豆知识 2009-07-19&07-25 Twitter Search (1/2)

 It seems like everyone is using Twitter these days. You know, sharing little messages with each other on phones and computers. It turns out that all these little messages, if you look at them all at once, become an easy way to find people, news and trends. This is "Twitter Search in Plain English".

 

Let's get started by visiting Twitterville. This town represents all the people using Twitter. There are millions of them, and they’re constantly talking to each other and sharing information one hundred and forty characters at a time. 

 

The typical townsperson only sees part of the messages or tweets, and that's fine. There’re way too many to follow them all. But if all the tweets could be captured¹ and organized all the time, amazing things could be possible. The town would have a resource for knowing what's interesting and who's talking about it. This is what Twitter Search has done for Twitter. It captures² and organizes every tweet so it's possible to find people and specific information in real time. 

 

For instance³, Meet Roy of Ice Cream by Roy. Other than the people who came to his store, he could never hear what customers said about his ice cream. However, because everyone in the town uses Twitter, he can now search for “Ice Cream by Roy” and see tweets from people who mention his product. Then he can reply to say "thanks" or follow their future updates.

 

Twitter Search helps Roy listen to customers and make the flavors⁴ they want.

1 captured   

俘获( capture的过去式和过去分词 )； 夺取； 夺得； 引起（注意、想像、兴趣）

参考例句：

• Allied troops captured over 300 enemy soldiers. 盟军俘虏了300多名敌方士兵。
• Most of the rebels were captured and disarmed. 大部分叛乱分子被俘获并解除了武装。

2 captures   

俘获( capture的第三人称单数 )； 夺取； 夺得； 引起（注意、想像、兴趣）

参考例句：

• King Arthur himself captures the beast and cuts off its head. 亚瑟王亲自捉住怪物，并砍下它的头。
• His book captures exactly the ethos of Elizabethan England. 他的书准确地描绘了英国伊丽莎白时代的风土人情。

3 instance   

n.例，例证，实例

参考例句：

• Can you quote me a recent instance?你能给我举一个最近的例子吗？
• He's a greedy boy,yesterday,for instance,he ate all our biscuits!他是个贪吃的孩子――比如，他昨天把我们的饼干都吃了！

4 flavors   

n.味( flavor的名词复数 )；韵味；特点；香料v.给…调味( flavor的第三人称单数 )；给…增添风趣

参考例句：

• He goes for its full,delicious flavors. I go for its economy. 他欣赏它的浓郁和可口的味道。我则欣赏它的便宜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The different kinds of quarks or leptons are known technically as flavors. 夸克和轻子的这些个同种类，从技术上看是有特色的。 来自辞典例句