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While watching a fantastic1 sunset at the beach, you suddenly spot a pod of
dolphins, jumping and playing among the waves. If only you could share this
inspiring moment. You could call someone on your cell phone and describe what
you see. But why not just use your phone's video camera to capture the scene
and send it to your friends? Cell phones today are for much more than just chatting,
but their success didn't come overnight.2
The first mobile phone call was made in 1973. But early phones
were very large, and were either carried in special briefcases or installed3
inside cars. By the 1990s, many countries were building cellular phone networks.
Cell phones also got smaller and more advanced. Today, they are used for playing
video games, watching TV, and surfing4 the Internet. From roughly5 US$3 million
25 years ago, the cell phone business today is worth US$30 billion a year! And
the future promises even more exciting advances in cell phone technology.6
正躺在沙滩上看着绚烂夕阳的你,突然看见一群海豚在海浪间跳跃、嬉戏。真希望自己能够与人分享此刻的兴奋。当然你可以打手机向别人描述亲眼目睹的一切。但何不用手机的内建相机捕捉当前奇景,然后传送给好友呢?如今,手机的功能早就不限于通话聊天,但今日的成就并非一蹴可及。
最早的手机通话始于1973年,但早期手机的体积非常庞大,而且不是用特殊的行李箱携带,就是安装在汽车里。到了1990 年代,许多国家开始架设手机网络。手机亦变得更加小巧、先进。如今,人们还可使用手机大玩视频游戏、收看电视节目以及浏览网页。25年前,手机市场的产值大约一年三百万美元,而今每年竟高达三百亿美元!可预见的是,未来的手机科技将会有更惊人的进展。
Vocabulary
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1. fantastic adj. wonderful; amazing 出色的;极棒的
You should try the pizza at Alleycat's. It's fantastic!
你该尝尝"爱莉的猫"那家店的批萨,味道好极了!
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2. overnight adv. in one day; very quickly 一夕之间;一下子
You're not going to learn Japanese overnight. It takes years of hard work.
你不可能在一夕之间就学会日文,要花上好几年苦读才行。
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3. install v. to make a tool, computer program, or machine ready for use 安装
The workers installed a new stove in our kitchen, and took away the old one.
工人在我们的厨房里安装了新炉子,并且把旧的搬走。
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4. surf v. to browse web pages on the Internet (上网)浏览网页
To pass the time, Johnny logged onto the Internet and began surfing.
为了打发时间,强尼连上网络,开始浏览网页。
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5. roughly adv. about; more or less 大约;粗略地
The government estimates that there are roughly 293 million people living
in the United States.
政府估计,美国大约有两亿九千三百万名居民。
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6. technology n. scientific knowledge used for a particular purpose 科技
A hundred years ago, nuclear technology simply didn't exist.
一百年前,核子科技根本不存在。
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