The World Wide Web is about to start using the languages of the world. Xu>r~^w=S
互联网将开始使用全球各种语言。 w,Lvt
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Leaders of the private body that oversees the basic design of the Internet are expected to decide at a meeting here Friday to let Web addresses be expressed in characters other than those of the Roman alphabet. Already, portions of a Web address can be written in other languages. But the suffix, such as the 'com' after the dot, must be typed in Roman letters. !p[9{U->o;
预计负责监管互联网这一基本设计的私营机构负责人将在周五于首尔召开的会议上决定,允许用罗马字母以外的字母来拼写网址。现在,网址可以部分用其他语言拼写,但“.com”等后缀必须使用罗马字母输入。 v0kqu
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The change will allow the suffix--known as a top-level domain in the architecture of the Internet--to be expressed in 17 other alphabets. They include traditional and simplified Chinese characters, Russian Cyrillic, Korean Hangul and Hebrew. Dozens of other alphabets are likely to be added in coming years. :mS# h@l
根据这一变化,网址的后缀可以使用17种其他语言字母;后缀被认为是互联网架构中的一级域名。这17种语言包括繁体中文和简体中文、俄文、韩文以及希伯来文等。未来数年可能还会新增数十种其他字母。 F! X}(N?t
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That means computer users will be able to type or input a full Web address without the need for Roman letters. Web site designers will be able to use a consistent character set on a Web page without, for instance, having to resort to Roman letters to portray a link to another page. Fk6x<^Q<w
这意味着电脑用户无需使用罗马字母就可以输入完整的网址。网站 设计者将在一个网页上可以使用一致的字符集,而不需要必须使用罗马字母来描述对另外一个页面的链接。 )
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Authorities who oversee top-level domains in their home countries could begin accepting applications next month. q\q=PB6r
各国负责监管一级域名的相关机构下个月将开始接受申请。 NziZTU}
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Making it happen has taken six years of discussion by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann, and technical work by the Internet Engineering Task Force, both independent non-profit organizations that endeavor to preserve the universality of the data network, which got started as an offshoot of a U.S. military network in the 1960s. xESjM1A)
互联网名称与数字地址分配机构(Icann)对这一变革进行了六年讨论,互联网工程工作小组(Internet Engineering Task Force)为此承担了技术工作。这两家机构都是独立的非营利性机构,致力于维护互联网的通用性。互联网开始于上世纪六十年代,当时是美国一个军用网络的一个分支。 xEltwuDd?
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'The statistics show that over half of the users of the Internet today don't use the Roman alphabet in their first language,' says Rod Beckstrom, chief executive of Icann. 'It's an issue of national pride in some cases and cultural identity.' oM)h#8bq
互联网名称与数字地址分配机构首席执行长贝克斯托姆(Rod Beckstrom)说,统计数据显示目前超过半数的网络用户,他们的第一语言都不是使用罗马字母。在某些情况下,这是一个民族自豪感的问题,还涉及到文化认同。 K9kUS
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Icann's directors and advisors are meeting in Seoul this week to wrestle with some of the final technical issues. The thorniest is what to do with characters that look the same but mean something different, which is particularly difficult with Chinese, the language that may someday be one of the most heavily used for Internet addresses. o%4Gd~
互联网名称与数字地址分配机构的董事与顾问本周在首尔开会讨论一些最终技术问题。最为棘手的问题是如何处理看似相同但意思不同的字符,这个问题在中文中尤其麻烦。中文未来可能会成为互联网地址使用最多的语言之一。 mCz,2K|^~
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'The program is very likely to get approved as a whole,' Beckstrom says. 'There are simply details that are being negotiated.' #$1og=
贝克斯托姆说,这个计划很有可能会通盘获得批准,目前商谈的只是细节问题。 6ATtW+sN ]
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