考研英語美文賞讀（8）：蘋果應用之戰

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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，因此小編之后會不定時推出一篇英文美文，這些文章都與考研英語閱讀同源，多讀必有好處。

●Tencent takes on Apple in China

騰訊與蘋果公司在中國的角逐。

In most of the world， the success of Apple's “walled garden” of proprietary software has two elements.

在世界的大多數國家中，蘋果公司專有軟件的封閉平臺的成功有兩個因素。

First， its attractive services： users tend to be addicted to its iTunes music shop and iBooks store.

首先是蘋果軟件誘人的服務，用戶一般會沉迷于它的iTunes音樂商店和iBooks商店。

Second， the complexities involved in switching from an iPhone to another device without losing music files or having to re-download apps.

其次，從iPhone切換到其他設備而不丟失音樂文件或必須重新下載應用程序又紛繁復雜。

Neither factor works as well in China.

不過這兩點在中國卻不起作用。

There， many of Apple's services have not taken off.

蘋果公司的許多服務也并沒有成功。

The American giant missed the boat on music sales in the country， reckons Matthew Brennan of China Channel， a technology consultancy.

中國頻道的技術顧問Matthew Brennan 認為，蘋果公司錯失了在中國銷售音樂的機會。

Its sales of books are blocked by the government.

政府也阻止蘋果出售書籍。

In addition， few would disagree that its messaging service is a flop and that Apple Pay， its mobile-payment offering， is irrelevant—its market share on the mainland is only 1%.

另外，幾乎所有人認為蘋果的短信服務是徹底失敗的，也認為蘋果的移動支付應用也是沒有必要的，蘋果支付在大陸所占的市場份額僅1%。

A “genius” employee at an Apple store in Shanghai admits sheepishly that “iCloud doesn't work very well in China.”

上海一家蘋果商店里的一位銷售“天才吧”的工作人員含蓄的承認，蘋果云服務在中國運行的不是很好。

And switching is a doddle in China， observes Ben Thompson of Stratechery， an industry newsletter.

行業資訊服務機構Stratechery的Ben Thompson表示，在中國，換部手機是一件非常容易的事。

Nearly everyone uses WeChat， an app made by Tencent， one of China's three big internet giants， for everything from social media to payments.

從社會媒體到支付等一切事情，每個人都是通過騰訊(中國三大互聯網巨頭之一)推出的微信來完成。

Through WeChat it is easy to transfer photos， messages， contacts and payments history maintained on that app from one device to another.

在微信上，從一個手機向另一個手機傳輸照片、短信、聯系人以及消費歷史也是很簡單的。

No wonder that Apple's retention rate among iPhone users， which tops 80% in America and Britain， is only 50% in China.

難怪，在蘋果手機用戶中，在美國和英國持有率有80%的蘋果公司的軟件在中國僅有50%的持有率。

That does not bode well for a key market.

在這一關鍵市場中，這并不是一個好兆頭。

Apple's revenues in greater China have nearly doubled since 2013， to $48.5bn in 2016， thanks in part to its mainland app store.

2013年以來，蘋果公司在中國的收益幾乎翻了一番，2016年，達到485億美元，在某種程度上，這得益于大陸的應用商店。

App Annie， a research firm， reckons it is the world's biggest Apple app store， as measured by revenue.

從收益上來說，Annie(一家研究型軟件公司)認為大陸得蘋果應用商店是全球最大的。

But Apple's results for the first quarter of the year showed total sales falling by some 14% in greater China compared with a year ago， the fifth consecutive quarter of decline.

在今年的第一季度，蘋果在中國的業績與去年相比較下降了14%，銷售額連續五個季度下降。

Canalys， a market-research firm， estimates that shipments of iPhones on the mainland plunged by a quarter in the first quarter.

一家市場研究公司Canalys估計，蘋果在大陸的出貨量會在第一季度減少四分之一。

►be addicted to 沉迷于

例句：Many of the women are addicted to heroin and cocaine.

這些女人中很多人都吸食海洛因和可卡因成癮了。

►total sales 銷售總額

例句：The total sales went up by20% compared with that of the year before.

與前年相比，總銷售額上升了20%。

►in part 部分的;某種程度的

例句：In part this attitude was due to fear of trade union and employee reactions.

在某種程度上，這一態度是由于害怕工會和雇員的反應。

►In addition 另外的

例句：You need money and time; in addition， you need diligence.

你需要錢和時間，此外還需要努力。

●Hostilities have now broken out with Tencent.

現在，蘋果公司已對騰訊有所不滿。

The two had co-existed happily： since richer Chinese prefer iPhones to Android phones， these devices are where WeChat made much of its money.

騰訊和蘋果之前愉快地和平相處。盡管相比安卓手機來說，中國的有錢人更喜歡蘋果手機，不過微信都能從這些手機中獲利。

But earlier this year， WeChat launched “mini-programmes，” a form of lightweight app that operates independently of Apple's app store and robs it of revenues.

但是，今年早期，微信推出了微小應用“小程序”，這些小程序可以獨立于蘋果軟件商店運行，這搶走了蘋果公司的利潤。

Apple， meanwhile， had disliked but tolerated WeChat's practice of allowing users to reward generators of content (for example， opinion columns) with small tips.

同時，蘋果并不喜歡微信允許用戶通過打賞來獎勵文章的原創者(例如專欄)，但是卻不得不容忍。

These bypass Apple's own payments mechanism.

微信的打賞功能繞過蘋果自己的支付機制。

On April 19th Apple obliged WeChat to shut down tipping.

4月19號，蘋果公司要求微信關閉打賞功能。

Another front in the fighting is that the American firm's mainland app store accepts Alipay， a payment service from China's Alibaba， but not WeChat's payment offering.

在這場斗爭中的另一條戰線是，美國公司的應用商店都加入了支付寶應用(中國阿里巴巴的支付服務，而不是提供微信支付業務)。

Broadly， WeChat is going from being a social-media platform (akin to Facebook and WhatsApp rolled into one) to becoming a mobile-operating system， putting it on a collision course with Apple.

大體來講，微信正在從成為一種社交平臺(類似臉書、Whatsapp等軟件的平臺)逐漸發展成為可移動操作系統，這使得微信與蘋果發生沖突。

“There is a war going on，” says Mr Brennan.

Brennan說道：“一場戰爭正在進行”。

Who will win such a clash of titans?

在兩個巨頭公司的競爭中，誰將會贏得的勝利?

Rumours are swirling among tech experts about what might happen next.

技術專家對于接下來將會發生什么也是眾說風云。

Apple is trying to fortify its position.

蘋果公司努力加強自己在中國的地位。

It is investing heavily in its large network of stores and research labs on the mainland; and it plans to include China in the first wave of countries in which its highly anticipated new iPhone will be launched later this year.

所以它開始在大陸大量投資龐大的網絡商店和研究實驗室;而蘋果公司計劃將中國納入備受期待的新蘋果手機首波發行國家之中。

But Apple is on the defensive， whereas Tencent is firmly on the attack.

不過，蘋果現在處于防御狀態，騰訊則一直處于進攻狀態。

Mr Brennan speculates that Tencent might even launch a WeChat phone， which would make Tencent's offering completely independent of the iPhone.

Brennan預測騰訊甚至可能會推出微信手機，能夠使騰訊推出的軟件完全獨立于蘋果手機。

Anywhere else in the world， it would be foolish to go up against the Californian giant.

無論哪個國家的公司，與蘋果公司作對是不明智的。

In China， though， the native firm may have the advantage.

但是在中國，本土公司也許有優勢。

As Connie Chan of Andreessen Horowitz， an investment fund in Silicon Valley， puts it： “Loyalty is much， much stronger to WeChat than to Apple in China.”

硅谷的Andreessen Horowitz(一家風險投資基金公司)的Connie Chan 講到：在中國，用戶對于微信的忠誠要比蘋果強的多。

►shut down 關閉

例句：It is required by law to shut down banks which it regards as chronically short of capital

法律規定資金長期短缺的銀行必須關閉。

►go up against 對抗

例句：I bear none of you any enmity， but I won't go up against James.

我跟你們毫無過節，但我也不想和詹姆斯作對。

►a form of 一種...的形式

例句：His decision to return to a form of property tax is the right one.

他決定恢復征收財產稅是正確的。

►social media 社交媒體

例句：We have all witnessed the power of social media.

我們見證了社交媒體的實力。