10月28日，Facebook将公司改名为Meta
其实元宇宙早已不是新词，1992年尼尔在其科幻小说 Snow Crash 中提出，很多科技公司已在元宇宙进行开拓。
在去年的《经济学人》中的科技刊中有一篇关于元宇宙的文章，今天的文章包括开头段：
原文
What is real, anyway?
The Metaverse is coming
Witness any videoconference call, and it is striking how awkward it still is—everyone is in boxes, looking off in random directions. Microsoft tried to fix this recently with “Together” mode for its Teams application. Created by Jaron Lanier, a virtual-reality pioneer, it does away with boxes and puts everyone in a shared virtual space such as an auditorium. All participants see the whole group at once, as if they were all being reflected in a huge virtual mirror. Mr Lanier says this allows social and spatial awareness functions in the brain to work more naturally, and makes it harder to notice irregularities in eye contact.
精读
题目 What is real, anyway? 到底什么才是真实？
什么才是真实的呢？元宇宙让每个人都参与到虚拟现实的世界中来，能够瞬间传送，仅通过意识就能让事情发生，有效超越物理世界的限制。但那都是虚拟的，能想象自己身边的朋友都是模型吗？
就像有位笔者写到：Why should anyone want to pay for something that's ont real.
还有《经济学人》中：
A decade ago the idea of paying real money for virtual items was strange and exotic.
十年前，为虚拟物品花费真金白银的想法很奇怪也很另类。
现在人们不同了，（想想你充了多少钱了），那么元宇宙呢？它又会怎样？
Metaverse is coming. 元宇宙即将来临。
Witness any videoconference call, and it is striking how awkward it still is—everyone is in boxes, looking off in random directions.
witness 作动词 ，意思是见证，另外我们也可以用它来表示发展：
Recent years have witnessed a spurt of progress in AI
最近几年，AI迅猛发展。
videoconference call 意思是 视频电话会议。
strike 作动词，可以表示自然灾害袭击某地，例如：
The cyclone that struck Bangladesh in 1970 killed 300,000-500,000 people.
1970年，飓风袭击孟加拉国，造成30万至50万人死亡
strike 做名词，常表示罢工，例如：
Rural areas have been worst hit by the strike.
这次罢工对农村地区的影响最为严重。
striking 是它的形容词，英文解释：interesting and usual enough to attract attention.
相当于marked.
random 英文解释：happening or chosen without any definite plan, aim, or pattern.举个例子：
The company has introduced random drug testing of its employees.
公司对雇员进行随机药物测试
Witness any videoconference call, and it is striking how awkward it still is—everyone is in boxes, looking off in random directions.
见证任何一个视频电话会议，都会发现它多么的尴尬——每个人都在方框里，向随机的方向张望。
Microsoft tried to fix this recently with “Together” mode for its Teams application.
最近，微软试图用其团队应用程序 “一起”模式来解决这个问题。
fix 在这里的意思是 解决 。
this 指上面令人尴尬的问题。
Created by Jaron Lanier, a virtual-reality pioneer, it does away with boxes and puts everyone in a shared virtual space such as an auditorium.
a virtual-reality pioneer，是Jaron Lanier的同位语，表明他的身份：虚拟现实的先驱。
away with 它的英文解释：used to say that you would like to be rid of sb/sth.
auditorium 表示礼堂
Created by Jaron Lanier, a virtual-reality pioneer, it does away with boxes and puts everyone in a shared virtual space such as an auditorium.
该模式由虚拟现实的先驱，Jaron Lanier创造。该模式摒弃了方框，把每个人都放在一个共享的虚拟空间中，就像一个礼堂。
All participants see the whole group at once, as if they were all being reflected in a huge virtual mirror.
at once 在文中是同时的意思，举个例子：
I can't do two things at once.
mirror 作名词表示镜子。举个例子：
眼睛是心灵的窗户。
The eye is the mirror of the soul.
mirror 做动作词是，表示 反映，体现，和reflect 是同义词，举个例子：
Its ascent has mirrored the decline of traditional television viewing.
它的发展体现了传统电视收视率的下降。
All participants see the whole group at once, as if they were all being reflected in a huge virtual mirror.
所有的参与者都能同时看到整个群的人，就像他们都被反映在一面巨大的虚拟镜子中一样。
Mr Lanier says this allows social and spatial awareness functions in the brain to work more naturally, and makes it harder to notice irregularities in eye contact.
allow 后面加名词，表示 make it possible for something to happen「使...可以发生」。
比如：
In addition, new digital technologies have allowed more rapid trading of equities, quicker use of information, and thus shortens attention spans in financial markets.
此外，新数字技术加快了股票交易频率，促进了信息使用，因此，也缩短了金融市场中的注意力持续时间。
equities 复数指「股票」
spatial 表示 空间的 。
make it harder 怎么理解？看两个例子：
That makes it harder to predict.
这就很难预测
Clutter makes it harder to find the things you need.
东西一乱了就会让你很难找到自己想找的东西。
所以，我们可以这样来理解，理解成相反的一面，比如预测——很难预测。
Mr Lanier says this allows social and spatial awareness functions in the brain to work more naturally, and makes it harder to notice irregularities in eye contact.
拉尼尔先生说，这能让大脑中的社交和空间意识功能能够更加自然地工作，而且让人们更难注意到眼生接触中不正常的现象。
