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美国推出绿色超级计算机

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory in suburban¹ Chicago is home to one of the newest, fastest, most efficient supercomputers in the country, called MIRA. But despite the new equipment, lawmakers are concerned that the United States is losing the international supercomputing race, a field it has dominated for decades.

美国能源部在芝加哥郊区阿尔贡国家实验室推出了国内最新、最快、最有效的一个名为MIRA的超级计算机。但是，根据美国之音记者法拉鲍的报道，尽管有这个新的设备，可是美国国会议员担心美国正在失去超级计算机竞争中保持了几十年的的主导权。

Lined up in a sprawling³ room on the second floor of Argonne National Laboratory’s Theory and Computing² Sciences building is the future of supercomputing.

在阿尔贡国家实验室理论和计算机科学大楼二楼一个硕大的房间内放着未来的超级计算机。

Argonne Director Eric Isaacs says MIRA can go where few computers can.

阿尔贡国家实验室主任埃里克.艾萨克斯说MIRA可以做到几乎很少电脑可以做到的事情。

“A machine like this enables us to start solving complex problems, and by complex problems, I mean problems that have many moving parts," he said. "Like a jet engine, a photovoltaic cell, like a grid⁴, if you think about a power grid, a power grid is a very complicated thing.”

阿尔贡国家实验室的埃里克?艾萨克斯说：“像这样的机器可以帮助我们解决一些复杂的问题。我这里所说的复杂的问题指的是那些涉及很多移动部件的问题，像喷气发动机，光伏电池。比如电网，你可以想想电网，这是一个非常复杂的东西。”

When construction and assembly of MIRA began, it was projected to be the third fastest computer on the planet, clocking in at around 10 petaflops.

MIRA开始建造组装的时候，预计将是这个世界上第三快的计算机。时速大约是10千万亿次。

“That’s 10 quadrillion operations per second. That’s just very fast,” according to Isaacs.

埃里克?艾萨克斯说:“它每秒运算10千万亿次，非常快。”

But not fast enough to stay on top.

但是并没有快到遥遥领先。

By the time U.S. Senator Dick Durbin arrived at Argonne for a ceremonial ribbon cutting to officially dedicate the newest machine on the supercomputing block, MIRA had fallen to fifth place in the global ranking of the world’s fastest computers.

当美国参议员迪克?德宾抵达阿尔贡参加最新超级计算机正式投入的剪彩仪式时。在全球计算机的速度排名中，MIRA已经跌至第五位。

“The fastest computer in the world is in China,” Isaacs said.

埃里克?艾萨克斯说：“最快的计算机在中国。”

That computer, known as The Milky⁵ Way 2 housed in Guangzhou, is about three times the speed of Argonne’s MIRA.

这台叫做天河二号的电脑在中国广州，它的速度是MIRA的三倍。

“It’s also a real threat," Isaacs said. "We’re now seeing China more often take the lead role of being the fastest or having the fastest machine in the world.”

埃里克?艾萨克斯   阿尔贡国家实验室说：“这是一个真正的威胁。我们可以发现中国现在在速度上一直领先，而且拥有很多世界上最快的机器。

The trend troubles Durbin, who wants the United States to remain competitive in the supercomputing race.

这一威胁困扰着德宾，他希望美国在超级计算机的竞争中保持主导权。

“There’s a competition in this world not just for jobs but for basic research that can be applied⁶ to the private sector⁷ and public sector, and the world of supercomputing is where many of those battles will be fought,” he said.

美国国会参议员迪克?德宾说：“世界上有一种竞争不只是为了工作而是为了适用于私营部门和公共部门的基础研究。在超级计算机的领域中有很多这样的斗争。”

Durbin says there also are battles to be fought in the U.S. Congress, where funding for supercomputers is bogged⁸ down in the politics of deficit⁹ reduction and tighter budgets.

德宾表示美国国会也有很多这种斗争，在削减赤字和紧缩预算的政治情况下，超级计算机的资金问题停滞不前。

“They know the cost, but they don’t know the value," he said. "We really need to educate members of Congress this supercomputing competition is really key to America’s competitiveness and to a lot of breakthroughs that will benefit the whole world.”

美国参议员迪克?德宾说：“他们知道费用是多少，但是他们不知道其价值是什么。我们必须告诉国会议员超级计算机的竞争是美国竞争力的关键所在，也是很多利于世界的突破口所在。”

Although MIRA is not the fastest, it does hold the distinction of being the most energy efficient. Air around the processors inside the machine is cooled using chilled water in copper¹⁰ tubes instead of fans, which also reduces the amount of noise it creates.

美国参议员迪克?德宾说：“他们知道费用是多少，但是他们不知道其价值是什么。我们必须告诉国会议员超级计算机的竞争是美国竞争力的关键所在，也是很多利于世界的突破口所在。”