VOA常速英语2008年-6 Companies to Build High-Speed Cable Under Pac

By Naomi Martig
Hong Kong
28 February 2008

A group of six international companies has announced plans to build an ultra-high speed, undersea, fiber-optic cable under the Pacific Ocean, between Japan and the United States.  The project is meant to improve Internet and other telecommunication¹ traffic between the U.S. and Asia, and comes as several other companies have begun similar ventures.  Naomi Martig reports from VOA's Asia News Center in Hong Kong.

Singapore Telecommunications, Internet search company Google, and four other companies plan to spend $300 million on the underwater communications link. They say it will be ready for use by 2010.  The new cable network, called Unity², will link Chikura, Japan, with the western U.S. city of Los Angeles, a distance of about 10,000 kilometers.  The system will also connect to other Asian telecommunications cable systems.  

Fiber-optic cables are the lifelines for connecting Internet users on different continents.  This latest project is part of a surge in new transpacific cable construction projects, driven primarily by increasing demand in Asia.

Martin Gutberlet is the Vice³ President for Technology and Research at Gartner's Singapore office.  He says within two to three years, Internet traffic between the United States and Asia could double.

"And lots of traffic will be actually generated in Asia, so therefore there is simply more capacity needed between the U.S. and Asia," he said.

Gutberlet says that, based on current forecasts, now is the best time for companies to supply additional capacity between North America and Asia. 

eMarketer, an Internet and e-business research company, predicts that by 2012, almost 50 percent of the world's Internet users will live in the Asia Pacific region.

But, investments in undersea cable links are not without risk. 

In December 2006, a strong earthquake near Taiwan damaged four large offshore⁴ cables, disrupting Internet service for millions of people across Asia.  Service was not fully⁵ restored for weeks. 

Earlier this year, communications in large parts of the Middle East and Southeast Asia were affected⁶ after two undersea cables were damaged in the Mediterranean⁷ Sea.

Gutberlet says, aside from avoiding seismically⁸ unstable⁹ spots on the ocean floor, it is impossible to forecast such problems.

"So that is simply something which you can't plan for.  And of course, if you have an earthquake, or if someone is, you know, hitting your cable with a boat, or a ship, then you simply have bad luck," he said.

And in 2000, during the dot-com bust¹⁰, several telecommunications companies went bankrupt when too many competitors entered the market.

Gutberlet says one of the reasons most underwater cables are laid by consortiums is to lessen¹¹ the risks for a single company.   At the rate the Asia Pacific's telecommunications market is forecast to expand, Gutberlet says the financial attraction of such ventures far outweighs¹² the potential risks.

1 telecommunication   

n.电信，远距离通信

参考例句：

• Telecommunication is an industry of service.电信业是一个服务型的行业。
• I only care about the telecommunication quality and the charge.我只关心通信质量和资费两个方面。

2 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

8 seismically   

地震

参考例句：

• The crust and mantle are separated by a seismically determined boundary known as the Moho-discontinuity. 改译为：地壳与地幔的交接处系根据地波走失而确定的一个界面，通称为莫霍界面。 来自互联网
• China's code is now on par with similar codes in seismically active areas of the world. 中国现在施行的标准与世界其他地震活跃地区施行的标准基本一致。 来自互联网

9 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

10 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

11 lessen   

vt.减少，减轻；缩小

参考例句：

• Regular exercise can help to lessen the pain.经常运动有助于减轻痛感。
• They've made great effort to lessen the noise of planes.他们尽力减小飞机的噪音。

12 outweighs   

v.在重量上超过( outweigh的第三人称单数 )；在重要性或价值方面超过

参考例句：

• Her need to save money outweighs her desire to spend it on fun. 她省钱的需要比她花钱娱乐的愿望更重要。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Its clarity in algebraic and analytical operations far outweighs any drawbacks. 文化代数和解析运算中的清晰性远远胜过任何缺点。 来自辞典例句