VOA慢速英语2011--Electronics Among Most Popular Gifts This Year（在线收听）

Technology Report - Electronics Among Most Popular Gifts This Year

科技报道 - 电子产品继续位居今年最受欢迎礼物名单首位

This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语科技报道。

Electronics were among the most requested gifts this holiday season. The Consumer Electronics Association has studied holiday gift buying in the United States for the past eighteen years. Jim Barry is a spokesman for the CEA. We spoke with him last week, just before many Americans exchanged Christmas gifts. He said buyers this year planned to spend a little more than they did last year.

电子产品是这个假期被要求最多的礼物之一。美国消费者电子协会（Consumer Electronics Association）研究了过去18年的美国节日礼物的消费。吉姆·巴里（Jim Barry）是美国消费者电子协会发言人。上周，在多数美国人交换圣诞礼物之前，我们与他进行了交流。他说，今年购物者计划比去年多花一点。

JIM BARRY: “And, what they said they were going to buy, the top five were - tablet computers, laptops, TVs, e-readers and video games. And that, as it turns out, here as we get close to Christmas, is what people are actually buying."

巴里：“而且他们表示自己将要购买的前五名分别是平板电脑，笔记本电脑，电视，电子阅读器和视频游戏。事实证明，在圣诞临近之际，这就是人们实际购买的东西。”

Tablet computers were the most popular electronic gift this year. Laptop computers finished second. Apple released its iPad 2 tablet computer in March. The company is expected to release the iPad 3 next year. Jim Barry says the iPad continues to lead the way in the tablet market.

平板电脑是今年最受欢迎的礼物，笔记本电脑名列第二。苹果今年三月份发布了iPad2平板电脑。预计该公司明年将发布iPad3。巴里说，iPad继续引领着平板电脑市场。

JIM BARRY: “iPads are the leader in tablet computers, and tablet computers are the top of the list of what folks said they were going to buy this year. And, probably north of eighty percent of the tablets being sold up until now have been Apple iPads.”

巴里：“iPads是平板电脑领导者，而平板电脑又位居人们声称将要购买的礼物名单之首。截至目前，可能超过80%已售出的平板电脑是苹果公司的iPad。”
　

A shopper in California guides her televisions out of a store last month

But, Mister Barry says that is starting to change. He says there are now more choices and less costly tablets available. They include the new Kindle Fire from Amazon-dot-com. E-readers were number three on the CEA’s holiday gift wish list this year. Mr. Barry says that came as a surprise to more than a few people.

但巴里先生表示，这种情况已经开始改变。他说现在平板电脑选择更多，价格也更低。其中包括来自Amazon.com新的Kindle Fire。电子阅读器位居美国消费者电子协会节日礼物愿望名单的第三位。巴里先生说，这让不少人大为吃惊。

JIM BARRY: “Some folks thought that the popularity and success of the tablet computer would mean sales of e-book readers would go down. Well that hasn’t happened. Sales of e-book readers have more than doubled this year. We’re buying lots more. The leaders there continue to be the Kindle from Amazon and the Nook from Barnes and Noble, along with the e-reader from Sony.”

巴里：“有些人认为，平板电脑的普及和成功将意味着电子阅读器的销量会下降。但这种情况并没有发生。今年电子阅读器销量提高了一倍以上，（与去年相比）我们购买了更多。电子阅读器市场的领导者仍是Amazon公司的Kindle和Barnes and Noble公司的Nook，以及Sony公司的e-reader。”

Amazon released its Kindle Fire just in time for Christmas. The new Kindle is a touchscreen tablet computer. Unlike the earlier e-reader, this one is in color and it lets users explore the World Wide Web.

Amazon公司赶圣诞节推出了Kindle Fire。这一新的Kindle产品是一个触摸屏平板电脑。不同于早期的电子阅读器，它是彩色的，同时允许用户访问互联网。

The Kindle Fire sells for one hundred ninety nine dollars. This is several hundred dollars less than the iPad. However, it is about the same price people paid last year for the Kindle 3G Wireless. So the big question on a lot of people’s minds this year was whether or not to wait for the price to come down.

Kindle Fire售价为199美元，比iPad便宜几百美元。然而，它的价格和去年人们购买Kindle 3G无线版的价格相近。所以今年在很多人心中最大的问题是，要不要等它价格便宜点再买？

JIM BARRY: “This is the challenge of the early adopter. You know one of the great things about consumer electronics is that the prices get lower as the stuff gets better. And that’s not true of automobiles, or furniture or houses, and so forth. So as the prices get lower, if you bought earlier you may feel a little bit of that ‘well I wish I had waited.’”

巴里：“这是早期用户面临的挑战。消费类电子产品最大的特点之一就是，随着产品优化，价格会越来越低。这一点在汽车、家居或房子之类的产品上则有所不同。因此当价格降低了，如果你早就买了，你可能会觉得有点'呃，我怎么就没多等会。'”

Mr. Barry says falling prices are a major plus for electronics sales.

巴里先生说，价格不断下降是电子产品销售的一个主要优点。

JIM BARRY: “That’s one of the reasons why consumer electronics devices - TVs and everything else really - do relatively well, even in this type of difficult economy.”

巴里：“这就是为什么包括电视在内的消费型电子设备销售表现相对不错的原因之一，即使是在这种经济困难时期。”

He gives another reason why electronics were popular as Christmas gifts.

他给出了另一个电子产品作为圣诞礼物流行的原因。

JIM BARRY: “They’re really cool so you’re pretty much guaranteed that if you give one of these things to someone as a gift, they’re going to be happy they got it.”

巴里：“它们真的很酷。所以你更能保证，如果你将这些东西之一作为礼物送人，收到礼物的人会很高兴。”

And that’s the VOA Special English Technology Report. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our reports are at voanews.cn. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and iTunes at VOA Learning English. I’m June Simms.