The World Wide Web, where you're likely watching this video,
万维网，你可能正用它来观看此视频，
is used by millions of people every day for everything from checking the weather, ordering food,
每天有数百万的人们使用它来做任何事，从查看天气，订购食品，
and chatting with friends to raising funds, sharing news, or starting revolutions.
和朋友聊天，到筹集基金，分享信息，或者开始革命。
We use it from our computers, our phones, even our cars.
我们通过我们的电脑、手机甚至汽车来使用它。
It's just there, all around us, all the time. But what is it exactly?
它就这么简单的存在着，时刻围绕我们。可它究竟是什么呢？
Well first of all, the World Wide Web is not the Internet, even though the terms are often used interchangeably.
首先，万维网不是互联网，尽管这两个名称时常被互换使用。
The Internet is simply the way computers connect to each other in order to share information.
互联网就由多个计算机网络相互连接而成一个大型网络，用来分享信息。
When the Internet first emerged, computers actually made direct calls to each other.
在互联网诞生初期，计算机实际上是直接互相通话的。
Today, networks are all around us, so computers can communicate seamlessly.
而如今，网络无所不在，所以计算机也可以沟通无碍了。
The communication enabled through the Internet has many uses, such as email, file transfer, and conferencing.
由互联网支撑的这个沟通有很多的用处，比如发邮件、传文件和开展会议。
But the most common use is accessing the World Wide Web.
但最常见的用途就是来访问万维网。
Think of the Web as a bunch of skyscrapers, each representing a web server,
请把网络想象成一堆的高楼大厦，每一个大厦代表一个网络服务器，
a computer always connected to the Internet, specifically designed to store information and share it.
一部计算机总是连接到互联网上，专门设计用来存储和分享信息。
When someone starts a website, they are renting a room in this skyscraper,
当某人建造一个网站时，他们就相当于在这个大厦里租了个房间，
filling it with information and linking that information together in an organized way for others to access.
来储存信息并井然有序地链接信息，以此方便他人的访问。
The people who own these skyscrapers and rent space in them are called web hosts,
那些拥有高楼大厦和出租其空间的人，被称为虚拟主机，
but anyone can set up a web server with the right equipment a bit of know-how.
但人人都可以创建网络服务器，只要有适当的设备和一点窍门。
There's another part to having a website, without which we would be lost in the city with no way of finding what we need.
拥有一个网站还需要另一部分，没有它，我们就会在城市中迷路而无法找到我们需要的东西。
This is the website address, which consists of domain names.
那就是网址，它由域名组成。
Just like with a real life address, a website address lets you get where you want to go.
就好像一个真实的地址，一个网址可以带你去想去的地方。
The information stored in the websites is in web languages, such as HTML and JavaScript.
在网站上的信息是用网络语言来储存的，比如HTML和JavaScript。

When we find the website we're looking for, our web browser is able to take all the code on the site
当我们找到目标网站时，我们的网络浏览器能够收集网站上的所有代码，
and turn it into words, graphics, and videos.
将它们译成文字、图像和视频。
We don't need to know any special computer languages because the web browser creates a graphic interface for us.
我们不需要知道任何特别的计算机语言，因为网络浏览器能为我们建立一个图形界面。
So, in a lot of ways, the World Wide Web is a big virtual city
所以说，从很多方面来说，万维网就是一个虚拟大城市，
where we communicate with each other in web languages, with browsers acting as our translators.
我们可以在其中用网络语言互相交流，借助浏览器来做我们的翻译。
And just like no one owns a city, no one owns the Web; it belongs to all of us.
就像没人拥有一个城市一样，也没人拥有网络，它属于我们大家。
Anyone can move in and set up shop.
任何人都可以搬进来和开商店。
We might have to pay an Internet service provider to gain access,
我们可能需要支付一个网络服务供应商来获取通路，
a hosting company to rent web space, or a registrar to reserve our web address.
通过网页寄存公司来租用网络空间，或者让域名注册商来保留我们的网址。
Like utility companies in a city, these companies provide crucial services, but in the end, not even they own the Web.
像在城市里的能源公司，这些公司提供关键服务，但最终，他们也并不拥有网络。
But what really makes the Web so special lies in its very name.
真正让网络如此特别的就在于它的名字。
Prior to the Web, we used to consume most information in a linear fashion.
在网络出现之前，我们获取信息的方式是线型的。
In a book or newspaper article, each sentence was read from beginning to end,
在书本或者报纸文章上，从头到尾读遍每一句话，
page by page, in a straight line until you reached the end.
一页又一页，直线进行直到读完。
But that isn't how our brains actually work.
但我们的大脑其实不是这样运行的。
Each of our thoughts is linked to other thoughts, memories, and emotions in a loose interconnected network, like a web.
我们的每一个想法都与其他想法、记忆和情绪连接在一起，构成一个疏松的互联的网状物，就像网络一样。
Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the World Wide Web,
蒂姆·伯纳斯-李，万维网的发明者，
understood that we needed a way to organize information that mirrored this natural arrangement.
明白我们需要一种方式来组织信息，这个方式要对应这个自然的布局。
And the Web accomplishes this through hyperlinks.
而网络就是运用超链接来实现这个的。
By linking several pages within a website or even redirecting you to other websites
通过链接网站上的一些页面或者甚至将你重定位到其它网站，
to expand on information or ideas immediately as you encounter them,
来迅速扩展信息和想法，当你和它们相遇的时候，
hyperlinks allow the Web to operate along the same lines as our thought patterns.
超链接使网络能够像我们的思维模式一样运作。
The Web is so much a part of our lives because in content and structure,
因为网络的内容和结构，它在我们的生命中是非常重要的一部分，
it reflects both the wider society and our individual minds.
同时它反映了更广泛的社会和我们个人的头脑。
And it connects those minds across all boundaries, not only enthnicity, gender, and age but even time and space.
将这些头脑联络起来，跨越所有边界，不仅是种族、性别、年龄，甚至是时间和空间。