VOA慢速英语2015 Apple Watch离我们的心越来越近？

Is Apple Watch Getting Closer to Our Hearts? Apple Watch离我们的心越来越近？

Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, showed off their newest device, the Apple Watch. Mr. Cook said it is the "most personal" device Apple has ever created.

苹果公司CEO蒂姆·库克展示了最新电子设备Apple Watch。库克先生表示，这是苹果有史以来最具创造个性的电子设备。

The Apple Watch is a miniature, or very small, computer a person wears on his or her wrist. There will be three models with straps¹ to attach them to your wrist. An Apple Watch will be able to do many of the same things as an iPhone. It will show email, texts, news, health readings and other information. These apps will be customized for the watch. It will be different than just seeing what is on your phone.

Apple Watch是一种用户可以戴到手腕上的微缩模型或微型电脑，公司将会推出三款配备表带的产品。Apple Watch将实现iPhone手机的大部分功能，它可以显示电子邮件、短信、新闻、健康读报和其它信息。这些程序是为Apple Watch专门定制，不同于IPhone手机上看到的程序。

Like a phone, you will be able to receive calls on your wrist. Mr. Cook smiled while describing this. "I've been wanting to do this since I was five years old," he said. "The day is finally here." Decades ago, a comic strip hero named Dick Tracy talked into his wrist watch, but until now, that has only been something possible in the future.

如同手机一样，你可以在手腕上接听电话。谈到这点时，库克先生微微一笑，他说：“我从5岁开始一直想要做到实现这个愿望，这一天终于到来。”几十年前，一位名为迪克·特雷的连环画人物对着腕表说话。但直到目前为止，只有在未来才有可能实现。

Mr. Cook also said it is "incredibly intimate." He said you can capture and send your heartbeat to another person with an Apple Watch.

库克先生还表示Apple Watch可以让人“非常亲密地交流”。你可以捕捉到心跳并发送给另一个使用Apple Watch设备的用户。

"This is an incredibly intimate way to tell someone that you are thinking about them," he said. "I hope someone sends me one of those.

他表示：“这是一种告诉别人你在想他们的一种非常亲密的方式。”我希望有人可以给我发一段心跳声。

”The crown of the Apple Watch is what sets this Apple product apart from other companies' smart watches. Like the touch screen on smartphones, the crown controls what you can do. By turning the crown on an Apple Watch, one can zoom² in and out, to look at a map, for example.

“Apple Watch的表冠将苹果的这款产品与其它公司的智能手表区分开。如同智能手机的触摸屏一样，表冠决定你可以做什么。通过转动Apple Watch上的表冠，用户可以体验缩放功能，比如查看地图时可以缩放地图。”

The watches will be available in stores in late April. They will be sold at different prices, beginning at $349. Mr. Cook called the high-end model, the one made of 18-karat gold, "jaw³ dropping beautiful." Its price tag will be thousands of dollars.

这款手表将于4月下旬，在苹果商店以不同价格出售，起价349美元。库克先生称高端机型由18K金制成，“让令人惊叹其美观”，标价数千美元。

"The biggest surprise to me was that the price range goes up to $10,000 for the Apple Edition Watch," writes tech blogger Carolyn Nicander Mohr of The Wonder of Tech. "That price is quite steep for technology that may be obsolete⁴ in a year."

“科技奇迹网站”的科技博客卡罗琳·尼坎德·莫尔写道：“对我来说最大的意外是Apple Edition Watch价格区间竟然升到了1万美元。这种价格对一种可能在一年后就过时的科技产品来说涨幅太大了。

”Apple hopes to excite consumers so they will want to buy and wear computers on their bodies. The first smartwatches from Samsung, Sony and LG have not been selling well. Only five million smartwatches were sold last year, according to Strategy Analytics. Another wearable computer, Google Glass eyewear, is no longer on the market.

苹果公司希望能够引起消费者兴趣，这样他们就会想要购买和佩戴这种微型电脑。三星、索尼和LG公司的第一款智能手表销量不是很好。根据策略分析公司的数据显示：去年只卖出了500万个智能手表。另一款配戴式电脑：谷歌眼镜已经退出市场。

Critics say one problem with Apple Watch is that you need an iPhone on your body, or nearby, to make this watch fully⁵ functional⁶. Like a phone, it will also need to be charged each night. It remains⁷ to be seen whether people really want to carry both a smartphone and a smartwatch.

批评人士表示：Apple Watch的问题在于，iPhone手机必须随身携带或放在附近才能实现这款手表的所有功能。同手机一样Apple Watch也需要每天晚上充电。人们是否真的需要同时携带智能手机和智能手表仍有待观察。

Apple has overcome skeptics before. Both computer tablets and smartphones were not popular until Apple released the iPad and iPhones.

苹果公司已经向质疑者展示了可行性。在苹果公司发布iPad和iPhone之前，平板电脑和智能手机那时并不流行。

The announcement today comes after last week's news that Apple will replace AT&T on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Dow Jones index includes the top 30 companies representing the U.S. economy and markets.

上周，有消息称苹果公司将取代AT&T公司的在道琼斯工业平均指数中的排名。道琼斯指数包涵美国经济和市场上排名前三十名的公司。

Words in This Story

gadget⁹ – n. a small, useful device

miniature – adj. very small or tiny

wrist – n. the part of your body where your hand joins your arm

customized – adj. something that has been changed to fit the needs of a person or business, etc.

intimate – adj. having a very close and warm and friendly relationship

obsolete – adj. replaced by something newer

skeptic⁸ – n. a person who questions or doubts something or someone

1 straps   

n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• the shoulder straps of her dress 她连衣裙上的肩带
• The straps can be adjusted to suit the wearer. 这些背带可进行调整以适合使用者。

2 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

3 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

4 obsolete   

adj.已废弃的，过时的

参考例句：

• These goods are obsolete and will not fetch much on the market.这些货品过时了，在市场上卖不了高价。
• They tried to hammer obsolete ideas into the young people's heads.他们竭力把陈旧思想灌输给青年。

5 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。

6 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

7 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。

8 skeptic   

n.怀疑者，怀疑论者，无神论者

参考例句：

• She is a skeptic about the dangers of global warming.她是全球变暖危险的怀疑论者。
• How am I going to convince this skeptic that she should attention to my research?我将如何使怀疑论者确信她应该关注我的研究呢？

9 gadget   

n.小巧的机械，精巧的装置，小玩意儿

参考例句：

• This gadget isn't much good.这小机械没什么用处。
• She has invented a nifty little gadget for undoing stubborn nuts and bolts.她发明了一种灵巧的小工具用来松开紧固的螺母和螺栓。