美国国家公共电台 NPR--After 25 years, Netflix will end its DVD-by-mail service

After 25 years, Netflix will end its DVD-by-mail service

Transcript¹

Diehard fans of Netflix's DVD-by-mail service are heartbroken over the announced cancellation² of the service.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

After 25 years, Netflix is winding³ down its business of mailing DVDs to subscribers. Now, maybe that's a no-brainer in this digital age, but not to everybody. Here's NPR's Mandalit del Barco.

MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE⁴: Before it was a $150 billion streaming service, Netflix was strictly⁵ a DVD-by-mail operation created by two Silicon⁷ Valley entrepreneurs, Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings. The idea was to use the internet - the net - to rent out movies - flicks⁸ - to subscribers.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARC RANDOLPH: (Reading) Neither of us had ever actually seen a DVD.

DEL BARCO: In the audiobook of his memoir⁹, "That Will Never Work," Randolph says, before 1997, no one outside of Japan owned a DVD player. There were laser discs, VHS tapes and Betamax. Randolph and Hastings had a hunch¹⁰ DVDs could be the next big thing, and they could ship them to customers by snail¹¹ mail.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

RANDOLPH: (Reading) Let's just try it. Mail a CD to your place. If it breaks, it breaks.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CRAZY")

PATSY CLINE: (Singing) Crazy.

DEL BARCO: So Randolph went out and bought a CD of Patsy Cline's greatest hits and a pink greeting card envelope. He mailed it with a 32-cent stamp to Hastings' house, and it arrived the next morning undamaged. Fast forward to April 14, 1998.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BEETLEJUICE")

MICHAEL KEATON: (As Beetlejuice, laughter).

DEL BARCO: Netflix shipped its first DVD movie, "Beetlejuice."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BEETLEJUICE")

KEATON: (As Beetlejuice) It's showtime.

DEL BARCO: Since then, the company has shipped 5.2 billion discs by mail and now-iconic red envelopes - not pink - to 40 million subscribers. But now, as the DVD and Blu-ray disc business wanes¹², CEO Ted⁶ Sarandos announced the service will end on September 29, a real bummer for holdouts like 71-year-old Claire Ryan (ph) in Memphis.

CLAIRE RYAN: Wow. That's the end of an era - you know, how space age we thought that was when we had our subscription¹³ initially¹⁴.

DEL BARCO: Ryan says since 2006, she and her wife have rented 418 films from Netflix. There are hundreds more on their queue - old black-and-white movies, documentaries, foreign films, and especially classic Christmas pictures.

RYAN: There are many movies that you can't stream on Netflix. You can only see them on DVD.

DEL BARCO: Some loyal subscribers say they can't afford streaming services or they live in rural areas without broadband. Ryan says she and her wife still have a VCR, a Blu-ray and a DVD player, and they plan to order Netflix DVDs to the end.

RYAN: DVDs are really dinosaurs¹⁵. It's like - never seeing one of those in my mailbox again is going to be really weird¹⁶.

DEL BARCO: There's a petition to keep the service going, and kiosk business Redbox reportedly even offered to take it over, but it seems that soon the last of those DVDs and red envelopes will be extinct.

Mandalit del Barco, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。

3 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

6 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

7 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

8 flicks   

（尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的第三人称单数 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等）

参考例句：

• 'I shall see it on the flicks, I suppose.' “电影上总归看得见。” 来自英汉文学
• Last night to the flicks. 昨晚看了场电影。 来自英汉文学

9 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

10 hunch   

n.预感，直觉

参考例句：

• I have a hunch that he didn't really want to go.我有这么一种感觉，他并不真正想去。
• I had a hunch that Susan and I would work well together.我有预感和苏珊共事会很融洽。

11 snail   

n.蜗牛

参考例句：

• Snail is a small plant-eating creature with a soft body.蜗牛是一种软体草食动物。
• Time moved at a snail's pace before the holidays.放假前的时间过得很慢。

12 wanes   

v.衰落( wane的第三人称单数 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡

参考例句：

• The moon waxes till it becomes full, and then wanes. 月亮渐盈，直到正圆，然后消亏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The moon waxes and wanes every month. 月亮每个月都有圆缺。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 subscription   

n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方）

参考例句：

• We paid a subscription of 5 pounds yearly.我们按年度缴纳5英镑的订阅费。
• Subscription selling bloomed splendidly.订阅销售量激增。

14 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

15 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。