新聞聚光燈

日本——電子業(yè)

Desperate times require desperate measures， and this 1)bizarre festival in Tokyo is the response of the electronic sector of the city trying to 2)drum up some business as the economic 3)downturn keeps shoppers away. They’ve put together a strange looking portable 4)shrine created from hundreds of electronic 5)gadgets， and then pulled in some good-looking women to 6)tote it through the streets.

It would seem that despite the loyal enthusiasm of the electronics 7)geek and nerd 8)fraternity， a little extra encouragement was needed to pull them back to Tokyo’s Akihabara district， which specializes in video games， comic books and 9)outlandish fashion.

Woman: Akihabara has lost its energy due to the ongoing recession， so we’re here today with this special portable shrine with everything that Akihabara can offer and we’re hoping to bring that energy and tourists back to the district with the help of the shrine god.

非常時期需要非常之舉:經(jīng)濟(jì)低迷讓消費者卻步，日本東京的這場奇異盛典就是該市電子行業(yè)救市之舉。他們把幾百個電子小器件組裝成造型怪異的移動神龕，請來一些容貌姣好的女子抬著神龕穿街走巷。

看來盡管東京的電子行業(yè)和“極客”們傾盡滿腔熱情，然而要把這個移動神龕抬回以電玩游戲、動漫書以及光怪陸離的新潮時尚為標(biāo)志的東京秋葉原，人們還得給他們加油鼓勁。

女子:持續(xù)的經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退已經(jīng)讓秋葉原失去了原有的活力，這就是今天我們在這里舉辦該盛會的原因。這個別具一格的移動神龕展現(xiàn)了秋葉原可以為消費者提供的一切。我們希望借助神靈的幫助，秋葉原可以重新煥發(fā)生機(jī)，游客重新回到這里來。

美國——電子閱讀器

A bigger screen and new functions are being offered in a new device aimed at people who browse digital content. Amazon has 10)unveiled the latest version of its e-book machine， Kindle. Some newspapers are pinning their hopes on the new device to reverse a downward trend in sales.

Introducing Kindle DX， Amazon’s new large-screen addition to the Kindle family.

The online retailer hopes it can be a big hit. The new device has its screen size two and a half times bigger than its 11)predecessor. And apart from an auto-rotation function， it also has a built-in PDF reader and can store up to 3，500 books.

Newspapers are looking at this new device for a 12)lifeline as their earnings are 13)squeezed by the collective impact of the economic crisis and (a) competition from three online media. The Washington Post， the Boston Globe and the New York Times are offering a reduced price on the device in exchange for (a) long-term subscription contracts.

Sarah Rotman Epps (Analyst): I think you could say that e-readers are newspapers’ last best hope. But certainly they’re all looking at businesses that are smaller than what they were at their 14)heyday.

一款具有附加新功能的加大屏幕新產(chǎn)品問世了，它的目標(biāo)人群是那些瀏覽電子讀物的人們。亞馬遜發(fā)布了該公司最新款的電子書閱讀器Kindle。一些報紙把遏制報紙銷量持續(xù)下滑頹勢的希望放在了這款新閱讀器上。

向大家介紹Kindle DX電子書閱讀器。這是亞馬遜Kindle系列產(chǎn)品中屏幕最大的一款。

網(wǎng)絡(luò)零售商亞馬遜希望這款新產(chǎn)品會迅速走俏。新款電子書閱讀器的屏幕是之前產(chǎn)品的2.5倍大。它除了具備自動旋轉(zhuǎn)功能外，還有內(nèi)置的PDF文件閱讀器，以及可儲存3500本書的超大容量。

報紙將新款閱讀器視作救命稻草。由于受全球金融海嘯影響及面對三大在線媒體的競爭，報紙的利潤已經(jīng)微乎其微了。……