Welcome, Cybernauts!

(1) Ever since they were first staged in 19th century Europe, world’s fairs have enabled people from around the globe to visit wondrous¹ stands where they can discover distant lands and new technologies. The 1996 world’s fair is no exception, but it also has a decidedly eve-of-the-21st-century twist: the whole event happens in cyberspace².

(2) A nonprofit project dreamed up by Americans Carl Malamud, a computer consultant³, and Vinton Cerf, and Internet pioneer and telecommunications-company vice⁴ president, the Internet 1996 World Exposition is a digi-tal work in progress, a multi-chambered forum⁵? that cybernauts can help build and renovate⁶ throughout the year — and perhaps long after the fair’s official close in December.

(3) While high-tech⁷ pavilions? set up by sponsoring corporations are featured prominently, as in real fairs, this virtual exposition is closer in spirit and reality to a vast, busy bazaar⁸?, a marketplace for the talents and offer-ings of thousands of individuals and small groups. Anyone with a computer and a moderm can not only “attend” but also participate as an exhibitor by creating an individual multimedia⁹ Website. Visitors can easily navigate¹⁰ from an introduction to Luddism to an exhibition on the wildlife of the Galapagos Islands and then to a virtual Bengali religious festival.

(4) All the linked sites are supported by Central Park, a global infrastructure¹¹ of six computer servers — ex-pected to triple to 18 by year’s end — located in such cities as Tokyo, Amsterdam, Adelaide and Washington. In addition, Japan boasts “public-access points” — from a group of cybercafes in Tokyo’s “in” Harajuku area to computer stations at the headquarters of telecommunications giant NTT — where people can walk off the streets and into the Internet. Amsterdam has a similar setup; more are planned for South Korea and Taiwan.

(5) Getting the fair up and running was by no means easy. Malamud, 36, spent the past year shuttling among 30 countries, lobbying companies that initially¹² dismissed the project as unwieldy and unworkable. While some nations immediately supported the idea, others completely missed the point of Malamud’s vision: to make the fair a public-works project that focuses on what the Internet can offer ______ or novice¹³?. Once grass-roots groups started backing the project, though, businesses were not far behind. By donating equipment and services, these companies will gain access to millions of potential consumers eager to see the firms’ latest technologies.

(6) Japanese corporations were quick to seize the chance of putting their technological¹⁴ prowess on show. Sony, for example, focuses its pavilion on its Cyber Passage software, which can combine three-dimensional images with sound and motion. The technology behind Cyber Passage — similar to that used in the Play Station, Sony’s successful new 32-bit video-game player — may have applications for distributing and playing 3-D games over the Net.

(7) Since the exposition’s Jan. 1 launch, as many as 40,000 visitors each day from more than 40 countries have tried the major Websites (the main home page is at http: //park. org ). Most virtual visitors log on from the U.S and Japan, but the United Arab Emirates, Sweden, Singapore and Estonia have been represented. Com-ments logged in the fair’s guest book are overwhelmingly positive. “Wow, the world is shrinking,” wrote a visi-tor from the Netherlands.

(8) Since their initial hesitancy, the major sponsors — primarily telecommunications and software compa-nies — have become firm believers. Beyond the diversity of content and international scope, the fair is a tech-nological marvel¹⁵. A total of $100 million has been contributed toward producing the exposition, $25 million for computer equipment alone. The central servers have a storage capacity of a terabyte? — the equivalent of a million floppy¹⁶? disks. Says Rob Blokzijl, a nuclear physicist¹⁷ and a member of the exposition’s executive com-mittee: “To make all those machines work happily together, you need the Internet.” But since the existing inter-national capabilities¹⁸ of the Internet were inadequate¹⁹, he says, “we built a sort of backstage of our own.”

(9) And that backstage — a high-speed telecommunications pipeline²⁰ — is the exposition’s true showpiece. Just as the 1889 Paris Exposition gave rise to the Eiffel Tower, this world’s fair will leave behind a structure that embodies²¹ its vision of the future: a transoceanic “railroad” of high-speed fiber-optic links. MCI and the Japa-nese telephone company KDD donated an estimated $ 20 million to the cost of the 45-megabit-per-second data hook-up. Laid down across the Pacific to connect the U.S. with Asia and Europe, the pipeline adds speed and quality to audio and video transmission: moving from noe screen to the next, which may take minutes on a phone circuit, can be done as quickly as switching TV channels with a remote control.

(10) The fastest international link ever installed, this pipeline could be the first step toward laying a permanent network that will eventually hardwire every nation in the world into the Internet. The organizers hope that the infrastructure — and awareness²² — nurtured²³ by this exposition will lauch a boom in Net use. “By the end of 1996,” says organizer Cerf, “my hope and expectation is that people will discover there is such a strong busi-ness need for it that we’ll keep [the links] in place.” Malamud puts it in simpler terms: “I want this to be a fair-ground that goes on forever.”

【参考译文】: 网络游侠大集合

(1) 自从19世纪欧洲首度举行世界博览会以来，全球各地已经有许多人借此参观神奇的摊位，发现遥远的国度与新奇的科技。1996年世界博览会也不例外，但是它加上了一个很有21世纪预感的变奏：整个博览会在网络世界进行。

(2) 卡尔? 马拉木德是电脑顾问，文通? 瑟夫是国际互联网拓荒者，也是电传通讯公司副总裁，这两位美国人构想出这个非营利的计划。国际互联网1996世界博览会是一项进行中的数位作业，有许多展示间的公共讨论会场，网络游侠有一整年的时间可以参与建造与更新，甚至可能会延续到12月正式结束之后很久。

(3) 赞助厂商设的高科技摊位固然像在真的博览会中一样占了显著的地位，可是这场虚拟博览会的气氛与实务更接近一个庞大、热闹的商场，展售数以千计个人与小团体的才能与商品。只要有一部电脑和调制解调器就可以“参加”，甚至也可以自己设计多媒体网址来参展。参观者可以看到一个摊位有关反科技潮流的介绍，然后轻易转到一场加拉帕戈斯群岛野生生物的展览，再去参观虚拟的孟加拉宗教庆典。

(4) 所有连网的网站都由“中央公园”支援，这是6部电脑伺服器构成的全球性基础设施（年底预计会增加到18部），分别坐落在东京、阿姆斯特丹、阿德莱德与华盛顿等各大都市。此外日本还设有“大众出入口”，民众可以离开街道就走进国际互联网。这些出入口包括东京时髦的原宿区网络咖啡馆，以及电传通讯巨人日本电报电话（NTT）公司总部的电脑站。阿姆斯特丹也有类似的设备，韩国和台湾也在规划中。

(5)这次博览会能热热闹闹地进行，绝非易事。36岁的马拉木过去一年都在30个国家间穿梭，游说各大公司。起初这些公司都认为他的计划太庞大、不可行，也有一些国家立即支持这个构想，有些国家则完全没掌握住马拉木梦想中的重点：把博览会办成公共工程计划，焦点在于国际互联网能给专家和新手哪些服务。到了基层的团体开始支持这项计划时，企业界也很快跟进。各大公司捐赠设备与服务，为的是能接触到数百万潜在客户——他们都急着想看看这些公司最新的科技。

(6)日本的公司很快抓住机遇把他们的科技实力公开展出。例如索尼公司摊位强调其“网络通道”软体，它可以组合立体影像与声音、动作。“网络通道”用到的技术和新力畅销的新型32单元电视游乐器“游乐站”的技术类似，也许可以应用在网络上来传送、执行立体游戏。

(7) 自从1月1日推出以来，博览会的主要网站一天能吸引到40多国的4万名参观者（主网页设在http://park.org）。大多数的虚拟游客从美国、日本进入，可是阿拉伯联合酋长国、瑞典、新加坡与爱沙尼亚也不乏上网者。博览会留言簿上的评语绝大多数是好评。一名荷兰来的参观者留言：“哇！世界变小了。”

(8)各大赞助公司——主要是电传通讯公司与软件公司——起初还有点迟疑，后来都变成坚信不渝。这场博览会不仅内容五花八门，涵盖领域无远弗届，在技术方面也是一项奇迹。为了顺利推出博览会，总计捐款达1亿美元，光是电脑设备就值2500万美元。中央伺服器的储存量高达兆兆字节——相当于100万片软盘。核子物理学家、博览会执行委员会委员罗布? 布洛柯锡说：“让那么多机器一起愉快工作，只有靠国际互联网。”可是因为国际互联网现有的国际传输容量不足，他表示“所以我们自己盖了一个后台。”

(9)那个后台是高速的电传通讯通道，也是博览会真正的明星展示品。1889年的巴黎博览会留下了埃菲尔铁塔，这一次的世界博览会也会留下一个结构来代表未来的远景：越洋的高速光纤电缆——“铁路”。MCI公司和日本电话公司（KDD）共捐赠约2000万美元来建设这条每秒可传45兆位资料的电缆。这条穿越太平洋，连通美国与欧、亚的通道，增强了音响与视讯的传送速度与品质。如果用电话线路来换画面，一次要好几分钟。现在可以快到像用遥控器转换电视频道一样。

(10)这条通道是历史上最快的国际连线，也是迈出了第一步，将来可能埋下永久性的网线，逐步将世界上每一个国家都直接连入国际互联网中。博览会的规划者希望，此次大会培育出来的基础设施——以及网络意识——可以推动使用网络的新热潮。主事者瑟夫说：“到1996年底，我很希望，也很期待人们会发现我们建立的联网为企业界迫切需要，那么就可以把它留着。”马拉木讲得更简单明了：“我希望它是永不结束的市集。”