VOA慢速英语2020 苹果公司首席执行官库克是否已完美替代乔布斯？

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died in 2011. Many thought his ability to lead the technology company would be impossible to replace. However, the current head of Apple, Tim Cook, seems to be doing extremely well.

苹果公司联合创始人史蒂夫·乔布斯于2011年去世。许多人认为，他领导这家科技公司的能力将无可替代。然而，现任苹果公司负责人蒂姆·库克的表现似乎非常出色。

Cook was at first believed to be little more than a caretaker for Apple after Jobs' death. But Cook has continued to build Apple with his own skill and ideas. He will celebrate his ninth year as Apple's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Monday.

人们最初认为库克顶多是乔布斯去世后的“看守人”。但是库克继续用自己的能力和想法来打造苹果。周一，他将迎来自己担任苹果首席执行官的第9个年头。

Training Cook to take over the company was "one of Steve Jobs' greatest accomplishments," said Apple analyst¹ Gene² Munster.

苹果公司分析师吉恩·蒙斯特表示，培养库克接管公司是乔布斯最大的成就之一。

The company's stock market value was $400 billion when Cook became CEO. Its stock is worth five times that amount today. It is the first U.S. company to have a market value of $2 trillion.

当库克出任首席执行官时，这家公司的股票市值为4千亿美元。如今它的股票市值已经翻了5倍。它是首家市值达到2万亿美元的美国企业。

However, Cook has faced many problems as the company's head. They included a slowdown in iPhone sales as smartphones outgrew³ their newness. Another was an argument with the FBI over user privacy. In addition to that is the U.S. trade war with China which threatens to force up iPhone prices, and the pandemic that has closed many Apple stores and sunk the economy into a deep recession.

但是，库克作为公司负责人面临了很多问题。这些问题包括随着智能手机失去新颖，苹果手机销量下降。另一个问题是跟美国联邦调查局就用户隐私的争论。除此之外还有中美贸易战可能会推高苹果手机价格，以及新冠大流行导致许多苹果专卖店关门并使经济陷入严重衰退。

Cook has also done some things that Jobs refused to do. Apple now pays a dividend⁴, which Jobs did not want. Cook also has used his position to become a supporter of civil rights and renewable energy. In 2014, he became the first openly gay CEO of a major American company.

库克还做了一些乔布斯拒绝去做的事情。苹果公司现在支付股息，这是乔布斯不想干的。库克还利用自己的地位成为了民权和可再生能源的支持者。2014年，他成为了首位公开同性恋身份的美国大型公司首席执行官。

However, Apple has not brought out a product that creates a new market as it did with the iPhone. Its smartwatch and wireless⁵ ear buds are good products, but not nearly as revolutionary as the iPhone was.

但是，苹果公司尚未推出一种像苹果手机那样创造新市场的产品。它的智能手表和无线耳机是不错的产品，但是不像苹果手机那样具有革命性。

Cook and other company officials have suggested that Apple wants to make a revolutionary product in the field of augmented⁶ reality. It would use phone screens or high-tech⁷ eyewear to create digital pictures. But, Apple has not yet offered such a product.

库克和公司其他官员曾提出，苹果公司要在增强现实领域制造出一款革命性产品。它将使用电话屏幕或高科技眼镜来创造数码图片。但是苹果公司尚未推出这样的产品。

Apple also appears to be behind in the creation of artificial intelligence, especially for voice-activated digital assistants. Although Apple's Siri is used on Apple devices, people have accepted Amazon's Alexa and Google's digital assistant more easily.

苹果公司在人工智能产品的创新方面似乎也落后了，尤其是在语言激活的数字助理上。虽然苹果的Siri用在了苹果产品上，但是人们更容易接受亚马逊公司的Alexa和谷歌公司的数字助理。

Cook has also made some mistakes.

库克也犯了一些错误。

In 2017, Cook angered iPhone users by slowing the performance of older iPhones with software updates. The users believed the company did it to force them to buy new and more costly⁸ iPhones. The company later paid $500 million to end a legal case over the issue. Apple also faced government investigations⁹ into its attempts to lower its corporate¹⁰ tax.

2017年，库克通过软件更新降低了旧版苹果手机的性能，激怒了用户。用户们认为该公司这样做是为了迫使他们购买更新和更昂贵的苹果手机。该公司后来支付了5亿美元解决了针对这一问题的法律诉讼。苹果公司还面临政府对其试图避税的调查。

Cook has been most worried about the fall in sales of iPhones as people keep the devices longer. Four years ago, he rebuilt the Apple app store which provides programs for use on Apple devices. He placed importance on subscriptions¹¹ services that can be used by the 1.5 billion iPhones already in use. That effort has added more than $50 billion each year to Apple's income.

库克一直最担心苹果手机的销量下降，因为用户使用苹果设备的时间更久。4年前，他重建了提供苹果设备程序的苹果应用商店。他非常重视可供15亿部在用手机使用的订阅服务。这些措施每年为苹果公司增加了超过500亿美元的收入。

1 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

2 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

3 outgrew   

长[发展] 得超过（某物）的范围( outgrow的过去式 )； 长[发展]得不能再要（某物）； 长得比…快； 生长速度超过

参考例句：

• She outgrew the company she worked for and found a better job somewhere else. 她进步很快，不再满足于她所在工作的公司，于是又在别处找到一份更好的工作。
• It'soon outgrew Carthage and became the largest city of the western world. 它很快取代了迦太基成为西方的第一大城市。 来自英汉非文学 - 文明史

4 dividend   

n.红利，股息；回报，效益

参考例句：

• The company was forced to pass its dividend.该公司被迫到期不分红。
• The first quarter dividend has been increased by nearly 4 per cent.第一季度的股息增长了近 4%。

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 Augmented   

adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• 'scientists won't be replaced," he claims, "but they will be augmented." 他宣称：“科学家不会被取代；相反，他们会被拓展。” 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• The impact of the report was augmented by its timing. 由于发表的时间选得好，这篇报导的影响更大了。

7 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

8 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

9 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

10 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

11 subscriptions   

n.（报刊等的）订阅费( subscription的名词复数 )；捐款；（俱乐部的）会员费；捐助

参考例句：

• Subscriptions to these magazines can be paid in at the post office. 这些杂志的订阅费可以在邮局缴纳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Payment of subscriptions should be made to the club secretary. 会费应交给俱乐部秘书。 来自《简明英汉词典》