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来源Chinese Edge Closer to Supercomputing Record – NYTimescom
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SAN FRANCISCO — A Chinese supercomputer has been ranked as the world’s second-fastest machine, surpassing European and Japanese systems and underscoring China’s aggressive commitment to science and technology.
一台中国的超级计算机已经超越欧洲和日本的系统排名世界第二快，显示了中国强大的科学技术竞争力。
The Dawning Nebulae, based at the National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen, China, has achieved a sustained computing speed of 1.27 petaflops — the equivalent of one thousand trillion mathematical operations a second — in the latest semiannual ranking of the world’s fastest 500 computers.
曙光星云布置在深圳中国国家超级计算机中心，其持续运行速度可达1.27petaflops，相当于每秒钟进行一千万亿次数学运算，在最新的世界最快的500台计算机半年度排名中名列第二。
The newest ranking was made public on Monday at the International Supercomputer Conference in Hamburg, Germany. Supercomputers are used for scientific and engineering problems as diverse as climate simulation and automotive design.
这一排名是在周一德国汉堡举行的国际超级计算机会议上公布的。超级计算机被用来解决各种各样的科学和工程问题，包括气候模拟和自动设计等。
The Chinese machine is actually now ranked as the world’s fastest in terms of theoretical peak performance, but that is considered a less significant measure than the actual computing speed achieved on a standardized computing test.
实际上，中国计算机的世界最快排名所依据的仅是理论峰值表现。与标准运算测试的实际运算速度相比，理论峰值速度的重要意义要相对小一些。
The world’s fastest computer remains the Cray Jaguar supercomputer, based at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Last November it was measured at 1.75 petaflops.
世界最快的超级计算机仍然由设置于美国田纳西州的橡树岭国家实验室的克雷捷豹（Cray Jaguar ）计算机保持。去年十一月它的测试速度是1.75petaflops。
In the previous year’s ranking, the Chinese had the fifth-fastest computer, a system that was based at a National Supercomputing Center in Tianjin, China. That machine has now dropped to seventh place.
在去年这个时候的排名中，中国天津国家超级计算机中心的一台计算机系统获得第五，这次它落到了第七位。
The United States continues to be the dominant maker of supercomputers, and is the nation with the most machines in the top 500. The United States has 282 of the world’s fastest 500 computers on the new list, an increase from 277 when the rankings were compiled in November.
在超级计算机的制作上，美国仍然占统治地位，拥有排名前500的大多数计算机。在最新500强计算机名单中，美国拥有282台，比去年九月排名时的277有所增加。
But China appears intent on challenging American dominance. There had been some expectation that China would make an effort to complete a system based on Chinese-designed components in time for the June ranking. The Nebulae is based on chips from Intel and Nvidia.
但是中国似乎有意挑战美国的统治地位。就在六月排名的时候，有预期说中国将基于自主设计的元器件努力建造一套超级计算机系统。现在的曙光星云是利用英特尔和Nvidia的芯片建立的。
The new system, which is based on a microprocessor that has been designed and manufactured in China, is now expected later this year. A number of supercomputing industry scientists and engineers said that it was possible that the new machine would claim the title of world’s fastest.
这套新系统预计将今年晚些时候完成，它的微处理器已经开始由中国自主设计制作。一些超级计算机行业的科学家和工程师说这套系统有可能会成为新的世界最快计算机。
“I wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of this year they surpass the scientific computing power of the E.U. countries combined and have a computer system with an achieved performance to reach the No. 1 position on the top 500,” said Jack Dongarra, a computer scientist at the University of Tennessee and one of the researchers who has organized the twice-yearly rankings.
“如果今年年底中国拥有一台世界最快的超级计算机系统，超过欧盟的科学运算能力，我一点也不会吃惊。”田纳西大学的计算机科学家杰克·唐加拉（Jack Dongarra）说，他也是组织这个一年两次的排名会议的研究人员之一。
Americans designed the first machines that were defined as supercomputers during the 1960s, and the United States has rarely been dislodged from its controlling position as technology leader. In 2002, however, the Japanese government’s Earth Simulator set off anxiety in Washington when that system briefly claimed the top position.
美国在上世纪60年代设计出了第一台超级计算机，从此美国就几乎没有丢失它的技术领导地位。2002年，日本的地球模拟器系统宣称夺得世界首位，引发了华盛顿的焦虑不安。
The United States then began investing heavily in the computing systems, breaking the petaflop barrier in 2008.
此后，美国对超级计算机系统投入巨资，终于在2008年突破每秒运算千万亿次的关口。
It is now preparing to begin a sustained push to build systems capable of computing at what is known as exascale performance — one thousand times faster than today’s fastest systems. The goal is to realize that technological achievement between 2018 and 2020.
现在美国准备开始建造新的超级计算机系统，打算把它的计算能力提高到百亿亿次，是目前最快计算机的1000倍。这个目标计划在2018到2020年之间实现。
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中国超级计算机排名世界第二，挑战美国地位
