高中英语 Unit 1 Living with technology 背景知识拓展 译林牛津版选修7

Unit 1 Living with technologyIn January 1912, the United States emerged from a two-year recession. Nineteen more followedalong with a century of phenomenal economic growth. Americans in real terms are 700% wealthier today.Devices and products are already appearing based on computationally engineered materials that literally did not exist a few years ago: novel metal alloys, graphene instead of silicon transistors (graphene and carbon enable a radically new class of electronic and structural materials), and meta-materials that possess properties not possible in nature; e.g., rendering an object invisiblespeculation about which received understandable recent publicity.This era of new materials will be economically explosive when combined with 3-D printing, also known as direct-digital manufacturingliterally printing parts and devices using computational power, lasers and basic powdered metals and plastics. Already emerging are printed parts for high-value applications like patient-specific implants for hip joints or teeth, or lighter and stronger aircraft parts. Then one day, the Holy Grail: desktop printing of entire final products from wheels to even washing machines.The era of near-perfect computational design and production will unleash as big a change in how we make things as the agricultural revolution did in how we grew things. And it will be defined by high talent not cheap labor.Finally, there is the unfolding communications revolution where soon most humans on the planet will be connected wirelessly. Never before have a billion peoplesoon billions morebeen able to communicate, socialize and trade in real time.The implications of the radical collapse in the cost of wireless connectivity are as big as those following the dawn of telegraphy/telephony. Coupled with the cloud, the wireless world provides cheap connectivity, information and processing1912年1月，美国摆脱了一场为期两年的衰退。在接下来一个世纪的惊人经济增长过程中又出现了19次衰退。扣除特价因素，今天的美国人比当初富裕700%。相关报道有些设备和产品已经在利用几年前根本不存在的、以计算方式设计的材料来生产，比如新型合金、石墨烯晶体管（而不是硅晶体管；石墨烯和碳能够生成一类全新的电子材料和结构材料）和超材料。超材料拥有天然材料不可能具备的属性，比如可以生成一种不可见的物体这方面的猜测最近引起了可以理解的轰动。这个新材料时代与三维打印结合在一起，将产生爆炸性的经济影响。三维打印也叫“直接数字化制造”，也就是利用计算能力、激光，以及基本的粉末状金属和塑料，把零部件和设备“打印”出来。一些高价值应用（比如针对病人个体植入的髋关节或牙齿，或更轻、更结实的飞机零部件）已经有打印而成的零部件出现。某一天这样的梦想将会实现：不管是车轮还是洗衣机，整个成品都可以通过“桌面”打印。这个近乎完美的计算化设计制造时代对产品制造方式的改变之大，将如同农业革命对我们养殖方式的改变。而这个时代的特征将会是高素质的人才，而不是廉价劳动力。最后还有正在展开的通讯革命，不久之后它就会把地球上的大多数人以无线的方式连接在一起。以前从来没有哪个时候曾有10亿人（很快还将增加数十亿人）能够实时地沟通、交往和交易。无线连接成本急剧下降的潜在影响之大，有如电报、电话带来的影响。结合云计算，无线世界给几乎所有地点的所有人带来了价格低廉的连接、信息和处理能力。这不仅会带来急剧的变化（如阿拉伯之春），也会带来巨大的机遇。同样，这一技术power to nearly everyone, everywhere. This introduces both rapid changee.g., the Arab Springand great opportunity. Again, both the launch and epicenter of this technology reside in America.Few deny that technology fuels economic growth as well as both social and lifestyle progress, the latter largely seen in health and environmental metrics. But consider three features that most define America, and that are essential for unleashing the promises of technological change: our youthful demographics, dynamic culture and diverse educational system.First, demographics. By 2020, America will be younger than both China and the euro zone, if the latter still exists. Youth brings more than a base of workers and taxpayers; it brings the ineluctable energy that propels everything. Amplified and leavened by the experience of their elders, youth and economic scale (the U.S. is still the worlds largest economy) are not to be underestimated, especially in the context of the other two great forces: our culture and educational system.The American culture is particularly suited to times of tumult and challenge. Culture cannot be changed or copied overnight; it is a feature of a people that has, to use a physics term, high inertia. Ours is distinguished by incontrovertibly powerful features, namely open-mindedness, risk-taking, hard work, playfulness, and, critical for nascent new ideas, a healthy dose of anti-establishment thinking. Where else could an Apple or a Steve Jobs have emerged?Then theres our educational system, often criticized as inadequate to global challenges. But American higher education eludes simple statistical measures since its most salient features are flexibility and diversity of educational philosophies, curricula and the professoriate. There is a dizzying range of approaches in American universities and colleges. Good. One size definitely does not fit all for students or the future.We should also remember that more than half of the worlds top 100 universities remain in America, a fact underscored by soaring foreign enrollments. Yes, other nations have fine universities, and many的发源地和“震中”也是在美国。很少有人否认，科技不仅带来社会和生活方式的进步（主要体现于卫生和环境指标的进步），还会推动经济增长。但请考虑三个最能代表美国、对于科技变革的希望至关重要的特征：年轻的人口、动态的文化和多元的教育体制。首先是人口。到2020年，美国将比中国和欧元区更加年轻，如果欧元区到时候还存在的话。年轻人不仅形成了劳动者和纳税人群体，还带来一种不可阻挡地推动一切的力量。经过先辈经验的强化和影响，年轻人与经济规模（美国仍是世界最大经济体）的价值不可低估，特别是在考虑到另两大力量我们的文化和教育体制的情况下。美国文化尤其适用于充满动荡和挑战的年代。文化无法在一夜之间改变或复制，它是一个拥有（用物理术语来说）高度惯性的民族所具备的一种特征。我们文化的独特之处在于一些不容置疑的强大特征，即开放的心态、敢于冒险、勤劳、富有趣味性，以及对于初生创意至关重要的，挑战权威的思维方式。其他哪个国家有可能冒出苹果公司(Apple)或者是乔布斯(Steve Jobs)？然后是我们的教育体制。人们常常批评它不足以应对国际挑战，但美国的高等教育是无法用简单的统计指标衡量的，因为它最突出的特点是教育理念、课程设置和教职安排的灵活性和多元化。美国高等院校的教学方式琳琅满目。这是好事，一成不变的方式肯定不适合所有学生，也不适用于未来。我们还应记住，世界大学100强当中仍有超过半数是在美国，留学生数量的大幅增加就说明了这一事实。是的，其他国家也有好大学，假以时日，还会有很多新的好大学涌现。但“震中”同样还是在more will emerge over time. But again the epicenter remains here.What should our politicians do to help usher in this new era of entrepreneurial growth? Liquid financia