经济学人226:可穿戴的计算设备

 　　Business

　　商业报道

　　Wearable computing¹

　　可穿戴的计算设备

　　The eyes have it

　　眼睛将拥有谷歌眼镜

　　Google advances its plan to bring smart glasses to the masses

　　谷歌提出在普通民众中推广智能眼镜的计划

　　GOOGLE has an ambitious vision for spectacles.

　　谷歌有一个针对眼镜的雄心勃勃的看法。

　　On June 27th Sergey Brin, one of the company's co-founders, revealed the next stage of Project Glass,its effort to create wireless²-connected glasses that allow their wearers to do a host of things,

　　6月27日，公司联合创始人之一的Sergey Brin揭露了下一阶段的眼镜项目，他试图研发无线连接方式眼镜使佩戴者可以做大量的事情，

　　including receiving and responding to messages, and taking and sharing photos and videos.

　　包括收发短信，拍摄、分享照片及视频。

　　The goal is to get prototypes in the hands of software developers early next year and then to sell a more polished set of specs to consumers in late 2013 or early the following year.

　　项目的目标是在明年初可以使软件开发者拿到样品，2013年下半年或2014年初向消费者出售更加精美的眼镜。

　　A product of Google's secretive X Lab, whose mission is to push the boundaries of computing, the glasses were on show at the company's developer conference in San Francisco along with several other gizmos,

　　谷歌神秘的X实验室的任务是推进计算设备的边界，这种眼镜作为其产品之一在位于旧金山召开的谷歌开发者大会被展示，

　　including a cheap tablet computer and a new wireless media player for the home.

　　同时展出的还包括一种廉价平板电脑和家用无线播放器等小发明。

　　These gadgets⁴ attracted plenty of attention,

　　这些小玩意吸引了众多的关注，

　　but the longest queues at the event were at booths where folk were trying on Google's goggles⁵.

　　但最受关注的地方是在那些民众尝试谷歌眼镜的展位。

　　That is hardly surprising because the glasses seem like something out of a science-fiction novel.

　　这不足为奇，因为这种眼镜看起来就像是科幻小说中的物品。

　　A tiny transparent⁶ display towards the top of one lens allows wearers to see text and images by glancing upwards⁷.

　　一个很小的透明的播放显示装置位于镜片的顶端，它使佩戴者可以通过向斜上方观看来浏览文字和图片。

　　And the spectacles can be controlled using either voice commands or a somewhat bulky touchpad integrated into one of the arms.

　　这种眼镜可以通过语音控制，也可以通过一种固定到手臂上的大体积触摸屏控制。

　　Mr Brin says the goal is to get technology out of the way,

　　Brin先生表示，他们的目标是使技术变得与众不同，

　　so people can, say, take videos without having to pull out a camera or smartphone each time they do so.

　　比如人们可以拍摄视频而不必每次都取出照相机或者智能手机。

　　Google's glasses reflect a growing interest in wearable computing, which many experts think could be the next big thing in personal technology after smartphones and tablets.

　　谷歌眼镜反应了人们对可穿戴计算设备与日俱增的兴趣，许多专家认为这可能是继智能手机和平板电脑后的又一个重大产品。

　　But some tech veterans give warning that designing novel devices people feel comfortable wearing is an especially tricky⁸ task.

　　但一些资深技术人士警告说设计使人们配戴舒服的新奇设备是一件非常棘手的工作。

　　In general, the first attempt at producing new computing paradigms⁹ rarely sticks, notes Sumeet Jain of CMEA Capital, a venture-capital firm.

　　风险投资公司CMEA Capital的Sumeet Jain说道：总体来说，设计新计算设备的首次尝试很少会取得成功。

　　If Google's glasses are to prove an exception to that rule, the firm will have to meet several challenges.

　　如果谷歌的眼镜想打破常规，谷歌公司必须迎接一些挑战。

　　One is to refine their design so that wearers don't look like nerds from a laboratory.

　　一是必须完善他们的设计，使配戴者看起来并不像实验室出来的书呆子。

　　Another is to assuage¹⁰ inevitable¹¹ concerns around privacy that the glasses will raise.

　　另一个挑战就是解决眼镜必然带来的隐私问题。

　　The firm will also need to reassure¹² people their eyeballs won't be blitzed with advertising¹³, which is Google's preferred way to mint money.

　　它还需要消除人们的疑虑，使他们的眼球不会陷入广告大战，而这正是谷歌喜欢的捞金方式。

　　Mr Brin stresses the aim is to make a profit on the glasses themselves, whose mass-market price will be well below the 1,500 developers are paying for a pair.

　　Brin先生强调他们的目标是通过眼镜本身来盈利，眼镜是市场价将会适当低于开发者的购买价格1500美元。

　　That should make them worth a close look.

　　这会使得谷歌眼镜更易于被消费者接受。

　　1.smart a.聪明的；敏捷的；漂亮的

　　What a smart little guy!

　　多么聪明的小家伙！

　　2.spectacle n.眼镜；奇观，壮观；光景

　　Still others brought their families to witness the spectacle.

　　有些人还带着家人见证这个场面。

　　3.respond v.回答，响应

　　The server did not respond after being launched.

　　服务器启动之后没有响应。

　　4.gadget³ n.小玩意；小配件；小装置

　　Do you have an expensive shoe or gadget habit?

　　你有买很贵的鞋子或者小玩意的习惯吗？

　　5.transparent a.透明的；含义清楚的，显而易见的

　　I prefer the one with a transparent holder¹⁴.

　　我要笔杆透明的那种。

1 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

2 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

3 gadget   

n.小巧的机械，精巧的装置，小玩意儿

参考例句：

• This gadget isn't much good.这小机械没什么用处。
• She has invented a nifty little gadget for undoing stubborn nuts and bolts.她发明了一种灵巧的小工具用来松开紧固的螺母和螺栓。

4 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

5 goggles   

n.护目镜

参考例句：

• Skiers wear goggles to protect their eyes from the sun.滑雪者都戴上护目镜使眼睛不受阳光伤害。
• My swimming goggles keep steaming up so I can't see.我的护目镜一直有水雾，所以我看不见。

6 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

7 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

8 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

9 paradigms   

n.（一词的）词形变化表( paradigm的名词复数 )；范例；样式；模范

参考例句：

• Evolution of 3 paradigms in modern karst study is reviewed. 回顾了近代岩溶学三种“范式”的更替历史。 来自互联网
• LMT provides 8 types of Learning-Map and the paradigms of each type. 学习导图技术提出了八种类型的学习导图，并分别给出图形范例加以说明。 来自互联网

10 assuage   

v.缓和，减轻，镇定

参考例句：

• The medicine is used to assuage pain.这种药用来止痛。
• Your messages of cheer should assuage her suffering.你带来的这些振奋人心的消息一定能减轻她的痛苦。

11 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

12 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

13 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

14 holder   

n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物

参考例句：

• The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
• That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。