生命的意义

But if a dead square is surrounded by three living squares

但若一个死方格周围有三个活方格

It becomes lit,or is born.

它就点亮了 也就是它诞生了

Once you set an initial state of living squares and let the simulation run

一旦设定活方格的起始状态 并开始启动模拟

These simple laws determine what happens in the future.

这些简单的规则就会决定未来发生什么事

The results are surprising.

结果令人诧异

As the program progresses,shapes appear and disappear spontaneously.

随着程式的进行 形状自发地出现又消失

Collections of shapes move across the grid bouncing off one another.

各种形状在网格上移动 互相碰撞

There are whole kinds of objects,species that interact.

各种物体 或者说是各种物种互相作用影响

Some can even reproduce

有些甚至能繁殖

Just as life does in the real world.

就如同现实世界的生命一样

This complex properties emerge from simple laws...

这些复杂的物体源自简单的法则

That contain no concepts like movement or reproduction.

法则并未包含移动或繁殖等概念

It's possible to imagine that something like the Game of Life

因此我们可以想象 像生命游戏这样的东西

with only a few basic laws...

只要有一些基本法则

might produce highly complex features.

就可能产生高复杂的特征

Perhaps even intelligence.

甚至是智慧

It might take a grid with many billions of squares,

可能需要有数十亿方格的网格才行

but... that's not surprising. We have many hundreds of billions of cells...in our brains.

但这没什么好惊讶的 我们的脑子里 可是有数千亿个细胞呢

重点讲解

1、determine

是…的决定因素

The size of the chicken pieces will determine the cooking time.

鸡块的大小将决定烹饪时间的长短。

Social status is largely determined by the occupation of the main breadwinner.

社会地位很大程度上是由家里经济支柱的职业决定的。

确定;查明

The investigation will determine what really happened.

调查会查明到底发生了什么事情。

Testing needs to be done to determine the long-term effects on humans.

需要进行检测以确定其对人的长期影响。

决定;敲定

The Baltic people have a right to determine their own future.

波罗的海各国人民有权决定自己的未来。

The final wording had not yet been determined.

最终措辞仍未敲定。

2、contain

装有;容纳

The bag contained a Christmas card.

这个包里装着一张圣诞卡。

Factory shops contain a wide range of cheap furnishings.

工厂车间里陈设着种类繁多的廉价家具。

(著作、讲话或电影中)包括，包含

This sheet contained a list of problems a patient might like to raise with the doctor.

这张单子列出了病人可能会向医生提出的一系列问题。

The two discs also contain two of Britten's lesser-known song-cycles.

这两张唱片还包含了布里顿两首不甚知名的声乐套曲。

控制;遏制;防止…蔓延

More than a hundred firemen are still trying to contain the fire at the plant.

上百名消防队员仍在试图控制工厂的火势。

The city authorities said the curfew had contained the violence.

市政府称宵禁遏制住了暴力事件。