2017考研英語拓展閱讀：智能手機(jī)靠噱頭還能走多遠(yuǎn)

　　Imagine you make cars and come to work one day todiscover that everyone in the world has a vehiclethat does everything they need and no one wants toreplace it.

　　想象一下你制造汽車，某天上班后發(fā)現(xiàn)全世界每個(gè)人都擁有一輛汽車，而那輛車可以做他們需要的一切事情，沒人想要換掉它。

　　This is not unlike the position smartphone makersare in today. Billions of people now carry a pocketcomputer with capabilities that exceed even sciencefiction’s predictions. And they’re mostly happy with their Star Trek-like devices.

　　這很像智能手機(jī)制造商當(dāng)下的處境。如今，數(shù)十億人都隨身攜帶一臺(tái)運(yùn)算能力甚至超出科幻小說預(yù)言的“便攜式計(jì)算機(jī)”。而且，他們基本上對(duì)這些《星際迷航》(Star Trek)一樣的設(shè)備感到滿意。

　　For phonemakers, then, it’s an “innovate or die” scenario. But the innovations that everyone inthe world wants — vastly better battery life, a perfect signal everywhere and perhaps ateleportation app — may never be attainable.

　　因此，對(duì)于手機(jī)制造商而言，這將是一場“創(chuàng)新或死亡”的游戲。但是，全世界人人都想要的創(chuàng)新——得到極大改善的電池續(xù)航力、無處不在的完美信號(hào)，甚至一款“瞬間轉(zhuǎn)移”應(yīng)用——或許永遠(yuǎn)無法實(shí)現(xiàn)。

　　So unless you’re Apple, which is starting to be perceived as a little bit boring, the way ahead insmartphones has to be solutions in pursuit of problems people didn’t know they had.

　　所以，除非你是已經(jīng)開始被視為有點(diǎn)乏味的蘋果(Apple)，否則智能手機(jī)的下一步發(fā)展必須是為人們尚不知道存在的問題提供解決方案。

　　Last week’s most-publicised such solution was Huawei’s sleek P9, with its twin cameras andarresting co-branding with Germany’s elite Leica camera company. One can only hope for theChinese manufacturer that the consuming masses have heard of Leica.

　　上周造勢(shì)得最沸沸揚(yáng)揚(yáng)的此類解決方案是華為(Huawei)發(fā)布的線條流暢的P9手機(jī)。該款手機(jī)配備了雙攝像頭，并以與德國頂級(jí)的徠卡(Leica)相機(jī)公司進(jìn)行品牌合作為賣點(diǎn)。人們只能期盼這家中國制造商的消費(fèi)群體聽說過徠卡。

　　But my 2016-so-far award for inventive problem finding has to go to LG, South Korea’sestimable, but second-ranking chaebol. Its new flagship phone — the G5 — launched inLondon a tactical day before the P9. And I found myself in equal measure impressed andamused by it.

　　但2016年迄今，在創(chuàng)造性地發(fā)現(xiàn)問題方面，我更看好的是韓國LG。雖然是一家受人尊敬的公司，但LG在韓國的大企業(yè)中只屈居第二梯隊(duì)。LG的戰(zhàn)術(shù)是，在華為發(fā)布P9前一天在倫敦推出了其新款旗艦手機(jī)G5。我發(fā)現(xiàn)這款手機(jī)既讓我印象深刻，也讓我覺得好玩。

　　Aside from its own twin cameras, LG’s effort has the overarching gimmick of being the firstmodular mobile phone. Press a button and half the device’s insides plop out, revealing spacefor extra gadgets to slot in, such as a Bang & Olufsen sound-enhancing music moduleand an attachment to convert the phone into a traditional camera.

　　除了其搭載的雙攝像頭，LG此番努力的最重要噱頭在于，G5是首款模塊化手機(jī)。按下按鈕，G5內(nèi)部一半的模塊會(huì)彈出，為插入附加設(shè)備——比如一款加強(qiáng)音效的Bang & Olufsen品牌音樂模組，或者一款將手機(jī)轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)閭鹘y(tǒng)相機(jī)的配件——留出空間。

　　There is also a virtual reality headset — the best I’ve seen — and a slot-in projector is in theworks. Then there’s the spherical robot, which under your control from the phone will rollaround the house entertaining the cat and censoring what the kids are watching on TV (theystill watch TV?).

　　G5還配有一款我見過的最好的虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)頭罩，LG還在開發(fā)一款插入式投影儀。還有一款你可以用G5手機(jī)控制的球形機(jī)器人，讓它滿屋子轉(zhuǎn)來轉(zhuǎn)去地逗貓或者監(jiān)督孩子們?cè)诳词裁措娨暪?jié)目(他們還看電視?)。

　　Now, leaving aside that I know there is at least one more modular phone due out this year (andanother surprising camera co-branding on the horizon), the LG G5 is truly interesting and musthave half a chance of taking off. It is crazily packed with features: no one could ever learn aquarter of its capabilities.

　　且不提我知道今年至少還有一款模塊化手機(jī)將會(huì)推出(以及另一款出人意料與相機(jī)進(jìn)行品牌合作的手機(jī))，LG的G5真的很有意思，肯定有一半的勝算可以暢銷。這款手機(jī)集成的功能太多了：沒有人掌握得了四分之一的功能。

　　Does it, I asked at the launch, almost to be awkward, have the feature I first saw from Huaweithat’s wildly popular in Asia, where software will “beautify” your face in a selfie — but not thefaces of your friends? Of course it does.

　　在G5的發(fā)布會(huì)上，我?guī)缀跤行�尷尬地問道，這款手機(jī)有沒有我在華為手機(jī)上首次見到的、在亞洲廣受歡迎的自拍時(shí)為自己“美顏”(但不給你的朋友美顏)的功能?當(dāng)然有。

　　With deference to the fact that North Korea is a little different from South Korea, I find it hardnot to call this, in a Korean phone, the Kim Jong Un mode.

　　雖然朝鮮和韓國有所不同，但我忍不住把這種功能稱為“金正恩模式”。

　　LG’s modular idea will be hit or miss. The smallest gimmick can catch on in phones. Just theG5’s trick of sliding its innards out could become iconic in a small way. It combines the alarmingnature of grandpa popping out his dentures with a sultry, gun-like menace.

　　LG的模塊化理念可能盛行，也可能曇花一現(xiàn)。手機(jī)上最小的噱頭也可能流行起來。僅是G5的內(nèi)部模塊彈出功能就可能以小小的方式變得具有偶像性。它結(jié)合了祖父摘下假牙般的令人震驚與扳動(dòng)槍機(jī)般迷人的冷酷形象。

　　What is cutest about LG’s venture is the challenge to its mighty rival, Samsung. LGleapfrogging Samsung’s phones is, in football terms, like a defender on my second-tierNottingham Forest team nutmegging Lionel Messi.

　　LG此舉的最妙之處是挑戰(zhàn)其強(qiáng)大的對(duì)手三星(Samsung)。LG在手機(jī)上一下子超越三星，用足球打比喻，就像我最愛的乙級(jí)的諾丁漢森林隊(duì)(Nottingham Forest)的一名后衛(wèi)把球從萊昂內(nèi)爾•梅西(Lionel Messi)的兩腿之間傳過去。

　　LG, on the other hand, has got things (as it has before) a tiny bit wrong — charmingly,adorably wrong, but wrong nonetheless. The modules for the G5, for example, are officiallycalled “friends”. And the part of LG where friends come from is “the LG playground”.

　　另一方面，同以前一樣，LG犯了一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)錯(cuò)誤——錯(cuò)得很可愛，但還是錯(cuò)了。例如，G5的模塊被正式地稱為“朋友”。而這些朋友來自“LG游樂場”。

　　No, no and thrice no. This must be LG’s ditsyest linguistic error since 2009, when theyannounced a “borderless” TV — supposedly with a picture going right to the screen’s edge.Except that the picture had perfectly normal borders, which was quite bizarre.

　　不，不，還是不。這一定是LG自2009年以來最粗心的用詞不當(dāng)，那年他們發(fā)布了一款“無邊框”電視——按說應(yīng)該是畫面直達(dá)屏幕邊緣。只是那款電視機(jī)有完全正常的邊框，這很古怪。

　　So where does it all lead? I had lunch last week with Carl Pei, the 26-year-old founder ofOnePlus, the cult Chinese smartphone maker.

　　那么，這一切將意味著什么?上周，我與中國智能手機(jī)制造商一加(OnePlus) 26歲的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人裴宇(CarlPei)共進(jìn)了午餐。一加手機(jī)在特定的消費(fèi)群體中很受歡迎。

　　“What will your phones do in five or 10 years’ time?” I asked.

　　我問道：“5年或10年后，你們的手機(jī)能做什么?”

　　“I’m not so sure,” Mr Pei said. “Smart watches have not succeeded, but I’m wondering nowwhether these technologies will be starting to be integrated into the [human] body.”

　　“我不太確定”，裴宇說，“智能手表并未獲得成功，但我現(xiàn)在揣測這些技術(shù)會(huì)不會(huì)將開始融入人體�！�

　　I can’t wait to see how that prediction looks in 2026.

　　我盼著要看看這一預(yù)測在2026年是否會(huì)變?yōu)楝F(xiàn)實(shí)。