VOA慢速英语2011-Next Google Chief Knows Company; Jobs' La

Changes are taking place in Silicon¹ Valley in California. Larry Page will replace Eric Schmidt as chief executive² at Google. And Apple's chief, Steve Jobs, is taking another medical leave.

Two years ago Mr. Jobs received a new liver. In two thousand four he had pancreatic cancer. This month's announcement did not say how long he might be away or give a reason.

Apple reported record-high earnings³ for the final three months of last year. But the health of Steve Jobs always brings questions about the future of the company.

He helped start Apple Computer in nineteen seventy-six. Today the company that played a big part in the personal computing⁴ revolution just calls itself Apple. Its products include the iPod and iPhone and its latest success, the iPad tablet computer.

Steve Jobs has long been Apple's public face. But some might forget that he left in nineteen eighty-five to form a computer company called NeXT.

Apple chief Steve Jobs introduces the iPad in San Francisco, California, last year

Manuel Perez-Quinones is a computer science professor at Virginia Tech. He says Apple has led the development of some technologies, but that explains only part of its success.

MANUEL PEREZ-QUINONES: "Apple has been a driver in some things and they have been a faithful adopter of good ideas in others."

For example, he says many development tools associated today with Apple came from NeXT.

MANUEL PEREZ-QUINONES: "The development environment, the programming languages, some of the libraries that are used were things that Steve Jobs was very tightly⁵ connected to from the very beginning. But it was not necessarily at Apple. It came from NeXT Computer.”

Apple bought NeXT in nineteen ninety-six. Mr. Jobs rejoined Apple and became the permanent CEO in two thousand.

Last May, Apple passed Microsoft in market value and became the most valuable technology company in the world.

Mr. Jobs says he will remain chief executive officer and stay involved in major decisions during his medical leave. But he put Tim Cook, his chief operating officer, in control of daily operations.

As Steve Jobs steps back at Apple, Eric Schmidt is stepping down at Google. Mr. Schmidt plans to leave his CEO job in April after almost ten years. He will remain on Google's board of directors.

Larry Page was Google's founding CEO when he launched the company with Sergey Brin in nineteen ninety-eight. But Mr. Schmidt has been the public face of Google while Mr. Page has mainly worked on new products.

Today Google is the world leader in Internet search and has products like the Android operating system for mobile devices. But Google is seen as trying to recapture the creative energy and speed of its early days.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics⁶ Report, written by Mario Ritter. I’m Steve Ember.

1 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

2 executive   

adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理

参考例句：

• A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
• He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。

3 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

4 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。

5 tightly   

adv.紧紧地，坚固地，牢固地

参考例句：

• My child holds onto my hand tightly while we cross the street.横穿马路时，孩子紧拉着我的手不放。
• The crowd pressed together so tightly that we could hardly breathe.人群挤在一起，我们几乎喘不过气来。

6 economics   

n.经济学，经济情况

参考例句：

• He is studying economics,which subject is very important.他正在学习经济学，该学科是很重要的。
• One can't separate politics from economics.不能把政治与经济割裂开来。