1998年6月英语四级 – 阅读理解B

There is no denying that students should learn something about how computers work, just as we expect them at least to understand that the internal-combustion engine has something to do with burning fuel, expanding gases and pistons being driven. For people should have some basic idea of how the things that they use do what they do. Further, students might be helped by a course that considers the computer’s impact on society. But that is not what is meant by computer literacy. For computer literacy is not a form of literacy; it is a trade skill that should not be taught as a liberal art.
毫无疑问，学生应该学习一些计算机的工作原理，就像我们希望他们至少明白内燃机与燃烧燃料、膨胀气体和活塞驱动有关一样。因为人们应该对他们使用的东西是如何工作有一些基本的了解。此外，考虑到计算机对社会的影响的课程可能会对学生有所帮助。但这并不是所谓的计算机知识，因为计算机知识不是一种读写能力；这是一种商业技能，不应该作为一门文科来教学。

Learning how to use a computer and learning how to program one are two distinct activities. A case might be made that the competent citizens of tomorrow should free themselves from their fear of computers. But this is quite different from saying that all ought to know how to program one. Leave that to people who have chosen programming as a career. While programming can be lots of fun, and while our society needs some people who are experts at it, the same is true of auto repair and violin-making.
学习如何使用计算机和学习如何编程是两项截然不同的活动。也许可以提出一个理由，明天有能力的公民应该把自己从对电脑的恐惧中解放出来。但这和说所有人都应该知道如何编程是完全不同的，把这些留给那些选择编程作为职业的人。虽然编程很有趣，虽然我们的社会需要一些编程专家，但汽车修理和小提琴制作也是如此。

Learning how to use a computer is not that difficult, and it gets easier all the time as programs become more “user-friendly”. Let us assume that in the future everyone is going to have to know how to use a computer to be a competent citizen. What does the phrase “learning to use a computer” mean? It sounds like “learning to drive a car”, that is, it sounds as if there is some set of definite skills that, once acquired, enable one to use a computer.
学习如何使用电脑并没有那么困难，而且随着程序变得越来越“用户友好”，它变得越来越容易。我们假设，在未来每个人都必须知道如何使用计算机才能成为一名称职的公民。“学会使用电脑”是什么意思？这听起来像是“学会开车”，也就是说，听起来好像有一套明确的技能，一旦掌握，就可以使用电脑。

In fact, “learning to use a computer” is much more like “learning to play a game”, but learning the rules of one game may not help you play a second game, whose rules may not be the same. There is no such a thing as teaching someone how to use a computer. One can only teach people to use this or that program and generally that is easily accomplished.
事实上，“学习使用电脑”更像是“学习玩游戏”，但学习一个游戏的规则可能不会帮助你玩第二个游戏，而第二个规则可能不一样。没有教别人如何使用电脑这样的事情，只能教人们使用这个或那个程序，通常这很容易实现。