VOA慢速英语 2007 0202a

This is the VOA Special English Economics¹ Report.


Events for the launch of Vista² included dancers on the wall of a New York building

This week, with dancers and other events, Microsoft launched the general release of its new operating system for personal computers. Windows Vista became available in more than seventy countries.

This is the first new version since Windows XP in two thousand one. But the long-delayed release did not create nearly as much excitement as there was twelve years ago for Windows 95.

Vista is designed to make it easier to search for files on a computer. The appearance has also been improved. And Microsoft says the new system offers better security. Just how much better remains³ to be proven.

Most PCs use Windows. But people who may want to buy the new version for an existing computer first have to make sure that the machine can support it. This is true especially if a computer is older than a year or two.

Apple plans to release its new operating system, called Leopard⁴, this spring. But many industry experts say the future of software may be in providing services over the Internet, the way Google does now. That means a move away from loading lots of programs onto individual computers.

Vista is not the only news in computer technology right now. Engineers have discovered how to use new materials to make the brains of a computer.

On January twenty-seventh, Intel announced the biggest change in forty years in the way processors are made. The company says the transistors⁵ in its next generation of processors will be made using hafnium, a kind of metal, instead of silicon⁶. Intel says it will also use a secret combination of metals.

Transistors control the flow of electrical current. The new transistors will be the smallest yet, just forty-five nanometers, or forty-five billionths of a meter. Two thousand of them could fit across a human hair. Hundreds of millions will go onto the new processors.

Intel says the new technology will increase performance and use less power. It says it expects to begin production in the second half of this year.

Intel's new design uses what is known as high-k metal gate technology. But IBM made a similar announcement on the same day as Intel.

IBM said it has developed such technology for use in chip circuits as small as forty-five nanometers. The company worked with Intel's biggest competitor, AMD, along with Sony and Toshiba. IBM says products with the new technology will go on sale in two thousand eight.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. I'm Mario Ritter.

1 economics   

n.经济学，经济情况

参考例句：

• He is studying economics,which subject is very important.他正在学习经济学，该学科是很重要的。
• One can't separate politics from economics.不能把政治与经济割裂开来。

2 vista   

n.远景，深景，展望，回想

参考例句：

• From my bedroom window I looked out on a crowded vista of hills and rooftops.我从卧室窗口望去，远处尽是连绵的山峦和屋顶。
• These uprisings come from desperation and a vista of a future without hope.发生这些暴动是因为人们被逼上了绝路，未来看不到一点儿希望。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 leopard   

n.豹

参考例句：

• I saw a man in a leopard skin yesterday.我昨天看见一个穿着豹皮的男人。
• The leopard's skin is marked with black spots.豹皮上有黑色斑点。

5 transistors   

晶体管( transistor的名词复数 )； 晶体管收音机，半导体收音机

参考例句：

• In semiconductor receivers transistors take the place of vacuum tubes. 在半导体收音机中晶体管代替了真空管。
• We often turn to this handbook for information on transistors. 我们常从这本手册查阅有关晶体管的资料。

6 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。