当代研究生英语读写教程上

U1:CYBERSPACE:IF YOU DON'T LOVE IT, LEAVE IT信息空间：出入随愿Something in the American psyche loves new frontiers.we hanker after wide-open spaces; we like to explore; we like to make rules but refuse to follow them. But in this age it’s hard to find a place where you can go and be yourself without worrying about the neighbors.美国人的内心深处具有一种酷爱探索新领域的气质。

我们渴求宽敞的场地，我们喜欢探索，喜欢制定规章制度，却不愿去遵守。

在当今时代，却很难找到一块空间，可以供你任意驰骋，又不必担心影响你的邻居。

There is such a place: cyberspace. Formerly a playground for computer fans, cyberspace now embraces every conceivable constituency: schoolchildren, flirtatious singles, Hungarian-americans, accountants. Can they all get along? Or will our fear of kids surfing for dirty pictures behind their bedroom doors provoke a crackdown?确实有这样一个空间，那就是信息空间。

这里原本是计算机迷的游戏天地，但如今只要想像得到的各类人群应有尽有，包括少年儿童、轻佻的单身汉、美籍匈牙利人、会计等。

问题是他们都能和睦相处吗？人们是否会因为害怕孩子们躲在卧室里看网上的淫秽图片而将它封杀？The first order of business is to grasp what cyberspace is. It might help to leave behind metaphors of highways and frontiers and to think instead of real estate. Real estate, remember, is an intellectual, legal, artificial environment constructed on top of land. Real estate recognizes the difference between parkland and shopping mall, between red-light zone and school district, between church , state and drugstore.首先要解决的问题是，什么是信息空间。

我们可以抛开高速公路、前沿新领域等比喻，把信息空间看作一个巨大的庄园。

请记住，庄园是人们智慧的结晶，是合法的、人工营造的氛围，它建立在土地之上。

在庄园里，公园和商业中心、红灯区与学校、教堂与杂货店都能区分开来。

In the same way, you could think of cyberspace as a giant and unbounded world of virtual real estate. Some property is privately owned and rented out; other property is common land; some places are suitable for children, and others are best avoided by all citizens. Unfortunately, it’s those places that are now capturing the popular imagination, places that offer bomb-making instructions, pornography, advice on how to steal credit cards. They make cyberspace sound like a nasty place. Good citizens jump to a conclusion: better regulate it.你可以用同样的方法把信息空间想像为一个巨大的、无边无际的虚拟庄园。

其中有些房产为私人拥有并已租出，有些是公共场所；有的场所适合儿童出入，而有些地方人们最好避开。

不幸的是，正是这些应该避开的地方使得人们心向神往。

这些地方教唆你如何制造炸弹、为你提供淫秽材料、告诉你如何窃取信用卡。

所有这些使信息空间听起来像是一个十分肮脏的地方。

正直的公民纷纷作出这样的结论：最好对它严加管理。

But before using regulations to counter indecency it is fundamental to interpret the nature of cyberspace. Cyberspace isn’t a frontier where wicked people can grab un suspecting children, nor is it a giant television system that can beam offensive messages at unwilling viewers. In the kind of real estate, users have to choose where they visit, what they see, what they do. It’s optional. In other words, cyberspace is a voluntary destination -----in reality, many destinations. You don’t just get “onto the net ”; you have to go someplace in particular. That means that people can choose where to go and what to see. Yes, community standards should be enforced, but those standards should be set by cyberspace communities themselves, not by the courts or by politicians in Washington.但是，在利用规章制度来反击下流之举之前，关键是从根本上理解信息空间的性质。

恶棍并不能在信息空间抢走毫无提防之心的儿童；信息空间也不像一台巨大的电视机，向不情愿的观众播放令人作呕的节目。

在信息空间这座庄园里，用户对他们所去之处、所见所闻、所做所为都要作出选择，一切都出于自愿。

换句话说，信息空间是个出入自便的地方，实际上，信息空间里有很多可去之处。

人们不能盲目上网，必须带着具体的目标上网。

这意味着人们可以选择去哪个网址、看什么内容。

不错，规章制度应该在群体内得以实施，但这些规章制度必须由信息空间内各个群体自己来制定，而不是由法庭或华盛顿的政客们来制定。

What makes cyberspace so alluring is precisely the way in which it’s different from shopping malls, television, highways and ot her terrestrial jurisdictions. But let’s define the territory:信息空间之所以具有如此大的诱惑力，正是因为它不同于商场、电视、公路或地球上的其他地方。

那么，让我们来描述一下这个空间。

First, there are private e-mail conversations, similar to the conversations you have over the telephone.These are private and consensual and require no regulation at all. 首先，信息空间里人与人之间可以进行电子邮件交流。

这种交流类似于电话交谈，都是私人之间的，两厢情愿的谈话，不需要任何规章制度加以限制。

Second, there are information and entertainment services, where people can download anything from legal texts and lists of “great new restaurants” t o game software or dirty pictures. These places are like bookstores, malls and movie houses-----places where you go to buy something. The customer needs to request an item or sign up for a subscription; stuff(especially pornography) is not sent out to peop le who don’t ask for it. Some of these services are free or included as part of a broader service like compuserve or America online; others charge and may bill their customers directly.其次，信息空间提供信息与娱乐服务。

人们可以从中下载各种信息，从法律文件、“大型新饭店”名单，到游戏软件、下流图片，无奇不有。

这里如同书店、商场和电影院，属购物区域。

顾客必须通过索求或者登记来购物，物品（特别是淫秽之物）不会发送给那些没有索取的人。

有些服务可以免费，或作为总服务费用的一部分计算，如“计算机服务”和“美国在线”就是如此。