I had scarcely passed my twelfth birthday when I entered the inhospitable regions of examinations, through which for the next seven years I was destined to journey. These examinations were a great trial to me. The subjects which were dearest to the examiners were almost invariably those I fancied least. I would have liked to have been examined in history, poetry and writing essays. The examiners, on the other hand, were partial to Latin and mathematics. And their will prevailed.
【译文】我一过12岁生日，就步入了令人头疼的考试时期，而且随后的7年，竟注定一直在这区域跋涉。这些考试真让我伤透了脑筋。主考老师最喜欢考的科目，几乎无一例外的都是我最不喜欢的科目。我喜爱历史、诗歌和写作，可他们却喜欢拉丁文和数学，而每次考试都是他们说了算。
Moreover, the questions which they asked on both these subjects were almost invariably those to which I was unable to suggest a satisfactory answer. I should have liked to be asked to say what I knew. They always tried to ask what I did not know. When I would have willingly displayed my knowledge, they sought to expose my ignorance. This sort of treatment had only one result: I did not do well in examinations.
更可气的是，他们在这两个科目上所提的问题，又几乎全都是我无法做出满意答案的。我一直喜欢回答一些我所熟悉的东西，可他们总是问一些我全都不知道的问题。我一直很想展现自己的才华，可他们却变着法儿让我出丑。其结果是：考试中我屡屡失败。
During the past few years, scientists the world over have suddenly found themselves productively engaged in a task they once spent their lives avoiding writing, but particularly letter writing. Lured by electronic mail’s seductive blend of speed, convenience and economy, people who have never before touched the stuff are routinely, skillfully, even cheerfully tapping out a great deal of correspondence.
【译文】在最近几年中，全世界的科学家们突然发现他们在高效率地从事着一种自己以前极不愿做的工作——写作，特别是信件的写作。由于电子邮件的速度快捷，经济方便，使得从未使用过的人，也开始熟练地使用电子邮件处理日常事务，甚至能高高兴兴地写出大量信函。
Electronic networks, woven into the fabric of scientific communication these days, are the route to colleagues in distant countries, shared data, bulletin boards and electronic journals. Anyone with a personal computer, a modem and the software to link computers over telephone lines can sign on. An estimated five million scientists have done so, with more joining every day, most of them communicating through a bundle of interconnected domestic and foreign routes known collectively as the internet, or net.
当前电子网络，已经融入现代科学交流中。通过电子网络，人们可以和异国他乡的同事取得联系、分享数据、游览新闻简报和阅读电子杂志。不管是谁，只要你有一台个人电脑，一个调制解调器以及所需要的软件，再把电话线连接到电脑上，就能申请上网。目前，大约已有500万科学家登记上网，而且人数与日俱增，绝大多数的科学家通过国内和国际线路进行通讯。这些线路称为“互联网”，或简称“网”。
E-mail is starting to edge out the fax, the telephone, overnight mail and, of course land mail. It shrinks time and distance between scientific collaborators, in part because it is conveniently asynchronous (writers can type while their colleagues across time zones sleep; their message will be waiting). If it is not yet speed discoveries, it is certainly accelerating disclosures.
电子邮件正在逐步取代传真、电话、特快专递，当然还有陆上邮件。它既缩短了科学合作者之间的距离，又节省了通讯时间。其部分原因是因为它具有不同时性(当发送的一方正在输入时，居住在其他时区的接收方可能正在睡觉。传送的信息将在网上等待。)因而带来方便。电子邮件即便是不能加速产生新的发现的话，它也肯定能加快信息的传递。
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