iPod Nation

iPod Nation

 

We were thinking today that it wasn’t that long ago when colleges required every student to have an electric typewriter. And then computers became ¹⁾mandatory¹ at some schools. And now a major university has decided² to give every ²⁾freshman³ an iPod–the digital player. We wondered what Duke University in North Carolina ³⁾gets out of this. 

 

For millions of people, the ⁴⁾roar of daily life is something to be ⁵⁾tuned out. They provide their own ⁶⁾soundtrack with the music they’ve stored on their iPods or other music players.

 

Customer 1: It’s always with me.  The most convenient, wonderful thing I’ve ever had in my life.

 

Customer 2: Having an iPod just allows you to sort of, you know, walk to your own beat. 

 

An iPod is really a very small, very simple computer with headphones. It doesn’t even have a keyboard.  But it does have a ⁷⁾tremendous storage capability⁵. Apple says, this tiny box can hold five thousand songs. But a device that stores music, can store anything else digital–documents, pictures, whatever. That’s why Duke University is giving free iPods to all its freshmen⁶ when they arrive on campus. 

 

⁸⁾Senior(Duke University): The students are so, you know, adapting to the idea of using an iPod as an ⁹⁾academic tool.

 

Duke hopes students will think beyond music. They’ll be able to record lectures, download language lessons, poetry readings...

 

Tracy Futhey(VP Information Technology, Duke Univ.): We certainly expect the students are going to come up with as many or maybe more creative ideas than we’ve ¹⁰⁾envisioned for the devices, simply because they’ll come at it from a different ¹¹⁾perspective.

 

But, of course, many students will ¹²⁾grab at the chance to listen to more music. Many of them are using these devices to store their whole collections, downloaded from the Internet or CD’s. Is Duke worried? They say they’re just doing a one-year experiment to see how students really use them.

 

Customer 3: And I just can’t travel with all my CD’s, and I can’t live without my iPod. 

 

Can’t live without it? Companies say a device this portable and this powerful does not just play music, it affects the future.

 

注释：

1)     mandatory [5mAndEtEri] a. 命令的，强制的

2) freshman [5freFmEn] n. 新生，大学一年级学生

3) get out of 从……之中获得

4) roar [rC:] n. 噪音，喧闹声

5) tune⁴ out 关掉

6) soundtrack [5saundtrAk] n. 音带，声迹；电影配乐

7) tremendous [tri5mendEs] a. 极大的，巨大的

8) senior [5si:njE] n. [美]中学或大学的四年级学生

9) academic [7AkE5demik] a. 学术的

10) envision [in5viVEn] v. 想象，预想

11) perspective [pE5spektiv] n. 看法，观点，洞察力

12) grab [^rAb] v. 攫取, 抢夺

 

新新人类的iPod时代

 

我们今天回想起，不久之前各大学要求每位学生拥有一台电动打字机。接着在某些学校，电脑变成了强制性必须品。如今，一所主要的大学（杜克大学）决定给每位新生免费派发一台iPOD数码音乐播放器。我们想知道北卡罗来纳州的杜克大学能从此举中获得什么。

对于数百万人来说，日常生活中的喧哗声都是其不想听到的。他们因此播放存放在iPod或其它音乐播放器中的音乐来覆盖那些噪音。

 

消费者1：我一直把它带在身边。那是我所拥有过的最方便、最了不起的物品。

 

消费者2：你知道，拥有一台iPOD能让你——跟着自己的节奏走。

 

一台iPod其实是一台带耳机的微缩型简易电脑，它甚至不带键盘。但是它的确有着巨大的容量。苹果公司表示，这个小小的盒子能存放5000首歌。然而，一个能存放音乐的产品，还能存放任何其它数码文档，如文件、图片等等。这就是杜克大学要在新生入学时向其免费派送iPOD的原因。

 

毕业班学生（杜克大学）：现在学生对于把iPOD作为学习工具来使用已习以为常了。

 

杜克大学希望学生想想音乐以外的事。他们可以录下课堂上老师的话，下载语言学课程、诗歌朗诵……

 

翠丝·弗蒂（杜克大学信息技术副院长）：（在该产品的使用方面）我们当然希望学生能有比我们预想的更多或更有创意的想法，超越我们对这产品的期望，因为他们会从不同的角度来看待它。

 

然而，当然，许多学生会抓紧这机会听更多的音乐。其中许多人会利用这产品来存放其收藏的，从互联网上下载的或是从CD上转录来的全部音乐。杜克大学校方会担忧吗？他们说他们只是做一年的试验以观察学生究竟会怎样使用它们。

 

消费者3：我实在不能带着我所有的CD去旅行，离开我的iPOD我就无法生活。

离不开它就无法生活？厂家表示如此便于携带且功能强大的设备不仅仅是用来播放音乐，还影响着未来。

1 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

4 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

5 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

6 freshmen   

n.（中学或大学的）一年级学生( freshman的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We are freshmen and they are sophomores. 我们是一年级学生，他们是二年级学生。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• University freshmen get lots of razzing, but they like the initiation. 大一新生受各种嘲弄，但是他们对这种入门经验甘之如饴。 来自辞典例句