万花筒2008-02-13:未来手机

Much of the buzz at the Mobile World Congress is about a product not even there. CNN's Adrian Finighan reports.

Barcelona, capital of Catalonian, cosmopolitan¹, cultured and arguably the most economically vibrant² city in Spain, and for 4 days, every February, this thriving tourist hotspot hosts a tech geek frenzy³, the event formally known as GSM, the Mobile World Congress, now the thing you need to know about this event is that it's big, very big, over 1, 300 companies from the big fish to the tiniest minnows are here to showcase their wares⁴, to network, cut deals and to debate the future of wireless⁵ mobile technology, it's etched in the diaries of mobile industry leaders across the world.  

It's full on for 4 days, so yeah, it's, it's the most important show of the year by far.  

Do you think about the way mobile phones have changed, they've gone from being just something that you make a phone call to, to being something that as a general-purpose device, you now take pictures with them, you listening music on them, you do your email on them, you do text messaging, in addition to doing telephoning. So we think of it as a general-purpose computing⁶ environment, and software and services are gonna be key to that.  

So you can see the roads and. . . 

With the battle for supremacy⁷ in operating platforms raging, a raft and new wireless technology is emerging at the decidedly uncertain economic outlook, the big players at least remain remarkably⁸ bullish. Even under the very gloomy economic environment, but mobile industries still, we are performing, a lot of innovations is now taking place, so we see, strong growth potential this year again, so at least more than 10% of unit growth we expected, and on top of that, every selling price also will be enhanced, so that's good.

But there is one noticeable absentee.  

Apple isn't here in Barcelona, but the iPhone is the elephant in the room, sure, there are new technologies to talk about, but it's the iPhone "killers⁹" that everyone here to see, and it's the way that the iPhone is forced to changing the relationship between carriers and manufacturers that everyone wants to talk about.  

Adrian Finighan, CNN, at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona. 
 

WORDS IN THE NEWS     

1. minnow : n-count

A minnow is a very small fish that lives in lakes and rivers.

2. elephant in the room

The elephant in the room (also elephant in the living room, elephant in the corner, elephant on the dinner table, elephant in the kitchen, horse in the corner, 400lb gorilla¹⁰ in the room, etc.) is an English idiom for an obvious truth that is being ignored. It is based on the fact that an elephant in a small room would be impossible to overlook.

1 cosmopolitan   

adj.世界性的，全世界的，四海为家的，全球的

参考例句：

• New York is a highly cosmopolitan city.纽约是一个高度世界性的城市。
• She has a very cosmopolitan outlook on life.她有四海一家的人生观。

2 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

3 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

4 wares   

n. 货物, 商品

参考例句：

• They sold their wares at half-price. 他们的货品是半价出售的。
• The peddler was crying up his wares. 小贩极力夸耀自己的货物。

5 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

6 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

7 supremacy   

n.至上；至高权力

参考例句：

• No one could challenge her supremacy in gymnastics.她是最优秀的体操运动员，无人能胜过她。
• Theoretically,she holds supremacy as the head of the state.从理论上说，她作为国家的最高元首拥有至高无上的权力。

8 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

9 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

10 gorilla   

n.大猩猩，暴徒，打手

参考例句：

• I was awed by the huge gorilla.那只大猩猩使我惊惧。
• A gorilla is just a speechless animal.猩猩只不过是一种不会说话的动物。