldwide sales on the Intemet now range between $ US 40 billion and $ US 90 billion by the end of the year 2000. Much of this is in publishing and software purchases, which require the disclosure of credit card numbers, but there is really nO limit to what can be conducted on the Intemet.

The use of credit cards to buy things on the Intemet converts the issue of Intemet security into one of general security[329], says Michael White, multi-media product manager for Clear Communications[330].

"You've got to know your vendor, you just don't give your credit card out to anybody," he says. "And in the same way that[331] you should regularly change your credit card access number, you can defeat hackers by regularly changing your Intemet password. If you don't, it's like leaving the bank vault door wide open.

When it comes to[332] creating your password, he recommends including a few punctuation marks and numbers rather than relying on letters in the alphabet.

"A hacker tries to break in using[333] a standard computer program (ironically it can be bought online using a credit card) which is just looking at[334] the 26 characters in the alphabet. Hackers move all the letters around, trying to find the correct combination which makes up a password. While the possibilities are vast, you've got to remember the speed at which a computer works."

"The movie version[335] of the guy sitting[336] there typing in[337] combinations is nonsense. It looks good but in fact you have a bit of software to do it. That's what's known as[338] 'brute force' cracking[339]. You aren't using anything clever. You're just bashing away at it like using a hammer on a lock until it breaks ... But if you add punctuation marks and numerals to a password it makes it that much harder[340]."

Hackers can also be defeated by the sophistication of encryption, or[341] scrambling the information, which[342] Intemet service providers give those who give computer users access to the Intemet.

While[343] inside an Intemet service provider's system, a customer's password is useless to a hacker.

But if a customer accesses his or her service from another Intemet service provider, for example when retrieving e-mail, then it may be possible for the name and password to be viewed by an outsider. The way to beat[344] this is to regularly change passwords.

Telecom media communications manager Glen Sowry says that when it comes to the security of credit cards, the Intemet offers a higher standard than many others whose honesty is taken for granted[345].

For example, few people think twice[346] about giving a credit card number over the phone and many are equally careless about what happens to the carbon copy when completing a transaction over the counter.

Some customers may inadvertently reveal their passwords to hackers via what is known as[347] a Trojan horse form of virus. These[348] are attached to documents or messages being received, and lodge in a computer's hard drive. Next time[349] the customer logs on to an Intemet service provider the virus reveals where it is and the password to anyone who is prowling the Net looking for such information. They can then tap in[350].

The two ways to defeat such snooping are

1) to have an up-to-date virus scanner which can recognize the invader and delete it, and

2) constant password changes.

Shopping on the Intemet is likely to be the way of the future for many people. The main Sites[351] like https://www.wendangku.net/doc/8a12411487.html, probably the biggest and most successful bookshop online, which does millions of dollars of business daily secure a customer's credit card by scrambling. Dell Computers in the US does the same and reports it is doing $ US 14 million a day of business online. But if a company does not have that scrambling facility[352] then sending a credit card number by e-mail is more risky.

The warning against hackers is out there[353]. And the answer is obviously to choose tricky passwords and change them frequently and to watch who you pass your credit card details to.

I - 10 The Secret Hacker Wars

It looked like the real thing. In February 1998, computer experts at the Pentagon began to detect an invader--someone was hacking into the cyber systems[354] at Air force and Navy bases around the

United States, leaving "trapdoors" that would allow him to sneak in and out. The top-secret National Security Agency (NSA, also known as "No Such Agency"[355]) tracked the intruders back to AbuDhabi in the United Arab Emirates. At the time, the Pentagon was moving warplanes and bombs to the gulf for a possible raid on Iraq. Could these invaders be a stealth attack[356] by Saddam Hussein, aimed at slowing or disrupting the build-up[357]? The Joint Chiefs of Staff and the FBI[358] launched an intensive investigation, code-named Solar Sunrise.

The hackers turned out to be a couple of teenagers in Cloverdale, Calif., coached by a third teenager living in Israel: they were just having some fun. But to America's national-security establishment[359], the threat of information war (IW) is deadly serious. The Pentagon, which sends at least 85 percent of its communications over commercial telephone lines, is vulnerable, and so are most government agencies and private businesses. Last fail a presidential commission on "critical infrastructure" warned that clever hackers for foreign governments or terrorists could wreak havoc, shutting down power grids, cleaning out banks and blinding air-traffic control. In a speech last week President Clinton called for a national information-protection plan, a public-private partnership[360] to figure out how to guard against cyber attacks.

The warnings may seem hyped, or at least premature. After all, there hasn't been a cyber Pearl Harbor yet. Still, knowledgeable officials[361] in government and private experts insist the danger is real and present. About a dozen countries have information-warfare programs, including Libya, Iraq and Iran. Foreign intelligence services[362] routinely break into American public- and private-sector computers, mapping power grids to find weak links[363] and leaving trapdoors at just about ail U.S. military bases. India and China are particularly aggressive at[364] this kind of cyber spying. Even terrorist groups are so comfortable with the Internet that they have home pages. The one for Hizbullah[365] shows a photograph of dead Israeli soldiers.

Though they will not offer specific details, government investigators interviewed by NEWSWEEK hint at some serious cyber raids. One, according to the FBI, involves intrusions into the computer system at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory,which works on nuclear weapons and other top-secret projects. When he was discovered a few months ago, the Lawrence Livermore hacker, whose probes[366] have been traced through Canada back to Europe, began to cover his tracks by erasing information[367] Cyber-warfare experts have found "logic bombs"?aprograms that lie dormant[368] for a time, and then activate to eat data--in various other government computer systems. Federal authorities believe that some of the bombs have been put in place by foreign governments.

The problem is that it's hard to know for sure. Intrusions into government computers are detected only about 10 percent of the time[369]. The Pentagon is "pinged" roughly 250,000 times a year; some 500 of these intrusions are deemed serious. It is relatively easy to mask the true identity of the attacker and to lay false trails to frustrate "back hacking." [370] In theory, the United States can retaliate. U.S. intelligence agencies have at least two highly classified information-warfare units. Weapons include viruses that attach to the intruder and ride home[371] to infect the attacker's own system, altering or destroying information. But what if[372] the attacker masks his exit by stopping off[373] in a computer system in a friendly country--or in the United States? Legal obstacles can also stand in the way[374]. Are cyber counterattacks acts of war, requiring congressional approval? In Solar Sunrise, the Pentagon had to get search warrants from nine different judges just to find the hackers, and the search took several days. In a real crisis, there may not be that much time to react.

At least until recently, most of the hackers invading government computers were just teenagers or computer nerds playing cat and mouse[375]. But the game can be dangerous. Hacker groups routinely hold competitions to see who can crack into the most secret systems. One teenage hacker told psychological profilers in a government study that his "life's ambition was to launch the space shuttle or to break into a major city's transportation system and turn all the traffic lights green at one time." A hacker recently cracked[376] the White House beeper paging system and put messages involving the Secret Service and the president on the Intemet. Some of the messages were harmless or mildly pmrient[377]--flirtations between agents on the road ("I guess I am going to sleep and dream about U'). But some of the chatter, in the wrong hands[378], could have put the president at risk. The messages include the exact timing of the president's movements ("Eagle

departs Andrews ...").

NASA is a favorite target. A German hacker club called Chaos offered a $ 25,000 bounty to anyone who could tap into mission[379] control, NASA officials say. Last year, after the space shuttle Atlantis docked with[380] Russia's Mir[381] space station, one of NASA's computer uplinks[382] to the spacecraft went on the blink[383]. For several moments mission control "panicked," said a member of the presidential commission on computer security. "They were afraid the flight controls had been corrupted and that they would have to bring the shuttle back." As it turned out[384], quite apart from Chaos[385], a hacker had used the Intemet to pass through several systems, to temporarily overload an uplink. The crisis passed, the mission went on--but "NASA is like Swiss cheese, and everyone knows it[386],TM said a member of the commission.

In some cases, the government never finds out if it's dealing with a teenager or a terrorist. Last year hackers overwhelmed Langley Air Force Base in Virginia with pornographic e-mail. An Air Force "tiger team" of specialists fought off the attack before it could bring base operations to a halt. The hackers were traced back to Estonia, but authorities never learned their identities[387].

Most cyber experts believe that a really catastrophic attack is probably still a few years off[388]. But they worry about companies' contracting with high-tech, low-wage countries like India to rid their software of Year 2000 bugs[389]. Will the computer codes come back riddled with trapdoors and logic bombs[390]? Last year, in an exercise codenamed Eligible Receiver, a team of NSA computer experts pretending to be North Korean agents penetrated the command-and-control structure of the U.S. Pacific Command so effectively that the "Red Team" gained the ability to essentially shut down American forces in the region. The next raid may not be a drill.

研究生科技英语阅读课文翻译6

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Main Content :UNIT 1 MA THEMA TICS I.Text Organization Parts Part One Paragraphs Paras. 1-3 Main Ideas Game theory can be defined as the science of strategy which studies both pure conflicts (zero-sum games) and conflicts in cooperative forms. Part Two Paras. 4-11 There are two distinct types interdependence: sequential-move simultaneous-move game.of strategic game and Part Three Paras.The typical examples of game theory are given as the 12-19basic principles such as prisoners’dilemma, mixing moves, strategic moves, bargaining, concealing and revealing information. Part Four Para. 20 The research of game theory has succeeded in illustrating strategies in situations of conflict and cooperation and it will focus on the design of successful strategy in future.

科技英语阅读 第五单元文章翻译

稻草建筑材料在未来是否成为可能？ 露易丝·蒂克尔用稻草修房子并没有为《三只小猪》中的第一只带来任何好处，但是，如果巴斯大学的研究成果被建筑行业所接受的话，那么现代草砖将会成为未来的伟大设计。 说到一个草砖房子，你可能会联想到一个摇摇欲坠的窝棚，它漏水，发出吱吱的响声，随时都会垮塌在地，还带着类似农家的气息。但是当你踏入BaleHaus的时候，一个被修建于巴斯大学校园里，看起来原始的当代房屋，将会令你吃惊地出展现在你面前，并且，你会发现你无法找到任何一缕稻草。相反，你在一楼的走廊将会看到一个拥有两间卧室和一个浴室的倒置房子，和楼上一个通风的开放式的生活区。这就像是从斯堪的纳维亚半岛抵达了萨默赛特郡。 这些由石灰做底泥制成的，干燥稻草捆，原来都是被紧紧捆住并放置于一系列预制好的木质矩形框架结构的墙中的，它们像乐高拼装玩具一样被嵌入一个叫做ModCell 的嵌板中。 这些“草屋”存在的问题似乎并不在于它们并不实用，而是人们意识到它们有点非主流，并且并不是特别耐用。再加上，这样的草屋很难拿去获得抵押贷款。 巴斯大学BRE的建筑材料创新中心的主管Peter Walker 教授指出，稻草的好处在于：“它是便宜、易于广泛应用的良好绝缘体材料，它被用在房屋建筑上已经好几百年。” 作为整个世界的工业副产品——这些秸秆在谷物收获以后被留下——只要它们不分解，就仍然有效地吸收和固定大气中的碳。对于建筑行业来说，当前所依赖的材料是无论在生产还是运输上都具有极高的能耗和碳消耗的嵌入式混凝土和砖——因此，稻草可以为解决温室气体排放这一问题提供一个友好的解决方案。 无论这个草屋看上去有多时髦，多现代化还是多环保，你仍然想要知道它是否会在雷电交加的暴风雨中被淋得湿透或者是否会因你打翻的蜡烛，而被被嗖嗖的火焰烧的精光。Walker 教授和他的研究伙伴公布了他们的研究结果，Dr Katharine Beadle 花费了18个月的时间，通过一个详尽的危险因素清单去测试这个BaleHaus被腐蚀、烧毁、吹倒的可能，到目前为止，这个房子看来似乎是可靠的。 “你总想有点戏剧性的意外，但我们没让它发生。”Beadle 教授在团队将一块ModCell 的取样拿到测试实验室去，用一个温度不断上升并超过1000℃的火热的熔炉试图将其融为灰烬的那天笑着说。 “这是一个重现建筑火灾的标准化测试。”Walker 教授解释道。 “你需要至少30分钟的抵抗时间，这意味着你知道那个房子至少在半小时内会保持其结构的完整，这给了人们一个逃生的机会。” 在石灰底泥开始掉落之前，这花费了一个半小时直接接触火焰，Beadle说。“之后稻草开始燃烧，然而他们是如此的坚实以至于只是表面被烧焦而不是实体的瓦解。”