科技动态:无线上网价格大战

In today's Tech Byte, cell phone price wars are heating up. Beginning today, both Verizon Wireless¹ and AT&T are cutting prices or their calling plans. Verizon made the first move, saying it will charge $70 a month for a non-limited calling plan, down from $100 a month. AT&T matched it's rival's announcement on Friday. But both companies are requiring more customers to buy data plans used to access the internet and check email on smart phones.

欢迎收看今天的Tech Byte，手机价格战逐步升温。从今天开始，威瑞森电信公司和美国电报电话公司都开始降价并改变电话套餐。威瑞森首先提出无限接听拨打的套餐，由原来的每月100美元降到70美元。电报电话公司紧随其后于周五降价以与对手匹敌。但两家公司都在鼓励更多智能手机的用户购买流量套餐以实现上网，浏览邮箱的功能。

This seemingly unlimited² flow of newspaper content in the web may begin to slowly dry up. The New York Times is reportedly getting ready to charge readers for access to it's site. New York Magazine reports the paper will give readers access to a limited number of free articles before inviting³ them to subscribe⁴. The Times will join the Wall Street Journal two major papers to charge for content which could open the door for smaller papers to do the same.

在网上看报纸看似无流量限制，但这种方式可能会逐渐消失。据报道，纽约时报准备收取读者浏览其网址的费用。纽约杂志报道，报纸将向读者提供一定量的免费文章，再邀请读者付费订阅。纽约时报及华尔街日报两大报纸将对其文章内容收费，一些小型报纸将紧随其后。

Some doctors in Australia have found a way to cut health care costs, the Nintendo WII. They say the WII balance board is clinically comparable to what's known as a force platform in assessing a patient's balance after a stroke. The WII accessory only costs about $100 dollars, the medical device typical sells for more than $15,000.

一些医生找到了降低医保支出的新方法，任天堂WII游戏机。他们表示，任天堂WII平衡板和临床测量中风患者平衡的测力版相当。WII游戏机仅售价100美元，而医用测力版售价15,000美元。

Finally, sarcasm⁵ can often be lost in emails. But a company, appropriately called Sarcasm has come up with the solution. It's developed this new punctuation⁶ mark, the sarc mark, the dot inside a spiral line is supposed to be used at the end of a sentence if you're concerned the irony⁷ of your message will be lost. The symbol can be downloaded for a $99 at sarcmark.com

最后一则消息，具有讽刺意味的是电子邮件有时会丢失。一家名叫Sarcasm的公司提出了解决方案。他们发明了一种名叫Sarc Mark的标点符号，一条螺旋线围绕一个点，用于句子最后。如果你担心邮件部分丢失，可以花99美元到sarcmark.com的网站下载这一标志。

It sounds like a great idea. No, Really.

这听起来像是个好主意，是真的。

For information on all these stories log on to the technology page of abcnews.com. Those your Tech-Bytes, I'm H.K.

登录abcnews.com的科技页面即可浏览以上全部内容，今天的Tech-Bytes就是这样。我是H.K.

1 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

2 unlimited   

adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的

参考例句：

• They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
• There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。

3 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

4 subscribe   

vi.(to)订阅，订购；同意；vt.捐助，赞助

参考例句：

• I heartily subscribe to that sentiment.我十分赞同那个观点。
• The magazine is trying to get more readers to subscribe.该杂志正大力发展新订户。

5 sarcasm   

n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic）

参考例句：

• His sarcasm hurt her feelings.他的讽刺伤害了她的感情。
• She was given to using bitter sarcasm.她惯于用尖酸刻薄语言挖苦人。

6 punctuation   

n.标点符号，标点法

参考例句：

• My son's punctuation is terrible.我儿子的标点符号很糟糕。
• A piece of writing without any punctuation is difficult to understand.一篇没有任何标点符号的文章是很难懂的。

7 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。