Chen Xu quickly dismissed the thought and began to get excited. Giving away such a great thing for free would be such a waste... Even though he hadn't put in any effort on this software, if it were released, it would definitely benefit more than just China.
How much does one copy of the software cost?
Okay, same old rules, cheaper domestically, but not too cheap, how about eighty yuan? Internationally? How about eight hundred? In US dollars.
Tsk tsk, how much will they rake in this time?!
Although Chen Xu had no concept of money, he didn't mind making a lot of it... After all, who would complain about having too much money?!
As for who should operate the software, Chen Xu thought it would be better to give it to Yi Shuihan. After all, he needed to use his SMMH reputation to promote the software, and he trusted Yi Shuihan.
The thought of this made Chen Xu tremble with excitement, and then the proctor looked at him with the same eyes one would give a cheater.
The proctor must have been wondering too, why was this student trying to cheat so early... the listening section wasn't even over yet!
Could it be that the CET-4 exam paper was leaked? Did he buy the leaked exam paper before and now that he sees the questions are the same as the ones on the actual exam paper, is that why he's so excited?
Uh... this teacher could really go write novels on Qidian (a Chinese online literature platform), otherwise such a rich imagination would be a real waste...
So the teacher came over, tapped on Chen Xu's desk, and whispered, "Student, be quiet."
Chen Xu took off his headphones, looked at the teacher with a confused expression, said "oh," and put his headphones back on.
Seeing Chen Xu's behavior, the teacher became suspicious and patted the table, saying, "Student, I need to check your headphones." "Why? What right do you have?" Chen Xu immediately panicked. These headphones weren't ordinary; they were from a computer eighty years in the future! How could he just let a stranger touch them? Even if he couldn't find out about Xiao Min, it was unacceptable!
Seeing Chen Xu's expression, the teacher was even more convinced that he was cheating, and said sternly, "I suspect you may be cheating, so let me check your headphones."
Chen Xu was displeased upon hearing this... even though he was indeed cheating.
So he took off his headphones and said, "Why do you suspect me of cheating? What did I cheat on?"
The teacher persisted: "Then let me check it!"
Why would Chen Xu give it to him? She rolled her eyes and ignored him.
The teacher panicked and reached out to grab it, but Chen Xu grabbed his wrist as soon as he did: "Hey, I'm warning you, this is my personal stuff, and don't disturb my exam!"
The whole class turned to look at Chen Xu. The teacher, embarrassed, shouted, "Either you check my work or you get out and your exam qualification will be revoked!"
Cancel the exam qualification?
Chen Xu's lips curled into a cold smile. His English was about to become useless. You're disqualifying me? Fine, then disqualify me!
So Chen Xu picked up his headphones and said, "Fine, then cancel it. I'm not going to put up with this anymore!"
After saying that, he pushed the exam paper aside and walked out.
The teacher was stunned. He really didn't expect that Chen Xu, a freshman, would actually dare to do such a thing. At this moment, he watched as Chen Xu swaggered out the door.
The teachers looked at each other in astonishment, while the students exclaimed inwardly, "Wow, this is truly amazing!"
But at that moment, Chen Xu suddenly turned back and walked directly onto the podium.
"What are you doing?" A teacher, unsure of his intentions, saw Chen Xu ignore him and write a message on the blackboard with chalk:
"I am Chinese, why should I learn a foreign language? I don't need to learn ABCs, I'll just be a successor!"
Chapter 257 The Tower of Babel Translator
This statement amazed the audience, but it wasn't Chen Xu's original idea.
There are two rumors about who first created these four lines of doggerel: one is Huang Shuai during the Cultural Revolution, and the other is a girl from the same period. Although these four lines of poetry cannot be said to be household names, most college students know them and often mention them casually. But no one has ever dared to be so arrogant as to write them openly on the blackboard in front of the whole class and the teacher during the CET-4 exam.
The teachers were all stunned. The teacher who had previously wanted to search for Chen Xu's headphones was trembling with anger. But none of them could utter a single word.
Chen Xu picked up the little bee (a miniature megaphone) on the table, coughed, and said in front of everyone, "Usually, the ultimate goal of learning English is to make our country strong so that foreigners will come to learn Chinese. But now the status of English and Chinese has been reversed. Such a reversal of priorities is a tragedy for the entire nation!"
Chen Xu's gaze swept across the entire room: "Here I'd like to reveal some news to you all: in a week at most, the whole of China will no longer need to learn English, in the name of my teacher, SMMH."
After saying that, Chen Xu turned and left, and the entire classroom fell into a deathly silence. But a few seconds later, it exploded as if a pot of water had been poured into a frying pan.
Wu Yuan was the first to grab a pen, write the limerick "I am Chinese" on the test paper, then pack his things and left the classroom... Anyway, Chen Xu was gone, so he couldn't copy it anymore, and he wouldn't pass the exam if he stayed.
Then, groups of two or three people stood up and left the exam room... These were all senior students who, seeing how strict the invigilation was this time, knew they couldn't cheat even if they wanted to, so they might as well leave.
And the most important reason is what Chen Xu mentioned, SMMH.
Nowadays, almost everyone has heard of SMMH, and many know that Chen Xu has a close relationship with SMMH. As for his use of the word "teacher," it wasn't surprising... Moreover, the students in this exam hall, all computer science majors, thought that since SMMH could create such an incredible Chinese computer language, perhaps he really did have a way to prevent everyone from learning English?
The almost blind worship of SMMH has led many people to simply give up on English exams... since they're not cut out for learning English anyway, they might as well not study it at all.
This is the most arrogant CET-4 exam in the history of Hopson University.
It was later confirmed that the CET-4 scores at the test center where Chen Xu was taking the exam were generally low... how could they not be?! During the listening comprehension section, the exam room erupted in chaos. Many people hadn't clearly heard the following questions, and many were preoccupied with what Chen Xu had said. How could anyone concentrate on the exam?
The statement "The whole of China doesn't need to learn English" was truly shocking. If it were Chen Xu who said it, it wouldn't be a big deal, but everyone in the computer science department knows that Chen Xu is very close to SMMH, and it was his teacher SMMH who said it.
That statement is definitely not just empty talk.
After the exam, a group of people came looking for Chen Xu, apparently having notified the reporters. With a nose like a dog's, the reporters, sensitive to news, quickly found him, but Chen Xu remained hidden in his rented apartment, refusing to see anyone.
Although they didn't manage to interview Chen Xu, the reporters weren't without material to write about.
Quickly, major portal websites featured the headline "SMMH to Cancel English Learning" on their front pages. Tencent even used a pop-up news window to instantly reach every QQ user. The internet was abuzz with discussion, with countless netizens joining in to verify the story's veracity.
Since they couldn't contact Chen Xu, let alone that SMMH, everyone was in a state of high anxiety.
The immense impact of this incident naturally alarmed national and foreign intelligence organizations. The national special operations team specifically responsible for the SMMH couldn't help but scratch its head, thinking, "This guy is incredibly resourceful. But next time you have something truly groundbreaking to share, could you please let us know first?"
June 23rd.
Three days later, Yi Shuihan, president of Shanghai S Company, suddenly held a press conference. Reporters, sensing the opportunity, immediately became incredibly excited, swarming in. The venue was so crowded that there wasn't even room for a fly to land.
When Yi Shuihan appeared in a Tang suit, it made people realize that he was extraordinary.
Yi Shuihan deliberately appeared five minutes late. His first words into the microphone were: "I'm sorry to have taken up everyone's time, because everyone's time is extremely precious."
"The progress and development of civilization is built upon humanity's exploration and research into civilization and the world. Every child is born into a family that enjoys nine years of compulsory education, including myself, who has reached this point through school education. But is our learning efficient? Look at today's children; they carry increasingly heavy backpacks and wear glasses with ever-increasing prescriptions. From birth, they are burdened with high hopes by their parents, as every parent wants their child to succeed and live a happy life through their own abilities. They study, losing the joys of childhood. We must acknowledge that with societal progress and fierce competition, today's children do indeed need to work harder to have a better life in the future. But we hope that today's children, our students, can spend their time on more useful things, rather than doing meaningless activities."
After Yi Shuihan finished speaking, a murmur rippled through the audience.
The reporters present were all well-prepared, wondering if Yi Shuihan's press conference was related to SMMH's announcement of canceling English language learning. And listening to Yi Shuihan's words, it did seem to have some truth to it… the "meaningless things" he mentioned likely referred to English language learning.
To dare to call English learning, which is now almost the most important thing for students, "meaningless" is truly befitting of a company president from the lineage of the internet god SMMH.
Yi Shuihan smiled and continued, "Perhaps my journalist friends have already received some information about what I mean by 'meaningless' things. That's right, I'm referring to learning English! Actually, I use English quite a lot now, when negotiating and communicating with clients and foreign companies. It's inevitable that I'll use this international language. But for the sake of this kind of communication, all our children have to spend a lot of time learning this unfamiliar language, which is a huge waste of time. I even feel now that all that time I spent memorizing vocabulary and familiarizing myself with grammar was pointless. If I had used that time on other professional pursuits, wouldn't my personal cultivation and taste be much higher now?!"
The reporters got excited. Sure enough, the real drama was about to begin!
"We do need people who are proficient in multiple languages. But it's unnecessary for everyone to spend a lot of time learning them. The kind of people I'm referring to are those needed for researching foreign literature and history—qualities that can't be obtained through shortcuts. But for most of us, the purpose of learning English is simply to communicate with foreigners. So, if there were a shortcut that could spare everyone the pain of learning this unfamiliar language, saving our children a significant amount of study time so they could use that time for other learning, I think that would greatly improve our children's overall quality."
"We have always advocated reducing the burden on students. We envy the American education system because children there don't have as much pressure. Why is there such a big difference? Because we only have 24 hours a day, which is very fair. But in the US, English is their native language, and they don't need to waste time learning a new language that they may never use in the future. Naturally, their pressure is less than that of our children!"
"Well then," Yi Shuihan smiled slightly, "welcome everyone to the launch of the Babel Tower Translator. My teacher, my benefactor, the god of the internet SMMH, through my voice, declares to the world: from today onwards, communication between different peoples will no longer be an obstacle!"
Amidst the clamor of reporters, a large, beautifully packaged software box floated up in the center of the press conference. The box bore the six large, gold-embossed Chinese characters: "Babel Tower Translator"!
And then a saleswoman came up with a smile, in front of her was a row of laptops.
"I'm sure you've all received the news that my teacher, SMMH, said he wants to cancel the nationwide English learning program. Actually, he doesn't mean to completely cancel English learning. Rather, he means to use this Babel Tower Translator software to allow people who learn English only for future international communication to save more time to learn other things, since our time is limited."
"Babel Tower Translator, a masterpiece by my teacher SMMH. Using this translator, one can achieve near-perfect translation between Chinese and English, unlike the inferior works that can only translate words literally. The translation quality of Babel Tower Translator is almost comparable to that of a top-tier translator. Now, I invite all journalists to conduct a real-world test of this translation effect."
The reporters at the scene immediately became excited, scrambling to push forward, everyone wanting to be the first to try it out! Seeing the chaotic situation in the venue, Yi Shuihan whispered to the staff next to him, "Okay, okay, everyone, please don't push. Please stay in your original positions. Our staff has already connected the translator software to the main computer, so everyone can sit where they are and try it out."
Upon hearing this, the reporters stopped and raised their hands in a flurry, like elementary school students answering a question.
"The CCTV reporter can go first."
All the reporters looked at the CCTV reporter with envy. Sigh, they couldn't compete. After all, the CCTV reporter was number one in China!
The CCTV reporter stood up, took the microphone from the staff, and asked, "Thank you for giving me this opportunity to ask a question. My question is, how exactly is the test conducted? Is it a perfect simultaneous audio-visual interpretation?"
He had barely finished speaking when a deep, resonant male voice automatically emanated from the speakers in the venue: "THANKSFOR..."
That's exactly what the CCTV reporter just said!
A collective gasp swept through the room.
Almost all the reporters who came here had a good command of English, and they all realized that although it was just a very ordinary translation, the translation was impeccable.
The CCTV reporter asked excitedly, "So, is this the same translation of Babel Tower by the translator, both verbally and in written form?"
Yi Shuihan smiled but did not speak, but the translator automatically translated the words into English.
The CCTV reporter got excited and exclaimed, "My God, this is truly an incredible invention! It could change the entire history of humankind! Did SMMH invent this?"
When the translator translated it again, the reporters snapped out of their shock and all demanded to try it themselves.
The CCTV reporter wanted to try several more times, but knew that even though he had the biggest name in the company, he couldn't afford to offend the public. So he handed the microphone to someone nearby.
The next person to take the microphone was a reporter from S, but he was a little dizzy when he received the microphone because for a moment he didn't know what he wanted to say!
This is actually quite normal. For example, someone might ask another person to write a character for them to see how well they write. After taking the pen, the person might momentarily go blank, unsure of what to write.
However, as a reporter, quick thinking is crucial. The S reporter immediately asked, "How much are the chives per pound?"
The translator on the other end immediately said: How
The whole audience burst into laughter.
But amidst the laughter, everyone was amazed by this invention. Indeed, as Yi Shuihan said, with this software, learning a foreign language would no longer be an essential task. Current testing shows that the software is indeed very powerful, even capable of recognizing names and many uncommon phrases. It's safe to say that many people present may not even have an English level as high as this software! It's essentially a very advanced translator; with it, communication will no longer be a problem!
So apart from a few people who specialize in science and technology, there is absolutely no need for others to learn English.
Seriously, what a waste of time!
At the same time, a sense of sorrow rose in the hearts of the reporters at the scene.
Because every reporter present was at least at the CET-6 level in English, having spent countless hours learning it... I won't go into the wasted time here. After all, mastering a skill is a capability. But now, seeing the emergence of this software, which even surpasses their English proficiency, the reporters present couldn't help but feel a sense of shared sorrow.
Seriously. What a waste of time!
However, as everyone knows, the effects of this software are enormous. Although this generation has suffered a lot, the next generation, and even future generations, will not have to suffer... Look at the children today, they have to learn English from kindergarten, how tiring! Their English level is higher than their Chinese level, which is a distorted development trend!
By this time, the experiment was almost over, and Yi Shuihan said that he would give each reporter a collector's edition of the "Babel Tower Translator" software so that everyone could try it out immediately.
It was time for questions again. A reporter from Sohu asked, "I would like to ask if the 'Babel Tower Translator' software can only translate between Chinese and English, and whether it can translate other languages such as Japanese, French, German, etc."
“Yes, that’s possible,” Yi Shuihan replied. “However, our ‘Babel Tower Translator’ is only for Chinese-English translation, because that’s where the demand is the greatest. As for translation into other languages, including dialects, the Translator’s database is vast, covering dialects from all over the country, with a recognition rate of over 90%. Translations in this area will be charged separately, depending on the user’s requirements.”
"What is the standard fee?"
"The Babel Tower Translator software is priced at 288 yuan per set in China. If you need to add a language, you need to pay an additional 100 yuan. The complete list of Chinese dialects has been added to 'Translator' because, according to my teacher's wishes, the original purpose of this software was to make things easier for Chinese people."