VOA慢速英语2010年-SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Media Technology

BOB DOUGHTY¹: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I’m Bob Doughty.

FAITH LAPIDUS: And I’m Faith Lapidus. This week, we will tell about two very different subjects. First, we will describe some recent developments in media technology. Later, we will tell why animals once thought to have disappeared have been returning to the wild.

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BOB DOUGHTY: Mobile communications devices could be the testing ground for the next generation of media technology for the World Wide Web. If you ever looked at pictures or video on the Web, you already know Adobe² Flash Player. It is a program for playing videos and media that operates on many different Web browsers³.

Right now, Adobe Flash Player is probably the most common way to watch media on the Internet. But new mobile devices are testing Flash’s market position. The research company IDC says fifty-five million smartphones were sold worldwide in the first three months of this year. The handheld devices serve as a telephone and as an e-mail and Web connection.

But there is something few of them can do: use Adobe Flash Player. Instead, if you attempt to open a Flash page, you get what has become known as "the blue Lego of death." The little blue sign means that your device cannot open Flash.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Smartphones and netbooks have different browsers from those found on personal computers. And, at least for now, few of them can play Flash.

Adobe makes Flash and other popular products like Photoshop and Acrobat⁴. The software company has developed Flash Lite, a version of Flash for mobile phones and some other home electronic devices. Adobe is also developing Flash 10.1. It is meant to work with personal computers, smartphones and other devices using different operating systems.

BOB DOUGHTY: But Flash will not work with Apple’s mobile devices. Recently, Apple chief Steve Jobs criticized Adobe. He said his company’s products like the iPhone and iPod Touch will not use Flash in the future. That also means the hugely popular iPad will not use Flash either. Apple says it sold one million iPads in April, the first month it offered the product.

Apple says it is going in a different direction when it comes to playing Web video and multimedia⁵. In April, the company changed its licensing⁶ agreement with producers of applications for Apple mobile devices. An application is a software program that lets users do a task -- like listen to music or find directions. Now, software companies must make their applications work only with Apple mobile devices.

Apple says new multimedia players should be based on a new, more open system. Apple wants a new language for Web page design, called HTML 5. That could mean trouble for media players like Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Ian Jacobs is head of communications for W3C, the World Wide Web Consortium. The organization works to establish technology guidelines for the Web. The idea is to create commonly agreed on definitions of Web technologies. That way, new technologies can be developed and will work with existing ones. This supports the goal of having one Web that is open to everybody.

Mr. Jacobs says HTML 5 will be able to do many things. He says it will have open rules or standards. And he says the goal is to create licensing agreements that will let people use those standards without cost.

Still, there is no guarantee this will happen. HTML 5 is being designed to use video without the need for extra software, like Flash. It will also make other applications easier to build in to Web pages. But, while versions of the new language are being used, standards have not been agreed upon. And it is unclear when the job will be done.

BOB DOUGHTY: Recently, Apple and Adobe’s dispute over Flash made news. Adobe placed advertisements criticizing Apple’s move against Flash. The ads appeared in major newspapers and on the Web. But the Web community continues to move toward standards for HTML 5. Adobe is already releasing products that can use this system. And both Apple and Adobe will have their say in the final result: both are members of W3C.

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FAITH LAPIDUS: Conservation biologists today are discovering secrets about rare wild animals. The researchers study the genetic⁷ and physical qualities of the animals. They hope that new knowledge can show ways to help keep the creatures from disappearing.

Investigations⁸ of clouded leopards¹⁰ are a good example. Scientists studied clouded leopards on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, and in mainland Southeast Asia. They learned that the wild cats might be of two species instead of just one.

A clouded leopard⁹

The clouded leopard is also a subject of research in Front Royal, Virginia, in America’s Blue Ridge¹¹ Mountains. The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute studies and cares for thirty-three kinds of animals there. Like the clouded leopard, all are considered endangered.

BOB DOUGHTY: Research in a small space is necessary for the clouded leopard. In the wild, the animal usually does not let itself be seen. Its colors make the cat seem to disappear into the forest. Its name comes from the design of darker shapes on its hair. The shapes look like clouds.

Listen now to sounds from a clouded leopard.

(SOUND)

BOB DOUGHTY: The clouded leopard sounds much like a common housecat. But housecats are much smaller by comparison. The male clouded leopard weighs about twenty to twenty-seven kilograms. The female is much smaller.

Institute director Steven Monfort has a reason why the clouded leopard may be rare. He says the adult males attack the females. This behavior clearly decreases reproduction. But the researchers have learned to raise males and females together while they are young. Under those conditions, the cats do not fight. Instead, they later produce baby leopards.

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FAITH LAPIDUS: The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute was launched in January of two thousand ten. The Institute opened on the grounds of what was formerly¹² the National Zoo’s Conservation and Research Center.

For more than thirty years, the center has had many successes, including the Przewalski’s Horse. Experts say the Przewalski’s is the last kind of wild horse left alive. The animal once lived in groups in Europe and Asia.

The horse gets its name from N. M. Przewalski, the Russian explorer who first described it in scientific terms. The animal looks powerful, although it is shorter than other horses. It measures about twelve to fourteen hands tall at the shoulders. The horse weighs about two hundred to three hundred forty kilograms. The body is light to reddish brown, but lighter¹³ on its underside. A thick mane grows from the top of the head and down the back of the neck.

BOB DOUGHTY: Until two years ago, the Red List of Threatened Species of the World Conservation Union said Przewalski’s horses were extinct in the wild. Experts blamed the disappearance¹⁴ on hunting and reproduction with other horses. Other reasons included a severe climate, and loss of living space and water to farm animals.

But a number of Przewalski’s horses now live in captivity¹⁵ in zoos and research centers. Doctor Monfort noted¹⁶ the increased population at the Institute in Front Royal.

STEVE MONFORT: “We have twenty seven individuals here, the largest managed population in the United States. That species was down to twelve purebred individuals after World War Two.”

BOB DOUGHTY: Today, almost four hundred Przewalski’s horses have been returned to their ancestral homelands. The horses now live wild in Kazakhstan and along the border of Mongolia and China.

FAITH LAPIDUS: In addition to the study and care of rare wildlife, the institute has another purpose. It also trains biologists and others to carry on its work. Doctor Monfort says many people are needed in the future to keep endangered animals on Earth.

STEVE MONFORT: “We need an army of people who are equipped to know how to work at all levels and all scales, from protecting animals in the wild to providing shelter to them in zoological parks if necessary.”

FAITH LAPIDUS: The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute operates in places other than its headquarters in Front Royal, Virginia. The center carries out its work at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. And it works at research areas and education centers throughout the world.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Mario Ritter and Jerilyn Watson, with reporting by Susan Logue. Our producer was Brianna Blake. I’m Bob Doughty.

FAITH LAPIDUS: And I’m Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

 

1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 adobe   

n.泥砖，土坯，美国Adobe公司

参考例句：

• They live in an adobe house.他们住在一间土坯屋里。
• Adobe bricks must drived dried completely before are used.土坯砖块使用前一定要完全干燥。

3 browsers   

浏览器

参考例句：

• Three-layer architecture is a model made up of browser, web server and background database server. 这种体系结构是由Browser、Web Server、Database Server组成的浏览器／Web服务器／后台数据库服务器三层模型。 来自互联网
• Another excellent approach is to abandon the browser entirely and, instead, create a non-browser-based, Internet-enabled application. 另一个非常好的方法是干脆放弃浏览器，取而代之，创建一个不基于浏览器，但却是基于互联网的应用。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

4 acrobat   

n.特技演员，杂技演员

参考例句：

• The acrobat balanced a long pole on his left shoulder.杂技演员让一根长杆在他的左肩上保持平衡。
• The acrobat could bend himself into a hoop.这个杂技演员可以把身体蜷曲成圆形。

5 multimedia   

adj.多种手段的，多媒体的；n.多媒体

参考例句：

• Multimedia is the combination of computer and video technology.多媒体是计算机和视频技术的结合。
• Adam raised the issue of multimedia applications and much useful discussion ensued.亚当提出了多媒体应用的问题，从而引发了许多有益的讨论。

6 licensing   

v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A large part of state regulation consists of occupational licensing. 大部分州的管理涉及行业的特许批准。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• That licensing procedures for projects would move faster. 这样的工程批准程序一定会加快。 来自辞典例句

7 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

8 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

9 leopard   

n.豹

参考例句：

• I saw a man in a leopard skin yesterday.我昨天看见一个穿着豹皮的男人。
• The leopard's skin is marked with black spots.豹皮上有黑色斑点。

10 leopards   

n.豹( leopard的名词复数 )；本性难移

参考例句：

• Lions, tigers and leopards are all cats. 狮、虎和豹都是猫科动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• For example, airlines never ship leopards and canaries on the same flight. 例如，飞机上从来不会同时运送豹和金丝雀。 来自英语晨读30分（初三）

11 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

12 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

13 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

14 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

15 captivity   

n.囚禁；被俘；束缚

参考例句：

• A zoo is a place where live animals are kept in captivity for the public to see.动物园是圈养动物以供公众观看的场所。
• He was held in captivity for three years.他被囚禁叁年。

16 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。