想起来真让人难以置信。”

　　It was an "amazing thing," of course, because this was 1968.

　　这是一件令人“难以置信”的事，确实如此，因为这是在1968年。

　　Most colleges didn't have computer clubs in the 1960s.

　　在20世纪60年代，大部分高校都还没有什么电脑俱乐部，

　　Even more remarkable was the kind of computer Lakeside bought.

　　湖边学校购买的计算机更是显得弥足珍贵。

　　The school didn't have its students learn programming by the laborious computer-card system,

　　湖边学校的学生不需要像20世纪60年代其他学校的学生一样，

　　like everyone else was doing in the 1960s.

　　必须依靠人工计算机卡片系统学习编程，

　　Instead, Lakeside installed what was called an ASR-31 Teletype,

　　相反，湖边学校安装的是一款ASR-33电传打字机，

　　which was a time-sharing terminal with a direct link to a mainframe computer in downtown Seattle.

　　这是和西雅图市区其中一台主机的分时系统终端相连接的设备。

　　"The whole idea of time-sharing only got started in 1965," Gates continued, "someone was pretty forward looking."

　　“1965年刚刚提出分时理论，”盖茨继续说道， “有些人就敏锐地看到了其前景。”

　　Bill Joy got an extraordinary early opportunity to learn programming on a time-sharing system as a freshman in college in 1971.

　　1971年，还是大学新生的比尔.乔伊就非常幸运地利用分时系统学习编程。

　　Bill Gates got to do real-time programming as an eighth grader in 1968.

　　而比尔.盖茨在1968年读七年级的时候，就开始实时编程了。

　　From that moment forward, Gates lived in the computer room.

　　此后，盖茨便住在了计算机房，

　　He and a number of others began to teach themselves how to use this new strange device.

　　他和其他几个同伴开始自己摸索怎样操作这陌生的机器。

　　Buying time on the mainframe computer the ASR was hooked up to, of course, was expensive,

　　当然，购买ASR连接计算机主机的上机时间是非常昂贵的，

　　even for a wealthy institution like Lakeside,

　　即便像湖边这样资金充裕的学校也觉得太贵，

　　and it wasn't long before the three thousand dollars put up by the Mothers' Club ran out.

　　在利用母亲俱乐部的3000美元购置终端设备之前，上机的时间都很短。

　　Parents raised more money. Students spent it.

　　虽然父母们资助的钱在增加，但学生们的开销也在增加。

　　Then the group of programmers at the University of Washington formed an outfit called Computer Center Corperation or C-Cube,

　　后来，华盛顿大学的程序工程师组建了一个名为电脑中心公司（C-Cubed)的机构，

　　which leased computer time to local companies.

　　他们向当地的公司出租计算机上机时间。

　　As luck would have it, one of the founders of the firm, Monique Rona, had a son at Lakeside, a class ahead of Gates.

　　幸运的是，电脑屮心公司其中一个创始人莫尼克.罗的儿子在湖边学校读书，比盖茨高一个年级。

　　Would the Lakeside Computer Club, Rona wondered, like to test out the company's software programs on the weekends in exchange for free programming time?

　　罗那觉得，是否可以让湖边电脑俱乐部的学生利用周末时间，为公司测试软件程序，以此换取使用电脑的时间？

　　Absolutely! After school, Gates took the bus to the C-Cube offices and programmed long into the evening.

　　这当然没问题！放学之后，盖茨便乘公共汽车来到电脑中心公司的办公室，在这里一直编程到入夜。