2017年商务英语BEC高级阅读练习题（四十三）

2017年商务英语BEC高级阅读练习题（四十三）

　　原文阅读：谷歌关闭Google Reader遭用户反对

　　It was the kind of reaction usually reserved for when the presses at a venerable newspaper are switched off or a much-loved television series is scrapped.

　　Outrage reverberated across the internet and twittersphere on Wednesday after Google announced that Google Reader, its influential service collating feeds from news sites and blogs, would be shut later this year.

　　“That giant ‘NOOOOOOOO’ sound is the internet’s reaction to Google’s most unpopular decision in – well, as far back as I can remember,” Pete Cashmore at Mashable, the social media news site, tweeted.

　　The irony was evident as the outpouring of indignation flowed through social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, services whose popularity contributed to the fate of the humble Reader.

　　Launched in 2005 before Twitter, the iPhone and apps, Google Reader provided a simple way for users to bring together feeds from news sites in an email-like inbox. Although lacking a conversational element, it became kind of an early social network with a deeply loyal community of users sharing articles and blogs.

　　As the internet became more consumer friendly, social media sites such as Twitter drew a broader audience with rapid news output, punchy exchanges and greater ease of use. Some content providers also limited the amount of material that could be accessed by Reader users.

　　In a post on the company’s blog, Google said Reader would be shut on July 1 as part of “spring cleaning”.

　　“We launched Google Reader in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favourite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined,” the company said.

　　Though beloved by bloggers and news junkies, Reader has received little love from Google since a design refresh in October 2011. Instead, the search group has focused on Google Plus, the social network launched in June 2011 to compete with sites such as Facebook on a new social model for content.

　　Google does not disclose details on the usage of Reader. However, ComScore says use of the Google Reader mobile app in the US peaked at 665,000 unique visitors in October last year, falling to 492,000 in January. Twitter has 200m active registered users.

　　Much of the anger from Reader users stems from a large investment in time building their individualised service. For some, it was reminder that while they could use such a technology, they did not own it.

　　学习指南：

　　1.Word of the day

　　outrage : a strong feeling of shock and anger 愤怒;义愤;愤慨。

　　ex:The judge's remarks caused public outrage.

　　例句：裁判的话引起了公愤。

　　小编注：本文中为了体现用户对google关闭reader的不满，使用了好几个表示“愤怒”的词。除了outrage，还有indignation，anger等。同样表达愤怒的词有很多，比如resentment,irritation,fury,rage,wrath,bail,pique等。下面小编来为你分析一下每个词的用法。

　　anger 普通用词，通常指因受到侮辱、损害、指责或顶撞所引起的愤怒。

　　outrage 表示行为上的残暴引起的愤怒。

　　indignation 这种说法比较正式。指对错误、不公正之事产生的愤怒。popular indignation指民愤，而我们常说的“无名之火”叫做“pointless indignation”。

　　rage 侧重于突然发作，难以控制的大怒。

　　wrath 是一个文学用词，含义和anger相近，但语气更强烈。

　　recentment 指的是积累已久的怨恨。

　　fury 语气最强烈，指极端的气愤，简直快要疯了。

　　还有一个有趣的词叫bristle也可以表示愤怒的意思，这个词的原意是刚毛;猪鬃。set up my bristles是否令你想到了中文中的“怒发冲冠”呢?怒发冲冠也可以说bristle with anger。

　　2.Phrase of the day

　　stem from: If a condition or problem stems from something, it was caused originally by that thing. 起源于;来自;由……造成

　　ex:Much of the instability stems from the economic effects of the war.

　　例句：不稳定局面多半是由战争对经济的影响造成的。

　　3.Sentence of the day

　　It was the kind of reaction usually reserved for when the presses at a venerable newspaper are switched off or a much-loved television series is scrapped.

　　往往只有当一家备受敬重的报纸停印，或者一部热播电视剧停播之时，才会引发这样的反应。

　　小编注：前半句使用了一个倒装，因此在翻译的时候要注意顺序的转换。

　　4.Cultural point of the day

　　Google Reader的前世今生。小编本人可以说是Google的忠实粉丝，由于众所周知的原因，许多外国主流网站无法在国内打开，因此在很长一段时间内，Google Reader想必是很多和小编一样的人获取国外网站内容的方式之一。正如本文所分析的，Reader的失败很大程度上要归咎于Facebook、Twitter这样的社交网站的快速崛起，“关注”按钮成为了大众获取咨询的主要方式。为了加强Reader的社交性和交互性，Google也曾在2011年给它加入了+1按钮以和自家的Google+配对，但还是无法阻拦Reader走向灭亡。也许属于RSS的时代已经过去，前不久，RSS协议规则的创造者之一、26岁的美国黑客Aaron Swartz因为受到法律压力自杀身亡，这也许是个清晰的信号吧。不论如何，请让我们向Google Reader以及RSS订阅这个曾经改变了人们获取资讯的方式的发明致以敬意。

　　5.Translation of the day

　　The irony was evident as the outpouring of indignation flowed through social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, services whose popularity contributed to the fate of the humble Reader.

　　非常有讽刺意味的是，人们用以表达愤怒的工具恰恰是Twitter和 Facebook等社交网站，而这类网站的流行却是导致Reader命运不济的部分原因。

　　小编注：此句中有两处“加词”的例子。第一处在前半句，原文中的主语是outpouring of indignation，然而这并不是一个合适的主语，谁的愤怒呢?译文中改为了“人们用以表达愤怒的工具”，语句就通顺的多了，英文中经常会省略主语或以抽象名词作为主语，这时最好能将其主语补完。后半句也是如此，译文中根据句意补充了“这类网站”作为主语。

　　It was the kind of reaction usually reserved for when the presses at a venerable newspaper are switched off or a much-loved television series is scrapped.

　　往往只有当一家备受敬重的报纸停印，或者一部热播电视剧停播之时，才会引发这样的反应。

　　Outrage reverberated across the internet and twittersphere on Wednesday after Google announced that Google Reader, its influential service collating feeds from news sites and blogs, would be shut later this year.

　　周三，当谷歌(Google)宣布将今年7月1日关闭Google Reader之后，因特网和Twitter上到处泛起愤怒之声。Google Reader是谷歌旗下一种收集订阅新闻网站和博客内容功能的颇有影响力的服务。

　　“That giant ‘NOOOOOOOO’ sound is the internet’s reaction to Google’s most unpopular decision in – well, as far back as I can remember,” Pete Cashmore at Mashable, the social media news site, tweeted.

　　社交网站新闻博客Mashable的皮特•凯什莫尔(Pete Cashmore)表示：“如此巨大的反对声，是互联网对谷歌这项决定的反应——这是我能记起来的谷歌最不受欢迎的一项决定。”

　　The irony was evident as the outpouring of indignation flowed through social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, services whose popularity contributed to the fate of the humble Reader.

　　非常有讽刺意味的是，人们用以表达愤怒的工具恰恰是Twitter和 Facebook等社交网站，而这类网站的流行却是导致Reader命运不济的部分原因。

　　Launched in 2005 before Twitter, the iPhone and apps, Google Reader provided a simple way for users to bring together feeds from news sites in an email-like inbox. Although lacking a conversational element, it became kind of an early social network with a deeply loyal community of users sharing articles and blogs.

　　谷歌在2005年推出了Google Reader，比Twitter、iPhone以及其他应用程序还要早。通过这项服务，用户在一个类似于电子邮件的收件箱里接收订阅自不同新闻网站的内容。尽管没有提供对话功能，它还是成为了一种早期的社交网络，忠实用户在上面分享文章和博客。

　　As the internet became more consumer friendly, social media sites such as Twitter drew a broader audience with rapid news output, punchy exchanges and greater ease of use. Some content providers also limited the amount of material that could be accessed by Reader users.

　　随着互联网使用越来越便捷，Twitter这类社交网站提供快速新闻内容、丰富的交流、更容易的使用，从而吸引了更广泛的用户。有些内容提供商也对Reader用户可以读到的内容进行了限制。

　　In a post on the company’s blog, Google said Reader would be shut on July 1 as part of “spring cleaning”.“We launched Google Reader in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favourite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined,” the company said.Though beloved by bloggers and newsjunkies, Reader has received little love from Google since a design refresh in October 2011. Instead, the search group has focused on Google Plus, the social network launched in June 2011 to compete with sites such as Facebook on a new social model for content.

　　谷歌表示，关闭Reader是“大扫除”的一部分。该公司表示：“尽管这一产品有着忠实的用户，但这些年来其使用量在减少。”尽管博客作者和新闻爱好者热爱Reader，但自从2011年10月调整产品结构以来，但它几乎再没有得到谷歌的“关爱”。相反，谷歌的业务重心一直是2011年6月发布的社交网站Google+。

　　Google does not disclose details on the usage of Reader. However, ComScore says use of the Google Reader mobile app in the US peaked at 665,000 unique visitors in October last year, falling to 492,000 in January. Twitter has 200m active registered users.

　　谷歌并没有透露Reader使用情况的细节。然而，ComScore指出，去年10月，Google Reader移动应用程序在美国的独立访问者达到了66.5万的峰值，但在今年1月份又降到了49.2万。对比之下，Twitter的活跃注册用户就达到了两亿人。

　　Much of the anger from Reader users stems from a large investment in time building their individualised service. For some, it was reminder that while they could use such a technology, they did not own it.

　　Reader用户之所以愤怒，主要是因为他们曾花大量时间构建了个性化的订阅服务。对于一些人来说，这让他们意识到，使用一种技术并不等于拥有它。