时代经典用词科技篇 电子电机

在这个堪称最浩大艰巨的工程中，摩托罗拉公司计划开展一个名为“铱计划”的无线通信系统，

which will consist of 66 satellites orbiting about 500 miles above the earth.

这套系统包含66颗在地球上方500英里轨道上运行的人造卫星。

LCD & LED

液晶显示器与发光二极管

Repeated discouragement,of course,leads to repeated equipment purchase.

不在断的失望下，当然，就会诱发不断的购买器具。

But gear possibilities are poor;

但是运动器材的帮助不大；

you don't really want moving parts or a liquid crystal display on a racquet or a three wood.

你不会真的想要一些可拆装的元件，可不会想在网球拍或高尔夫球杆上装个液晶显示荧幕吧。

The Roland E-20($2500)even has a liquid-crystal display window

Roland E-20电子琴($2500)甚至附有液晶显示窗，

that flashes such information as the chord being played and the tempo being used,...

所弹奏的和弦、所使用的拍子等等信息，都可在其上显示出来。

nanotechnology

精密工艺技术

Robot probes no bigger than bacteria will eventually be possible.

像细菌那么小的机器人终将可能出现，

According to K.Eric Drexler,author of Engines of Creation,

根据《创造的引擎》一书的作者艾力克·德雷克斯勒所说，

they will use nanotechnology to assemble devices atom by atom or molecule by molecule.

他们将会利用精密工艺技术来组合机器，作法是一个原子接一个原子，或一个分子接一个分子来组装。

If,on the other hand,you steer your beings adroitly toward the ages of information and nanotechnology,

换个方面来考虑，如果你能够巧妙地引导你的生命朝向信息与精密工艺技术的时代迈进，

they will spontaneously load themselves into tiny spacecraft,turn the earth into a wildlife preserve and take off to colonize other planets...

这些生命就能够自动地将自己装上小型的太空船，将地球变成野生动物保护区，并出发到其他星球居住。

narrowcasting

窄播

To that end,the mayoral hopefuls are playing it safe,narrowcasting their messages to voter segments where they are already popular rather than making broad appeals to the entire electorate.

为了达到这个目的，这些希望当上市长的候选人都采取稳扎稳打的策略，将他们的信息以窄播的形式传达给那些喜欢他们的选民，而不拆求于整个选区的选民。

At this stage,the traditional broadcast networks would probably be hurt,

在目前这个阶段，传统的广播网络可能会受到影响，

but not necessarily crippled.

但还不至于会瘫痪。

Though their audience will be nibbled at further by a fresh attack of narrowcasting barracudas,

尽管他们的观众群可能还会被梭鱼一样凶的窄播系统再咬去一些，

they would retain their special role as providers of national news,big sports events and broadbased entertainment fare.

但是在全国性的新闻、大型体育活动以及大规模的娱乐节目等方面，还是能够维持它们的独特地位。

personal communication network

个人通讯网络

Called personal communications networks,these systems operate much like cellular phones but are not intended for cars.

这种被称为个人通讯网络的系统，操作起来很像是移动电话，但是并非供车上使用。

Instead they are designed for pedestrian use

实际上它们是设计来给行人使用的，

and will consist of pocket phones so small they can be folded up like a wallet to the size of a pack of cigarettes.

有一只口袋型电话，体积很小，可以像皮夹一样折起来，只有一包香烟大。

The user could thus bypass the local phone company,which makes the PCN system a threat to the Baby Bells' local monoploy.

使用者因此可以越过当地的电话公司，使得个人通讯网络系统对于贝尔电话公司子公司的区域性垄断造成了威胁。

Last week Cox scored an industry first by becoming the first cable system to test-market a PCN serivce.

上周Cox公司成为第一个在市场上测试个人通信网络服务的有线系统。

superconductivity

超导性

Sixteen years later,Bardeen and two others won the Nobel for their theory of low-temperature superconductivity,

16年之后，巴丁和另外两名科学家又因低温超导理论再度获得诺贝尔奖，

in which electricity travels through matter with little or no resistance.

在低温超导状态，电流可以在极低或没有阻力的情况下流经物质。

Japanis the only country that is developing practical uses of superconductivity

日本是唯一正在发展超导之实际应用的国家，

and I believe,will master the technology in ten years.

而且我相信，10年内一定会精通这项工艺技术。

Then Japan will be at the center of industry.

到时候日本会成为工业的中心。

Betting on the Sky

押宝在天上

1.Until recently,mobile radio was to wireless communications what the Yugo was to transportation.

不久前，移动无线电在无线通信业的地位还只是像南斯拉夫牌车辆在运输业的地位一样。

With a motley clientele ranging from truckers using CBs to police armed with walkie-talkies to taxi drivers dispatched by radio,

它的客户群五花八门，包括使用民用频道无线电的卡车司机、配有对讲机的警察以及经由无线电台传呼的出租车司机。

it was viewed as an unglamorous business and a technological backwater.

一般人都认为这种通信方式平凡无奇、技术水平甚低。

2.But specialized mobile radio,as it is known,has been rediscorered.It is now considered one of the biggest prizes in the all-out war for the public airwaves.

可是这种叫做专业移动无线电的技术最近咸鱼翻身，在争夺公用电波的全面大战中被视为数一数二的大奖。

The reason:high-tech companies have figured out how to profitably rebuild the antiquated dispatching system into an advanced cellular-telephone network

这是因为高科技公司已经研究出来怎样把这个老掉牙的传呼系统，改造为先进的移动电话网络，

that can take on the likes of AT&T and the giant Baby Bells.

用它赚钱，甚至可以挑战美国电话电报公司，以及规模庞大的贝尔电话子公司这一类的对手。

Upstart Nextel Communications sent shock waves through the industry last week

新出道就来势汹汹的“暴发户”通信公司上周造成业界大震撼，

when it agreed to buy Motor-ola's SMR frequencies for $1.8 billion.

同意以18亿美元的价格买下摩托罗拉公司手中的SMR频道。

3.With the 2500 radio frequencies acquired from Motorola,

接收摩托罗拉的2500条无线电频道之后，

Nextel will have the potential to serve 180 million customers in 21 states,including 45 of the 50 largest cities.

“暴发户”就有办法服务21个州的1.8亿名客户，前50名的大都市中有45个也在服务范围中。

That would give the Rutherford,New Jersey,company access to nearly three times the number of customers now covered by McCaw Cellular Communications,the nation's biggest cellular operator,

这么一来，“暴发户”可涵盖的客户群比起美国最大的移动电话公司“麦考行动通讯”目前涵盖的客户群还要大得多——几乎到它的3倍。

which is being acquired by AT&T for $12.6 billion.

美国电话电报公司开出126亿，正在并购麦考公司。

Even though it will cost at least $2.5 billion to rebuild the SMR system into a cellular network,Nextel,which is backed by Comcast Corp. and Japan's Matsushita & Nippon Telegraph and Telephone,

虽然改造SMR系统为移动电话网络至少要25亿的成本，可是“暴发户”有康卡斯公司与日本的松下公司及日本电报电话公司作后盾，

intends to have a coast-to-coast wireless network up and running by 1995.

计划在1995年之前就要开始营运一个从太平洋岸到大西洋岸的无线通信网。

4.That could pose a serious threat to cellular hegemony.

此举可能严重威胁到移动电话的霸权。

Although both systems are based on the same basic technology,

虽然两种系统的基本技术相同，

SMR systems are digital and cover almost 25 times as much area as the average cellular network.

可是SMR系统是数位型，能涵盖到的面积几乎有一般移动电话网络的25倍大。

SMR handsets won't work on cellular systems and tend to be bulkier than cellular phones,

SMR的手机在移动电话系统上不能运作，而且往往比移动电话笨重，

though they provide more features,like a digital pager service.

可是能提供更多功能，例如它有数位型呼叫服务。

And while cellular growth has tripled to some 13 million subscribers since 1990,

此外，移动电话用户尽管从1990年以来增加了3倍，到达1300万之多，

the technology has been losing ground.

可是技术面却节节败退。

It is running out of channel capacity so fast,

它的频道承载量快速呈现不足，

in fact,that 40% of cellular calls in high-density areas like Manhattan and Los Angeles fail to be completed.

像曼哈顿区与洛杉矶这种高密度地区有40%的移动电话通话都会被腰斩。

SMRs have capacity to spare,and service could eventually be priced 10% to 15% less than cellular.

至于SMR则有用不完的承载量，假以时日，SMR服务费可以比移动电话低10%至15%。

Dispatchers predict they will have at least 10 million subscribers by the end of the decade.

SMR转接公司预测90年代结束前至少会有1000万名用户。

There are now about 1.5 million users of SMRs.

目前大约有150万户。

5.The addition of another contender to an already crowded field of telephone systems will surely multiply the confusion.

对早已充塞各式各样电话系统的行业而言，新竞争者的加入，势必会使局面更增混乱。

By the year 2000,consumers will be able to choose from at least half a dozen vendors of a dizzing array of wireless-communications services,

到了公元2000年，消费者面对令人眼花缭乱的无线通信服务厂商，至少有6种选择，

including pagers,voice mail,answering machines and cellular phones.

包括呼叫器、有声邮件、答录机与移动电话在内。

Phone and cabletelevision operators,such as Bell South,MCI and Cox Enterprises,

电话业者与有线电视业者，诸如南方贝尔公司，MCI公司与柯克斯企业，

are developing so-called personal-communications networks,or PCNs,

正在开发所谓的个人通信网络。

a highly advanced portable-phone system that is expected to cover a wider area,connect to a greater variety of services and be cheaper to operate than conventional cellular.

这是极先进的移动式电话系统，可望能比一般的移动电话覆盖更大的面积，接通更多种类的服务，成本也更低。

6.In perhaps the most ambitious project of all,Motorola plans to launch a wireless system called Iridium,

野心最大的计划可能要属摩托罗拉正在规划推出的铱计划无线通信系统，

which will consist of 66 satellites orbiting about 500 miles above the earth.

要动用到66枚卫星在约500英里的高度环绕地球运转。

The satellites would link together a network of special pocket phones,personal computers,fax machines and pagers

这批卫星可以串联起庞大的网络，包括口袋型电话、个人电脑、传真机与呼叫器，

anywhere in the world-all for a subscription rate of $3 a minute.

不论在世界任何角落——使用费一分钟3美元。

Iridium,which is also backed by Sprint and Raytheon,as well as companies in Canada,China,Japan,Italy and Russia,

铱计划的后台有史普林特公司与锐喜安公司，以及分布于加拿大、中国、日本、意大利和俄罗斯的一些公司，

is expected to begin operation in 1998.

预期在1998年可以开始运营。

It already faces competition from rival global-communications systems,

现在已经面对全球通信系统业对手的竞争，

including Comsat,Globalstar and TRW's Odyssey,

像是通卫系统、环星系统与TRW公司的奥迪赛系统。

American Mobile Satellite Corp.,for instance,plans to use satellites to reach customers in regions not served by cellular.

例如美国机动卫星公司就计划利用卫星来接通移动电话无法覆盖区域的客户。

7.Anticipating the wireless world,

为了适应未来无线世界市场的需求，

computer makers,like Apple,AT&T,IBM and AST Research,

电脑厂商像苹果电脑、美国电话电报公司、IBM公司与AST研究公司，

have recently introduced personal digital assistants,or PDAs,

最近都推出了个人数位助理——

hand-held pen-based computers

这是掌上型、使用电脑笔的电脑，

that can send wireless faxes,electronic mail and,in many cases,make phone calls.

可以传送无线传真、电子邮件，而且其中有好几型都可以打电话。

For the most part,though,many of these technologies will be overlapping,incompatible and,in some cases,even irrelevant.

但是，大致说来，这些技术之中有许多互相重叠，又不具相容性，甚至有些种类根本无足轻重。

Says Clifford Bean,a wireless analyst at Arthur D. Little:

亚瑟·立德公司的无线通信分析家比恩就说：

"PCNs,PDAs and now SMRs.Consumers are going to face a maddening menu of choices.

“PCN，PDA，现在又来一个SMR。消费者面对的将是一份会让人晕眼的菜单。

Many are going to get lost in the gobbledygook."

许多人看到这一堆新名词会无所适从。”

8.And many companies that have gambled on the wrong technological standards,

许多公司押赌押错了，选择了没有前途的技术标准，

and invested billions trying to develop the same markets,

投资数十亿美元来开发同样的市场。

will undoubtedly lose a great deal of money before the shakeout is over.

这些公司势必要遭到巨额亏损，然后霸主才会出现。

says Nextel chairman Morgan O'Brien,

“暴发户”董事长欧布莱恩说：

"The winners will be those who can make the choice for consumers easy."

“谁能让消费者容易选择，谁就能胜利。”

With all the anticipated confusion-reminiscent of the early years of personal computers-

可是普遍预期的是混乱的局面——类似个人电脑初期的情况——

it is likely to be years before anyone calls the purchase of wireless products an "easy" choice.

所以很可能要过若干年才会有人觉得买无线通信产品是一项“容易的”选择。