This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语科技报道。
Last Wednesday, June eighth, was World IPv6 Day -- the first major deployment of Internet Protocol version 6. Hundreds of Internet service providers and Web companies tested IPv6 on their websites.
上周三的6月8日是全球IPv6日，这是IPv6的首次重大部署。数百家互联网服务商和网络公司在他们网站上对IPv6进行了测试。
（注：IPv6，全称Internet Protocol version 6，即互联网通讯协议第6版。以下提到的IPv4是第4版。）
This new numbering system for Internet addresses has been available for years. But very few companies have switched to it. Yet the old system could run out of addresses this year because of all the growth in online devices. Doug Szajda, a computer science professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia, explains.
这种新的互联网地址编码系统已问世多年。但鲜有公司转换到IPv6。然而由于互联网设备的增长，旧的编码系统中的IP地址今年即将用尽。弗吉尼亚州里士满大学计算机科学教授道格·萨拉耶达(Doug Szajda)对此作了解释。
DOUG SZAJDA: "It's sort of like the post office of the Internet. It tells you how to get information from one computer to another. Currently, and since around nineteen eighty, the addressing system has been IP version 4. But the problem with that is that we've run out of addresses. So it's almost as if, when a new house is built, you can't give it an address because you don't have any more."
萨拉耶达：“IPv6有点像互联网上的邮局。可以告诉你如何从另一台电脑获得信息。从1980年到现在一直使用的是IPv4。但该系统面临的问题是，我们即将用完所有IP地址。这就像是，房子盖好了却不能给他一个通讯地址，因为通讯地址已经用完了。”
IPv4 was designed to handle just over four billion IP addresses. Doug Szajda says that seemed like more than enough.
IPv4只能处理40亿个地址。萨拉耶达表示，当时看上去这已经足够用了。
DOUG SZAJDA: "At the time that IP version 4 was designed, the designers were anticipating perhaps thousands of users of the Internet someday, and certainly thinking that four billion addresses was many more than we would ever need."
萨拉耶达：“设计IPv4时，设计者预计也许有一天会有成千上万名互联网用户，他们确实认为40亿个IP地址已经远超我们的需求。”
Yet now, not just computers but smartphones, cars, televisions, game systems and plenty of other devices all connect to the Internet. Each uses a different IP address.
然而现在，不只是电脑，包括智能手机、汽车、电视机、游戏机和其他设备都连上了互联网。每种设备都使用一个不同的IP地址。
The basic standards for IPv6 were first published in nineteen ninety-eight. Doug Szajda says its most important feature is the ability to provide what seems like an unlimited number of IP addresses. Well, there is a limit -- three hundred forty trillion trillion trillion in fact, or three hundred forty undecillion. That's three hundred forty followed by thirty-six zeros.
IPv6基准于1998年首次发布。萨拉耶达称，IPv6最重要的特点就是能够提供近乎无限的IP地址。嗯，实际上是有限的，它的IP地址数量是340后面再跟36个0。
Experts say the challenge now is to get the world to use it. Mr. Szajda says that was the real purpose of last week's World IPv6 Day sponsored by the Internet Society.
专家表示，目前的挑战是让全球使用IPv6。萨拉耶达表示，这是上周互联网协会举办的全球IPv6日的真正目的。
DOUG SZAJDA: "It was less a worldwide test than a means of generating some incentive for vendors to realize we can't drag our feet anymore. This has to happen."
萨拉耶达：“它的意义不只是一次全球范围的测试，更有一种对厂商激励的意味，提醒供应商不能再拖拖拉拉，IPv6已经势在必行。”
The process of switching to IPv6 can be complex and costly. This could explain why so few companies have made the switch. CompTIA, the Computing Technology Industry Association, recently did an opinion study. The group talked to more than four hundred information technology and business leaders in the United States. Only twenty-one percent said they have started doing work to upgrade their networks to the new system.
IPv6的转换过程极其复杂与昂贵。这就是很少有公司已经进行转换的原因。美国计算机行业协会(CompTIA)最近进行了一项问卷调查。该组织与美国400多名信息技术和商业上的领袖进行对话，只有21%的领导者表示他们已经着手将自己的网络升级到IPv6新系统。