考研英語美文賞讀：電子游戲，戀上手機

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考研英語作為一門考研公共課，雖然大家都學了英語十幾年，卻仍經常有總分過線掛在英語上的情況，因此英語復習不單單是單詞、做題。閱讀作為考研英語的大頭，僅僅做考研真題或許沒法滿足你的閱讀量，因此幫幫今天推出一篇英文美文，這篇文章都來自考研文章的發源地《經濟學人》，多讀必有好處。

►Business： Video games A crush on mobile

商業：電子游戲，戀上手機

A big merger shows where the money is heading in the industry.

一次大規模的合并顯示出行業內資金的流向。

Compare “Candy Crush Saga” with the “Star Wars” franchise and it comes as a shock that the casual game's creator，

2012年迪士尼收購盧卡斯影業和電影《星球大戰》系列特許經營權的價格是40億美元，

King Digital Entertainment， would sell for almost 50% more than the $4 billion that Disney paid for Lucasfilm in 2012.

相比之下，休閑類游戲開發商King數字娛樂公司和旗下游戲《糖果傳奇》特許經營權將會以多出近20億美元的價格出售，這是令人意想不到的。

But in paying $5.9 billion in cash and stock for King on November 3rd Activision Blizzard， a giant in video games for computers and specialist gaming consoles， is doing more than buying another industry leader.

但是在11月3日的這場以59億美元現金和債券達成的交易中，作為行業中首屈一指的計算機視頻游戲開發商和第三方游戲發行商，動視暴雪實際比收購一家他行業的領導者做地更多。

Its purchase is an acknowledgment that the future of video games， and of gaming profits， is in mobile， where games are usually given away， and where their creators make money by selling extra features to the most enthusiastic players.

這項收購意味著手機決定著電子游戲的未來或者說未來游戲行業的收益，因為手機游戲的玩家經常流失，并且游戲的開發商通過手機能夠通過向最狂熱的玩家銷售附加功能而賺取利潤。

Mobile games have been by far the fastest-growing part of the market in recent years， and have broader international appeal because of the penetration of smartphones.

近年來，手機游戲已經成為游戲市場中發展最快的部分。由于智能手機的普及，手機游戲具有更為廣泛的國際需求。

By Activision's reckoning， worldwide revenues from mobile games will almost catch up with those from PC and console games by 2019， reaching $55 billion (up from an estimated $36 billion this year) .

動視(Activision)估計截至2019年手機游戲的收益將會與計算機游戲與主機游戲收益的總和基本持平，(從今年預計的360億美元)增至550億美元。

PC and console games' sales are projected to reach $57 billion by then.

屆時，計算機游戲和主機游戲的銷售額計劃達到570億美元。

With “Candy Crush Saga” in its arsenal， Activision will have one of the most successful mobile games yet seen， access to an active monthly user base of nearly half a billion people and dozens of new foreign markets where smartphones， not consoles， are the game platforms of choice.

動視(Activision)將通過《糖果傳奇》(Candy Crush Saga)，這個目前看來最成功的手機游戲，擁有接近5億的月活躍用戶以及大量來自國外新興市場，選擇智能手機作為游戲平臺而不是主機的玩家。

Those users might enjoy mobile versions of some of Activision's hits， like the “Guitar Hero” series.

那些用戶很可能熱衷于動視(Activision))發行的一些熱門手機游戲例如《吉他英雄》系列。

The combined company will become the world's second-biggest in terms of video-gaming revenues， with close to $7 billion a year， placing it behind only Tencent， a Chinese gaming and social-media conglomerate.

就電子游戲的凈收入而言，合并后的公司將以每年接近70億的收益排名第二，位列中國一家游戲和社交媒體的多元化公司-騰訊公司之后。

Activision has flailed about in mobile gaming (even if it has had a recent hit with “Hearthstone”， a digital card game) .

動視(Activision)仍然在向移動游戲市場瘋狂地招手，即使目前旗下已經擁有一款熱門的卡牌類電子游戲《爐石傳說》。

Though King's shares have weakened since it gave a profit warning in May this year， there are worries that Activision may be paying richly for its big move into mobile.

今年五月，King數字娛樂公司發布利潤預警導致股票下跌，但是人們更加擔心動視(Activision)可能為大幅進入移動游戲市場付出更多的代價。

James Gwertzman， the boss of Playfab， a provider of back-office technology for game developers， says it is not clear if Activision and King can add that much value to each other's gaming platforms， in the way that Disney can exploit the “Star Wars” characters and stories acrossits various businesses.

為游戲開發者提供服務的游戲后端服務商Playfab的聯合創始人兼CEO詹姆斯·高茲曼(James Gwertzman)表示相比迪士尼開發星球大戰的人物和故事并與其自身的多個產業融合，現在還很難說動視(Activision)和King數字娛樂公司能否為彼此的游戲平臺增加更多的價值。

There is also no guarantee that King can establish another runaway success like “Candy Crush Saga” —although it has created a moderately successful sequel in “Candy Crush Soda” —or that the flagship “Saga” game will remain a hit.

雖然已經開發了一個還算成功的游戲《糖果蘇打傳奇》作為《糖果傳奇》的續作，但King數字娛樂公司也不能保證一定能夠開發出另外一款如同《糖果傳奇》一樣大獲成功的游戲，又或者讓《糖果傳奇》繼續保持火熱。

The faddish mobile game of the moment， like， say Zynga's “FarmVille”， can give way seemingly overnight to new franchise hits—in its case， to “Candy Crush Saga” itself.

如同Zynga(一家社交游戲公司)曾經推出的一款手機游戲《農場小鎮》，短暫地風靡一時，似乎一夜之間就讓位于新發行的游戲《糖果傳奇》。

1.mobile gaming 手機游戲

例句：This increase in mobile device usage has also led to the growth of the mobile gaming industry.

移動設備的普及也促進了手機游戲產業的發展。

2.back-office 后勤部門

例句：As a result， many back-office jobs， for example， have been relocated to mainland China.

例如，很多后臺職位因此轉移到了中國內地。

3.catch up with 趕上;追上

例句：The law caught up with him yesterday.

昨天，他被捉拿歸案。

4.give away 放棄;贈送

例句：He was arrested for having given away state secrets.

他因泄漏國家機密而被捕。