VOA慢速英语 2008 0118a

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Competition often means waiting for people to make a choice.

That was the case with VCRs, video cassette recorders. During the nineteen eighties, people had two choices: VHS and Betamax. The VHS format¹ won the competition. Betamax disappeared from all but professional use.

More recently, the VHS, or video home system, format has been disappearing as people choose DVD players.

 
High definition redefines the VHS-Betamax fight
But now the two newest kinds of DVD players are in competition. Blu-ray and HD DVD are both designed for use with high definition televisions. These produce bigger, sharper pictures. They work best when showing movies or TV programs made in true high definition.

But high def takes up more memory, so a new kind of DVD, digital video or versatile² disc, was needed.

Blu-ray and HD DVD are similar in technology. Both use a blue laser to read the information on the disc. But HD DVDs cost less to produce. They can be made with existing equipment, while Blu-ray DVDs cannot. But a Blu-ray disc holds more memory: about fifty gigabytes compared to thirty gigabytes for an HD DVD.

Two major Hollywood studios, Paramount³ Pictures and Universal Pictures, have agreed to release movie only in HD DVD. The Toshiba company is the main supplier of the players.

Sony, on the other hand, supports the Blu-ray format, as do the movie makers⁴ at Walt Disney, Twentieth Century Fox and MGM.

Then earlier this month, Hollywood's biggest seller of DVDs announced its choice in the fight between Blu-ray and HD DVD. Warner Brothers will support only Blu-ray starting in June.

The company says having two kinds of high definition DVDs on the market has led to confusion with the buying public. So far, sales of the new high-definition disc players have been slow. An estimated one million players of both kinds have been sold.

This week, Toshiba announced that it would cut the price of its HD DVD players by forty to fifty percent. Some of its players are now under two hundred dollars.

But many people think Blu-ray has won the competition with HD DVD. Time will tell. For those who cannot make up their minds, there are some players that can play both.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. For more business news, and for transcripts⁵ and MP3s of our reports, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

 

1 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

2 versatile   

adj.通用的，万用的；多才多艺的，多方面的

参考例句：

• A versatile person is often good at a number of different things.多才多艺的人通常擅长许多种不同的事情。
• He had been one of the game's most versatile athletes.他是这项运动中技术最全面的运动员之一。

3 paramount   

a.最重要的，最高权力的

参考例句：

• My paramount object is to save the Union and destroy slavery.我的最高目标是拯救美国，摧毁奴隶制度。
• Nitrogen is of paramount importance to life on earth.氮对地球上的生命至关重要。

4 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句