之前在微博上看到科学家钱学森在1990年的一封书信中，提到他对虚拟现实和元宇宙的观点，提议中译为“灵境”，还表示他个人特别喜欢“灵境”这个词，中国味特别浓。
在华尔街日报：Facebook更名Meta意欲何为？这篇笔记中，有读者提到“元宇宙”这个词太生硬晦涩了，就是从字面直接翻译来的，对中国读者并不友好，很难理解。
相比之下，科学泰斗钱学森提出的“灵境”这个词真是活灵活现。
今天这篇笔记，我们再多聊聊“灵境”吧。
What is the metaverse?
什么是元宇宙？
Facebook plans to hire 10,000 people in the EU over the next five years to build a metaverse. The company announced as much on October 17th. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's boss, has previously spoken of his intention to turn the social-media giant into a "metaverse company." Plenty of other tech bigwigs have similar ambitions.
Facebook于10月17日宣布， 计划在未来五年内，在欧盟国家雇佣 1 万名员工打造“元宇宙”，该公司在 10 月 17 日宣布了这一消息。Facebook 的首席执行官马克·扎克伯格此前就曾表示，他有意将这家社交媒体巨头转变成一家“元宇宙公司”。许多其他科技大亨也有相似的野心。
在这里我们对比一下常见的两个表达“意愿”的词，intention和intent。
通常情况下，这两个词是可以互换的，如：
She thinks I'm trying to make things difficult for her, but that's not my intent/intention.她认为我在试图刁难她，但那不是我的本意。
It was the explicit intent/intention of the architect to suggest a church steeple.那位建筑师的明确意图是建议建一座教堂尖塔。
The president signaled his intent/intention to meet with his allies.总统表示他打算与他的盟友会面。
然而，二者由于正式程度不同，有一定的区分，如intention是日常用语，侧重于内心活动，指某人想要做的事。
He announced his intention to marry.他宣布了他结婚的打算。
It was not my intention to hurt your feelings.伤害你的感情并不是我的本意。
I had every intention to pay my bills yesterday.我昨天还真想付帐呢。
而intent表示明确的推理或深思熟虑，用于正式语境或法律语言:
the clear intent of the court's ruling法院裁决的明确意图
Moscow's intent is to exploit the riches and technology of the West.莫斯科意图开拓西方的财富和技术。
The prosecutor needs to demonstrate criminal intent.检察官需要证明他有犯罪意图。
再拓展另外一个很formal的词：design
Too arrogant to think of him as a threat and deliberately ignorant of his designs, we supported him.我们太过自负，而没把他视为一个威胁，又故意装作不知道他的企图，所以支持了他。
It is all part of his grand design.这都是他那宏图大略的一部分。
I think that man has designs on my daughter. 我认为那个男人对我女儿抱不良企图。
复习一下怎么用英语说“大亨”
Tycoon：指“a person who is successful in business or industry and has become rich and powerful”，也就是企业界有钱有势的成功人士。据说，“大款”这个词就来源于“tycoon”的音译。
a business/property/media tycoon 产业大亨；房地产巨头；传媒巨子
Petrochemicals tycoon Mukesh Ambani placed fifth with 43 billion dollars.石油大亨穆科什·阿姆·巴尼以430亿美元位列第五。
Magnate: 指“a person who is rich, powerful and successful, especially in business”，也就是“权贵；要人；富豪；（尤指）产业大亨”
a media/property/shipping magnate 媒体╱房地产╱航运业大亨
During the aspectant struggle with the foreign capital magnate, lots of shortage in the local retail trade exposed.本土零售企业在与外资巨头面对面的交锋中暴露出了许多不足。
Bigwig也是本文的选词，指 “an important person”，是“要人；大人物”的informal说法
She had to entertain some boring local bigwigs. 她不得不款待当地一些无聊的大人物。
One Mumbai financial bigwig jokes that two licenses will be granted - one, by the RBI, on the basis of competence, and the other by politicians in Delhi on the basis of bribe size.一位孟买金融巨擘戏言，两份执照将被颁发，一份来自印度储备银行，以鼓励竞争；另一份则来自德里的政客，以鼓励行贿。
Big shot指“a person of consequence or prominence”，也就是重要的人，显赫的人
You can tell John is a big shot, he rides in a limousine everywhere he goes.你可以看出约翰是个大人物，无论去哪里他都坐豪华轿车。
Heavy hitter指“a person with a lot of power, especially in business or politics“，也就是“（尤指商业或政界的）大亨，要员，大人物”
Political philosophy is the oldest of the social sciences, and it can boast a wealth of heavy hitter.政治哲学是社会科学中最古老的学科，且会触及大量重量级人物。
The word, metaverse, comes from "Snow Crash," published in 1992, the third, and arguably the best, novel by Neal Stephenson, an American science-fiction author. The book's main character, named Hiro Protagonist, delivers pizza for the Mafia. When not working, Mr Protagonist plugs into the Metaverse: a networked virtual reality in which people appear as self-designed "avatars" and engage in activities both mundane (conversation, flirting) and extraordinary (sword fights, mercenary espionage).
“元宇宙”这个词来自于 1992 年出版的小说《雪崩》，这是美国科幻小说家尼尔·斯蒂芬森的第三部小说，也可以说是最好的一部。这本书的主人公负责为黑手党送披萨，他的名字叫做 Hiro Protagonist。在不工作的时候，他会接入“元宇宙系统”：一个联网的虚拟现实。在这个虚拟现实中，人们会以自己设计的“化身”形式出现，他们可以参与各种活动：包括交谈、调情等日常活动，以及剑术格斗、为赚取金钱为目的的间谍活动等非同寻常的活动。
Snow Crash其实是很有（脑洞）趣（大开）的一本书，这里节选一下维基百科的介绍，大家可以感受一下：
The book presents the Sumerian language as the firmware programming language for the brainstem, which is supposedly functioning as the BIOS for the human brain. According to characters in the book, the goddess Asherah is the personification of a linguistic virus, similar to a computer virus. The god Enki created a counter-program, which he called a nam-shub, that caused all of humanity to speak different languages as a protection against Asherah (a re-interpretation of the ancient Near Eastern story of the Tower of Babel).
另外引用一下维基对这本书中所构建的metaverse的介绍：
The Metaverse is a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space, including the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the internet. The word metaverse combines the prefix "meta" (meaning "beyond") with "universe" and is typically used to describe the concept of a future iteration of the internet, made up of persistent, shared, 3D virtual spaces linked into a perceived virtual universe.
Within the Metaverse, individual users appear as avatars of any form, with the sole restriction of height, "to prevent people from walking around a mile high". Transport within the Metaverse is limited to analogs of reality by foot or vehicle, such as the monorail that runs the entire length of the Street, stopping at 256 Express Ports, located evenly at 256 km intervals, and Local Ports, one kilometer apart.
Plug into一般来说主要有两种用法:
接入计算机系统，以浏览和使用其中存储的信息
It is possible to plug into remote databases to pick up information.接入远程数据库以获取信息是可行的。
融入人群或文化群体，了解这个圈子的风俗和想法
We are actually plugging into an existing culture of micro-enterprise.我们实际上是在融入现有的微型企业文化。
Avatar，本义是神灵的“化身”，用来表示人物头像的时候，倾向于非本人真实照片的头像，另外在游戏语境下下，不再局限于头像，可以是玩家操控的角色（PC），或者是3D虚拟形象，如头号玩家里的这些角色就是玩家的avatar。
历数一下“虚拟形象”的说法：
Profile picture，比起avatar更正式一点，是用于社媒平台上和其他用户互动的形象。来看一下英文解释：“the image that represents a social media account in all its interactions across a platform.”
Display image，偏向于显示器、智能手机、平板电脑等设备屏幕上展现的形象
Think of it as virtual reality, but limitless. People could play games, but they could also talk, shop, stroll, chat, watch movies, attend concerts and do most things that they can do in the real world — and, crucially, the metaverse would interact with the real world in countless unpredictable ways. This fully formed metaverse remains a long way off.
你可以把元宇宙想象成一个没有任何限制的虚拟现实。人们不仅可以玩游戏，也可以对话、购物、散步、聊天、看电影、参加演唱会以及做大部分在现实生活中可以做的事情。而且，最重要的是，元宇宙会以无数不可预知的方式与现实世界互动。要实现这种完全成型的元宇宙，还有很长的路要走。
Stroll侧重“漫步，闲逛”，英文表达力求精准，所以看多了书面表达，就能收集齐walk的一百种说法。一起来看一下常见的几种“走”
Amble：walk leisurely 悠闲地走
Lumber：move heavily or clumsily缓慢而吃力地走，笨拙地走
Meander：move or cause to move in a winding or curving course漫无目的地闲逛
Prowl：move about in or as if in a predatory manner因无聊、焦躁徘徊，走来走去
Saunter：walk leisurely and with no apparent aim悠闲漫步，闲逛，和stroll很像
Stagger：walk with great difficulty摇摇晃晃地走，踉跄
Stride：walk with long steps大步走
Strut：walk in a proud, confident way趾高气昂地走，昂首阔步
Stumble：miss a step and fall or nearly fall跌跌撞撞地走，蹒跚而行，和上面的stagger有点像
A long way off，也可以用“a way off”，如：
September was a long way off. 那时离九月份还有很长一段时间。
Scientists are still a long way off finding a cure. 科学家要找到一个治疗方法，还远着呢。
Fashion and technology are edging closer to a relationship that could produce more stylish wearables, but a future where every wardrobe needs its own chargers still looks a way off.
时尚与科技联系越来越紧密，创造了更为时尚的可穿戴产品，但普通服装实现科技化依然任重而道远。
[写作]同样表达“某事离得很远”的还有：
seem light years away
Full employment still seems light years away. 充分就业好像依然是遥遥无期。
far beyond the horizon
A foreseeable end to the real estate crisis is far beyond the horizon.预计房地产危机的结束仍遥遥无期。
也可以直接说“某事希望不大“there is little prospect of sth.
Outside Europe, there is little prospect of roaming regulation. 在欧洲之外，对漫游服务实行监管遥遥无期。
或者说“这种可能性我们看不到 is nowhere in sight
A sophisticated bridge between these extremes is nowhere in sight.足以衔接这两极之间的精细复杂的纽带依然遥遥无期。
To Silicon Valley dreamers, this immersive, networked, three-dimensional world will eventually succeed the two-dimensional internet that exists today. It requires infrastructure and processing power that does not yet exist. But if you consider Fortnite's expansive world, Facebook's Horizon and other investments by big tech firms in similar products, the metaverse is closer to reality than it was when Mr Stephenson first dreamed it up.
对于硅谷的追梦者们来说，现有的二维互联网终将被这个沉浸式的联网三维世界所取代，但还需要大量基础设施支持以及目前尚不存在的算力。不过，看看《堡垒之夜》的广阔世界、Facebook 的 Horizon（虚拟会议室）和其他大型科技公司在类似产品上的投资，你就会发现，斯蒂芬森最初构想的元宇宙朝着现实又迈进了一步。
Succeed除了我们常见的“成功”之外，succeed也有这样一种formal的用法：
come next after sb/sth and take their/its place or position 接替；继任；随后出现，比如：
Who succeeded Kennedy as President? 接替肯尼迪任总统的是谁？
Their early success was succeeded by a period of miserable failure. 他们起初获得成功，但随后有一段惨痛失败的时期。
Strands of DNA are reproduced through succeeding generations. DNA（脱氧核糖核酸）链通过后代进行复制。
2D internet vs 3D internet
这个词条可能有点难以理解，先来看一下3D internet的英文简介：
3D internet or three-dimensional Internet is successor to 2D web. It used 3D graphics and is social in nature. It has ability to tell that you are reading your document with how many more people. People can automatically connect with other people sharing same interests and services. 3D internet contains various interconnected services that can be seen as Virtual Worlds.
简而言之就是，随着web 3.0的发展，3D互联网也应运而生，网络互动将不再局限于二维平面。3D互联网是所有“3D网站”的集合，每个网站由一个或者多个“3D网页”组成，“3D网页”是一个3D表现形式的数字化活动场所，场所内可存在网络用户的Avatar（网络用户在网络上的3D形象）、各种3D物品及嵌入的网页。
Processing power：处理能力
同近义可替换词有CPU power/CPU cycles/computing capacity/computing power/handling capability/handling capacity等
可以理解成电脑处理数据运算的能力。简单来说，processing power就是CPU的运行速度，是一个固定值。
Dream up最后来复习一下“构思“的说法
最直接的应该是conceive/design/structure/think up
Musical notation was conceived for the C major scale and each line and space represents a note in this scale.乐谱为C大音阶而构思，在这个音阶中的每一个线和间都代表一个音符。
描述“构思一篇小说“时也可以用construct：
The writer constructed the story from memories of her childhood.作者根据她自己童年的回忆构思了这个故事。
或者用craft：
Dickens crafted complex plots and striking characters that capture the panorama of English society.狄更斯精心构思了反映英国社会全貌的复杂情节和鲜明的人物形象。
或者直接说have an idea，比较简单口语：
I have an idea of the best water-saving program. 我构思了一个最佳的节水方案。
也可以以idea为主语：
An idea for a novel began to germinate in her mind.一部小说的构思已经在她的头脑中萌发。
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