早安英文 第62期:Email之父

 A computing¹ legend has died. The inventor of email, Ray Tomlinson, suffered a heart attack on Saturday, according to reports. He was 74 years old.

一个有关于电脑的传奇人物去世了。他就是电子邮件之父Ray Tomlinson 。据报道，他于上周六晚因为心脏病突发而逝世，享年76.

suffer v. 遭受

heart attack n. 心脏病发

Thank you, Ray Tomlinson, for inventing email and putting the @ sign on the map,

谢谢你，发明了email 并把@带到了我们的世界。

Pay tribute² to 向 … 致敬

Tomlinson chose the @ symbol to connect the username with the destination address and it has become part of the international language of communication.

汤姆林森选择@符号连接的用户名目的地址,已经成为国际语言交流的一部分。

symbol n. 符号

destination n. 目的地

username n. 用户名

the "@" sign was mundane³, not only was it a little-used symbol, but "it's the only preposition on the keyboard.”

这个@没啥好特别的，它只是我们键盘上唯一一个介词而已。

mundane adj. 普通的

little－used 很少使用

preposition n. 介词

Before his invention, electronic messages could be shared only on a very limited network.

在这个发明出现以前，电子邮件只能在一个很小的范围内被共享。

At that time, computer were a scarce resource.

因为在那个时候，电脑是一个很稀有的东西。

scarce adj. 缺乏的

For a couple decades thereafter⁴, email was a novelty⁵.

之后很长时间，email一直是一个新奇的东西。

novelty n. 新奇的东西

thereafter adv. 之后

It wasn't until the explosion of the personal computer, followed by online services in the late '80s and early '90s that email became widespread.

直到PC的广泛普及，电子邮件才真正开始普遍起来。

explosion n. 爆发式增长

widespread adj. 普遍的

At first, his email messaging system was not considered important.

最初，他的邮件系统没有被很重视。

When Tomlinson showed it to his colleague and said "Don't tell anyone! This isn't what we're supposed to be working on."

colleague ／workmate n. 同事

It altered the way people communicate both in business and in personal life, affecting how “millions of people shop, bank, and keep in touch with friends and family, whether they are across town or across oceans”.

他改变了人们在工作以及生活方面的交流方式，影响了上百万人购物、储蓄以及同朋友或家人联系的方式。不管他们相隔十里还是跨越大洋。

1 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

2 tribute   

n.颂词，称赞，(表示敬意的)礼物；贡品

参考例句：

• She accepted their tribute graciously.她慈祥地接受了他们的致意。
• Many conquered nations had to pay tribute to the rulers of ancient Rome.许多被征服的国家必须向古罗马的统治者朝贡。

3 mundane   

adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的

参考例句：

• I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作，而不是一份平凡无奇的。
• I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的，即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。

4 thereafter   

adv.此后，以后

参考例句：

• Thereafter they did not speak.此后他们就不再讲话了。
• On the opening day all tickets are a dollar, thereafter,they'll be two dollars.开张那天票价一元，以后两元。

5 novelty   

n.新奇事物，新奇（感），新颖廉价的物品

参考例句：

• My mother bought a novelty pen for me.我妈给我买了一支新颖的笔。
• At first I enjoyed all the parties,but the novelty soon wore off.起初我喜欢参加一切聚会，但这种新奇感很快就消失了。