Following eyeball-to-eyeball consultations with the butcher and the baker and the grocer on the tube, she hits a button to commandeer supplies for tonight's dinner party. Pressing a couple of keys on the kitchen terminal, she order s from the memory bank her favorite recipes , tells the machine to compute the ingredients for six servings, and directs the ovens to reach the correct temperature for each dish according to the recipe, starting at 7:15 p. m. Alice then joins a televised discussion of Byzantine art (which she has studied by computer). Later she wanders into the computer room where Al ("Laddy") Jr. has just learned from his headset that his drill in Latin verb conjugation was " groovy ".
在电视屏幕上与肉店、面包店和杂货店老板们进行面对面的商谈之后，她按下一个按钮，订购当天晚宴所需的各种物品。接着，她又按下厨房计算机终端设备上的几个按钮，从计算机存储器中调出一些她所喜爱的菜谱，指令计算机计算出六份饭菜所需的各种配料的数量，指示烤炉下午七点十五分点火，根据菜谱上的要求调节出烹饪各道菜时的合适温度。接下来，艾丽斯参加了一场拜占廷艺术电视讨论会(她是通过计算机学习拜占廷艺术的)。过后，她信步走进微机室。在那里，小阿拉迪刚从耳机中得知，他的拉丁语动词变位练习成绩"优良"。
Wellsian fantasy? Maybe. But while this matutinal scenario may still be years away, the basic technology is in xistence. Such painless, productive awakenings will in time be a familiar thing. And, barring headaches, tummy aches and heartaches, the American day should proceed as smoothly as it begins. All thanks to the miracle of the microcomputer, the super cheap chip that can electronically shoulder a vast array of boring, time-consuming tasks.
这完全是科学幻想吗?也许是吧。但是，尽管以上描述的那一连串发生在早晨的事情还要过若干年后才能变成现实，实现这一切所需的基本技术业已问世。像以上描述的那种早晨舒舒服服地起来，不费多大劲却能做好许多事情，这种情况将来会极为普通。只要没有头痛、胃痛和心痛，美国人一天的生活会过得像一天开始时一样顺畅。这一切全是由于微型计算机的神奇功能，使得那造价极低廉的集成电路片能用电子技术担负起大量令人厌烦又耗费时间的工作。
The microelectronic revolution promises to ease, enhance and simplify life in ways undreamed of even by the utopians. At home or office, routine chores will be performed with astonishing efficiency and speed. Leisure time, greatly increased, will be greatly enriched. Public education, so often a dreary and capricious process in the U. S., may be invested with the inspiriting quality of an Oxford tutorial-from preschool on. Medical care will be delivered with greater precision.
微型电子技术革命可望减轻生活负担，提高生活质量，简化生活程序，而且这些美好前景是连幻想家们做梦也没有想到过的。无论是家里还是办公室里，日常琐事都将以惊人的高效率和高速度得到处理;休闲时间不仅会大大增加，也会变得更加丰富多彩;在美国，常常是枯燥乏味、变化无常的公共教育也将会具有像牛津大学导师制教育那样令人振奋的质量--从学前教育开始即是这样。医疗卫生服务也会更加完善而少出差错。