歷年真題來(lái)源報(bào)刊閱讀50篇連載(1)

　　1. A fuzzy picture

　　(The Economist, Jan 5th,2006)

　　“THIS is a really exciting time—a new era is starting,” says Peter Bazalgette, the chief creative officer of Endemol, the television company behind “Big Brother” and other popular shows. He is referring to the upsurge of interest in mobile television, a nascent industry at the intersection of telecoms and media which offers new opportunities to device-makers, content producers and mobile-network operators.

　　Already, many mobile operators offer a selection of television channels or individual shows, which are “streamed” across their third-generation (3G) networks. In South Korea, television is also sent to mobile phones via satellite and terrestrial broadcast networks, which is far more efficient than sending video across mobile networks. In Europe, the Italian arm of 3, a mobile operator, recently acquired Canale 7, a television channel, with a view to launching mobile-TV broadcasts in Italy in the second half of 2006.

　　Meanwhile, Apple Computer, which launched a video-capable version of its iPod portable music-player in October, is striking deals with television networks to expand the range of shows that can be purchased for viewing on the device, including “Lost”, “Desperate Housewives” and “Law & Order”.

　　Despite all this activity, however, the prospects for mobile-TV are unclear. For a start, nobody really knows if consumers will pay for it, though surveys suggest they like the idea. Informa, a consultancy, says there will be 125m mobile-TV users by 2010. But many other mobile technologies inspired high hopes and then failed to live up to expectations. And even if people do want TV on the move, there is further uncertainty in two areas: technology and business models.

　　At the moment, mobile TV is mostly streamed over 3G networks. But sending an individual data stream to each viewer is inefficient and will be unsustainable in the long run if mobile-TV takes off. So the general consensus is that 3G streaming is a prelude to the construction of dedicated mobile-TV broadcast networks, which transmit digital TV signals on entirely different frequencies to those used for voice and data. There are three main standards: DVB-H, favoured in Europe; DMB, which has been adopted in South Korea and Japan; and MediaFLO, which is being rolled out in America. Watching TV using any of these technologies requires a TV-capable handset, of course.

　　In contrast, watching downloaded TV programmes on an iPod or other portable video player is already possible today. And unlike a programme streamed over 3G or broadcast via a dedicated mobile-TV network, shows stored on an iPod can be watched on an underground train or in regions with patchy network coverage. That suggests that some shows (such as drama) better suit the download model, while others (such as live news, sports or reality shows) are better suited to real-time transmission. The two approaches will probably co-exist.

　　Just as there are several competing mobile-TV technologies, there are also many possible business models. Mobile operators might choose to build their own mobile-TV broadcast networks; or they could form a consortium and build a shared network; or existing broadcasters could build such networks.

　　The big question is whether the broadcasters and mobile operators can agree how to divide the spoils, assuming there are any. Broadcasters own the content, but mobile operators generally control the handsets, and they do not always see eye to eye. In South Korea, a consortium of broadcasters launched a free-to-air DMB network last month, but the country’s mobile operators were reluctant to provide their users with handsets able to receive the broadcasts, since they were unwilling to undermine the prospects for their own subscription-based mobile-TV services.

　　Then there is the question of who will fund the production of mobile-TV content: broadcasters, operators or advertisers? Again, the answer is probably “all of the above”.

　　1. The word “nascent” (line 3, paragraph 1) most probably means .

　　A. significant B. Time-consuming

　　C. apparent D. Brand-new

　　2. It can be inferred from paragraph 2 that .

　　A. communication companies welcome mobile TV

　　B. mobile-TV is not allowed in many countries

　　C. mobile-TV has already been served in many countries

　　D. mobile-TV is coming to an end

　　3. The author cites the example of Informa to demonstrate that .

　　A. the prospect of mobile-TV is bright

　　B. surveys and observations on mobile-TV is not quite credible

　　C. MTV has encountered great technology troubles

　　D. consultancy companies play an important role in MTV business

　　4. According to the passage, the author istowards the prospects of MTV .

　　A. optimistic B. impartial C. puzzled D. suspicious

　　5. Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

　　A. MTV, a Foggy Business B. Embracing MTV

　　C. Business Models D. Ways for MTV

　　考研詞匯

　　launch

　　v.①發(fā)射;②使(船)下水;③發(fā)動(dòng),開(kāi)展;

　　n.發(fā)射,下水

　　[真題例句]The debate was launched (v.③) by the Government, which invited anyone with an opinion of the BBC—including ordinary listeners and viewers—to say what was good or bad about the Corporation, and even whether they thought it was worth keeping.[1996年閱讀2]

　　[例句精譯]這場(chǎng)爭(zhēng)論是英國(guó)政府發(fā)起的,它邀請(qǐng)每一位對(duì)BBC有看法的人——包括普通的聽(tīng)眾和觀眾——對(duì)公司好壞進(jìn)行評(píng)論,甚至可以評(píng)論他們是否認(rèn)為公司值得辦下去。

　　inspire

　　v.①鼓舞,激起;②使產(chǎn)生靈感

　　consensus

　　n.(意見(jiàn)等)一致,一致同意

　　[真題例句] In a draft preface to the recommendations, discussed at the 17 May meeting, Shapiro suggested that the panel had found a broad consensus that it would be “morally unacceptable to attempt to create a human child by adult nuclear cloning.”[1999年閱讀4]

　　[例句精譯] 在5月17日會(huì)議上討論的建議序言草案中,夏皮羅表示,專(zhuān)家組已取得廣泛的共識(shí),認(rèn)為“試圖利用成人細(xì)胞核去克隆嬰兒從道義上講是無(wú)法接受的”。

　　transmit

　　v.①傳播,發(fā)射;②傳遞,傳導(dǎo)

　　[真題例句] 61. From the passage we can infer that.[1995年閱讀3]

　　[A] electronic mail will soon play a dominant role in transmitting (①) messages

　　[例句精譯] 61�备鶕�(jù)本文,我們可以推斷出：

　　[A]電子郵件將很快在信息傳播中起主導(dǎo)作用

　　adopt

　　v.①采用,采納,通過(guò);②收養(yǎng)

　　[真題例句] Too many schools adopt (①) the “win at all costs” moral standard and measure their success by sporting achievements.[1995年閱讀4]

　　[例句精譯] 太多的學(xué)校采用“不惜一切代價(jià)獲取成功”的道德標(biāo)準(zhǔn)并通過(guò)炫耀成績(jī)來(lái)估量孩子們是否成功。

　　portable

　　a.輕便的,手提(式)的

　　背景知識(shí)介紹

　　移動(dòng)電視技術(shù)

　　從目前全球范圍內(nèi)手機(jī)電視的業(yè)務(wù)開(kāi)展來(lái)看,存在兩種比較主要的方式：流媒體和廣播。為了開(kāi)發(fā)手機(jī)電視的市場(chǎng)需求,部分電信系統(tǒng)商已經(jīng)開(kāi)始在手機(jī)上提供電視收視的服務(wù), 這些服務(wù)和傳統(tǒng)電視并不相同,手機(jī)通過(guò)電信網(wǎng)絡(luò)(2.5G/2.75G/3G)連接到媒體服務(wù)器, 采用點(diǎn)對(duì)點(diǎn)流媒體方式播放,而非多點(diǎn)式的廣播。但當(dāng)3G的使用越來(lái)越普遍后,利用大量頻率提供廉價(jià)電視內(nèi)容的播放將會(huì)越來(lái)越不經(jīng)濟(jì),同時(shí)對(duì)大規(guī)模的商業(yè)運(yùn)營(yíng)在技術(shù)上也相當(dāng)不實(shí)際。手機(jī)電視業(yè)務(wù)數(shù)據(jù)是通過(guò)衛(wèi)星或地面數(shù)字廣播來(lái)進(jìn)行傳輸。但是,由于廣播方式可能同時(shí)牽涉到電信運(yùn)營(yíng)商和廣播網(wǎng)絡(luò)運(yùn)營(yíng)商,商業(yè)模式上相對(duì)復(fù)雜,特別是在管制較嚴(yán)的國(guó)家受政策因素的影響較大,制約較多,給商用運(yùn)營(yíng)帶來(lái)一定的難度。

　　參考譯文

　　移動(dòng)電視正在出現(xiàn)——但是市場(chǎng)將怎樣發(fā)展下去卻仍然不得而知

　　“這真是一個(gè)令人激動(dòng)的時(shí)刻 ——一個(gè)新的時(shí)代正在開(kāi)始”,Endemol 電視公司的首席創(chuàng)意官Peter Bazalgette這樣宣稱(chēng),他談到了眾人對(duì)移動(dòng)電視的巨大興趣,這是一個(gè)在電信和媒體領(lǐng)域有交叉的新興產(chǎn)業(yè),給設(shè)備制造商、電視內(nèi)容制作者以及移動(dòng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)運(yùn)營(yíng)商提供了新的機(jī)遇。

　　許多移動(dòng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)運(yùn)營(yíng)商已經(jīng)通過(guò)他們的第三代(3G)網(wǎng)絡(luò)用流媒體方式提供了一些電視頻道以及個(gè)人表演。在韓國(guó),電視節(jié)目也通過(guò)衛(wèi)星和地面廣播網(wǎng)傳送給移動(dòng)電話(huà),這遠(yuǎn)比通過(guò)移動(dòng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)傳輸視頻更為有效。比較近在歐洲,意大利3G移動(dòng)運(yùn)營(yíng)商買(mǎi)下了一個(gè)電視頻道“第七頻道”,目的是為了2006年下半年在意大利發(fā)射移動(dòng)電視信號(hào)。

　　與此同時(shí),蘋(píng)果電腦公司在10月發(fā)售了一款可以觀看電視的便攜式音樂(lè)播放器iPod,這個(gè)播放器大大擴(kuò)展了電視網(wǎng)絡(luò)節(jié)目的范圍,其可以供用戶(hù)購(gòu)買(mǎi)的、用于在移動(dòng)終端的節(jié)目范圍令人驚奇,包括《迷失》、《絕望的主婦》以及《法律與秩序》。

　　然而,盡管有這么多的商業(yè)行為,移動(dòng)電視的前景依舊是不明朗的。作為一個(gè)開(kāi)端,沒(méi)有人真正清楚消費(fèi)者是否樂(lè)意為它付費(fèi),即使調(diào)查顯示他們喜歡這個(gè)主意。一個(gè)名為Informa的顧問(wèn)表示到2010年將會(huì)有1.23億移動(dòng)電視用戶(hù)。但是有許多其他的移動(dòng)技術(shù)盡管給了人們很高的期待,比較終卻沒(méi)能做出成績(jī)。就算人們真的需要在移動(dòng)中觀看電視,還有兩方面的不確定因素存在著：技術(shù)和商業(yè)模式。

　　在現(xiàn)階段,移動(dòng)電視主要通過(guò)3G網(wǎng)絡(luò)用流媒體方式來(lái)傳送,但是給每一個(gè)觀眾發(fā)送一段單獨(dú)的數(shù)據(jù)流的效果會(huì)很差,而且在長(zhǎng)時(shí)間的運(yùn)動(dòng)中也會(huì)不穩(wěn)定,比如說(shuō)在移動(dòng)電視被關(guān)閉時(shí)。因此大多數(shù)人認(rèn)為3G技術(shù)只是建立起一個(gè)專(zhuān)門(mén)的移動(dòng)電視廣播網(wǎng)絡(luò)的前奏,這個(gè)網(wǎng)絡(luò)以一種全然不同的頻率為使用聲音和數(shù)據(jù)的人傳送數(shù)字電視信號(hào),主要分為3種：DVB�睭,主要在歐洲受到歡迎;DMB,正在韓國(guó)和日本被采用;以及MediaFLO,已經(jīng)在美國(guó)鋪開(kāi)其網(wǎng)絡(luò)。

　　與此相反,在iPod或其他便攜式視頻播放器上觀看下載的電視節(jié)目已經(jīng)成為可能,而且不像那些通過(guò)3G網(wǎng)絡(luò)或?qū)Ｓ靡苿?dòng)電視網(wǎng)傳送的節(jié)目,人們可以在地鐵里或者網(wǎng)絡(luò)信號(hào)覆蓋不穩(wěn)定的地區(qū)觀看儲(chǔ)存在iPod上的節(jié)目。這說(shuō)明有些節(jié)目(比如戲劇)比較適合用下載的形式,而另一些節(jié)目(比如現(xiàn)場(chǎng)直播新聞、體育節(jié)目或現(xiàn)場(chǎng)節(jié)目)更加適合實(shí)時(shí)播送。這兩種方法有可能共存。

　　就像有幾種互相競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的移動(dòng)電視技術(shù)那樣,同樣存在著幾種可能的商業(yè)模式。移動(dòng)運(yùn)營(yíng)商也許會(huì)選擇建立起他們自己的移動(dòng)電視廣播網(wǎng);或者他們可以組成聯(lián)盟建立起一個(gè)共享網(wǎng)絡(luò);或者現(xiàn)有的廣播公司會(huì)建立起類(lèi)似的網(wǎng)絡(luò)。

　　如果這個(gè)網(wǎng)絡(luò)可以贏利,關(guān)鍵問(wèn)題就是廣播公司能否和移動(dòng)運(yùn)營(yíng)商就如何劃分利益達(dá)成一致。廣播公司擁有節(jié)目?jī)?nèi)容,但掌上終端通常都由移動(dòng)運(yùn)營(yíng)商控制,而且他們并不總是意見(jiàn)一致。在韓國(guó),廣播公司聯(lián)盟上個(gè)月開(kāi)播了一個(gè)免費(fèi)的DMB網(wǎng)絡(luò),但是這個(gè)國(guó)家的移動(dòng)運(yùn)營(yíng)商卻并不愿意為他們的用戶(hù)提供能夠接收這個(gè)廣播信號(hào)的掌上終端,因?yàn)樗麄儾辉钙茐乃麄冏约簱碛懈顿M(fèi)移動(dòng)電視業(yè)務(wù)的前景。

　　于是,接下來(lái)的問(wèn)題就是誰(shuí)將投資移動(dòng)電視內(nèi)容的制作：廣播公司、運(yùn)營(yíng)商還是廣告商?同樣的,答案很可能是“他們所有人”。

　　答案及解析

　　1.詞匯題【正確答案】D

　　根據(jù)文章第一段第二句中的...at the intersection of telecoms and media which offers new opportunities...可以推知。

　　2.推理題【正確答案】C

　　根據(jù)文章第二段第一句...which are ‘streamed’ across their third�瞘eneration(3G) networks以及后面的列舉韓國(guó)和意大利的例子可知移動(dòng)電視已經(jīng)擴(kuò)展到許多國(guó)家，因此選C。A項(xiàng)沒(méi)有提及，B項(xiàng)和D項(xiàng)與文章意思相反。

　　3.例證題【正確答案】A

　　根據(jù)文章第四段，Informa用數(shù)字闡述了移動(dòng)電視的使用數(shù)量，后面一句“But...”表達(dá)了消極的意思，根據(jù)這一轉(zhuǎn)折關(guān)系，可以推知前句必然是積極的，因此Informa例子是為了表明移動(dòng)電視前景光明。其他各項(xiàng)均不符合題意。

　　4.作者態(tài)度題【正確答案】D

　　根據(jù)文章第四段第一句... however, the prospect for mobile�睺V are unclear.以及后面的論述，可知作者對(duì)移動(dòng)電視的前景持懷疑態(tài)度，并有條理地分析了其前景不明朗的原因，因此選D。

　　5.中心主旨題【正確答案】A

　　文中反復(fù)提出移動(dòng)電視前景還是一個(gè)未知數(shù)，并詳細(xì)分點(diǎn)說(shuō)明了原因，因此選A。