VOA常速英语:从比特币到大企业，区块链技术走向主流

Bitcoin may be the currency of choice, but it’s blockchain, the technology that supports it, that has everyone talking.
比特币是否会成为人们首选的货币或许还不一定，但比特币所基于的区块链技术，现在成为很多人关注的焦点。

“Every blockchain transaction is open on this big public ledger. So it’s kind of like if you share an Excel file with a group of your employees at the office. Every time that you update the file, it gets updated on every other computer.”
“每次的区块链交易都是在这个公开的大分类账簿上开放的。所以这样就像在办公室里，你跟一群员工分享一个Excel文件。你每次更新文件时，其他计算机上的文件也会相应地进行更新。”

Bitcoin uses blockchain technology to enable anonymous, peer-to-peer payments, which is why the digital currency is often associated with illicit activity. But developers are realizing the same technology can be applied elsewhere.
比特币利用区块链技术来实现匿名的对等支付，这就是为什么数字货币往往与非法活动产生联系。但开发人员逐渐意识到，这项技术也可以应用在其他领域。

“Now there’re stuff like Ethereum, which allows developers to do more than just transact money and actually create their own sort of distributed systems and applications.”
“现在有一些像以太坊（Ethereum）这样的东西，它使得开发人员不仅可以交易资金，还可以创建自己的分布式系统和应用程序。”

Blockchains eliminate the need for intermediary parties, by relying on a decentralized network of computers, or nodes, to verify transactions.
区块链通过依靠分散的计算机网络或节点来进行交易验证，从而不需要中间方的介入。

Hudson Jameson helped develop a hardware and software platform for cars based on the Ethereum blockchain. “We put an Ethereum node on a Tesla, and so whenever it would go through a toll bridge, the Ethereum node or the car you can think of would interact with the toll bridge and autonomously pay the toll bridge. So if you think about what a toll bridge does today, you have to pay a credit card transaction fee. But with our system, it’s literally machine-to-machine.”
哈德森·詹姆森帮助开发了一款汽车硬件和软件平台，这一平台基于以太坊区块链技术。“我们将以太坊网络节点设计在一款特斯拉(Tesla)汽车中，所以每当它通过收费桥的时候，以太坊节点或汽车就会与收费桥形成交互，并自动支付过桥费。所以，你可以想一下今天的收费桥，你必须用信用卡支付交易费用。但是我们研发的系统，可以实现机器对机器的自动交易。”

This machine-to-machine communication allows direct access to the digital currency stored in one’s digital wallet. Transactions are processed on the spot without going outside of the network.Companies like Toyota, UnitedHealth Group and Fidelity are exploring blockchain and in part lending it legitimacy.
这种机器对机器的通信，使得直接使用存储在数字钱包中的数字货币成为可能。交易可当场进行处理，不经外网。像丰田、联合健康集团和富达国际这样的公司正在探索发展区块链技术，某种程度上，增强了区块链的正统地位。

“We’ve really seen the space explode and enter into a bunch of different directions, growing in diversity. There’s more people involved than ever.”
“我们真的看到了巨大的网络空间，向各个不同的领域发展，而且极具多样性。参与人数远远多于以前。”

Only time will tell whether blockchain can set off a chain reaction.
区块链是否可以引发连锁反应，只有时间才能给出答案。

Tina Trinh, VOA News, New York.
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