臉譜網(wǎng)與虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)
2023復(fù)習(xí)正是強(qiáng)化復(fù)習(xí)階段，在考研英語(yǔ)中占了40分，所以考研英語(yǔ)閱讀是英語(yǔ)科目中重要的一項(xiàng)。名師老師曾建議過(guò)考研生需要堅(jiān)持每天泛讀10-15分鐘的英文原刊。強(qiáng)烈推薦了雜志《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人》.雜志中的文章也是考研英語(yǔ)的主要材料來(lái)源.希望考研考生認(rèn)真閱讀，快速提高考研英語(yǔ)閱讀水平。 Facebook and virtual reality 臉譜網(wǎng)與虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí) A game of goggles 一場(chǎng)頭戴式3D眼鏡的賭博 The social network makes another expensive beton the future 社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)又向未來(lái)押了一筆高昂賭注 AT SXSW, a techie festival that took place inTexasearlier this month, some lucky attenderswere able briefly to immerse themselves in HBO s fantasy television series, Game ofThrones. 在本月初，影視音樂互動(dòng)大會(huì)上，一個(gè)技術(shù)展在德克薩斯州拉開帷幕，一些幸運(yùn)的參加者能短暫的將自己沉浸在HBO的奇幻電視劇《權(quán)利的游戲》中。 By donning virtual-reality goggles made by Oculus VR, people could see how the world lookedfrom the top of the 700-foot-tall Wall that protects the Seven Kingdoms from enemies thatlurk beyond. 戴上由Oculus VR公司制造的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)眼鏡，人們可以看見從700英尺高的城墻頂端俯瞰的世界，而這城墻保衛(wèi)著七大王國(guó)免受潛伏在城墻外敵人的侵?jǐn)_。 The digital rendition was so lifelike that gazing down from the Wall gave some folk vertigo. 其細(xì)節(jié)重現(xiàn)栩栩如生以至于從城墻上俯瞰時(shí)會(huì)使人眩暈。 Such a compelling experience explains why Oculus Rift, the company s virtual-realityheadset, has captivated keen gamers. 如此令人信服的體驗(yàn)解釋了該公司的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)耳機(jī)Oculus Rift俘獲了狂熱游戲迷的原因。 It has also caught the attention of Facebook, which announced on March 25th that it hadbought Oculus VR for around 2 billion. 這也引起了Facebook公司的注意，在3月25日，其宣布已用約20億美元收購(gòu)了Oculus VR公司。 This deal, which comprises 400m in cash and the rest in Facebook stock, comes not longafter the social network s purchase of WhatsApp, a messaging app, for 19 billion. 這筆交易包括4億美元的現(xiàn)金交易，其余部分以Facebook公司股票交易。且這就發(fā)生在Facebook公司以190億美元收購(gòu)信息傳送應(yīng)用程序WhatsApp的不久之后。 WhatsApp at least has more than 450m users. WhatsApp應(yīng)用程序至少有超過(guò)4.5億用戶。 Oculus VR, a startup that is less than two years old, has so far only sold its headsets to gamedevelopers. Oculus VR這一新創(chuàng)辦不超過(guò)兩年的公司，目前只向游戲開發(fā)者賣出了它的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)耳機(jī)。 So why is Facebook paying so much for it? 那么為什么Facebook公司為購(gòu)買它付出了這么多? And why is it betting on a much-hyped technology that has so far failed to live up to itspromise? 且這一大量炒作的技術(shù)，迄今仍未兌現(xiàn)其承諾，F(xiàn)acebook公司為什么在這一技術(shù)上押注? Part of the answer is that Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook s boss, and his colleagues thinkadvances in areas such as graphics processing power and thin, high-resolution screens meanthat virtual-reality headsets are at last ready for mass consumption. 部分原因是Facebook公司的老板Mark Zuckerberg以及他的同僚們認(rèn)為，例如圖形處理能力，薄而分辨率高的顯示器等領(lǐng)域的發(fā)展進(jìn)步，意味著虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)耳機(jī)終于為大眾消費(fèi)做好了準(zhǔn)備。 David Ebersman, the firm s finance chief, reckons the potential to mint money in gamingalone justifies Oculus s price tag. 公司的首席財(cái)務(wù)官David Ebersman認(rèn)為Oculus僅在游戲上賺錢的潛力就證明它的價(jià)簽是合理的。 Other firms spy the same opportunity. 其它公司偵尋著同樣的機(jī)會(huì)。 Sony recently unveiled a prototype virtual-reality headset for its PlayStation 4 gameconsole and Microsoft is rumoured to be developing one for its Xbox console. 索尼公司最近公布了一款為其PlayStation 4游戲平臺(tái)打造的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)耳機(jī)的原型機(jī)，且有傳言稱微軟正為其Xbox游戲平臺(tái)研發(fā)一款虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)耳機(jī)。 But some gaming veterans reckon the headsets will appeal only to hard-core gamers. 但是一些游戲老手認(rèn)為這種耳機(jī)將只會(huì)吸引狂熱的游戲玩家。 And Facebook s purchase of Oculus has infuriated some of those. 且Facebook公司收購(gòu)Oculus公司這一舉動(dòng)已經(jīng)將他們中的一些人激怒。 After the deal was announced, Markus Persson, a prominent game developer, tweetedthat he had just cancelled a plan to bring a game to Oculus. 在交易宣布后，一個(gè)著名的游戲開發(fā)商Markus Persson就在推特上說(shuō)他剛剛?cè)∠艘粋€(gè)想交由Oculus公司研發(fā)游戲的計(jì)劃。 Facebook creeps me out, he added. Facebook公司嚇到我了，他補(bǔ)充道。 That is unlikely to bother the social network, whose decision to buy Oculus was alsomotivated by a broader strategic concern. 那不太可能擾亂Facebook社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司，其收購(gòu)Oculus公司的決策也是出于一個(gè)更加廣泛的戰(zhàn)略要求。 Facebook grew up in an era dominated by personal computers. Facebook公司是在個(gè)人電腦主宰的時(shí)代發(fā)展起來(lái)的。 It failed miserably to spot that computing was shifting fast to new mobile platforms suchas smartphones. 可悲的是它過(guò)去沒能發(fā)現(xiàn)電腦正迅速向智能手機(jī)等移動(dòng)平臺(tái)轉(zhuǎn)移。 It has since raced to catch up in the world of apps and is now keen not to miss the nextgeneration of big platforms. 此后它迅速去追趕全世界應(yīng)用程序的發(fā)展，而現(xiàn)在不希望錯(cuò)過(guò)下一代的大平臺(tái)。 Mr Zuckerberg thinks virtual reality could be one of these and foresees people putting onOculus s goggles in their homes to, say, attend virtual classes or see their doctors. Zuckerberg先生認(rèn)為虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)可能是這些平臺(tái)的其中之一。他說(shuō)他預(yù)見人們戴上Oculus公司的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)眼鏡在家里參加虛擬課程或看醫(yī)生。 But experiments in marrying entertainment with headgear, like 3D televisions that requireviewers to wear special glasses, have been disappointing. 但就像觀看3D電視需要佩戴特殊眼鏡一樣，將娛樂設(shè)備設(shè)計(jì)成頭戴式的效果一直不盡如人意。 Two billion dollars seems like a significant amount of money to pay for something that hasyet to emerge, says Brian Wieser of Pivotal, a research firm. 研發(fā)公司Pivotal的Brian Wieser說(shuō)：對(duì)于一些尚未實(shí)現(xiàn)的東西來(lái)說(shuō)，20億美元似乎是一筆大投資。 True, but unlike Google, which spends lots of money on futuristic projects in its secretiveGoogle X lab, Facebook is willing to let startups try riskier stuff, and then pay princelysums to acquire them. 確實(shí)如此，谷歌公司在神秘的Google X實(shí)驗(yàn)室進(jìn)行的未來(lái)項(xiàng)目中投入大量資金，然而與谷歌公司不同，F(xiàn)acebook公司寧愿讓新創(chuàng)業(yè)的公司試驗(yàn)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)較高的事物，然后支付天價(jià)收購(gòu)它們。 Other firms have also been buying talent and technology: according to Thomson Reuters, aninformation provider, the Oculus purchase took the total spent on technology M Aworldwide since the start of 2023 to 65.2 billionthe highest amount for the equivalentperiod since 2000. 其他公司也正在購(gòu)買人才和技術(shù)，據(jù)信息提供者Thomson Reuters透露，自2023年初以來(lái)，Oculus公司在世界范圍內(nèi)的技術(shù)并購(gòu)中，總共花費(fèi)了625億美元，這是自2000年以來(lái)同期最高值。 The Oculus deal also represents a twist in the tech industry s very own Game of Thrones, anepic of incessant plotting and warfare. 科技行業(yè)自身的權(quán)力游戲是一篇永不停歇的陰謀和戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的史詩(shī)，在這場(chǎng)游戲中，Oculus公司的交易也代表著一個(gè)轉(zhuǎn)變。 Google wants its Glass smart specs to be a new mass-computing platform and this weeksaid Luxottica, a seller of high-end eyewear, would help it make them look nicer. 谷歌公司希望其智能眼鏡設(shè)備能夠成為新一代的集群計(jì)算平臺(tái)，與此同時(shí)，一家高端眼鏡設(shè)備銷售商Luxottica也表示將全力幫助該產(chǎn)品優(yōu)化外觀。 Google s vision of the future involves complementing the real world seen through its specswith a visual feed from its search engine and other services. 谷歌眼鏡可以通過(guò)其搜索引擎和其他服務(wù)實(shí)現(xiàn)信息視覺化展示，谷歌公司對(duì)未來(lái)的愿景包含透過(guò)谷歌眼鏡實(shí)現(xiàn)對(duì)真實(shí)世界的補(bǔ)充。 Facebook s is of people immersed in lifelike digital worlds. 而Facebook公司的愿景是人們可以沉浸在逼真的數(shù)字世界。 Their rivalry should be a real spectacle. 他們的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)應(yīng)該是場(chǎng)真正的奇觀。 詞語(yǔ)解釋 1.at least 至少 There are at least three reasons. 至少有三方面的原因。 The second coup was followed by the killing of atleast 200 ibo soldiers. 隨之而來(lái)的第二次軍事政變最少死掉了200名伊博士兵。 2.fail to 未能 Things change and when you fail to grasp that truth you suffer. 世事變遷，而且你也未能領(lǐng)會(huì)承受折磨的真相。 All of these interpretations fail to understand the broader importance of theannouncement. 所有這些觀點(diǎn)都未能理解這一協(xié)議更為廣泛的重要性。 3.live up to 達(dá)到高標(biāo)準(zhǔn);不辜負(fù) Live up to your best life! 不辜負(fù)你最好的生活! I just hope I can live up to such talented company. 我只是希望自己能不辜負(fù)如此有才干的公司。 4.ready for 準(zhǔn)備從事 We re ready for winter! 我們已經(jīng)準(zhǔn)備好過(guò)冬! I think he would be ready for anything. 我認(rèn)為，他將做好一切準(zhǔn)備。
2023復(fù)習(xí)正是強(qiáng)化復(fù)習(xí)階段，在考研英語(yǔ)中占了40分，所以考研英語(yǔ)閱讀是英語(yǔ)科目中重要的一項(xiàng)。名師老師曾建議過(guò)考研生需要堅(jiān)持每天泛讀10-15分鐘的英文原刊。強(qiáng)烈推薦了雜志《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人》.雜志中的文章也是考研英語(yǔ)的主要材料來(lái)源.希望考研考生認(rèn)真閱讀，快速提高考研英語(yǔ)閱讀水平。 Facebook and virtual reality 臉譜網(wǎng)與虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí) A game of goggles 一場(chǎng)頭戴式3D眼鏡的賭博 The social network makes another expensive beton the future 社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)又向未來(lái)押了一筆高昂賭注 AT SXSW, a techie festival that took place inTexasearlier this month, some lucky attenderswere able briefly to immerse themselves in HBO s fantasy television series, Game ofThrones. 在本月初，影視音樂互動(dòng)大會(huì)上，一個(gè)技術(shù)展在德克薩斯州拉開帷幕，一些幸運(yùn)的參加者能短暫的將自己沉浸在HBO的奇幻電視劇《權(quán)利的游戲》中。 By donning virtual-reality goggles made by Oculus VR, people could see how the world lookedfrom the top of the 700-foot-tall Wall that protects the Seven Kingdoms from enemies thatlurk beyond. 戴上由Oculus VR公司制造的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)眼鏡，人們可以看見從700英尺高的城墻頂端俯瞰的世界，而這城墻保衛(wèi)著七大王國(guó)免受潛伏在城墻外敵人的侵?jǐn)_。 The digital rendition was so lifelike that gazing down from the Wall gave some folk vertigo. 其細(xì)節(jié)重現(xiàn)栩栩如生以至于從城墻上俯瞰時(shí)會(huì)使人眩暈。 Such a compelling experience explains why Oculus Rift, the company s virtual-realityheadset, has captivated keen gamers. 如此令人信服的體驗(yàn)解釋了該公司的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)耳機(jī)Oculus Rift俘獲了狂熱游戲迷的原因。 It has also caught the attention of Facebook, which announced on March 25th that it hadbought Oculus VR for around 2 billion. 這也引起了Facebook公司的注意，在3月25日，其宣布已用約20億美元收購(gòu)了Oculus VR公司。 This deal, which comprises 400m in cash and the rest in Facebook stock, comes not longafter the social network s purchase of WhatsApp, a messaging app, for 19 billion. 這筆交易包括4億美元的現(xiàn)金交易，其余部分以Facebook公司股票交易。且這就發(fā)生在Facebook公司以190億美元收購(gòu)信息傳送應(yīng)用程序WhatsApp的不久之后。 WhatsApp at least has more than 450m users. WhatsApp應(yīng)用程序至少有超過(guò)4.5億用戶。 Oculus VR, a startup that is less than two years old, has so far only sold its headsets to gamedevelopers. Oculus VR這一新創(chuàng)辦不超過(guò)兩年的公司，目前只向游戲開發(fā)者賣出了它的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)耳機(jī)。 So why is Facebook paying so much for it? 那么為什么Facebook公司為購(gòu)買它付出了這么多? And why is it betting on a much-hyped technology that has so far failed to live up to itspromise? 且這一大量炒作的技術(shù)，迄今仍未兌現(xiàn)其承諾，F(xiàn)acebook公司為什么在這一技術(shù)上押注? Part of the answer is that Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook s boss, and his colleagues thinkadvances in areas such as graphics processing power and thin, high-resolution screens meanthat virtual-reality headsets are at last ready for mass consumption. 部分原因是Facebook公司的老板Mark Zuckerberg以及他的同僚們認(rèn)為，例如圖形處理能力，薄而分辨率高的顯示器等領(lǐng)域的發(fā)展進(jìn)步，意味著虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)耳機(jī)終于為大眾消費(fèi)做好了準(zhǔn)備。 David Ebersman, the firm s finance chief, reckons the potential to mint money in gamingalone justifies Oculus s price tag. 公司的首席財(cái)務(wù)官David Ebersman認(rèn)為Oculus僅在游戲上賺錢的潛力就證明它的價(jià)簽是合理的。 Other firms spy the same opportunity. 其它公司偵尋著同樣的機(jī)會(huì)。 Sony recently unveiled a prototype virtual-reality headset for its PlayStation 4 gameconsole and Microsoft is rumoured to be developing one for its Xbox console. 索尼公司最近公布了一款為其PlayStation 4游戲平臺(tái)打造的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)耳機(jī)的原型機(jī)，且有傳言稱微軟正為其Xbox游戲平臺(tái)研發(fā)一款虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)耳機(jī)。 But some gaming veterans reckon the headsets will appeal only to hard-core gamers. 但是一些游戲老手認(rèn)為這種耳機(jī)將只會(huì)吸引狂熱的游戲玩家。 And Facebook s purchase of Oculus has infuriated some of those. 且Facebook公司收購(gòu)Oculus公司這一舉動(dòng)已經(jīng)將他們中的一些人激怒。 After the deal was announced, Markus Persson, a prominent game developer, tweetedthat he had just cancelled a plan to bring a game to Oculus. 在交易宣布后，一個(gè)著名的游戲開發(fā)商Markus Persson就在推特上說(shuō)他剛剛?cè)∠艘粋€(gè)想交由Oculus公司研發(fā)游戲的計(jì)劃。 Facebook creeps me out, he added. Facebook公司嚇到我了，他補(bǔ)充道。 That is unlikely to bother the social network, whose decision to buy Oculus was alsomotivated by a broader strategic concern. 那不太可能擾亂Facebook社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司，其收購(gòu)Oculus公司的決策也是出于一個(gè)更加廣泛的戰(zhàn)略要求。 Facebook grew up in an era dominated by personal computers. Facebook公司是在個(gè)人電腦主宰的時(shí)代發(fā)展起來(lái)的。 It failed miserably to spot that computing was shifting fast to new mobile platforms suchas smartphones. 可悲的是它過(guò)去沒能發(fā)現(xiàn)電腦正迅速向智能手機(jī)等移動(dòng)平臺(tái)轉(zhuǎn)移。 It has since raced to catch up in the world of apps and is now keen not to miss the nextgeneration of big platforms. 此后它迅速去追趕全世界應(yīng)用程序的發(fā)展，而現(xiàn)在不希望錯(cuò)過(guò)下一代的大平臺(tái)。 Mr Zuckerberg thinks virtual reality could be one of these and foresees people putting onOculus s goggles in their homes to, say, attend virtual classes or see their doctors. Zuckerberg先生認(rèn)為虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)可能是這些平臺(tái)的其中之一。他說(shuō)他預(yù)見人們戴上Oculus公司的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)眼鏡在家里參加虛擬課程或看醫(yī)生。 But experiments in marrying entertainment with headgear, like 3D televisions that requireviewers to wear special glasses, have been disappointing. 但就像觀看3D電視需要佩戴特殊眼鏡一樣，將娛樂設(shè)備設(shè)計(jì)成頭戴式的效果一直不盡如人意。 Two billion dollars seems like a significant amount of money to pay for something that hasyet to emerge, says Brian Wieser of Pivotal, a research firm. 研發(fā)公司Pivotal的Brian Wieser說(shuō)：對(duì)于一些尚未實(shí)現(xiàn)的東西來(lái)說(shuō)，20億美元似乎是一筆大投資。 True, but unlike Google, which spends lots of money on futuristic projects in its secretiveGoogle X lab, Facebook is willing to let startups try riskier stuff, and then pay princelysums to acquire them. 確實(shí)如此，谷歌公司在神秘的Google X實(shí)驗(yàn)室進(jìn)行的未來(lái)項(xiàng)目中投入大量資金，然而與谷歌公司不同，F(xiàn)acebook公司寧愿讓新創(chuàng)業(yè)的公司試驗(yàn)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)較高的事物，然后支付天價(jià)收購(gòu)它們。 Other firms have also been buying talent and technology: according to Thomson Reuters, aninformation provider, the Oculus purchase took the total spent on technology M Aworldwide since the start of 2023 to 65.2 billionthe highest amount for the equivalentperiod since 2000. 其他公司也正在購(gòu)買人才和技術(shù)，據(jù)信息提供者Thomson Reuters透露，自2023年初以來(lái)，Oculus公司在世界范圍內(nèi)的技術(shù)并購(gòu)中，總共花費(fèi)了625億美元，這是自2000年以來(lái)同期最高值。 The Oculus deal also represents a twist in the tech industry s very own Game of Thrones, anepic of incessant plotting and warfare. 科技行業(yè)自身的權(quán)力游戲是一篇永不停歇的陰謀和戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的史詩(shī)，在這場(chǎng)游戲中，Oculus公司的交易也代表著一個(gè)轉(zhuǎn)變。 Google wants its Glass smart specs to be a new mass-computing platform and this weeksaid Luxottica, a seller of high-end eyewear, would help it make them look nicer. 谷歌公司希望其智能眼鏡設(shè)備能夠成為新一代的集群計(jì)算平臺(tái)，與此同時(shí)，一家高端眼鏡設(shè)備銷售商Luxottica也表示將全力幫助該產(chǎn)品優(yōu)化外觀。 Google s vision of the future involves complementing the real world seen through its specswith a visual feed from its search engine and other services. 谷歌眼鏡可以通過(guò)其搜索引擎和其他服務(wù)實(shí)現(xiàn)信息視覺化展示，谷歌公司對(duì)未來(lái)的愿景包含透過(guò)谷歌眼鏡實(shí)現(xiàn)對(duì)真實(shí)世界的補(bǔ)充。 Facebook s is of people immersed in lifelike digital worlds. 而Facebook公司的愿景是人們可以沉浸在逼真的數(shù)字世界。 Their rivalry should be a real spectacle. 他們的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)應(yīng)該是場(chǎng)真正的奇觀。 詞語(yǔ)解釋 1.at least 至少 There are at least three reasons. 至少有三方面的原因。 The second coup was followed by the killing of atleast 200 ibo soldiers. 隨之而來(lái)的第二次軍事政變最少死掉了200名伊博士兵。 2.fail to 未能 Things change and when you fail to grasp that truth you suffer. 世事變遷，而且你也未能領(lǐng)會(huì)承受折磨的真相。 All of these interpretations fail to understand the broader importance of theannouncement. 所有這些觀點(diǎn)都未能理解這一協(xié)議更為廣泛的重要性。 3.live up to 達(dá)到高標(biāo)準(zhǔn);不辜負(fù) Live up to your best life! 不辜負(fù)你最好的生活! I just hope I can live up to such talented company. 我只是希望自己能不辜負(fù)如此有才干的公司。 4.ready for 準(zhǔn)備從事 We re ready for winter! 我們已經(jīng)準(zhǔn)備好過(guò)冬! I think he would be ready for anything. 我認(rèn)為，他將做好一切準(zhǔn)備。
