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Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil. And I'm Sam.
大家好。这里是 BBC 学习英语栏目的六分钟英语。我是尼尔。我是萨姆。
Now if you’re old enough to remember the early days of dial-up internet then you’ll know the unforgettable sound of the ‘handshake’,
如果你经历过原来的拨号上网，你就会知道那令人难忘的“握手声”，
the clicks and squeaks your computer made as it struggled to connect to the internet through the telephone line.
也就是你的电脑在艰难地通过电话线连接到互联网时发出的滴答声和吱吱声。
Yes, I remember that strange noise!
是的，我记得那个奇怪的声音！
Dial-up internet was slow and websites took forever to load.
拨号上网速度很慢，网站的加载时间非常长。
And because you couldn’t use both the internet and the telephone at the same time,
因为你不能同时使用互联网和电话，
this was usually followed by someone shouting, "Get off the computer, I’m making a phone call!"
所以常常有人大喊：“别上网了，我在打电话！”
In the thirty years since then, the internet has changed dramatically.
在此后的30年里，互联网可谓脱胎换骨。
Fibre optics and broadband have created superfast internet speeds and an interconnected online world,
光纤和宽带带来了超高的网速和互联的网络世界，
where physical distances between people are no longer a barrier to communication,
在这个世界里，人与人之间的物理距离不再是交流的障碍。
a situation expressed in the phrase, the global village.
人们把这叫作地球村。
But take a closer look and you’ll still find people around the world with a slow connection or no internet at all.
但仔细观察，你会发现世界上仍然有人网速很慢，或者根本连不上互联网。
In this programme we’ll be finding out how some communities are working together to fix their internet connection problems for the benefit of local people.
在本期节目中，我们将看到一些社区如何团结合作，解决了当地的互联网连接问题，以造福人民。
And, of course, we’ll be learning some new vocabulary too.
当然，我们还将学习一些新的词汇。
But before that I have a question for you, Sam.
但在此之前我有个问题要问你，萨姆。
We’ve been talking about the early days of the internet,
我们一直在谈论互联网出现的早期，
but do you know the name of the first ever internet browser, the engine for searching websites?
但你知道第一个网页浏览器的名字吗，第一个搜索引擎？
Was it: a) Ask Jeeves? b) WorldWideWeb? c) Yahoo?
是 a) Ask Jeeves？b) 万维网？还是 c) 雅虎？
I’ll guess it was c) Yahoo. OK, Sam. We’ll find out the answer later.
我猜是 c) 雅虎。好的，萨姆。我们稍后会找出答案。
You might think it's people living in the most remote and isolated places with the greatest difficulty getting online, but that’s not always true.
你可能认为那些生活在最偏僻地方的人最难上网，但事实并不总是如此。
Even here in the UK people struggle to connect, including BBC radio listener, Katie,
即使在英国，也有人很难上网，比如BBC电台的听众凯蒂，
who explained her problem to BBC World Service programme, Digital Planet.
她在BBC世界服务栏目的《数字星球》节目上解释了这个问题。
Hi, I’m Katie. I live in Dorset in England.
嗨，我是凯蒂。我住在英国的多塞特郡。
Our internet can be quite spasmodic here,
我们这里的网有时很不稳定，
and I think that that’s due to most of our underground cabling is very old and somewhat dodgy, tatty, and needs replacing.
我觉得这是因为我们大部分的地下电缆非常老旧，时常出问题，需要更换。
Katie lives in Dorset, a rural part of south-west England.
凯蒂住在英格兰西南部的多塞特郡农村。
She describes her internet connection as spasmodic – suddenly working but only for a short time and not in a regular way.
她形容自己的网断断续续。“spasmodic”，即某物突然起作用，但只持续很短时间，而且没有规律。
She thinks this is because her internet cables are dodgy, slang for bad or untrustworthy.
她认为这是因为她的网线不好。“dodgy”，是一个俚语，形容某物坏了或不值得信任。
A dodgy internet connection might be irritating, but in other parts of the world the consequences can be more serious.
不稳定的网可能令人恼火，但在其他地区，后果可能更严重。
Aamer Hayat is farmer who lives in the Pakistani Punjab,
艾默尔·哈亚特是一名农民，他住在巴基斯坦的旁遮普，
one of the country’s most fertile regions, but also one of the least connected.
这是巴基斯坦最多产的地区之一，但也是网络普及率最低的地区之一。
His village is a three-hour drive from the nearest town, and he can’t make a phone call, even with 2G.
他的村庄距离最近的城镇有三个小时的车程，即使有了2G，他也不能打电话。
For Aamer, basic weather information like knowing when rain is coming can mean the difference between his crops succeeding or failing.
对于艾默尔来说，像什么时候下雨这样的基本天气信息可能影响着他的庄稼是丰收还是歉收。
Without the internet he doesn’t have a reliable weather report,
没有互联网，他就没有可靠的天气预报，
so the villagers decided to build their own fifty-metre-high telephone transmission tower, linking a network of five villages to the internet.
所以村民们决定自己建造50米高的信号传输塔，给五个村庄通网。
Here is Aamer talking to BBC World Service programme, Digital Planet.
下面是艾默尔在BBC世界服务栏目的《数字星球》节目上讲的内容。
We used to do conventional farming like just getting information from the word-of-mouth.
我们过去常常用老办法，比如向别人打听天气情况。
Now, I’m using the latest technologies to have gadgets available with us and taking information right from the horse’s mouth, you can say,
现在，我用着最先进的技术和各种装置，可以说，得到的信息更可靠了。
through internet and technology we have in our hands.
这是通过互联网技术做到的。
So, this is what I’m doing in my farm practices.
我就是这样依据天气信息进行耕种的。
Before the community-built tower brought the internet to his village,
在社区建造信号塔，给村里连上网之前，
Aamer got his weather report by word-of-mouth - information passed on by people telling each other.
艾默尔通过口口相传的方式获得天气报告。“word of mouth”，指人们口口相传的信息。
Now, there’s stable internet that works
现在村里的网络很稳定，
thanks to a tower high enough to pick up a telephone signal which it then sends into the villages via solar-powered receivers,
因为有了一个足够高的塔来接收电话信号，然后通过太阳能接收器发送到村里。
a type of gadget, meaning a small, electronic device which does something useful.
“gadget”指有用的小型电子设备。
This means Aamer now gets his weather report straight from the horse's mouth,
这意味着艾默尔得到的天气报告更可靠了。
an idiom meaning from a reliable source, or from someone who knows what they’re talking about.
“from the horse's mouth”是一个俚语，形容信息来源可靠，或者是专家说的。
The internet brings reliable climatic information, which means a good harvest not just for Aamer and his family,
互联网带来了可靠的天气信息，这不仅意味着艾默尔一家庄稼丰收，
but for all the families living in the five connected villages.
也意味着生活在这五个村子里的所有人家都能丰收。
It’s a great example of community action, and of people looking after each other,
这是社区行动的一个范例，也是人们相互照顾的一个范例，
something which may have been lost since the early, idealistic days of the internet.
这样的情谊从互联网早期的理想主义时代开始，可能就已经消失了。
And speaking of the early internet, it’s time to answer my question.
说到早期的互联网，是时候回答我的问题了。
Remember, I asked you for the name of the very first internet browser.
记得吗，我问你第一个网页浏览器的名字。
I guessed it was c) Yahoo. So, was I right? You were… wrong, I’m afraid, Sam.
我猜是 c) 雅虎。那么，我说的对吗？回答...错误，萨姆。
Way back before Google, the first internet browser was called the WorldWideWeb,
早在谷歌之前，第一个互联网浏览器被称为万维网，
invented by none other than cyber legend, Tim Berners-Lee,
正是由网络传奇人物蒂姆·伯纳斯·李发明的。
who, I think, would be pleased to hear about Aamer’s community internet. Yes.
我想，他听到艾默尔社区的互联网建设会很高兴。是。
Right, let’s recap the vocabulary we’ve learnt
好了，让我们回顾一下本期词汇。
about internet connections between people living at a physical distance in the modern world, something described as the global village.
本期节目是关于地球村的，即现代人们之间物理距离虽远但通过网络互联的情况。
If your internet is spasmodic, it’s irregular, stopping then suddenly working for a short time.
形容网络“spasmodic”，是指其不规律，常常断开，然后突然运行一小段时间。
In other words, it’s dodgy, a slang word meaning bad or unreliable.
也可以用“dodgy”这一俚语，意思是坏的或不可靠的。
If you know something by word-of-mouth, it’s been passed verbally from person to person.
如果你通过“word-of-mouth”知道某事，那么它就是在人与人之间口头传播开的。
Whereas if you hear it from the horse’s mouth, it’s come directly from a reliable source of information.
然而，如果你从马嘴里听说了某事，即“from the horse’s mouth”，那么这件事信息来源可靠。
And finally, a gadget is a small, electronic device with a useful purpose.
最后，“gadget”是指有用的小型电子设备。
Once again our six minutes are up. Bye for now! Bye!
我们的六分钟又到了。再见了！再见！
