From junk emails to annoying adverts, we spend our lives being bombarded with a constant stream of information。

从垃圾邮件到让人恼火的广告，我们每天的生活都在遭受各种形形色色信息的狂轰乱炸。

Now scientists have worked out exactly how much data is sent to a typical person in the course of a year。

科学家们计算出了究竟每人每天会接收到的信息量。

They found that mankind broadcasts two quadrillion megabytes - or two followed by 21 zeroes - of information through televisions, radios, newspapers, post and emails every 12 months。

他们发现，在一年中的12个月里，由两万亿兆字节的信息会通过电视、广播、报纸、海报和邮件的方式传播出去。

That's the equivalent of every person in the world having to read 174 newspapers from cover to cover every single day。

这相当于每人每天将阅读174份报纸所含有的信息量。

The study also found that the world's libraries, computers, DVD collections and newspapers store a staggering 295trillion megabytes of information - or 295 followed by 18 zeroes。

这项研究还发现，世界上的图书馆、电脑、DDVD和报纸所存贮的数据已高达了两百九十五万亿兆字节，也就是说295X10的18次幂兆字节之多。

If those 295 'exabytes' of stored information were kept on CD-Roms, the stack of CDs would reach from the Earth to beyond the Moon。

若将之烧制成光碟的话，所有的CD摞起来的高度足以连接地球与月球。

Dr Martin Hilbert of the University of South California, who carried out the study, admits that the numbers involved are too large to comprehend - but that they are dwarfed by nature。

南加利福尼亚州大学的马丁 希尔伯特博士领导了这项研究，他指出该项数据异常巨大，但与自然相比却又是九牛一毛。

The 295trillion megabytes of information stored in the whole world is still less than one per cent of the information stored in all the DNA in a single human being, he said。

这两百九十五万亿兆字节的信息还远不及人体DNA所含有的信息量。

'These numbers are impressive, but still minuscule compared to the order of magnitude at which nature handles information,' said Dr Hilbert who reveals the figures in the journal Science.'Compared to nature, we are but humble apprentices. However, while the natural world is mind-boggling in its size, it remains fairly constant. In contrast, the world's technological information processing capacities are growing at exponential rates.'

他说：“尽管这样的数字十分引人注目，但要是和大自然所存储的信息相比，简直就是小巫见大巫。”