英语听力精选进阶版 14238

Twitter helps non-Arabic speakers

Summary

5 July 2013

Twitter has launched a translation tool to help non-Arabic speakers understand what's going on in Egypt. It automatically translates messages posted by leading figures in the protests into the reader's own language. 

Reporter:

Mark Gregory

Report

Many of the major players in the political turmoil¹ that's engulfed² Egypt in recent days have large followings on Twitter. But for the most part, unsurprisingly, they post their messages in Arabic.

Now Twitter has launched a service that aims to spread their words to a wider international audience. It's using a translation tool provided through Microsoft's Bing search engine to convert Arabic messages into other languages. This meant, for example, that non-Egyptians had instant access to messages put on Twitter by former president Mohammed Morsi as he was ousted³ from power by the army.

Non-Egyptians can also follow the Twitter musings of other significant players such as Mohammed ElBaradei, the ex-UN atomic energy agency chief.

But Twitter admits its translations are not always 100% accurate. For example, the English version of the last tweet posted by former President Morsi ended with a word starting with the letters d-a-k-h-l-i-h-o-a, which neither made any sense nor appeared in any dictionary. Twitter describes its translation service as an "experiment".

1 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

2 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。