原文部分 In most wide works, the consists of two ponents: transmission lines and switching elements. Transmission lines (also called circuits, channels, or trunks) move bits between machines. The switching elements are puters used to connect two or more transmission lined. When data arrive on an ing line , the switching element must choose an outgoing line to forward them on.. Unfortunately, there is no standard terminology used to name puters. They are variously called packet switching exchanges, among other things. As a generic term for the puters, will use exists here. In this model, shown in fig .9 .5, each host is generally connected to a LAN on a router. The collection munication lines and routers (but not the hosts) form the . An aside about the term “” is worth making. Originally, its only meaning was the collection of routers munication lines that moved packets from the source host to the destination host. However, network addressing. Hence the term has a certain ambiguity about it. Unfortunately, no widely-used alternative exists for its initial meaning, so with some hesitation we will use it in both senses. From the context, it will always be clear which is meant. In most WANs, work contains numerous cables or telephone lines, each one connecting a pair of routers. If two routers that do not share a cable nevertheless wish municate, they must do this indirectly,