what is a session?

[Kenny同志]

[deleted]

None of the definitions given in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English seems to fit in this context. Could anybody shed some light on the sentence?

Cheers!

[anonymoose]

I assume, from the context of the article, that it means connections. In other words, machines will connect to the network 30 times more frequently than people make manual connections.

[creamyhorror]

I don't see any article...

The sentence isn't interpretable without more context. The exact meaning of 'session' should be clear from the preceding sentences. What exactly is occurring?

[jbradfor]

I think the first definition fits this meaning. It's a session of time that something is happening. Without more context I don't know what this something is, but I'm guessing it has something to do with mobile communication.

[roddy]

In computing I think 会话 is used?

[anonymoose]

I don't see any article...

That's what Google's for.

[Kenny同志]

Thanks everybody. More context:

[deleted]

[imron]

Basically it means that devices will be connected and communicate to each other automatically (e.g. gps detector on phone detects you are close to home and so automatically connects to your home's central heating and turns it on so the place will be warm when you get back), and the number of these mobile machine-machine connections will be 30 times greater than the number of mobile person-person connections.

[Kenny同志]

Thanks for helping me out Imron. I am clear now.

[Kenny同志]

solved

[jbradfor]

Blah. Bad writing. Someone without a technical background tries to talk about technology and make it sound poetic.

Bits and atoms=比特 and 原子？

I think what the person is saying is that the number of bits will become so large they will approach the number of atoms in the universe.

This is, of course, totally totally stupid. Unless some amazing new technology comes around, the physical device required to store this "bits" will require more than one atom per bit. And then of course compare the number of atoms on earth vs the number of atoms in the universe, and absurdity reigns.

The end of the beginning? Shouldn’t it be “beginning” instead of “the end of the beginning”?

When the author is saying is that the first part (the beginning) is ending, and we are going to a new stage (the middle).

And what did the author mean by “go to the ball”? should it be understood as “to be introduced”?

Usually only the "elite" are invited to the balls (fancy parties) of yore. So it means that this technology "has arrived" and will start to have a big effect.

[creamyhorror]

Why will an astronomical number of networked objects blur the line between bits and atoms? If bits should be construed as 比特 and atoms 原子，that simply doesn’t make sense. How can they be related to each other?

Bad writing, as jbradfor says. The author could be implying any of a few things, but they all aren't very sensible to me.

Basically it means that devices will be connected and communicate to each other automatically (e.g. gps detector on phone detects you are close to home and so automatically connects to your home's central heating and turns it on so the place will be warm when you get back), and the number of these mobile machine-machine connections will be 30 times greater than the number of mobile person-person connections.

I'd go for a more general interpretation here and say that "sessions" just means "ongoing connections" here, and that the number of machines connected to the Internet of Things will be 30 times the number of people connected to the IoT.

The presence of “but” and “ramping up” in the same sentence makes it weird, don’t you think so? If it is a good sentence, could you rewrite it for me?

"But over the last few years, beyond sporadic announcements and initiatives from industry, the Internet of Things has been ramping up."

The sentence is not generally wrong in and of itself - you can use "but" and "ramping up" together. But "but" doesn't fit in the context of the preceding paragraphs. For "but" to be used, the preceding sentences have to imply that before the last few years, the growth of the IoT was stagnant. It would be better to delete "but".

Also, the "beyond sporadic announcements" bit feels slightly weird to me. I would prefer "beyond [mere] announcements". But it's minor and I could be wrong.

My preferred rewrite: "Over the last few years, beyond the announcements and initiatives from industry, the development of the Internet of Things has been ramping up."

(Note that "industry" here doesn't use the definite article "the" because it's being used as a proper noun. This is not a common usage, but is valid in certain less formal contexts.)

[Kenny同志]

Thank you Jbradfor and Creamy. Your explanations were very helpful. I am sorry I was too busy to reply to your posts earlier.

I have one more sentence that’s confusing me.

A few months later was published the fourth installment in the National Intelligence Council-led effort to identify key drivers and developments deemed likely to shape world events a decade or more in the future.

It kills me to have to translate some badly written sentences.

[Guest realmayo]

A few months later [something] was published. It was the fourth installment of [something]. This [thing] was led by the NIC. It was: an attempt to work out what the main drivers and developments are that are likely to influence world events 10+ years in the future.

[Kenny同志]

A few months later [something] was published. It was the fourth installment of [something]. This [thing] was led by the NIC. It was: an attempt to work out what the main drivers and developments are that are likely to influence world events 10+ years in the future.

Thank you Realmayo. I know normally it should be understood that way but "that thing" is ambiguous in the very context. By the way, is this sentence fine? It is the first sentence of the paragraph actually.

[anonymoose]

A few months later was published the fourth installment in the National Intelligence Council-led effort to identify key drivers and developments deemed likely to shape world events a decade or more in the future.

几个月后发布了由国家情报委员会主导的项目的第四部分，内容为识别出被视为可能影响到十年以及十年多之后全球事态的关键驱动因素。

怎么样？

[creamyhorror]

@kenny: To answer your question, the sentence is awkward. My reasons follow:

time [X] = "A few months later"

noun [Y] = "the fourth installment in the National Intelligence Council-led effort to identify key drivers and developments deemed likely to shape world events a decade or more in the future" = an NIC publication identifying these drivers and developments

"Only [at time X] was [Y] published." - this is a valid structure

However, the sentence deviates from the structure into two areas - (1) "only" and (2) the moving of "published" to right after "was".

(1) "Only" is commonly used here. The structure can still be used without it: "At this time was the bell rung, and the dishes served." It feels more anachronistic/literary, though, and doesn't fit at all with this lengthy sentence and the expression "a few months later".

(2) "Published" can't be moved. It should be either "Only [at time X] was [Y] published" or "[At time X], [Y] was published.

The author put "published" directly after "was" in order not to separate the two by so many other words:

"A few months later was the fourth installment in the National Intelligence Council-led effort to identify key drivers and developments deemed likely to shape world events a decade or more in the future published."

but the result was incorrect grammatically (it goes against the structure I mentioned). Such a shift is possible with adverbials, though: "His performance brought every lady and gentleman in the hall to tears" --> "His performance brought to tears every lady and gentleman in the hall." (But only when the object is long enough to warrant the move: "His performance brought to tears me" is no good.)

Hope that clears up the grammar of the sentence for you.

P.S.

Breakdown of "the fourth installment in the National Intelligence Council-led effort to identify key drivers and developments deemed likely to shape world events a decade or more in the future"

--> "the fourth installment in the effort"

--> the fourth part of the NIC publication that identifies key drivers and developments

"Effort" refers to the document created and published by the NIC on this subject. It's not the best or most precise phrasing, but it's understandable.

[Kenny同志]

Thanks Anonymoose and Creamy.

@Anonymoose

It was very nice of you to go the extra mile to translate it for me. Your translation is understandable, but in Chinese shorter sentences are usually preferred, so it might be better to slightly modify it as:

数月后，国家情报委员会发布了第四期报告，探寻了未来十年乃至更长时间内，可能影响全球事态的主要力量和科技成果。

@Creamy

Your explanation is always very insightful. Thanks again.

[anonymoose]

kenny, it is always interesting to compare your version with mine. Yours, of course, reads a lot smoother, and it is a very valuable resourse to learn from.

However, "developments" I think means general changes in the world (including political, economic) rather than just 科技成果.

[Kenny同志]

Yes, without more context, the developments could be of any kind, be it political, scientific, or economic, however, given the very subject of the report - Internt of Things, it would be quite esay to find that the author was talking about scientific and technological developments.