VOA慢速英語(yǔ):BASIC語(yǔ)言五十周年：改變世界的計(jì)算機(jī)編程語(yǔ)言

50 Years of BASIC, the Computer Programming Language That Changed the World

BASIC語(yǔ)言五十周年：改變世界的計(jì)算機(jī)編程語(yǔ)言

From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report.

這里是美國(guó)之音慢速英語(yǔ)科技報(bào)道。

May 1st marked the 50th anniversary of a special computer language. The new code was designed to permit college students not trained in mathematics to use computers.

5月1日標(biāo)志著一門特殊計(jì)算機(jī)語(yǔ)言的50周年。這種新代碼的目的是讓未受過(guò)數(shù)學(xué)培訓(xùn)的大學(xué)生使用計(jì)算機(jī)。

50 years ago, computer owners were mainly governments, businesses and universities. Programmers wrote pages of commands in mathematical expressions to operate these early computers.

50年前，計(jì)算機(jī)所有者主要是政府、企業(yè)和大學(xué)。程序員用數(shù)學(xué)公式撰寫成頁(yè)的命令來(lái)操作這些早期的計(jì)算機(jī)。

John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz were two professors in the mathematics department at Dartmouth College. They wanted students in other departments to be able to use their school's computer. So they developed a simpler set of computer commands called Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, or BASIC.

約翰·凱梅尼(John Kemeny)和托馬斯·庫(kù)爾茲(Thomas Kurtz)是達(dá)特茅斯學(xué)院數(shù)學(xué)系的兩位教授。他們希望其它系的學(xué)生也能夠使用學(xué)校的計(jì)算機(jī)。因此他們開發(fā)了一套更簡(jiǎn)單的計(jì)算機(jī)命令，它被稱為初學(xué)者通用符號(hào)指令碼，簡(jiǎn)稱BASIC語(yǔ)言。

"We deliberately invented a language that was almost devoid of many of the technical details that were present in other languages," said Kurtz.

庫(kù)爾茲說(shuō)，“我們特意發(fā)明了一門不包括任何在其它語(yǔ)言有的技術(shù)細(xì)節(jié)的語(yǔ)言。”

BASIC puts English commands, such as IF…THEN, or GO...TO, into a numerical language computers can understand. Mr Kurtz says almost everyone at Dartmouth College began using computers.

BASIC語(yǔ)言將IF…THEN或GO...TO之類的英語(yǔ)命令轉(zhuǎn)換成計(jì)算機(jī)可以理解的數(shù)字化語(yǔ)言。庫(kù)爾茲說(shuō)，達(dá)特茅斯學(xué)院幾乎所有人都開始使用電腦。

"Not only our students loved getting onto the computer any time they wanted to, for whatever purpose they wanted to, but even the faculty got interested. Of course not everybody, but many of them," Kurtz said.

庫(kù)爾茲說(shuō)，“不僅是我們的學(xué)生喜歡隨時(shí)使用電腦做任何事情，甚至我們的教員也產(chǎn)生了濃厚興趣。當(dāng)然不是所有人，但也是很多人。”

BASIC was a major step toward the development of personal computers. Peggy Kidwell is the Curator of Mathematics at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. She says BASIC was created just as computers became fast enough to perform many commands at the same time.

BASIC語(yǔ)言是個(gè)人計(jì)算機(jī)發(fā)展的重要一步。佩吉·基德韋爾(Peggy Kidwell)是美國(guó)史密森國(guó)立歷史博物館數(shù)學(xué)館館長(zhǎng)。她說(shuō)，BASIC語(yǔ)言產(chǎn)生于計(jì)算機(jī)快到可以同時(shí)執(zhí)行多條命令之際。

"Now, that whole notion that anybody could run a computer permeates the whole world. And I would say that is not the immediate legacy of BASIC but it is a part of what was involved in building up on BASIC," said Kidwell.

基德韋爾說(shuō)，“現(xiàn)在，任何人都可以使用計(jì)算機(jī)的這種理念擴(kuò)散到全球。而我要說(shuō)的是，這不是BASIC語(yǔ)言的直接產(chǎn)物，而是基于BASIC語(yǔ)言所進(jìn)行的開發(fā)的一部分。”

Mr Kurtz and Mr Kemeny released BASIC to the public for free, the computer language quickly became very popular. Mr Kurtz says they hoped the language would solve what they saw as a major upcoming problem.

庫(kù)爾茲和凱梅尼向公眾免費(fèi)發(fā)布了BASIC語(yǔ)言。這種計(jì)算機(jī)語(yǔ)言很快就大受歡迎。庫(kù)爾茲先生說(shuō)，他們希望這種語(yǔ)言可以解決他們認(rèn)為即將發(fā)生的一個(gè)重大問(wèn)題。

Mr Kurtz says he and Mr Kemeny believed that the computer would become very important in the world. He says most people didn't know anything about computers because they were only used by experts.

庫(kù)爾茲先生表示，他和凱梅尼先生認(rèn)為計(jì)算機(jī)在世界上會(huì)變得非常重要。他說(shuō)，大多數(shù)人對(duì)計(jì)算機(jī)毫無(wú)所知，是因?yàn)橹挥袑＜也攀褂糜?jì)算機(jī)。

The speedy development of computers was followed by many improved versions of BASIC. Over the years, code writers created other easy to use computer languages.

隨著計(jì)算機(jī)的迅猛發(fā)展，出現(xiàn)了多種改進(jìn)版的BASIC語(yǔ)言。這些年來(lái)，代碼編寫者還創(chuàng)建了其它易用的計(jì)算機(jī)語(yǔ)言。

Today, few people use BASIC, but personal computers owe their existence to the first programming language that anyone could speak.

今天很少有人使用BASIC語(yǔ)言，但個(gè)人電腦的存在要?dú)w功于這種任何人都能使用的首門編程語(yǔ)言。

And that's the VOA Learning English Technology Report. For more technology stories, go to our website chinavoa.com. I'm Jonathan Evans.

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