第1个回答 2022-07-18
智能手机产业的成熟值得庆祝🎉 (虽然对苹果的股东来说是坏消息,但是对我们全人类来说却是好消息)
cause: 题目中就出现了我们每日一词cause,作为“理由”的含义,非常实用。上期《经济学人》的special report中一篇关于儿童上网的文章中也出现过:Daniel looked at all the evidence he could find, and found less cause for alarm than is often suggested. (原文太长,改写了一下)
1⃣️ 2⃣️ 句说,苹果公司的股价几个月来一直在下跌。因为iPhone销量意外减缓,苹果公司减少了2018年最后一个季度的预估收入,整个市场跟着出现震荡。消息一出,股价再跌10%。3⃣️ 4⃣️ 句说,苹果公司供货商股价遭到了冲击,比如三星。
(二)词句精读
1⃣️ WHEN APPLE cut its revenue estimate for the last quarter of 2018 because of unexpectedly slow sales of iPhones, markets convulsed .
👉 convulse 基本含义是“痉挛抽筋,震动”,或是“因为笑或生气等而全身抖动”,现在网上流行的那句“🐯 虎躯一震”就可以用这个词:I'm convulsed with amazement. 这里用于跟markets市场搭配,可以说是非常形象了,市场受到冲击而震动。《经济学人》的一篇关于“美联储宣布停止债券购买计划” 的文章中也出现过这个用法:When the Fed first hinted that this day was coming in the summer of 2013, the investor s panicked and the market convulsed . 可以记住这个搭配。
2⃣️ The company’s share price, which had been sliding for months, fell by a further 10% on January 3rd, the day after the news came out.
👉 slide&fall 两个表示下滑的词,在同一句话中出现,体现了英语行文中多用不同的词表达同个意思,避免重复的特点。第二段第一句出现的decline,可以放在一起记。
3⃣️ Apple’s suppliers’ shares were also hit .
👉 hit 基本含义是“打”,这里是“打击,产生不良影响”之义。Rural areas have been worst hit by the strike. 第一句里面的markets convulsed可以改写成markets were badly hit。
4⃣️ This week Samsung, the world’s largest maker of smartphones by volume , which also sells components to other smartphone-makers, said its sales were weaker than expected for the quarter, too.
👉 volume 有很多意思,“音量;体积;卷/册”,这里是指sales volume “销售额”。
值得注意的是,volume前面用的介词by,意思是“从...看”的意思,“从销售额来看,三星是世界上最大的智能手机制造商”。I could tell by the look on her face that something terrible had happened. 我从她的脸色就能看出有可怕的事情发生了。
拓展一个跟volume相关的表达: speak volumes (about/for sth/sb) "充分说明,清楚表明", 之前读“ A Street Cat Named Bob ”遇到的:The look she gave him spoke volumes. 比如你求朋友帮忙,人家没有马上答应你而是犹豫了一下,你就可以说 “Well, that pause speaks volumes .”
👉 weak 基本含义是“虚弱无力” ,但是经常被用在经济相关的话题中,表示“疲软的,萧条的”。这里是用来形容sales销售量的,下次想说销量低的时候,不要只想到low啦,还可以想到weak哦!Export sales were weak at that time.
本段为过度段,点题并引起下文。1⃣️ 句说分析人士认为2018年卖出的智能手机数量会首次出现比上年减少的情况。2⃣️ 3⃣️ 4⃣️ 这对那些投资者来说是坏消息,但是观大局,对全人类来说却是好消息。
2⃣️ All this is terrible news for investors who had banked on continued growth.
👉 bank on sb/sth 表示指望,依靠 。比如“请放心”,我们就可以说You can bank on it. “别指望”就是“Don't bank on it.”
4⃣️ That smartphone sales have peaked , and seem to be levelling off at around 1.4bn units a year, is good news for humanity.
👉 peak 名词是高峰的意思,这里是动词“达到最高峰”之义,“手机的销量到了峰值”。再看个例句:Interestingly, traditional SMS text traffic actually peaked in 2011! 有趣的是,传统简讯服务在2011年达到高峰!
👉 level 我们比较熟悉的也是名词,在这里是个动词, level off/out ,是“ 保持...水平”的意思 ,“手机销量达不再上升,保持在每年14亿左右”。这里需要注意,后面的小介词,用的是at,比如:Inflation is finally levelling out at around 11% a month. 通货膨胀率最终稳定在每月11%左右。也可以不提具体稳定在一个什么样的水平。比如:The figures show evidence that murders in the nation's capital are beginning to level off. 数据表明,该国首都谋杀案件的数量开始保持在稳定的水平。(根据上下文可以翻译成,不再上升,或者不再下降)。
本句是一个由that引导的主语从句,“手机销量达不再上升,保持在每年14亿左右” 这件事,对我们人类来说是个好消息。
1⃣️ 2⃣️ 句说,智能手机是史上最成功的消费产品。3⃣️ 4⃣️ 句说了原因,因为智能手机让人们能获取网上大量的信息和服务,让市场更高效,为发展中国家弥补落后的基础设施,促进发展。5⃣️ 6⃣️ 7⃣️ 句说使用手机确实会导致浪费时间和散布虚假信息,但是手机的好处是远远超过坏处的,而且可能是最有效的发展工具。
1⃣️ People have voted with their wallets to make the smartphone the most successful consumer product in history: nearly 4bn of the 5.5bn adults on the planet now have one. 2⃣️ And no wonder.
👉 voted with their wallets 哈哈,我看到这句的时候都笑了,写的真好,“用钱包投票”,可不是吗,我们都花大票子买的手机。以后要说哪个商品受欢迎,或是说哪个地方是旅游胜地等,我们也可以用到这个,比如:Girls have voted with their wallet to make lipstick the most popular cosmetic product.
👉 And no wonder. 全世界55亿人,差不多40亿人都拥有智能手机,智能手机多受欢迎程度不言而喻。所以第二句就说了And no wonder. 我以前见到的,都是后面还接个从句的,比如: No wonder you're on your own, lad. 怪不得你还单身,小伙子。今天见到了单独也可以的用法,以后也可以用上啦!
3⃣️ They connect billions of people to the internet’s plethora of information and services.
👉 plethora 对我来说是个生词,“ 过剩、过量 ”的意思,plethora of information and service,可以记住这个搭配,下次想用large amount of的时候,可以试着用plethora这个词替换,很高级的样子哈哈。
4⃣️ Phones make markets more efficient, compensate for poor infrastructure in developing countries and boost growth.
👉 make compensate boost 三个动词,把手机的好处简洁地说了出来。
5⃣️ Yes, they can be used for wasting time and spreading disinformation. 6⃣️ But the good far outweighs the bad.
👉 disinformation ,information我们都熟,是“信息”的意思,而disinformation就是们平时经常碰到的“虚假信息,假消息”啦!散布虚假信息“ spread disinformation ”。
👉 outweigh 之前的每日一词里学到过outlive“比...活得更长”的意思,引申含义,在...结束/消失后,继续存在:The machine had outlived its usefulness (= was no longer useful ). outweigh也是out前缀,“重于”,我们原文中这句,可以改写成:The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.
类似的词还有,outplay“战胜,击败”;outpace“比...快”;outperform“胜过”;outwit“智力上胜过”;outgrow"长得穿不下;比...长得高;年增志移" 如:He's outgrown his passion for rock music. She's outgrown her obsession with fancy appearance.
这两句的句式可以提炼一下。Yes...But... 看似挺简单的结构,但是我们却不一定想到会用。试着造个句子: Yes , getting up early to participate the morning reading was kind of hard for me. But the gain far outweigh the pain. (gain和pain的押韵,是得于下一段“ButApple’s pain is humanity’s gain.”这句的灵感。)