Two stories seeem to sit at the heart of it all. The first is technology: the explosion in self-expression that we have witnessed has only been made possible by the boom in ways of transmitting thoughts, images, feelings, ideas - the cornerstones of culture. Computer software and the internet have democratised creatively: everyone's an artist now.

看来有两件事是这一切的核心。第一，是技术：它使得思想、图像、感觉和想法能够被转化为现实、使得自我表达的爆炸成为可能--而这一切，就是文化的奠基石。电脑软件和互联网赋予创造力以民主：现在人人都是艺术家了。

But, more than that, everyone's a critic. This was the decade of the whirlwind recommendation, when a song or an image, a film clip or a piece of writing could be shared instantly and praised or attacked by anyone - right here, right now.

但更重要的是每个人都是评论者。这是一个疯狂推荐的十年。一首歌、一张图、一段电影剪辑或是一段文字都可以被立刻分享、被赞颂或攻击，人人都可以做到、就在此时、此刻。

At the opposite end of the scale from this intangible digital world sit the other dominant figures of the decade: buildings. The rise of the big culture shrine has been as remarkable as the numbers who have turned up to look inside.

而这个难以描述的数字世界的另一端，同时也定义着这个时代的另一特征：创造。伟大文化的神龛被树立，于此同时，小型的文化事件同样值得关注。

Let us not forget Kylie Minogue's bottom, however. Or the first tweet sent by Stephen Fry. For at the same time as the serious play has flourished in the West End, this has also been a decade of froth and celebrity, one in which, at times, the whole world seemed to go pop.

请不要忘记凯莉米洛的完美臀部曲线，还有英国传奇演员Stephen Fry在Twitter上的第一条微博。当正统的高雅话剧在伦敦西区（沪江小编注：伦敦富人区）上演，八卦和明星也同时存在。就让全世界一起high吧。

2000 May: Tate Modern open

2000年5月：泰特现代博物馆开馆

When the Queen opened Tate Modern on May 11, London acquired its most important new museum since Edward VII opened the Tate Gallery at Millbank more than 100 years before. In transforming Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's Bankside Power Station into a pristine space for contemporary art, Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron lit a match that kindled a British love affair with modern art. The love affair turned obsessional and 10 years later, every single major museum in London had devoted at least one show to contemporary art.

当女王在5月11日为泰特现代博物馆剪彩开幕，伦敦就迎来了它自爱德华七世在100年前揭幕泰特艺术馆以来最为重要的博物馆。泰特现代由一座旧电站改建，重新赋予它生命的瑞典建筑师Herzog和de Meuron借此点燃了英国民众对现代艺术的热情。接下来这十年来，每一间伦敦博物馆都至少举办过一次当代艺术展。

2000 June: Kylie Minogue steps out in her hot pants

2000年6月：凯莉米洛重回舞台

Flaunted in the video for Spinning Around, the Aussie's perfect buttocks become the pop symbol of the new millennium, in what already seems like a more innocent era.

凯莉米洛在经历过和乳腺癌的坚强斗争后，依旧作为性感女神重返舞台。这一次，粉丝们不仅仅迷恋她的曼妙身材，更爱上了她的灵魂。

2001 March: Destruction of the Buddhas of Bamyan

2001年三月：巴米扬大佛被塔利班政权毁坏

Historic Afghan cliff carvings are blown up after the Taliban deems them idolatrous.

这个政府也算绝了，人家都忙不迭在保护自己国家的历史遗产。他们倒好，直接自己炸掉。该组织领导人奥玛尔解释毁坏佛像的原因是伊斯兰教义相信，所有神像，包括那些远古时代的佛像，都是对伊斯兰教的侮辱。而评论家普遍认为此举旨在唤起国际社会对塔利班政权的关注，因为国际社会对塔利班政府的孤立让他们感到绝望。

2003 July:'The Da Vinci Code' published

2003年7月：《达芬奇密码》出版

Dan Brown begins worldwide domination with monks-and-conspiracy thriller.

此书的热卖自不用说，更令人关注的可能是由它引发的宗教讨论。而丹布朗也因此开始专注他的"僧侣+阴谋"模式系列书……

2004 December: Google announces its plan to convert 15 million books into digital format

2004年12月：谷歌宣布新计划，将要把150万本图书转为电子版

A fully searchable, universally accessible library available on your computer. Brilliant but scary.

一座完全免费的图书馆就此出现在个人用户电脑里，但由它所引发的版权问题在6年后的今天开始给谷歌找麻烦。

2005 February: YouTube created

2005年2月：YouTube建立

When it began, this video-sharing website, founded by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim, was loathed by multinational entertainment corporations as a copyright-infringing parasite. Since then it has been bought by Google, attracts more than a billion hits a day and its user-generated content makes it a major player in the Web 2.0 economy. Many of the companies who tried to sue it now distribute and promote their products through it.

YouTube建立之初和国内某豆网站一样是个盗版天堂。不幸的是国外法律太过健全，它很快就被Google收购，运行愈发规范。所幸它依然能每天吸引上亿点击率，并逐渐发展出如今大行其道的web2.0社区互动模式。如今已经有很多商业机构利用它推广自己的产品。

2006 Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature

2006年 土耳其小说家奥尔罕·帕慕克获诺贝尔文学奖

Pamuk's work illuminates a country torn between a resurgent Islam and the West.

得奖作品《伊斯坦布尔：一座城市的记忆》，描述了这个夹在中西方文化之间的奇妙城市。

2007 January:Canongate publishes Barack Obama's 'Dreams from My Father'

2007年1月：珂纳盖特出版了奥巴马的《我父亲的梦想》

Small Edinburgh publisher picks up little-known American senator's memoir. Two years later…

一家不知名的爱丁堡出版社挑选了同样不知名的美国议员的回忆录出版。而两年后……

2007 July:'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' published

2007年7月：哈利波特系列的最后一本《哈利波特与死亡圣器》出版

JK Rowling sends children （and adults） into a frenzy of speed-reading.

感谢上帝，罗琳把孩子们（还有好多大人）从屏幕前拉回到书里。

2008 August: Olympics Opening Ceremony, Beijing

2008年8月：北京奥运会举行

Perhaps the spectacular audio-visual cavalcade dreamed up and choreographed by film director Zhang Yimou was little more than propaganda for a repressive regime. But it was hard not to marvel at how brilliantly he marshalled a 15,000-strong cast to tumble and move through Herzog and de Meuron's extraordinary Bird's Nest Stadium, and how dexterously he juggled drum platoons, LED paper scrolls, lip-synching singers and CGI fireworks in a militantly euphoric and made-for-television spectacle that felt like a national "coming out" to the world and an attempt to fashion a new sense of Chinese selfhood.

不管西方评论家们如何叽叽喳喳，他们无法否认开幕式的辉煌壮丽。

2009 February: 'Slumdog Millionaire' wins eight Oscars

2009年2月：《贫民窟的百万富翁》获八项奥斯卡奖

Danny Boyle's Mumbai-based fairy tale, from a script that nearly didn't get made, becomes the most feted British film since The English Patient.

孟买童话成就了英国自《英国病人》以来最成功的电影。

June:Michael Jackson dies

六月：迈克杰克逊去世

Just weeks ahead of his 50 date residency at London's O2 Arena, the one time King of Pop collapses and dies. In a process of Elvis-like deification, Michael Jackson's reputation is transformed by tragedy.

就在他的巡回演唱会开始前几周，一代歌王倒下了……

December: James Cameron's 'Avatar' released

12月：詹姆斯喀麦隆的《阿凡达》上映

The megahyped sci-fi epic will pave （or block） the way forward for digital 3D.

这部电影将会被载入史册，就像某评论人说的那样：电影史自此会被划分为两个时代，前阿凡达时代，和后阿凡达时代。