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今天的2016考研英語泛讀文章源自2015年9月8日的《經濟學人》，給我們介紹了到底什么事代碼?文中涉及很多計算機用語，這在考研英語閱讀真題當中是非常常見的，例如：code代碼;programmer程序員;digital instruction數字指令;computers execute計算機執行等等。來看一下具體內容：

From lifts to cars to airliners to smartphones, modern civilisation is powered by software, the digital instructions that allow computers, and the devices they control, to perform calculations and respond to their surroundings. How did that software get there? Someone had to write it. But code, the sequences of symbols painstakingly created by programmers, is not quite the same as software, the sequences of instructions that computers execute. So what exactly is it?事實上，可以說當代文明是由軟件驅動的，從電梯到汽車，從飛機到手機，都需要計算機及其控制的設備進行計算和對它們的環境做出反應的數字指令。那么軟件是如何實現這一指令的呢?當然首先需要有人寫出代碼。但代碼并不完全就是軟件，可以說，代碼是程序員絞盡腦汁創作出來的符號;而軟件是計算機執行指令的結果。那么代碼又是怎么一回事呢?

Coding, or programming, is a way of writing instructions for computers that bridges the gap between how humans like to express themselves and how computers actually work. Programming languages, of which there are hundreds, cannot generally be executed by computers directly. It is usually much easier to use a high-level programming language.寫代碼的過程就是編程的過程，是為計算機編寫指令的行為，這在人們表達自我與計算機實際運行之間搭建了一座橋梁。雖然編程語言有上百種之多，但通常使用一種高等級編程語言要先對更加容易一些。這樣的語言才真正能夠準確而高效地表達復雜抽象的指令。

Programming languages exist in many families and styles, rather like human languages. These programming languages are all capable of expressing the same ideas. But in practice some languages are better suited to some uses than others, just as French is traditionally used for diplomacy and English is the international language of business. And just as knowing a few different spoken languages makes it easier to learn another one, the same is true of programming languages.與人類的語言類似，各種編程語言都能表達類似的思想。但在現實中，有些語言比其他語言更適合于某些用途，這就像法語傳統上用于外交，而英語則是國際商業用語一樣。而且，就如同懂得幾門不同的語言能夠讓學習其他語言變得更容易一樣，編程語言也是如此。

簡單來說，編程是有魔力的。代碼中的數字和符號被轉化為可以由微電路去執行以便得到預想結果的指令。從而使圖像現身屏幕(Pixels appear on the screen);電梯上升(lifts move);機票被預定(airline tickets are ordered);表單得到分類(lists are sorted)，電子郵件得以發送(e-mails are delivered)。但是，僅僅因為這些結果似乎是用魔力的，并不意味著編程就是神秘的、難以企及的。事實上，編程的一大樂趣就是，計算機是神秘的對立面：它們是以一種可預測性極高的、持續的和具有確定性的方式運行的。通過這篇文章的泛讀，希望2016考研學子對計算機編程的基本常識以及常用術語有一個基本了解，以便順利的理解英語原文。考研任重道遠，小編與你同在!