Translation of the NKS [PAUSED]

marveloustau

翻译格式：
1.一段英文原文，一段中文译文
2.对于不确定的翻译和可能产生歧义的译文，用方括号括起来
3.每篇译文前标出页码
4.在页码后写出文本的URL
5.如果一段在一页内没有结束，这一段下一页的部分放在本页一并翻译

讨论规则：
1.跟帖讨论，请标出你所要改进的那句话的页码，和段落原文。翻译者要把这个修改放进自己翻译的帖子内。
2.若两个人或多于两个人认可了修改后的译文，那么翻译者可以将原来的译文用修改后的覆盖掉。

为了为以后的校译工作减轻负担，如果大家在阅读时如果有更好的译法，请少花片刻时间在后面跟个贴，把您认为翻译不当的地方写出来(为方便查找，请直接点在那楼的右下角的“回复”，最好能标出第几段)。谢谢大家！

-----------------------------------------我是例子的分割线-----------------------------------------------------------

Page ix
http://www.wolframscience.com/nksonline/page-ix-text

Preface
序言

Just over twenty years ago I made what at first seemed like a small discovery: a computer experiment of mine showed something I did not expect. But the more I investigated, the more I realized that what I had seen was the beginning of a crack in the very foundations of existing science, and a first clue towards a whole new kind of science.
就在二十年前我高了一个看起来一个小小的发现：我的一个计算机实验让我看到了一些意外的事情。但是随着我进一步的研究，我更加意识到这是现存科学最基础部分的一道裂缝，同时也是通向一种全新科学的第一条线索。

This book is the culmination of nearly twenty years of work that I have done to develop that new kind of science. I had never expected it would take anything like as long, but I have discovered vastly more than I ever thought possible,and in fact what I have done now touches almost every existing area of science, and quite a bit besides.
这本书是我近二十年来对这种新科学探索的一个顶峰。我并没有想到这个工作会花去这么长时间，但是我所发现的东西远多于我曾经所能想到的，事实上我几乎已经触及到了科学的所有领域，并且除此以外还有很多东西。

In the early years, I did as I had done before as a scientist, and published accounts of my ongoing work in the scientific literature. But although what I wrote seemed to be very well received, I gradually came to realize that technical papers scattered across the journals of all sorts of fields could never successfully communicate the kind of major new intellectual structure that I seemed to be beginning to build.
在早些时候，我是以一个科学工作者的身份进行研究的，并且发表了很多关于我正在进行的工作的文章。但是尽管我写的文章看起来比较受欢迎，我却渐渐认识到这些技术文章散落在各个领域的期刊上，而并不能够成功的为一种新的知识体系而交流。而这知识体系正是我开始建立的。

So I resolved just to keep working quietly until I had finished, and was ready to present everything in a single coherent way. Fifteen years later this book is the result. And with it my hope is to share what I have done with as wide a range of scientists and non-scientists as possible.
所以我下定决心低调工作直到完成它，并且能够将所有东西以一种方法流畅的表达出来为止。于是十五年之后诞生了这本书。我希望能够将我的成果尽可能广泛地在科学工作者和非科学工作者之间分享。

In modern times it has been almost unheard of for genuinely new science to be presented for the first time in a book that can be read by non-scientists. For progress in science has mostly tended to take place in small steps that cannot reasonably be explained without relying on specialized technical knowledge of what has gone before.
当代已经几乎听不到说一门全新的科学在一本书中首次出现就能让非科学工作者有能力阅读。[如果不依靠目前已经有的专业技术知识，对于科学进展中产生的每一小步进展都无法得到合理的解释。]

[ 本帖最后由 marveloustau 于 2008-8-21 14:32 编辑 ]

bainhome

你翻译出来，我抽时间做成这个样子：

marveloustau

我们干脆就做成NKS的中英对照辅助读物好了。能做成您这样相当了不得了。虽然说图片和代码网上都有，但是真的按照原书进行排版太困难了。

waynebuaa

他应该是用Latex排版的，很方便的

bainhome

是用LaTeX，到时候考虑一下做得更精美一点儿。不过排版是小问题，关键还得是翻译者辛苦太多。有句话说得很好：“你把文章版排得再漂亮，它也不会变成红楼梦，红楼梦即使是手抄本，也是让世人折腰的不朽巨著”。
你负责翻译，编辑的问题交给版主和我即可，不过猜测楼主真正的目的这只是完成了第一步，后续的言论、讨论甚至是争论，才是最妙不可言的过程。

marveloustau

Page x   http://www.wolframscience.com/nksonline/page-x-text

But to develop the new kind of science that I describe in this book Ihave had no choice but to take several large steps at once, and indoing so I have mostly ended up having to start from scratch--with newideas and new methods that ultimately depend very little on what hasgone before.
然而，为了创建我这本书所描述的新科学，我不得不一次性迈出几大步，并且为了这样做我的大部分工作最终将必须白手起家——以一种根本不依赖于前人知识的新观念，新方法。[这句话完全是Wayne同学的译文]


In some ways it might have been easier for me to present what I have done in some kind of new technical formalism. But instead I have chosen to spend the effort to take things to the point where they are clear enough to be explained quite fully just in ordinary language and pictures.
在某些方面，用一些新的技术上的形式语言表达我所取得的成就可能更容易一些。但正好相反，现在我选择了将我的精力花在把事情用平常的语言和图片完整地表达清楚上。

Unfortunately, however, this will no doubt mean that there are some--particularly from the existing sciences--who will at first assume that their existing technical knowledge must somehow already cover whatever is in this book. And a few, I fear, will stop at that point, and choose to learn no more. But many, I hope, will at least look at the book long enough to begin to be surprised by what it actually says.
但不幸的是，毫无疑问[有些人]——尤其是来自现存的科学——会一开始就假设现存的技术知识一定已经以某种方式涵盖了这本书的方方面面，我担心一部分人会在这一点止步，不再学习更多的东西。但我希望仍然会有很多人会坚持足够长的时间来阅读这本书，至少开始为这本书中真正所描述的事情感到惊讶

At first probably they will think that parts of it cannot possibly be correct--for they seem so at odds with existing science. And indeed if I myself were just to pick up this book today without having spent the past twenty years thinking about its contents, I have little doubt that I too would not believe many of the things it says.
一开始他们可能会认为这本书中一些地方不可能是正确的——从已知科学的角度来看它们如此格格不入。的确，如果我自己没有在过去花二十年的时间研究这些内容而只是随便拾起这本书，毫无疑问我不会相信书中大部分内容。

But the computer experiments on which the science in the book is ultimately based are easy to check on any modern computer. And almost all the arguments in the book--while often not conceptually simple--require no specialized scientific or other knowledge to follow.
然而，这本书中的新科学其实仅仅基于计算机实验，而这些实验是很容易在任何一台现代计算机上实现的。并且几乎书中所有的观点——当然在概念上并不简单——并不需要专业的科学知识或者其他知识作为陪伴。

Yet it has certainly taken me years to come to terms with the conclusions I have reached. And while I hope that all the effort I have put into presentation in this book will make it easier for others, I do not expect it to be a quick process. For to absorb in any real way what the book has to say requires a fairly major shift in intuition and thinking.
然而我还是花了很多年才将这些东西与我已经得到的结论达成一致。并且，虽然我希望我为书中的表达所付出的所有努力能够让它对于其他读者能够更容易理解，我也并不期望大家能够很快地搞定这件事。为了真正地吸收书中所述的内容，需要在直觉和思维上有一个巨大的飞跃。

But the most important first step, I believe, is just to recognize what is involved. For though there are connections of all sorts, this book is first and foremost about a fundamentally new intellectual structure, that needs to be understood in its own terms, and cannot reasonably be fit into any existing framework.
但是最重要的第一步，我相信，就是认识到这本书到底说了什么。因为尽管这本书涉及到方方面面的联系，但是它首要的内容是关于一个基础的新的思维结构。这个结构需要以其自己定义的方式理解，而且不能依据什么同现存的任何框架相匹配。

[ 本帖最后由 marveloustau 于 2008-8-14 23:37 编辑 ]

marveloustau

Page xi       http://www.wolframscience.com/nksonline/page-xi-text

It has been a great challenge for me to capture the things I have discovered over the past twenty years in a book of manageable size. And to do so I have often ended up compressing into a page or even a paragraph the essence of what a chapter or even a book could have been written about.
把我在过去二十年里的所有发现囊括到一本可以控制厚度的书中，对于我来说是一个巨大的挑战。为了做到这一点，通常是我将那些可以写一张甚至一本书的重要内容，压缩到一页甚至一段。


In the quarter million or so words of the main text my emphasis is on communicating the core of my ideas and discoveries--as well as indicating a little of how I came to them. The last three hundred or so pages of the book--themselves another quarter million or so words--supplement the main text with many historical and technical notes, and also summarize more discoveries. The notes that begin on page 849 address some specific issues about reading this book.
正文中将近二十五万字的篇幅，我用来强调传达我核心的想法与发现，同样也提到些关于我是如何发现它们的。在书中的最后约三百页——又是差不多二十五万字的内容——以很多历史上的和技术的注记作为补充，并且总结了更多的发现。这些注记自书中849页开始，提到了在阅读过程中一些细节的内容。


Throughout the book my primary concern is with basic science and fundamental issues. But building on the foundations in the book there are a vast array of applications--both conceptual and practical--that can now be developed.
整本书中我主要关注的是基础的科学和基本的内容，但是在这基础之上排列着一系列[这词wayne翻得真好]大量的实际应用——同时包括概念上的和实践上的——它们现在就可以开发。


No doubt some will come quickly. But most will probably take decades to emerge. Yet in time I expect that the ideas of this book will come to pervade not only science and technology but also many areas of general thinking. And with this its methods will eventually become a standard part of education--much as mathematics is today. And in the end most of what now seems surprising and remarkable in the book will come to seem familiar and commonplace.
毋庸置疑有一些应用很快就会问世，但是大部分可能很多年之后才会出现。而我希望书中这些想法会渗透到不只是科学和技术中，而且还有更多领域的基础思维方式中。并且这些方法必然会成为教育中标准的一部分——正如我们今天的数学一样多。并且书中这些令人惊奇和奇异非凡的想法最终会变成我们看起来再平常不过的东西。


Butfor me what has always been most important is the actual process ofdiscovery. For I know of nothing as profoundly exciting as to glimpsefor the first time some new and basic truth. And now that I havefinished building the intellectual structure that I describe in thisbook it is my hope that those who read these words can share in theexcitement I have had in making the discoveries that were involved.
但是对于我来说，最重要的东西始终是实实在在的探索过程，因为当我第一次瞥见到一些新的基础的真理时我深深地感受到了前所未有的兴奋。如今我已经完成了书中所讲述的理论结构的建构工作，剩下的就是希望读到这些文字的人能享受我在创造这个新发现的过程中所得到的快乐。[from Wayne]

Stephen Wolfram
January 15, 2002

[ 本帖最后由 marveloustau 于 2008-8-14 23:47 编辑 ]

FreddyMusic

It's a pleasure to read < red >.

Opp...Actually I am reading Sharkspear's work.

FreddyMusic

The style is professional. Thanks bainhome.

marveloustau

Page xii          http://www.wolframscience.com/nksonline/page-xii-text

The creation of this book and the science it describes has been a vast personal undertaking, spanning the better part of half my life so far. And for it to all have been even remotely possible has required a series of particular personal circumstances.Foremost among them is that I have lived at the moment in history when technology has first made it possible to do the kinds of things I have done. But also crucial has been that my early successes in science and business have for more than twenty years allowed me to be free to pursue the personal intellectual objectives I have chosen.

这本书的创造和它所描述的科学在很大程度上已经成为了个人的行为，花去了到现在为止我前半生最好的年华。[对于[已经存在的一切]，需要一系列的特别的个人条件。](*其实整句话都不知道怎么翻，找不到主语*)。在这之中最主要的是我所生活在的是历史上这样一个时代，就是技术的发展已经使我自己的成果可以实现。但是同样重要的是在我比二十年前更早所取得的科学和商业上的成就使得我能够自由地投入到我所选择的[个人的思维目标]之中.


That by my late teenage years I had already become established in science was what originally provided the personal confidence and practical situation that made it possible for me to embark on an intellectual project as ambitious as this. My early experiences--particularly in physics and computing--were crucial in pointing me in the basic direction I took. My work in designing and documenting Mathematica and its forerunners was central in developing for me a certain definite pattern of clear thinking. My experiences in business were also important in helping me form a capacity for making strategic intellectual decisions. And the fact that for most of my life I have tried to learn as broadly and deeply as possible about science and other fields has provided me a crucial base of knowledge. But more than anything else what has finally allowed me to create the new kind of science in this book is Mathematica. For while building Mathematica has taken a considerable amount of my time, I would without it as a tool never have been able to do the vast majority of what is now in this book.
In my early years I was very much a part of the traditional scientific community. But had I remained there I have little doubt that I would never have been able to create something of the magnitude that I describe in this book. For even just to spend so many years on a single project outside of existing disciplines--and without publishing anything about it--would likely have become impossible even in the highly favorable academic circumstances in which I found myself.
在我的青少年时代，我已经在科学方面有所建树，并且最初是科学为我提供了自信和实践的精神状态。这时的我能够开启一项智慧的工程，[如同这个工程一样有雄心]。我早期的经验——尤其是物理学和计算方面——对于指引我在我选择的这个基础方向上非常重要。我设计Mathematica并撰写文档的工作，以及它之前的版本(*应该就是传说中的SMP*)，对我养成一个确定的清晰思维模式起到了至关重要的作用。我在商业上的经验在培养我作出有谋略的且巧妙的策略这样一种能力也起到了重要的作用。并且事实上在我的大部分生活中，我尝试去尽可能广博且深刻地学习科学及其他领域，这给我提供了一个重要的知识基础。但是对我来说能够使我创立出这样一种新科学的高于一切的因素是Mathematica。
我花了大量的时间构建Mathematica，是因为没有它作为工具，我无法做出现在在这本书中的大部分东西。在早些时候我很大程度上是属于传统科学阵营的。如果我现在还留在那里的话，毋庸置疑我将无法创造出这部书中所描述的最重要的东西。如果不是我把这么多时间花在现存各种学科之外的这么一个计划上——并且没出版关于它的任何东西——我甚至不可能留在这么一个令人欣喜的学术环境，并在其中找到自我。

But with the commercial success of Mathematica and Wolfram Research there have for many years not been any such issues for me. And indeed, within my company I have been able to build up a remarkable group of people--who have supported my efforts in all sorts of ways. Over the past fifteen years hundreds of members of our R&D and engineering groups have worked to take my ideas for Mathematica and turn them into finished software that I and millions of others rely on every day. And at one time or another almost every major department of my company has provided help that has been crucial to some aspect of the creation or production of this book.
但是伴随着伴随着Wolfram Research和Mathematica在商业上的成功，我已经有很多年没有涉足学术领域了。并且事实上，在我的公司里我能够建立起一个杰出的小组——他们在各个方面支持者我。在接下来的十五年里，我们研发和工程小组的几百个成员怀着我在Mathematica上的想法工作，并且完成了这个我和几百万人每天都需要的软件。有一段时间几乎公司所有的部门都提供了创作并出版这本书所必要的帮助。

Yet what is probably most striking is that even in my role as CEO of a highly active company I have for more than ten years been able to devote the large amounts of time that have been required to write this book and develop the science it describes. And more than anything else,what has made this possible is the outstanding team that has helped manage the ongoing operations of the company--especially our current executive committee: George Beck, Roger Germundsson,Theodore Gray, Becky Porth, Brenda Skelly, Tom Wickham-Jones and my brother Conrad Wolfram.
然而，对我来说最感动的就是，尽管我在这样一个高度活跃的公司身居CEO之要职，我还能十年如一日地将我大部分精力投入到写这本书和对这本书所述科学的拓展中。并且比一切更重要的是，一个杰出的团队维持着公司的运作而使这成为可能——尤其是公司目前的执行委员会：George Beck, Roger Germundsson,Theodore Gray, Becky Porth, Brenda Skelly, Tom Wickham-Jones and my brother Conrad Wolfram.

To pursue a project of the length and intensity of this book would not have been possible without the great personal support of my family and friends.Particularly crucial have been my wife--who has contributed both directly and indirectly to many aspects of the form and content of this book, and my children--whose excitement about the world has provided continual encouragement and stimulation. Also important--especially in my youth--were my parents, who supported my early interests and direction.
完成篇幅如此之巨，知识如此之密的书，如果没有来自我家人和朋友的支持是肯定无法做到的。尤其重要的是我的妻子，她已经直接或间接地为这本书内容和形式的方方面面做出了贡献。还有我的孩子，他们对这个世界的兴趣为我提供了持久的鼓励和动力。对我同样重要的是我的父母，尤其在我的少年时期，他们为我早期的兴趣和方向提供了支持。

Like almost any highly creative project, the writing of this book has ultimately been a quite solitary and personal matter. But I have been fortunate over the years to employ a variety of talented assistants,who have helped the project in many different ways: Eric Berg (project management, 2000-2001), Jason Cawley (historical and philosophical issues, 2001-2002 and before), Matthew Cook (technical content,particularly constructions and proofs, 1991-1998), Andrew de Laix(technical content and book production systems, 1998-2002), Matthew Frank (mathematical and historical issues, 2001-2002), Andrea Gerlach(fact finding and checking, 1999-2002), David Hillman (constructions and other technical content, 1997-2001), Scott Koranda (book production systems and project management, 1996-1998), Ed Pegg, Jr. (technical content, 2000-2002), Todd Rowland (mathematical issues, 2001-2002),Malgorzata Strzebonska (graphics finishing, 1997-2002), Matthew Szudzik(mathematical issues, 1998-2000, 2001), &#216;yvind Tafjord (physics and other technical issues, 2001-2002), Kelli Wendt (project management,2001-2002), Erik Winfree (software development, 1991-1992). Othe rmembers of Wolfram Research and Wolfram Media who have made particularly significant contributions include: Larry Adelston (book layout, 2000-2002), George Beck (project management oversight,2001-2002 and before), John Bonadies (cover design and other issues,1995, 1991-1999), Cat Boucher (project management, 2001-2002), JeanBuck (library research 1991-1999; many internal and external issues1999-2002), Jeremy Davis (design, 2000-2002), Deb Forgacs (library research, 2000-2002), Thomasanna Hail (project management assistance,2001), Yu He (technical issues, 1991-1992), Andy Hunt (font design,1997-2002), Janice Hunter (book distribution, 2000-2002), André Kuzniarek (book design and production, 1991-2002), Richard Miske (book layout, 2001-2002), Jan Progen (proofreading, 1997-2002), David Reiss(external communications, 2001-2002), Patrick Rice (book build automation, 2001-2002), Brenda Skelly (manufacturing management,2001-2002 and before), Caroline Small (document quality assurance,2001), Michael Trott (occasional technical issues, 1994-2002), Allan Wylde (publishing issues, 1998-1999). (See also the colophon at the very end of the book.) My administrative and computer system sassistants have also been crucial in allowing me to maintain the high level of personal productivity needed to pursue and complete this project.
像所有高度创新的工作一样，这本书的写作是一个独立性很强且很私人的事情。但是我在这些年却非常幸运地聘用了很多有才华的助手，他们在各个方面为这个工程做出了贡献： Eric Berg (项目管理, 2000-2001),Jason Cawley (历史和哲学方面内容, 2001-2002 及更早), Matthew Cook (技术性内容，尤其是构建及证明方面, 1991-1998), Andrew de Laix(技术性内容及图书的出版系统, 1998-2002), Matthew Frank (数学及历史内容, 2001-2002), Andrea Gerlach(事实考证及校对, 1999-2002), David Hillman (构建和其他技术性内容, 1997-2001), Scott Koranda (图书出版系统及项目管理, 1996-1998), Ed Pegg, Jr. (技术内容, 2000-2002),Todd Rowland (数学方面的内容, 2001-2002),Malgorzata Strzebonska(图片加工, 1997-2002), Matthew Szudzik(数学内容,1998-2000, 2001), &#216;yvind Tafjord (物理学和其他技术性内容,2001-2002), Kelli Wendt (项目管理,2001-2002), Erik Winfree(软件开发, 1991-1992).  其他作出杰出贡献的Wolfram Research和Wolfram Media的成员包括：Larry Adelston (图书排版, 2000-2002), George Beck (项目总监,2001-2002 and before), John Bonadies (封面设计及其他内容,1995, 1991-1999), Cat Boucher (项目管理,2001-2002), Jean Buck (图书调研 1991-1999; 很多其他内部及外围事务 1999-2002), Jeremy Davis (设计, 2000-2002), DebForgacs (图书调研, 2000-2002), Thomasanna Hail (项目管理助理,2001), Yu He (技术性内容, 1991-1992), AndyHunt (字体设计,1997-2002), Janice Hunter (销售渠道,2000-2002), André Kuzniarek (图书设计及出品, 1991-2002),Richard Miske (图书排版, 2001-2002), Jan Progen (校对,1997-2002), David Reiss(外围传媒, 2001-2002), PatrickRice (图书出品自动化, 2001-2002), Brenda Skelly (制造监理,2001-2002 and before), Caroline Small (文档质量担保人,2001), Michael Trott (偶然的技术性内容,1994-2002), Allan Wylde (出版事务, 1998-1999). (请参阅正文每章末的详注)

In developing the new kind of science in this book I have benefitted in many ways from the worldwide intellectual community. I have always worked hard to learn as many fields as possible as deeply as I can--and to keep abreast of new developments that emerge. Part of what has allowed me to do this is reading an immense number of books, articles and websites. But over the years what has also been important is that I have interacted personally with a great many individuals, and I have been fortunate that my position in science and technology has brought me into contact at one time or another with the leaders of almost every major technical field.
在写这本书的时候我曾受益于全球范围内的智囊。我经常非常刻苦地学习多各领域并且尽可能学的深入，同时还要保持同这些领域的新发展齐头并进。一部分可以归功于我大量阅读书、文章以及浏览网站。但是这些年来对我同样重要的是我和很多杰出的个人保持的私人联系。并且幸运的是，我在科学和技术界的地位使得我能够和几乎每个主要技术领域的领军人物取得联系。

In the early and mid-1980s I did collaborative work relevant to this book--some published, some unpublished--withseveral people: Richard Feynman (foundations of physics and computing),Olivier Martin (additive cellular automata), John Milnor (mathematics of cellular automata), Andrew Odlyzko (additivecellular automata), Norman Packard (2D cellular automata) and Jim Salem(cellular automaton fluids).
在八十年代早期和中期，我参与了和这本书中相关内容的工作，其中一些出版了而另一些没出版。我的合作者是 Richard Feynman (基础物理学和计算),Olivier Martin (可加的元胞自动机), John Milnor(元胞自动机的数学理论), Andrew Odlyzko (可加的元宝自动机), Norman Packard (二维元胞自动机) and Jim Salem(元胞自动机流体).

[ 本帖最后由 marveloustau 于 2008-8-18 19:46 编辑 ]

waynebuaa

:L
marveloustau的精神可嘉，
我也贴上我的译文：

waynebuaa

序言
Just over twenty years ago I made what at first seemed like a small discovery: a computer experiment of mine showed something I did not expect. But the more I investigated, the more I realized that what I had seen was the beginning of a crack in the very foundations of existing science, and a first clue towards a whole new kind of science.
   在二十多年前我就获得了某种起初看似有点微不足道的发现：我的计算机程序运行出了我没曾预料到的结果。然而我越是深入研究它，就越意识到我的发现是打破现有科学的基础理论的一个开始，是走向一个全新科学的第一条线索。

This book is the culmination of nearly twenty years of work that I have done to develop that new kind of science. I had never expected it would take anything like as long, but I have discovered vastly more than I ever thought possible, and in fact what I have done now touches almost every existing area of science, and quite a bit besides.
   这本书是我近二十年来创建这个新科学的所有工作的结晶。我没曾想到这会花去我这么长时间，但我确实发现了很多很多我未曾预料到的东西，事实上，我所做的工作涉及了现有科学的几乎所有领域，甚至还有不少之外的领域。

In the early years, I did as I had done before as a scientist, and published accounts of my ongoing work in the scientific literature. But although what I wrote seemed to be very well received, I gradually came to realize that technical papers scattered across the journals of all sorts of fields could never successfully communicate the kind of major new intellectual structure that I seemed to be beginning to build.
   以前，我以一个科学家的身份工作着，发表着一堆一堆时兴的科学论文。虽然我的作品似乎很受认可，但后来我逐渐意识到了在各个领域的期刊上零星存在的科技论文永远也不可能跟我正要创建的这个科学的重要而新的理论结构成功地交流。

So I resolved just to keep working quietly until I had finished, and was ready to present everything in a single coherent way. Fifteen years later this book is the result. And with it my hope is to share what I have done with as wide a range of scientists and non-scientists as possible.
    于是我决定一直埋头苦干，直到我完成了这项工作，以一种无比的清晰的方式呈现这里面的所有东西。于是十五年过去了，这本书就问世了。除了这书，我还希望能和更多领域的科学家和非科学家来分享我的工作。

In modern times it has been almost unheard of for genuinely new science to be presented for the first time in a book that can be read by non-scientists. For progress in science has mostly tended to take place in small steps that cannot reasonably be explained without relying on specialized technical knowledge of what has gone before.
    在当今时代我们好像很少听说过一种全新的科学第一次以书的形式呈现并且能让非科学家们也能看懂。因为现有的科学似乎总是踏着小步前进，而且如果没有掌握前人的专业的技术知识，我们似乎也不可能正确地理解这种小的进步。

But to develop the new kind of science that I describe in this book I have had no choice but to take several large steps at once, and in doing so I have mostly ended up having to start from scratch--with new ideas and new methods that ultimately depend very little on what has gone before.
    然而，为了创建我这本书所描述的新科学，我不得不一次性踏出几个大的步子，于是这样做，我的大部分工作最终将必须白手起家----以一种根本上不依赖于前人知识的新观念，新方法。

In some ways it might have been easier for me to present what I have done in some kind of new technical formalism. But instead I have chosen to spend the effort to take things to the point where they are clear enough to be explained quite fully just in ordinary language and pictures.
    可能以前在某些方面，我用一些新的形式语言提到过我的工作。但在这本书里，我选择花点精力在一些必要的地方用平白的语言和图片把问题说到点子上。

Unfortunately, however, this will no doubt mean that there are some--particularly from the existing sciences--who will at first assume that their existing technical knowledge must somehow already cover whatever is in this book. And a few, I fear, will stop at that point, and choose to learn no more. But many, I hope, will at least look at the book long enough to begin to be surprised by what it actually says.
    但很不幸，这样做肯定会有人---尤其是那些来自现有科学领域的人，从一开始就认为，他们现有的技术知识已经涉及到了这本书里提到的所有问题。甚至，我恐怕，还有一些人开始就此打住，决定不再看下去。但我还是希望大多数人至少会一直看到书中所说的能让他们感到吃惊为止。

At first probably they will think that parts of it cannot possibly be correct--for they seem so at odds with existing science. And indeed if I myself were just to pick up this book today without having spent the past twenty years thinking about its contents, I have little doubt that I too would not believe many of the things it says.
    很可能最初这些人看了会认为这本书的有些东西不可能是对的---因为它们似乎跟现有的科学是如此的格格不入。事实上如果换成是我了，在今天拾起这本书，而没有花二十年的时间思考这里面的内容，毫无疑问我也会不相信这书里说的大部分内容的。

But the computer experiments on which the science in the book is ultimately based are easy to check on any modern computer. And almost all the arguments in the book--while often not conceptually simple--require no specialized scientific or other knowledge to follow.
    但是这书中的科学所依凭的计算机实验很容易在任何一个现代电脑上验证。而且几乎这书中所有的观点虽然在观念上不是那么简单，却不需要什么专业的科学知识抑或是其他什么知识就可以看懂。

Yet it has certainly taken me years to come to terms with the conclusions I have reached. And while I hope that all the effort I have put into presentation in this book will make it easier for others, I do not expect it to be a quick process. For to absorb in any real way what the book has to say requires a fairly major shift in intuition and thinking.
    要知道，这可是花了我几年的时间才能得到这些结论的。我希望我为了呈现这本书所花的努力能让读者更容易接受它，但与此同时，我也并不期待这个过程会很快的。因为以一种真实的态度来吸收书中所说的科学是需要思想上和直觉上的相当大的转变的。

But the most important first step, I believe, is just to recognize what is involved. For though there are connections of all sorts, this book is first and foremost about a fundamentally new intellectual structure, that needs to be understood in its own terms, and cannot reasonably be fit into any existing framework.
    但我相信，最重要的第一步就是接受书中所涉及到的东西。因为虽然会有各种各样的联系，但这本书是第一本也是最好的一本关于一种全新的理论结构的书，它需要我们以它的术语来理解，而不是不合理的把它塞进现有的理论框架里去。

It has been a great challenge for me to capture the things I have discovered over the past twenty years in a book of manageable size. And to do so I have often ended up compressing into a page or even a paragraph the essence of what a chapter or even a book could have been written about.
    把我的发现写成一本规模可以控制的书，在过去二十年来，对我来说一直是一个很大的挑战。为了这样做，我常最后把只有用一篇甚至一本书才能揭示的内容压缩成了一页，甚至是一段文字。

In the quarter million or so words of the main text my emphasis is on communicating the core of my ideas and discoveries--as well as indicating a little of how I came to them. The last three hundred or so pages of the book--themselves another quarter million or so words--supplement the main text with many historical and technical notes, and also summarize more discoveries. The notes that begin on page 849 address some specific issues about reading this book.
    书中正文的差不多二十五万字我都是在传达我的核心观点和我的发现上，当然也暗示了一点我是怎么发现的。书中最后的约摸三百页，差不多二十五万字，是对正文的补充，有许多历史性的技术性的注释，也有对更多的发现所作的总结。从849页开始的注释讲了一些阅读本书的有关问题。

Throughout the book my primary concern is with basic science and fundamental issues. But building on the foundations in the book there are a vast array of applications--both conceptual and practical--that can now be developed.
    整本书我主要是在讨论基础科学和基本问题。但是建立在本书所说的基础之上的一系列的应用，无论是观念上的还是实际的，现在都能开发出来。

No doubt some will come quickly. But most will probably take decades to emerge. Yet in time I expect that the ideas of this book will come to pervade not only science and technology but also many areas of general thinking. And with this its methods will eventually become a standard part of education--much as mathematics is today. And in the end most of what now seems surprising and remarkable in the book will come to seem familiar and commonplace.
    无疑有些应用是很快就被实现的。但很多很可能还需要等上几十年。不过我能预见得到在不远的将来书中的观念将不仅深入到科学，技术领域，还有一般思维的诸多领域，甚而至于这些方法最终会成为教育标准(当今更多的是数学)的一部分。最终，书中大部分今天看起来很令人惊讶和不可思议的东西将变得很熟悉，很常见。

But for me what has always been most important is the actual process of discovery. For I know of nothing as profoundly exciting as to glimpse for the first time some new and basic truth. And now that I have finished building the intellectual structure that I describe in this book it is my hope that those who read these words can share in the excitement I have had in making the discoveries that were involved.
    但对于我来说，一直最重要的还是发现这种新科学的实际过程，因为当我第一次瞥见到一些新的基础的真理时我深深地感受到了前所未有的兴奋。如今我已经完成了书中所讲述的理论结构的建构工作，剩下的就是希望读到这些文字的人能享受我在创造这个新发现的过程中所得到的快乐。
  
                                                                                                      stephen wolfram


                                                                                                         2002年1月15日

[ 本帖最后由 waynebuaa 于 2008-8-14 22:10 编辑 ]

waynebuaa

很早以前就翻译过，现在也没去细细审查，大家指出毛病了，对我也是一个进步。

呵呵，需要提出的是，我还有点担心，我不知道我们这样大篇幅的工作会不会到头来是一种侵权。

bainhome

出一个附件，把格式定下来，这个版式我个人比较满意了，大家看看：
ps：内容仅截止到9楼tau兄的翻译，主要在考虑如何定格式了。
没有用于商业用途，应该不会有侵权问题吧。其他熟悉的朋友可以说说。

waynebuaa

brainhome ,可不可以把你的tex模板发给我？我最近也在学习排版技巧，:victory:

bainhome

那可不是白要的，以后排版就交给你了。:victory:

waynebuaa

:loveliness:
我菜鸟一个，只会套模板。有这个胆，可也没那个能力越俎代庖啊，:lol
谢了

waynebuaa

貌似只能用pdflatex 才能成功通过编译

bainhome

当然，水印的做法仅仅限于pdflatex编译方式。anyway，既然这个工作你参与了，就交给你了。有问题可以在这个帖子里直接发问，一起讨论即可。
ps：smarten也是Texer。

waynebuaa

跟高手交流学东西就是快，好的，只要我能掺和我就掺和。

英汉对照每一段都重复使用 \begin{minipage} ，\end{minipage}的，感觉有点繁琐，我总感觉有更好的方法，比如宏命令什么的