英语词汇实用小百科 第9期:无线网路Wifi

John Artman: Hello and welcome to this week’s Round Table’s Word of the Week. I’m John Artman.

Zhou Heyang: 我是赫扬。欢迎来到这周的英语词汇小百科板块。这周我们来聊一聊Wifi这个词。

John: The term “Wi-Fi” actually was commercially used at least as early as August, 2000 and was actually coined by brand consulting firm called Interbrand Corporation.

ZHY: 有人说Wi-Fi是Wireless¹ Fidelity²的简称。请问这是事实吗？

John: No, actually, it’s not true. Interbrand Corporation was hired by the Wi-Fi Alliance because they needed a name that sounded better than the “IEEE 802.11b direct sequence.” And so what they did was they made a play on words. They said was that “Wi-Fi” is the standard for wireless fidelity. The term right now, Wi-Fi, has nothing whatsoever³ to do with fidelity.

ZHY: Okay, thanks for that explanation. But why is it called “Wi-Fi” and not “weefee?”

John: So, wireless fidelity. Again, it’s a play on the word “hifi” and then “Wi-Fi.”

ZHY: I guess you need to know the origin to understand how to pronounce it. 在使用Wi-Fi的时候，常常我们会提到“热点”这个词。我们应该怎么说呢？

John: Right, and so, in English that’s “hotspot.” Basically, it’s just a wireless ess point that usually you use a router to connect to. And so, I think that many of our listeners also understand that a router is just a piece of equipment where you plug it in to the Internet and a wireless router will broadcast a Wi-Fi signal that you can use to connect to your other devices, too.

ZHY: John, 你说的是路由器吧。如果要是来使用移动设备共享互联网连接，这个要怎么说呢？

John: In English, we call this “tethering.” The idea is is that you have a 3G or 4G enabled device, that can be a smartphone or a tablet with a 3G connection, and you can turn on something called “tethering.” That basically just turns your mobile device into a wireless hotspot.

That’s all the time we have, unfortunately, for this week’s Word of the Week. Thank you so much for joining us and don’t forget to tune⁴ in next time.

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 fidelity   

n.忠诚，忠实；精确

参考例句：

• There is nothing like a dog's fidelity.没有什么能比得上狗的忠诚。
• His fidelity and industry brought him speedy promotion.他的尽职及勤奋使他很快地得到晋升。

3 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

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。