VOA慢速英語:New Generation of Laptops Spell Trouble for PCs

From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語科技報道。

Competition in the world of personal computers is fierce. Computer makers are working on new ways to persuade people to buy PCs. The advertising campaigns could be seen earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

全球個人電腦市場競爭激勵。電腦制造商正致力于用新的途徑來說服人們購買電腦。今年早些時候在內華達州拉斯維加斯舉行的消費電子展上廣告活動就已上馬。

Mike Fard is a marketing representative at Intel, his company manufactures Semi-conductor chips for computers.

邁克·法德(Mike Fard)是英特爾公司的銷售代表。該公司生產電腦半導體芯片。

"This year it's all about touch, we have touch computers based on Windows 8 running the Intel processors, but even more exciting than just touch, is the ultra-book convertible. What that means is that you have a standard laptop that converts into a tablet and we have multiple designs that feature this capability."

他說，“今年的主題就是觸摸屏，我們也推出了基于Windows 8并運行Intel處理器的觸摸屏電腦。和一般的觸摸屏電腦相比更令人興奮的是，超級本(ultra-book)可以轉換。意思是說，它既是標準的筆記本 電腦，又能轉換成平板電腦。同時我們就此還有多種設計。”

Yet sales of personal computers are slow. Recently, research company IDC reported that worldwide sales of PCs dropped 14 percent in the first three month of 2013. The company said this was the worst drop since it started collecting information in 1994.

然而個人電腦的銷售變緩。最近，IDC市場研究公司(International Data Corporation)報告稱，今年前三個月，全球個人電腦銷量下降了14%。該公司表示，這是他們自1994年開始收集數(shù)據(jù)以來最大的跌幅。

In April, Intel said its earnings fell 2.5 percent to 12.6 billion dollars, compared to earnings last year. Intel's net income dropped 25 percent to 2 billion dollars.

今年4月，英特爾公司表示，與去年的收入相比，其收入下降2.5%至126億美元。英特爾公司的凈收入下降25%至20億美元。

One possible reason for the slow sales is the rise of tablet computers, such as Apple's iPad and other mobile devices. Intel and its competitors have sought to work their way out of their sale's trouble by offering new products. These include ultra-book, a thin light weight notebook computer which came out in 2011. But the inventions have yet to increase sales.

像蘋果公司的iPad和其它移動設備之類的平板電腦的興起可能是銷售變緩的原因之一。英特爾及其競爭對手都試圖通過推出新產品努力擺脫銷售困境。其中就包括超級本，這款超輕薄筆記本電腦于2011年推出，但它的銷量也有待提高。

Industry experts are also concerned about reaction to Microsoft windows 8 operating system, it was released last October.

業(yè)內專家還一直關注公眾對Windows 8操作系統(tǒng)的反應，該系統(tǒng)于去年10月份發(fā)布。

Bob O'Donnell, an IDC vice president said the Windows 8 launch not only failed to increase PC sales, but seemed to have slowed the market. He blamed Microsoft for developing a program with what he calls "radical changes", he has criticized the company for removing the start button from the operating system.

IDC公司副總裁

鮑勃·奧唐奈(Bob O'Donnell)表示，Windows 8 不但未能增加PC銷量，看上去反倒阻礙了市場。他指責微軟公司開發(fā)了一款“徹底改變”的程序，并批評該公司從操作系統(tǒng)中刪除了開始按鈕。

Without reacting to the criticisms, Windows Corporate vice president Julie Larson-Green announced this month that Microsoft will release a Windows 8 update. She expects the first public preview on the update to take place in June.

微軟公司Windows部門副總裁朱莉·拉爾森-格林(Julie Larson-Green)本周宣布微軟將發(fā)布Windows 8 更新。她預計該更新將于6月份首次公開。

Intel has said it wants to be more influential in the manufacture of chips for mobile devices. Its chips began appearing in smart phones for the first time about a year ago. But critics say Intel's latest technology called "Ivy Bridge" is far behind that of the competition. The company believes this will change with its new mobile chip design which is set for release later this year.

英特爾公司曾表示，它希望在移動設備芯片制造上更具影響力。該公司的芯片首次出 現(xiàn)在智能手機上是在大約一年前。但批評者表示，英特爾公司被稱為"Ivy Bridge"的最新技術在競爭中遠遠落后。該公司表示，這種情況將通過定于今年晚些時候發(fā)布的最新手機芯片設計而有所改變。