Whereas computers use zeros and ones to store and manipulate data, the neurons in our brains transmit information in binary, on/off spikes known as action potentials. 計算機使用0和1來存儲、處理數據，而我們大腦中的神經元則以二進制形式的開關尖峰來傳輸信息，這些尖峰被稱為動作電勢。
This basic similarity is what underlies the burgeoning field of computational neuroscience, which hopes to understand how neuronal networks give rise to processes like memory and facial recognition so that they might be replicated in intelligent machines. (Para. 1) (兩者之間的)這一-基本的 相似性奠定了新興的計算神經科學領域的基礎，該學科希望了解神經元網絡是如何完成記憶和面部識別等過程的，以便將它們復制到智能機器中。
The central problem remains: We have no real understanding of how the brain gives rise to the mind, of how neurons and action potentials create consciousness. (Para. 2) 核心問題依然存在:我們沒有真正理解大腦是如何產生思想的，也就是神經元細胞和動作電勢是如何產生意識的。
If they could accurately recreate the behaviours and structures of a biological brain, their computer simulation should shed light on both normal cognition and disorders like depression and schizophrenia. (Para. 4) 如果他們能夠準確地再現生物大腦的行為和結構，他們的計算機模擬便可闡釋正常的大腦認知功能和諸如抑郁癥、精神分裂癥等疾病。
And this invention of analogy relies not on analytic problem- solving thought but on letting your mind drift from one thought to another in a sort of free associative state, says Gelernter. (Para. 8) 格倫特爾說，這種類比的產生不是依賴于分析性的解決問題的思維方式，而是依賴于讓自己的大腦處于自由聯想的狀態，從一種想法不知不覺地轉到另一種想法。
Though there may not be an exact word to describe this nuanced emotion, the mind can recognise it and can connect two very different scenes that may have inspired the same emotion. (Para. 9) 盡管可能沒有一個確切的詞來描述這種微妙的情感，但大腦可以識別它，并且可以聯想起兩個可能激發了同樣情感的截然不同的場景。
The other difficulty with emotion - and the reason why computers won’t ever be able to experience emotions the way humans do - is that they are produced by an interaction between the brain and the body working together. (Para. 10) 情感產生的另- -個難點 (也是計算機不能以人類的方式體驗情感的原因)是，情感是在大腦與身體協同工作相互作用的過程中產生的。
