导读：除了人工智能、大数据、区块链之外，量子科技也是今年比较热门的题材，这篇精读可以帮翻译硕士们快速掌握相关的基本知识，考研或者就业都用得上——在汉译英和写作中值得学的语言点已经标注英英注释
Fun facts about quantum computing - FT.com
我近来试图自学量子计算。我读了很多有关它的潜在威力的资料：速度比现在快数百万倍的电脑；以前需要花费数年的工作在几分钟内就能完成，诸如此类。I have been trying to educate myself about（句型） quantum computing. I read plenty about what it offers（句型，潜在，会了不） — computers millions of times more powerful than those we have now; work that previously took years will be done in minutes, and so on.
但我的知识差不多也就仅限于此：量子计算运用量子力学。如果在某个饭局上被问到，我可能无法解释这究竟是指什么。But my knowledge went little beyond（句型，未必用limit） the fact that quantum computing exploits quantum mechanics. And I could not have explained what that really means if I were asked at a dinner party.
V-T If you exploit something, you use it well, and achieve something or gain an advantage from it. 【OR】V-T If you say that someone is exploiting a situation, you disapprove of them because they are using it to gain an advantage for themselves, rather than trying to help other people or do what is right.【AND】V-T If you say that someone is exploiting you, you think that they are treating you unfairly by using your work or ideas and giving you very little in return.
因此为了加深理解，我访问了荷兰代尔夫特理工大学(Technical University of Delft)量子技术系的两位量子计算专家：英特尔(Intel)量子硬件主管吉姆•克拉克(Jim Clarke)以及领先量子纳米学家利芬•范德斯潘(Lieven Vandersypen)。英特尔在代尔夫特有一个
设施。So in a quest to improve my understanding I visited two quantum computing experts at the Technical University of Delft’s QuTech department: Jim Clarke, director of quantum hardware at Intel, which has a facility there, and Lieven Vandersypen, a leading quantum nanoscientist.我还到伦敦大学学院(University College London)的纳米技术中心(Centre for Nanotechnology)拜访了纳米电子和纳米光子权威约翰•莫顿(John Morton)。I also went to University College London’s Centre for Nanotechnology to meet John Morton, an authority on nanoelectronics（词汇） and nanophotonics（词汇）.
结果：我对量子计算如何运转有了更清晰一点的认识，发现了一些在饭局上有用的引人入胜的知识。以下是我学到的一些东西：The result: I am a little clearer about how quantum computing works — and have discovered some fascinating facts for use at dinner parties. Here is some of what I learnt:
ADJ If you describe something as fascinating, you find it very interesting and attractive, and your thoughts tend to concentrate on it.
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* 量子计算可能不精确。在某种方式上，它效仿的是自然，与人类大脑一样，它可能不合乎逻辑，出错。但这可能也是一个强项：粗野的逻辑并不总是正确。 Quantum computing can be imprecise. In some ways it imitates nature and, like the human brain, it can be illogical and make mistakes. But this can also be a strength — brute logic is not always right（观点）.
N-COUNT If you call someone, usually a man, a brute, you mean that they are rough, violent, and insensitive.
* 量子计算对于分析我们现在生成的大数据可能不那么有用。“经典”计算（利用艾伦•图灵(Alan Turing)及其后辈发明的机器）仍擅长大数据分析。但量子电脑可能难以处理来自传统电脑的大数据。几乎就好像它们属于不同的物种。Quantum computing may not be great for analysing big data as we now produce it. “Classical” computing — using the machines invented by Alan Turing and their descendants — remains better at that. But quantum computers may struggle with（句型，未必用hard, deal with） big data from conventional computers. It is almost as if they are different species.
* 量子芯片一般只在比绝对零度高出百分之一度的温度下工作，远远低于外太空的温度。总部位于赫尔辛基的初创企业BlueFors生产打造量子电脑所需的“稀释冷冻机”。它每周销售3台，每台价格介于20万至50万欧元之间，这表明全球在量子计算领域的竞赛是多么激烈。Quantum chips only work at temperatures typically 100th of a degree above absolute zero — far lower than outer space. BlueFors, a Helsinki start-up, makes the “dilution refrigerators（词汇）” needed to build a quantum computer. It sells three units a week, at a cost of between €200,000 and €500,000 each, an indicator of（句型，未必用动词） the scale of the global scramble for quantum computing.
* 目前有几个相互竞争的量子比特在开发中。英特尔的手掌大小的芯片有49个“超导”量子比特，但范德斯潘教授还有一个“旋转量子比特”硅芯片，它足够小，可以把数亿这样的量子比特放置在一平方厘米的芯片上。据范德斯潘教授称，旋转量子比特有着单独的个性，这也许让量子怪现象怪得过分。There are several competitor quantum qubits（词汇）in development. Intel’s palm-sized chip has 49 “superconducting” qubits, but Professor Vandersypen also has a silicon-based “spin qubit”, which is small enough for hundreds of millions of them to be crowded on to a centimetre-square chip. Oh, and according to the professor, spin qubits have individual personalities, which perhaps takes quantum weirdness almost too far.
* 据报道，微软(Microsoft)正在开发的量子比特基于一种有人认为不存在的难以捕捉的粒子，这也相当怪异。Microsoft’s qubit-in-development is reportedly based on a particle so elusive that some believe it does not exist, which is also quite weird.
ADJ Something or someone that is elusive is difficult to find, describe, remember, or achieve.
* 代尔夫特理工大学计划在2020年展示量子互联网的运转——在荷兰利用光纤中的光子发送无法解密的加密信息——它将利用量子纠缠 ，即阿尔伯特•爱因斯坦(Albert Einstein)所称的“幽灵般的远距效应”。In 2020 TU Delft plans to show a working demonstration of quantum internet — distributing around the Netherlands uncrackably encrypted information using photons in fibre optics, which will utilise quantum entanglement（词汇） — Albert Einstein’s “spooky action at a distance”.
ADJ A place that is spooky has a frightening atmosphere, and makes you feel that there are ghosts around.
* 首批量子应用之一将是材料建模，这不像听上去那么枯燥。你的iPhone 27可能不是一部量子电脑，但它的电池可能是用量子电脑设计的。One of the first applications of quantum will be in materials modelling — not as dry as it sounds. Your iPhone 27 may not be a quantum computer, but its battery may be designed by one.
* 一些人辩称，量子计算将通过解密一切的能力破坏区块链。但莫顿教授表示，这将需要拥有数亿个量子比特的量子电脑。再说足以抵抗量子的加密技术也是当今的一大研究重点……Some argue that quantum computing will ruin blockchain by being able to decrypt everything. But Professor Morton says this would require quantum computers with hundreds of millions of qubits. And quantum resistant encryption is also a major research focus today.
我可以继续罗列下去。I could go on.
我还学到，量子计算并非没有问题。我们至少在10年内不会看到它的应用。现在阅读这篇文章的人几乎无一会在有生之年看到家中配置量子电脑，或在口袋里携带一部。甚至在量子计算领域工作的人也承认，
可能不会有这么一天。还有其他先进理念正在开发中，它们可能会让量子成为计算领域的Betamax（一种录像带格式，在市场竞争中不敌VHS——译者注）。I also learnt that quantum computing is not without problems（句型）. We are not going to see it in use for at least a decade. Almost nobody reading this will live to have one in their home, or carry one in their pocket. And even people working in quantum computing admit it may not work out. Other advanced concepts are being developed that could consign quantum to being the Betamax of computing.Betamax是一种年份较早的0.5英寸（1.27CM）磁带的格式，它由 19.1毫米（0.75英寸） U-matic录像带演进而来。它于1975年4月16日发表，同年5月10日上市。如同1976年JVC公司发表的VHS制式，它没有guard band，使用水平录制以减少漏话。Betamax名字的由来有两种说法。一种是当磁带在机器中运转时，它环绕机件的样子像希腊字母"Beta"。另一种说法是"Beta"在日文中是"品质"的意思，而"max"则用来形容"beta"。Betamax在与更便宜的JVC VHS设备竞争中失利，最终被淘汰出市场。——喵大歪楼
BETAMAX
VHS意为家用录像系统（日语名称：家庭用ビデオシステム，英文名称：video home system）是由日本胜利公司在1976年开发的一种家用录像机录制和播放标准。虽然VHS的官方代表就是家用录像系统，但是最初VHS代表Vertical Helical Scan(垂直螺旋扫描)的意思，因为它采用了磁头/磁带垂直扫描的技术。——喵大歪楼
VHS
更令人担心的是，了解量子计算的人很少，这可能会让那些懂的人获得巨大权力。多数人甚至从未听说过它。加拿大总理贾斯丁•特鲁多(Justin Trudeau)曾在安大略的一次科学活动上给出了可信的即兴解释，这让他在政治人士中显得独树一帜。More worrying is that very few people understand quantum computing and that could give great power to those who do. Most have never even heard of it. Justin Trudeau’s ability to give a credible, off-the-cuff explanation at a science event in Ontario probably makes him unique among politicians.
PHRASE An off-the-cuff remark is made without being prepared or thought about in advance. 【AND】N-COUNT The cuffs of a shirt or dress are the parts at the ends of the sleeves, which are thicker than the rest of the sleeve.
科学正变得更为复杂，真正了解未来事物越来越限于精英。“极客”可能真的会继承地球。Science is getting more complicated and real understanding of things to come is increasingly limited to elites. The geek may truly inherit the earth.（观点）
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