Think of those fleeting moments when you look out of an aeroplane window and realise that you are flying, higher than a bird. Now think of your laptop, thinner than a brown-paper envelope, or your cellphone in the palm of your hand. Take a moment or two to wonder at those marvels. You are the lucky inheritor of a dream come true.
想想那些稍纵即逝的瞬间：你从飞机窗口往外看，意识到你在飞，比鸟儿飞得更高。再想想你的笔记本电脑，它比棕色的纸信封还薄，或者想想你手掌里的手机。请花上一点时间来感叹这些奇迹吧！人类的一个梦想成真，而你是一个幸运的继承者。

The second half of the 20th century saw a collection of geniuses, warriors, entrepreneurs and visionaries labour to create a fabulous machine that could function as a typewriter and printing press, studio and theater, paintbrush and gallery, piano and radio, the mail as well as the mail carrier. Not only did they develop such a device but by the turn of the millennium they had also managed to embed it in a worldwide system accessed by billions of people every day.
20世纪下半叶，涌现了一大批天才、勇士、企业家和梦想家，他们努力工作创造出了一个神话般的机器，它可以被当做打字机和印刷机、摄影棚和剧院、画笔和画廊、钢琴和电台、邮件以及邮递员。他们不仅开发出了这样的设备，而且在世纪之交，还设法将其嵌入一个全球系统，每天都有数10亿人访问这个系统。

The networked computer is an amazing device, the first media machine that serves as the mode of production, means of distribution, site of reception, and place of praise and critique. The computer is the 21st century's culture machine.
联网计算机是一个了不起的设备，它是第一种媒体机器能把生产方式、传播途径、接收站点、评论平台融为一体。计算机也成了21世纪的文化机器。

But for all the reasons there are to celebrate the computer, we must also tread with caution. This is because the networked computer has sparked a secret war between downloading and uploading - between passive consumption and active creation - whose outcome will shape our collective future in ways we can only begin to imagine. I call it a secret war for two reasons. First, most people do not realise that there are strong commercial agendas at work to keep them in passive consumption mode. Second, the majority of people who use networked computers to upload are not even aware of the significance of what they are doing.
尽管我们有很多理由去庆祝计算机的诞生，我们也必须谨慎的使用它。这是因为联网计算机引发了一场上传和下载之间的秘密战争———“被动消费和积极创造之间的战争”，其结果将决定我们共同的未来，而它的影响方式我们还只能去想象。我把它称作为秘密战争的原因有两个：首先大多数人没有意识到，为了保持消费者这种被动的消费模式，有人在背后进行了很强的商业操作。其次大多数使用联网计算机上传信息的人，甚至没有意识到自己的这种行为的重要意义。

All animals download, but only a few upload. Beavers build dams and birds make nests. Yet for the most part, the animal kingdom moves through the world downloading. Humans are unique in their capacity to not only make tools but then turn around and use them to create superfluous material goods - paintings, sculpture and architecture - and superfluous experiences - music, literature, religion and philosophy. Of course, it is precisely these superfluous things that define human culture and ultimately what it is to be human. Downloading and consuming culture requires great skills, but failing to move beyond downloading is to strip oneself of a defining constituent of humanity.
所有动物都在下载，但只有少数动物能上传。海狸能建造水坝，鸟儿能筑巢。然而在大多数情况下，动物王国都是以“下载”的方式在这个世界前行。人类却很独特，他们有能力创造工具，而且能反过来运用这些工具创建出多余的物质产品，绘画、雕塑和建筑；和多余的精神体验，音乐、文学、宗教和哲学。当然正是这些多余的事物定义了人类文化，并最终定义的人类。“下载”和消费文化需要很多技巧，但如果不能超越“下载”，就剥夺了自己作为人类的一项基本权利。

For all the possibilities of our new culture machines, most people are still stuck in download mode. Even after the advent of widespread social media, a pyramid of production remains, with a small number of people uploading material, a slightly larger group commenting on or modifying that content, and a huge percentage remaining content to just consume. One reason for the persistence of this pyramid of production is that for the past half-century, much of the world's media culture has been defined by a single medium - television - and television is defined by downloading.
尽管我们的新文化机器提供了很多的可能性，但大多数人仍然停留在下载模式上。即社交媒体已经广泛出现，金字塔式的创作模式仍然保留着，少数人在上传，稍多一点的人在评论或修改这些上传的内容，而绝大多数人仅仅满足了消费。金字塔创造模式没有变化，是因为在过去的50年里，世界媒体文化一直被定义为一个单一的媒介———电视，而电视的特点就是“下载”。

Television is a one-way tap flowing into our homes. The hardest task that television asks of anyone is to turn the power off after he has turned it on.
电视就像单向流进我们家园的自来水，对于看电视的人来说，最艰巨的任务就是在打开电视之后关闭电视。

The networked computer offers the first chance in 50 years to reverse the flow, to encourage thoughtful downloading and, even more importantly, meaningful uploading.
50年来，联网计算机第一次提供了扭转浪潮的机会，它鼓励有意义的下载，但更重要的是鼓励有意义的上传。

What counts as meaningful uploading? My definition revolves around the concept of "stickiness" - creations and experiences to which others adhere.
怎样才算有意义的上传呢？我的定义和“粘连”这个概念有关———“粘连”他人坚持的创新和体验。

本文来源：2012考研英语一真题

原创作者：Peter Lunenfeld
文章来源：The Secret War Between Downloading and Uploading