考研英语历年真题来源报刊阅读(11)

wuliumu

Doughnut adjust your set

HAVE you ever seen anything on television that made you shout or shake your fist in anger at the screen? Televisions are, of course, unable to respond to such reactions. But that could be about to change. Controlling your television and other homentertainment devices using voice commands or gestures is starting to become possible thanks to a new generation of controllers.

Consider, for example, the controller that went on sale last month with Nintendo’s Wii games console. In place of the usual (sometimes baffling) combination of buttons and joysticks, the Wii has a motionsensitive controller. The console can determine how the controller is moving in space and what it is pointing at, and uses that information to control what is happening on screen. Depending on the game, the controller becomes a warrior’s sword or a golf club.


For some games, the controller connects up via a cable to a second, smaller handset called the “Nunchuk” after the weapon favoured by Bruce Lee in his martialrts movies (two batons linked by a chain). It is then possible to use one controller for movement, and the other to fire weapons or use items. The number of buttons on both controllers has been reduced to a minimum, as Nintendo hopes to draw in new customers who find existing games consoles too complicated. But whether the Wii will introduce a generation of grandmothers to the joys of karate games remains to be seen.


This livingoom overload is likely to get worse as telecoms operators launch a new generation of televisionverroadband services, using a technology called IPTV. This will make possible thousands of channels, downloadable programmes and films, plus messaging, internet access and games. It will also involve the biggest and most complicated controllers ever seen. “The experience isn’t as good as it could be,” says Michael Cai of Parks Associates, a consultancy. So some companies believe a new approach is needed.


Other companies have looked at using speechased controllers in the living room. One firm, Promptu, developed a voiceontrol system for American cable operators and tested it in conjunction with Motorola, which makes setop boxes. But it has now decided to reposition the technology as a voiceased navigation system for mobile phones. A simpler approach is taken by the InVoca voicectivated remote control. It is a universal remote control that can recognise 50 separate commands spoken by up to four separate users, from “lower volume” to “Cartoon Network”.　


A recent entry to the field is Apple Computer, a firm renowned for designing elegant, easyose products. In 2007 it will launch a new device, called the iTV, that acts as a bridge between a television and a computer. It has a deliberately simple remote control that, like Apple’s iconic iPod musiclayer, involves just one button and one wheel. Steve Jobs, the company’s boss, boasts that it is “very Apple”. Might his company be the one to solve the remoteontrol confusion?


respond［ris5pCnd］


v.①回答，答复；②（to）响应


［真题例句］ An important factor in a marketriented economy is the mechanism by which consumer demands can be expressed and responded (②) to by producers.［1994年阅读1］


［例句精译］ 以市场为导向的经济中的一个重要因素是反映消费者需求以及生产者对消费者需求作出反应的机制。


command［kE5mB:nd］


n.①命令，指令；②统帅，指挥（权）；③掌握，运用能力；v.①命令，要求；②指挥，统帅；③掌握，控制


［真题例句］ Celebrate! commanded (v.①) the ads for the arthritis drug Celebrex, before we found out it could increase the risk of heart attacks.［2006年阅读4］


［例句精译］ “欢庆吧！”宣传关节炎良药西乐葆的广告这样命令道，随后我们却发现它能增加心脏病的发病率。


［真题例句］ Americans no longer expect public figures, whether in speech or in writing, to command (v.③) the English language with skill and gift.Nor do they aspire to such command(n.①) themselves.［2005年阅读4］
国际关系论坛www.newslist.com.cn欢迎您


［例句精译］ 美国人不再期望公众人物在演讲或写作之时可以娴熟地运用技巧和文采来驾驭英语，而且公众人物本身也不这样要求自己。


console［kEn5sEul］


vt.安慰，藉慰；n.控制台


reduce［ri5dju:s］


v.减少，缩小；简化，还原


boast［bEust］


v.（of，about）自夸，夸耀；n.自夸，大话


［真题例句］ Given all these disadvantages, central bankers seem to have had much to boast (v.) about of late.［1997年阅读5］


［例句精译］ 尽管有这么多不利因素，中央银行家们似乎对近来的形势有了不少值得夸耀的东西。


navigation［7nAvi5geiFEn］


n.①航海，航空；②导航，领航


remote［ri5mEut］


a.①远的，长久的；②偏远的，偏僻的；③关系疏远的


［真题例句］ Rodriguez notes that children in remote (②) villages around the world are fans of superstars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Garth Brooks, yet “some Americans fear that immigrant living within the United States remain somehow immune to the nation assimilative power.” ［2006年阅读1］


［例句精译］ 罗德里格兹记录道，在世界范围内偏远村庄里的孩子也崇拜着超级明星，比如阿诺得·施瓦辛格和葛司·布鲁克斯。然而“一些美国人害怕在美国居住的移民在某种程度上不会受到民族同化作用。”


任天堂“Revolution”系统遥控器终于现身：任天堂未来的“革命”家用控制系统的控制器是只用一只手控制的无线遥控器，用电视旁的两个小传感器和内置的芯片跟踪它的位置和方向，允许玩家用物理移动控制器本身来操作屏幕上的动作。例如，你可以横向移动它来玩击剑，用腕部动作来玩赛车，或者用它指向目标来开枪射击。


电视遥控器


你看电视的时候，是否曾边看边大叫？或者怒气冲冲地对着屏幕挥舞拳头？现在的电视机当然不会对你的举动有什么反应。但这种情形可能会发生变化了。新一代遥控器出现了，不久以后，你也许能用声音指令或手势控制电视机及其他家庭娱乐设备。


拿上月发售的任天堂Wii游戏机所带的控制手柄来作例子吧。通常，游戏手柄会由许多按钮与摇杆（有时能把人搞迷糊）组成，而Wii所带的却是一个动作识别手柄。游戏机能测出手柄的移动轨迹，识别手柄指着屏幕上的什么东西，然后根据得到的信息控制屏幕上的游戏。你手中的手柄是战士手中之剑还是高尔夫球杆，那就要看你在玩什么游戏了。


玩有些游戏时，还可以用线把遥控器接到另一个小一点的手持设备上，有人叫它Nunchuk，这个名字来自李小龙在武打片里喜欢用的武器（双截棍）。然后你就可以用一只遥控器控制行动，另一只用来开火或者使用游戏中的物品。任天堂把两个遥控器上的按钮数量都尽可能减少，希望能吸引到一批原来觉得玩游戏太复杂的新顾客。但Wii会不会让“祖母级”人群也感受到玩空手道游戏的快乐，现在还无从得知。


随着电信运营商在一种叫IPTV的技术基础上推出一系列结合电视机与宽带网络的新服务，我们的客厅很可能会变得越来越拥挤嘈杂。此类服务可能包括几千个电视频道、可下载的电视节目与电影、短信服务、互联网接入与网络游戏。遥控器也会相应变得比以往更大、更复杂。Parks Associates咨询公司的麦克尔·卡尔说，“大家并不会喜欢使用那样的遥控器。”所以一些公司认为要靠新方法来解决这个问题。


还有几家公司则考虑了另一条途径——在客厅里使用语音控制遥控器。Promptu公司就是其中之一，该公司为美国有线电视运营商研发出一种语音控制系统，并与制造机顶盒的摩托罗拉公司一同测试了此系统。但Promptu公司现又决定把这项技术重新定位成一种应用于手机的声控遥控导航系统。而InVoca的声控遥控器则采取了一种更简单的方法，这种遥控器几乎可以运用于所有设备，能识别4个不同使用者的50条命令——从“降低音量”到“卡通网络”。


最近,以产品设计的易用、别致著称的苹果电脑也进入这个领域。2007年该公司将会推出一款叫iTV的新设备，此设备能在电视与电脑间起到桥梁的作用。像苹果的标志性产品iPod音乐播放器一样，iTV的遥控器也有意简化至只有一个按钮与一个滚轮。苹果总裁斯蒂夫·钱伯斯声称该产品“非常地苹果”。苹果电脑公司能解决遥控器的迷局吗？