VOA慢速英语2011-2000 Years of Computing History, at a Mus

Silicon¹ Valley in Northern California is home to many of the world’s largest technology companies. These include Apple, Google, Oracle², Intel, Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard.

The valley is also home to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. It reopened last month after nineteen million dollars worth of improvements. The project took nearly two years.

One of the additions is a permanent exhibit called "Revolution: The First 2000 Years of Computing³."

Alex Bochannek is a curator at the museum. Mr. Bochannek says the new exhibit tells the story of more than one thousand historical objects.

ALEX BOCHANNEK: "Some of the oldest items are actually not computers. They are devices that helped people calculate. And the first object people see walking into the exhibit is an abacus⁴ from the eighteen hundreds. Because the abacus is a daily-use device made from wood, few of them have survived.”

Mr. Bochannek says people have the chance to handle some of the objects in the exhibit. He says one of the more popular items is a portable computer from nineteen eighty-one.

Computer History Museum senior curator Dag Spicer looks at a replica⁵ of the first transistor⁶ at the museum in Mountain View, California

ALEX BOCHANNEK: “We think of portable computers today as laptops. But the Osborne One was about the size of a sewing machine and weighed twenty-four pounds. So, just being able to pick one of those up will help our visitors understand how difficult portability was about thirty years ago.”

Visitors to the Computer History Museum can also see parts of one of the earliest large-scale electronic computing devices. The ENIAC or Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer was designed during World War Two.

There are also pieces from the guidance computer that was used during the Apollo space missions.

Mr. Bochannek says the "Revolution" exhibit is about more than the history of modern computing. He says it tells a much larger story about how these developments have affected⁷ society and culture, especially in recent years.

ALEX BOCHANNEK: "The revolution to most people is that computers today are ubiquitous. They’re everywhere. If you are crossing at a traffic light, there probably is a computer controlling that traffic light. It’s not just the laptop or your smartphone that has a computer in it, but they surround us, and in some cases are even inside us. Like the cardiac pacemaker, one of which we show on the exhibition as well."

The Computer History Museum plans to launch an online version of the exhibit in March. The museum has one hundred thousand items in its complete collection. Only two percent of them are currently on display. But officials say seventy-five percent of the items will be viewable online.

And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report, written by June Simms. Tell us about your interests at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Christopher Cruise.

　

1 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

2 oracle   

n.神谕，神谕处，预言

参考例句：

• In times of difficulty,she pray for an oracle to guide her.在困难的时候，她祈祷神谕来指引她。
• It is a kind of oracle that often foretells things most important.它是一种内生性神谕，常常能预言最重要的事情。

3 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。

4 abacus   

n.算盘

参考例句：

• They also learned to use the abacus.他们还学习珠算。
• The abacus is the ancestor of the modern computer.算盘是现代电脑的原型。

5 replica   

n.复制品

参考例句：

• The original conservatory has been rebuilt in replica.温室已按原样重建。
• The young artist made a replica of the famous painting.这位年轻的画家临摹了这幅著名的作品。

6 transistor   

n.晶体管，晶体管收音机

参考例句：

• This make of transistor radio is small and beautifully designed.这半导体收音机小巧玲珑。
• Every transistor has at least three electrodes.每个晶体管至少有三个电极。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。