THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD
The Year 200 computer glitch has proved surprisingly troublesome.

美专家谈电脑千年难题带来的好消息与坏消息（3）

(16) Now test the devices. Enter 2000 in your VCR, or change the system date on your PC (after backing up the data). Send letters to manufacturers to see if their systems are Y2K compliant. Record on inventories『清单；目录』where you still have risks, and develop a course of action, such as identifying alternative providers.

(16)现在来测试一下这些装置。把2000输入录像机，或改变个人计算机的日期（在对数 据进行备份之后）。致函制造商，看是否存在2000年问题。记下仍有危险的目录，制定行动方案，如确定可替代的供应商等。

(17) You should also check software such as Access 95, Excel, personal schedulers『安排程序』, financial programs like Quicken of Money, communications software, etc. And remember that you could experience problems with outside services you use: the phone company, utilities, supermarkets, banks, gas stations, airports.

(17)此外，还应该检查一下软件，如Access 95, Excel、个人调度程序、Quicken和Money之类的财务程序以及通信软件等。记住，在接受电话公司、公用事业公司、超级市场、银行、加油站和机场等外界机构提供的服务时，你可能会遇到问题。

(18) "Forget flying to see Grandma on January 1， 2000," warns Whitehouse. "Two major airlines have already said they won't be flying."

(18)怀特豪斯警告说：“不要想着在2000年1月1日乘飞机去看望祖母了。两家主要的航空公司已经宣布到时他们将停飞。”

(19) If you are an investor, your money is in places you can't control, so you should inventory『编制目录』all your assets (equity, debt, and fixed tangible『固定资产』). Check with the companies to find out their Y2K status『情形；状态』and record the results.

(19)如果你是个投资商，钱放在你无法支配的地方，那么你应该盘清所有资产（股本、债务和有形固定资产）。对这些公司进行核查，查明2000年问题的现状，并记录有关结果。

(20) One worry is that there may be runs on banks when people fear the Y2K impacts. Whitehouse goes so far as to suggest that investors begin hedging『套购保值』with fixed tangible assets: "Buy some gold and silver."

(20)一个令人忧虑的问题是，人们在担心2000年问题造成的影响时，可能会向银行挤提存款。针对这一问题怀特豪斯建议投资商利用有形固定资产进行保值，“买进黄金和白银”。

(21) Businesses should set up an organizational task force to address『对付』the issue, including managers from each area of the enterprise. "Problem ownership" should lie with the chief financial officer because of the many financial and legal implications『牵连；涉及』. The task force should consider questions like cost, impacts on daily activities, competitors『竞争者』' actions, opportunities, effects on stock prices, etc.

(21) 企业应有组织地建立特别工作组解这一问题，其成员由企业各部门的经理组成。由于这一问题牵涉到许多财政和法律方面的问题，因此应给予财务总临“处理问题的权力”。特别工作组应考虑的问题有成本、对日常活动和竞争者行动，机遇的冲击以及对股票价格的影响等。

(22) The lesson of the Year 2000 Problem is obvious: Most of the problems we face in the present are the result of someone (OR everyone) in the past failing to think about the future. Y2K is a problem basically because mainframe『大型的』computer programmers paid little attention to the long-term future.

(22)2000年问题的教训是显而易见的：我们现在面临的问题，大多是由于过去有些人（或所有人）没有考虑到将来而造成的。2000年问题产生的主要原因是大型计算机的程序设计员对未来的长期使用没有给予足够的重视，问题由此造成。

(23) We can smugly『沾沾自喜地；自鸣得意地』congratulate ourselves for being smarter than our technologies, but meanwhile, technology is biting us back.

(23) 一方面我们沾沾自喜地庆幸人脑比人类发明的技术高明，但是同时，我们发明的技术有束缚了我们的进步。

【疯狂翻译练习】

1. Very soon what seemed like a minor technical problem to us-and to most other people at the time-had set off a furor and even created a new industry for consultants and programmers.(2)

2. That's why we have computers keeping track of things and telling us what to do, like taking expired foods and medicines off the shelf.（3）

3. Y2K is a problem basically because mainframe computer programmers paid little attention to the long-term future. （22）

4. We can smugly congratulate ourselves for being smarter than our
technologies, but meanwhile, technology is biting us back.（23）

5. 专家们指出，现在尚不太清楚今后几年存在2000年问题的计算机会产生哪些问题。（3）

6. 任何一处出现问题都可能导致全球性的后果，在2000年来临时也许会出现许许多多的问题。（5）

7. 灾难几乎总会带来有利可图的机遇。（8）

8. 企业应有组织地建立特别工作组解这一问题。（21）

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