Unit-14---To-Err-Is-Human.doc

Unit14ToErrIsHuman
Everyonemusthavehadatleastonepersonalexperiencewithacomputererrorbythistime.Bankbalancesaresuddenlyreportedtohavejumpedfrom$379intothemillions,appealsforcharitable慈善的
contributionsaremailedoverandovertopeoplewithcrazy-soundingnamesatyouraddress,departmentstoressendthewrongbills,utilitycompanies公用事业公司、市政公司，比如电力公司、煤气公司、自来水公司之类
writethatthey’returningeverythingoff,thatsortofthing.Ifyoumanagetogetintouchwithsomeoneandcomplain,youthengetinstantaneously瞬间的、即刻的
typed,guiltylettersfromthesamecomputer,saying,”Ourcomputerwasinerror,andanadjustmentisbeingmadeinyouraccount.”
如今，几乎每个人都经历过电脑出错带来的麻烦。银行通知的贷款余额忽然从379美元飞涨至数百万美元；呼吁给那些名字听起来稀奇古怪的人进行慈善捐助的信件三番五次地寄往你的地址；部门商店发送错误的账单；公共事业公司说他们将要关闭供给，诸如此类。如果你打印了，同一台电脑出来的致歉信上写道：“我们的电脑出现了错误，正在调整您的账目。”
Thesearesupposedtobethesheerest完全的、十足的；纯粹的、不掺假的
,blindestaccidents.Mistakesarenotbelievedtobepartofthenormalbehaviorofagoodmachine.Ifthingsgowrong,itmustbeapersonal,humanerror,theresultoffingering,tampering瞎弄、擅自更改；窜改
,abuttongettingstuck,someonehittingthewrongkey.Thecomputer,atitsnormalbest,isinfallible绝无错误的
.
这些意外事故纯粹是无意识的过错。人们认为，出错不是一个性能良好的机器的正常行为。如果出了错，那一定是人为的错误，如指法错误，乱碰键盘，按键失灵，按错了键。最佳正常工作状态下的电脑是不会出差错的。
Iwonderwhetherthiscanbetrue.Afterall,thewholepointofcomputersisthattheyrepresentanextensionofthehumanbrain,vastlyimproveduponbutnonethelesshuman,superhumanmaybe.Agoodcomputercanthinkclearlyandquicklyenoughtobeatyouatchess,andsomeofthemhaveevenprogrammedtowriteobscureverse朦胧诗
.Theycandoanythingwecando,andmorebesides.
我想知道这会是真的么。毕竟，电脑的本质是人脑的延伸，在此之上大为提升，但仍具有人性的特点，或许说具有超人类的特征。好的电脑可以足够清晰快速地思考，在下棋中打败你。它们有些甚至可以被编程写朦胧诗。它们能做任何我们能做的事，更多的是我们做不了的。
Itisnotyetknownwhetheracomputerhasitsownconsciousness,anditwouldbehardtofindoutaboutthis.Whenyouwalkintooneofthosegreathallsnowbuiltforthehugemachines,andstandlistening,itiseasytoimaginethatthefaint,distantnoisesarethesoundofthinking,andtheturningofthespools线轴、线管；（录音带的）卷轴、（胶片、打字机的）卷筒
givesthemthelookofwildcreaturesrollingtheireyesintheefforttoconcentrate,choking（使人）窒息；哽住；难以呼吸
withinform