Web pages can be accessed through the Internet because the Web browser software operating your PC can request Web pages stored on an Internet host server using the HTTP protocol. Hypertext is a way of formatting pages with embedded links that connect documents to one another, and that also link pages to other objects such as sound, video, or animation files. When you click on a graphic and a video clip plays, you have clicked on a hyperlink.

　　因为操作个人计算机的网络浏览器软件能使用HTTP协议对储存在因特网主机服务器上的一个网页发出请求,所以能通过因特网访问万维网网页。超文本是使用嵌入式链接形成格式化网页的一种方法，这些链接将文档彼此联结，而且将网页链接到其他对象如声音、视频或动画文件。当你点击一个图形和一个视频剪辑播放按钮的时候,你在点击一个超链接。

　　HTTP is the first set of letters at the start of every Web address, followed by the domain name. The domain name specifies the organization’s server computer that is housing the document. Most companies have a domain name that is the same as or closely related to their official corporate name. The directory path and document name are two more pieces of information within the Web address that help the browser track down the requested page. Together, the address is called a Uniform Resource Locator, or URL. When typed into a browser, a URL tells it exactly where to look for the information.

　　HTTP是每个网址的第一个字母组合，位于网址的起始位置,紧跟着它的是域名。域名指定组织的服务器计算机，而文件收藏于服务器计算机之上。大多数公司有一个与其官方公司名字相同或接近的域名。目录路径和文件名在网址中是出现较多的两个信息，它帮助浏览器捕捉被请求的网页。同时，网址叫做统一资源定位符,或URL。当把网址键入一个浏览器内时，URL准确分辨到哪里找寻数据。

　　Although the most common Web page formatting language is HTML, the concept behind document formatting actually had its roots in the 1960s with the development of Generalized Markup Language (GML).

　　虽然最常见的网页格式化语言是HTML,实际上文档格式的概念早在20世纪60年代随着通用置标语言(GML)的发展就形成了。

　　SGML. In 1986, the International Standards Organization adopted a variation of GML called Standard Generalized Markup Language, or SGML. The purpose of SGML was to help very large organizations format and categorize large collections of documents. The advantage of SGML is that it can run independent of any software program but, unfortunately, it is extremely complicated and difficult to learn. Probably for this reason, it has not been widely adopted.

　　SGML(标准通用置标语言)。在1986年，国际标准组织正式通过了GML的一种变体叫做标准通用置标语言,或SGML。SGML的目标是帮助特大型组织对大量文档格式化并归类。SGML的优点是它能独立于任何软件程序运行，但不幸的是，它极端复杂和难学。或许因为这个理由，它没有被广泛地采用。

　　HTML. HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is a GML that is relatively easy to use. HTML provides Web page designers with a fixed set of markup “tags” that are used to format a Web page. When these tags are inserted into a Web page, they are read by the browser and interpreted into a page display. You can see the source HTML code for any Web page by simply clicking on the “Page Source” command found in all browsers.

　　HTML(超文本链接标示语言)。HTML是相对容易使用的一种GML。HTML为网页设计者提供一组固定的标示“标签”用于格式化网页。当这些标签被插入一个网页之中时,他们被浏览器阅读并翻译为网页显示。你可以看见任何网页的HTML源代码，只需点击一下所有浏览器中都能找到的 "网页源文件"指令。

　　HTML functions to define the structure and style of a document, including the headings, graphic positioning, tables, and text formatting.5 Since its introduction, the two major browsers—Netscape’s Navigator and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer—have continuously added features to HTML to enable programmers to further refine their page layouts. Unfortunately, many of the enhancements only work in one company’s browser, and this development threatens the attainment of a universal computing platform.

　　HTML的功能是定义文件的结构和风格,包括标题、图形定位、表格和本文格式。从HTML引入以来,两个主要的浏览器——Netscape(网景公司)的Navigator和Microsoft(微软公司)的Internet Explorer——不断地把特征加入HTML之中，使程序员能够进一步改进他们的页设计。不幸的是，许多功能的加强只有在一个公司的浏览器中起作用，而且这种发展威胁到通用计算机平台的实现。

　　HTML Web pages can be created with any text editor, such as Notepad or Wordpad, using Microsoft Word (simply save the Word document as a Web page) or any one of several Web page editors.

　　HTML网页可以使用微软的Word或几种网页编辑器中任何一种通过本文编辑器生成,例如Notepad(记事本)或 Wordpad(写字本) (只需把Word文件保存为一个网页)。

[1]  [2]