The Age of Miracle Chips
神奇的集成电路片时代
New microtechnology will transform society
新生的微型技术将使社会发生巨变
It is tiny, only about a quarter of an inch square, and quite flat. Under a microscope, it resembles a stylized Navaho rug or the aerial view of a railroad switching yard. Like the grains of sand on a beach, it is made mostly of silicon,next to oxygen the most abundant element on the surface of the earth.
这是一个极小的薄片，只有大约四分之一英寸见方。在显微镜下看起来，它就像一幅繁花似锦的那伐鹤地毯，或是一幅铁路调车场的鸟瞰图。像海滩上的沙粒一样，它的主要成分是硅--地球表面除氧之外蕴含量最为丰富的元素。
Yet this inert fleck-still unfamiliar to the vast majority of Americans-has astonishing powers that are already transforming society. For the so-called miracle chip has a calculating capability equal to that of a room-size computer of only 25 year s ago. Unlike the hulking Calibans of vacuum tubes and tangled wires from which it evolved,it is cheap, easy to mass produce, fast, infinitely versatile and convenient.
然而，这种惰性小薄片--大多数美国人尚不熟悉--却具有惊人的本领，正在使我们的社会发生着巨变。这种被称为神奇的集成电路片的东西有着与二十五年前制造出的足有一间房子大的老式计算机相同的计算能力。那种老式计算机内有许许多多的真空电子管和乱麻似的导线，又大又笨，形似怪物。集成电路片是由老式计算机衍化而来的，所不同的是它造价低廉，易于批量生产，计算速度快，功能繁多，使用方便。
The miracle chip represents a development in the technology of mankind that over the past few years has acquired the force and significance associated with the development of hand tools or the discovery of the steam engine. Just as the Industrial Revolution took over an immense range of tasks from men's muscles and enormously expanded productivity, so the microcomputer is rapidly assuming huge burdens of drudgery from the human brain and thereby expanding the mind's capacities in ways that man has only begun to grasp. With the chip, amazing feats of memory and execution become possible in everything from automobile engines to universities and hospitals, from farms to banks and corporate offices, from outer space to a baby's nursery.
神奇的集成电路片代表了人类科技的新发展。近几年来，这项技术的发展势头之迅猛和意义之深远足可与人类历史上生产工具的出现和蒸汽机的发明相提并论。正如工业革命替人类承担了大量繁重的体力劳动，并极大地发展了生产力一样，微型计算机正迅速地替人类承担起大量繁重的脑力劳动，并以人们现在才开始掌握的各种方式扩大了人脑的功能。有了集成电路片，计算机存储信息和执行指令的惊人本领就在以汽车发动机到大学和医院，从农场到银行和公司办公室，从外层空间到托儿所等各个领域发挥作用。