VOA慢速英语2018--三星推出新款可折叠手机

Samsung Shows Off New Foldable Phone

Samsung has provided the public a first look at its new foldable smartphone.

The device was shown for the first time Wednesday during a Samsung developer’s conference in San Francisco, California.

The South Korea-based technology company first announced plans to build a fully² foldable phone five years ago.

The phone is designed to fold open to make the device the size of a small tablet. It can also perform some operations of a tablet. When folded closed, the device looks and works like a normal smartphone.

Justin Denison is Samsung’s senior vice¹ president of mobile product marketing³. He introduced the device to people at the conference.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the future of mobile display technology – the Infinity⁴ Flex⁵ Display.”

Denison demonstrated the device, which he said marked a major breakthrough in future smartphone technology.

“It’s finally here. When it’s open, it’s a tablet, offering a big screen experience. When closed, it’s a phone that fits neatly⁶ inside your pocket.”

Denison said the design and development of the foldable device was very complex. He said Samsung had to invent new manufacturing materials and methods and “re-imagine the display from the ground up.”

He said one of the biggest difficulties was finding a material that was flexible, but also strong enough to support repeated folding and unfolding of the device.

He said the Infinity Flex Display was designed to smoothly⁷ operate continuously when opened and closed. Denison said the device will permit users to keep up to three apps open at one time. With normal size smartphones, users have to keep changing between apps.

“We have been living in a world where the size of a screen could only be as large as the device itself,” Denison said. “We have just entered a new dimension.”

He said Samsung will “be ready to start mass production in the coming months.” No launch date has been announced. A message at the end of Denison’s presentation said only that the devices would be “arriving soon.”

Reuters reports that a top Google engineer spoke⁸ about a new Samsung device at a Google conference in California. The engineer said Samsung planned to introduce a new device with an Android operating system early next year. The engineer also said several other Android manufacturers were also working on foldable products.

Technology experts see the new foldable design as a way to get users to buy a new device seen as revolutionary. More people are deciding to hold onto smartphones longer because newly launched models do not offer major improvements and can be very costly⁹.

This behavior is one reason for a steady decrease in worldwide smartphone sales over the past year. Research company IDC reported smartphone sales fell by 4 percent during the 12-month period ending in September 2018.

Samsung, the world’s leading seller of smartphones, suffered a 7 percent drop during the period, IDC said.

It remains¹⁰ to be seen whether foldable phones will become popular quickly. The devices are expected to cost more than $1,000.

Royole is a small California company hoping to sell early versions of a foldable-screen phone in the U.S. for $1,300 to $1,500. The company has not yet announced when its FlexPai device will be available in America. But it is planning to launch the product in China starting next month, at a price of about $1,300.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

foldable – adj. able to be folded (bended in two so that one part lies flat on top of the other)

tablet – n. small computing¹¹ device that is controlled by touching¹² the screen or by using a special pen

display – n. the area where information and operations are shown on an electronic device

screen – n. front-facing part of an electronic device

pocket – n. small bag sewn into a piece of clothing to hold things

flexible – adj. ability to bend easily without breaking

app – n. a computer program that performs a special function?

dimension – n. the range over which something extends

steady - adj. not changing as time passes

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

3 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

4 infinity   

n.无限，无穷，大量

参考例句：

• It is impossible to count up to infinity.不可能数到无穷大。
• Theoretically,a line can extend into infinity.从理论上来说直线可以无限地延伸。

5 flex   

n.皮线，花线；vt.弯曲或伸展

参考例句：

• We wound off a couple of yards of wire for a new lamp flex.我们解开几码电线作为新的电灯花线。
• He gave his biceps a flex to impress the ladies.他收缩他的肱二头肌以吸引那些女士们的目光。

6 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

7 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

10 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

11 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。

12 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。