谷歌生日？9件关于Google你不知道的事情

 　　1. Nobody knows when its birthday is

　　1. 没有人知道谷歌何时诞生的

　　The question of today’s Doodle – when is Google’s birthday? – isn’t actually answerable. The company has six birthdays, at least, and has just decided¹ to start celebrating it on 27 September.

　　2016年9月27日，谷歌首页的涂鸦变成了“谷歌的生日是哪天”（如上图所示），但这个问题其实是没有答案的。迄今已知谷歌至少有6个生日。今年，谷歌决定从9月27日就开始庆祝生日。

　　2. Google wasn’t very happy with becoming a generic² word for searching

　　2. 谷歌正在成为搜索术语：对此谷歌表示不是很开心

　　The company worried that the word – as in the phrase, “just Google it” – would undermine all of the work it had done to make its brand recognizable.

　　谷歌担心：经常使用“谷歌一下”这个短语，人们会形成一种思维定式。这会逐渐瓦解公司对谷歌品牌认知所做出的努力。

　　3. The first ever Google storage was made of Lego

　　3. 第一个谷歌仓库是乐高积木做成的

　　Nowadays, Google is one of the world’s biggest data storage companies – filling warehouse³ upon warehouse with servers to store people’s work, photos, emails and everything else. But at its very beginning, when it was known just as Backrub, its first storage was just a load of hard drives housed in a container built of Lego.

　　谷歌现今已是世界上最大的数据存储公司之一：一仓库挨着一仓库的服务器事无巨细地储存着人们的工作、照片、邮件和其他信息。但在谷歌建厂伊始，当它还只是“Backrub”(斯坦福大学一个小研究项目)的时候，谷歌的首批数据存储仅仅由硬盘驱动器负载，而这些驱动器则安放在乐高积木做成的集装箱里。

　　4. Google gives very generous payouts to the husbands and wives of people who die while working for them

　　4. 谷歌支付大笔的抚恤金给因公殉职的员工的家属

　　They’ll receive 50 per cent of their salary for the next decade. And their children receive a payout until they’re grown up, too.

　　因公殉职的员工的家属会拿到相当于接下来十年薪水的50%数目的抚恤金。他们的孩子也会收到一大笔钱，足够他们长大成人。

　　5. One Google search uses more computing⁴ power than it took to send the Apollo 11 astronauts to the moon

　　5. 一个谷歌搜索使用的计算机运算能力甚至超过运送阿波罗11号宇航员登月

　　Searching Google is easy and takes just miliseconds. But the computing and networking power required to look through almost all of the known internet is huge – far more huge than the relatively⁵ minor⁶ amount of code and computing that it took to put humans on the moon.

　　使用谷歌搜索非常简单，几毫秒就能搞定。但是短短的几毫秒内，查找所有已知的互联网所需的运算能力和联网能力是强悍的——强悍到什么程度呢？人类登月所用的计算机编码和运算能力跟其相比是小巫见大巫。

　　6. Google once went down for five minutes, and took 40 per cent of web traffic with it

　　6. 谷歌曾经宕机5分钟，全球网络流量暴跌40%

　　On 19 August, 2013, Google stopped working for five minutes. And it took much of the internet with it.Now THAT'S power.

　　2013年8月19日，谷歌瘫痪了5分钟。很多网站流量暴跌。这就是谷歌的强大影响力！

　　While other companies have looked to challenge Google’s dominance in search, it still represents a huge part of the web.

　　尽管有其他公司一直想要挑战谷歌在搜索引擎届的老大哥地位，谷歌至今仍然屹立不倒。

　　7. Google hires goats

　　7. 谷歌雇佣“山羊”工作

　　Google’s headquarters are big, and lots of it is green. So much of it is grass that it would need a lot of lawnmowers – but Google has a novel way around that.

　　谷歌的总部占地面积很大，绿化得也很好。大部分是绿植草坪，这就需要很多割草机。但是谷歌在这件事情上别出心裁。

　　Instead of gas-powered machines, Google hires a load of goats to clear the fields around its campus.

　　谷歌“雇佣”了一大群山羊来清理大学校区四周的草坪。山羊！而不是烧油的机器！

　　They visit for about a week at a time, and about 200 of them come to much up the Google grass.

　　这些山羊一周打一次卡就行，每次大概有200只山羊来清理谷歌的草坪。

　　The goats don’t guzzle⁷ gas, pollute the air or make as much noise. And they have the advantage of being “a lot cuter to watch than lawn mowers”, Google’s employees have noted⁸.

　　山羊既不会大量消耗汽油，也不会污染空气，更没有噪音。最重要的是，它们的优点如谷歌员工所说“可观赏性比割草机可爱得多”。

　　8. And there are lots of dogs at Google too

　　8. 谷歌公司还有很多汪星人

　　Google’s office is very dog friendly. It says that letting people bring in their pups makes employees a lot happier.

　　谷歌的办公室是允许员工带汪星人上班的。谷歌官方说这样做员工的心情会很不错。

　　Cats aren’t as encouraged – simply because they tend to be upset by the dogs. They’re not banned.

　　不过，在谷歌，喵星人就不像汪星人那么走运了。主要是因为狗跟猫在一起总是打架。不过谷歌并没有明令禁猫。

　　9. Google’s logo wasn’t in the middle until 2001

　　9. 谷歌的logo直到2001年才放在网页正中间

　　The simplicity⁹ of the Google homepage belies¹⁰ the fact that it is one of the most viewed things in the history of the world. So even the tiniest changes are significant – and some very not tiny changes were made in the site’s early development.

　　尽管谷歌是世界历史上被访问最多的网页之一，但谷歌的首页一向以简洁著称。即使是最细微的变化，在谷歌首页都会非常明显。当然在网站建立初期也有过一些调整。

　　For instance, in the first few years the site was around, its logo was aligned¹¹ slightly to the left. That came to an end in 2001, when Google finally moved it into the middle.

　　比如，网站刚成立的那几年，谷歌的logo是稍微向左对齐的。2001年的时候，谷歌把logo挪到了网页正中间。

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

3 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

4 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

5 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

6 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

7 guzzle   

v.狂饮，暴食

参考例句：

• Melissa had guzzled gin and tonics like they were lemonade.梅利莎像喝柠檬汽水一样大口地喝着加奎宁水的杜松子酒。
• Pigs guzzle their food.猪总是狼吞虎咽地吃东西。

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

9 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

10 belies   

v.掩饰( belie的第三人称单数 )；证明（或显示）…为虚假；辜负；就…扯谎

参考例句：

• His appearance belies him. 他的外貌给人以假象。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The modesty of their home belies their great wealth. 他们简朴的家使人们看不出他们拥有巨额财富。 来自辞典例句

11 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。