金融時報:敢不敢拋棄智能手機？

敢不敢拋棄智能手機？

今年1月英國演員埃迪·雷德梅因(Eddie Redmayne)成為全球頭條新聞，因為他加入了人數(shù)越來越多的智能手機拒絕者的行列。

測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識：

glue粘合[glu?]

dumb啞的; 低能的[d?m]

bemoan嘆息[b?'m??n]

phoney騙子；假貨['f??n?]

durability耐久性[,dj?r?'b?l?ti]

Digitally weary users switch to ‘dumb' phones（718words）

By Daniel Thomas

In January, British actor Eddie Redmayne made headlines around the world as he became the latest in a growing band of smartphone refuseniks.

“It was a reaction against being glued permanently to my iPhone during waking hours,” he explained, turning instead to an old-fashioned “dumb phone” handset that could only make and take calls.

He is not alone. There is a small but busy market for phones that are simple and cheap at a time when smartphones are becoming ever more complex and expensive.

Feature phones — handsets with some basic functions such as playing music and accessing the internet — are gradually being replaced by low cost smartphones, according to Francisco Jeronimo, research director for European mobile devices at IDC, the research group. But there is still a significant demand for older-style phones.

Strategy Analytics, a research group, estimates that 44m basic phones were sold in 2015, accounting for 2 per cent of the global market.

Some phonemakers, such as Sony and LG, have already turned their back on the market. But others like Microsoft and Samsung are still producing devices every year aimed at the feature market.

Many smartphone users bemoan having to buy devices that are easily broken, require daily recharging and which will be superseded by a new, better version within a year. Even basic smartphones offer computing power that not many people need.

Some users buy phones with limited or no internet connections in a conscious attempt to decouple from the modern digital world. Light Phone founder Joe Hollier falls into this camp. The 25-year-old former skater has developed a credit card-sized phone without a data connection and no extra functions other than to make calls. He describes a feeling of huge relief when the ability to check emails or status updates is removed.

Analysts say that there is a growing number of “second phoneys” who use an expensive smartphone or “phablet” during the day, but turn to cheaper, pocket-sized devices when they go out in the evening.

The Light Phone functions as a companion device to a smartphone but Mr Hollier hopes it will also encourage people to unplug from the modern internet world.

There are also practical reasons why some are turning their backs on smartphones. The short battery life of devices is a source of constant complaint and many travellers are still attracted to the reliability and long battery life of older phones.

This market is still being served by Microsoft, which now owns the Nokia brand. The US group last year launched the Nokia 215, for example, a simple, robust device that has a standby battery life of 29 days. The Nokia 515 has a massive 38 days standby time.

The phone has a simple layer of apps and basic data connectivity, but the main attraction is the $30 price tag. As Microsoft boasts: “Exceptional battery life and impressive durability are standard features. When you own a Nokia, you own a phone that's built to last.”

Dumb phones have more specific uses, however, for example being given to children for calling home. They are simple, robust and cheap if lost.

Likewise, there are simple phones for the elderly, such as those made by Doro, which prioritise large buttons and the amplification of volume rather than how quickly they can access the internet.

Mr Jeronimo says that such products are becoming a niche opportunity for companies. Doro has grown to become the third-largest feature phonemaker in western Europe after Microsoft and Samsung, he adds.

Feature phones are also more popular in developing markets because of the combination of low prices and long battery life.

“Using a smartphone in some countries in Africa, for instance, is not an option for many users, as it would require to charge it on a daily basis,” says Mr Jeronimo.

“On the other hand using a smartphone means little for users who cannot connect to a 3G network, either because they are not available or because the connectivity is extremely expensive.”

And, for those that find even basic phones are too much, there is a solution: the $5 NoPhone Zero. It claims to be the least advanced phone ever created, has no buttons or components and is just a plastic rectangle. It is a joke, but one that says much about our modern anxiety about technology.

請根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容，完成以下自測題目：

1.What can users do with an old-fashioned “dumb phone”?

A.play music

B.access the internet

C.facetime

D.take calls

答案(1)

2.Which one is not right about Light Phone?

A.without a data connection

B.large volume

C.without a data connection

D.make calls only

答案(2)

3.Who owns the Nokia brand?

A.US Government

B.LG

C.Microsoft

D.Google

答案(3)

4.Which one is not mentioned as the advantage to children with dumb phones?

A.simple

B.robust

C.large buttons

D.cheap

答案(4)

* * *

(1)答案：D.take calls

解釋：老式“傻瓜手機”只能接打電話。

(2)答案：B.large volume

解釋：Light Phone是只有信用卡大小的手機，除接打電話外，沒有數(shù)據(jù)連接或其他額外功能。

(3)答案：C.Microsoft

解釋：微軟現(xiàn)在擁有諾基亞(Nokia)品牌。去年，微軟推出諾基亞215，這是一款簡單而堅固的手機，電池待機時間達到29天。

(4)答案：C.large buttons

解釋：非智能手機簡單、結實，如果丟失也不貴，適合給孩子用來打電話給家里。

比爾·蓋茨發(fā)聲支持FBI破解iPhone

在蘋果與FBI的加密風波拉鋸戰(zhàn)中，顯然，F(xiàn)BI獲得了一個罕見的科技同盟者。

測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識：

stand-off平衡；冷淡

characterisation性格化[k?r?kt?r?'ze???n]

ribbon綬帶['r?b?n]

civil liberties公民自由

whistleblower檢舉者['hw?s?l,blo?]

safeguards保障措施['sef,gɑrd]

expletive附加的；咒罵語[?k'spli?t?v; ek-]

Bill Gates backs FBI iPhone hack request（526words）

By Stephen Foley in New York and Tim Bradshaw in San Francisco

Bill Gates has broken ranks with Silicon Valley in the stand-off between Apple and the US government, saying technology companies should be forced to co-operate with law enforcement in terrorism investigations.

The Microsoft founder took issue with Tim Cook's characterisation of the government's order that Apple help break open the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone as a demand for a “back door”, denying that it would set a wider precedent.

“This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information. They are not asking for some general thing, they are asking for a particular case,” Mr Gates told the Financial Times.

“It is no different than [the question of] should anybody ever have been able to tell the phone company to get information, should anybody be able to get at bank records. Let's say the bank had tied a ribbon round the disk drive and said ‘don't make me cut this ribbon because you'll make me cut it many times'.”

Apple has been pulled into a war of words with US law enforcement in the last week, after a judge ordered the company to write software that would enable FBI investigators to unlock Syed Rizwan Farook's iPhone. Mr Cook, Apple's chief executive, has called the request a “chilling” example of “overreach” by the US government that would set a “dangerous precedent that threatens everyone's civil liberties”.

Mr Gates' stance sets him apart from the rest of the tech industry, including the company he founded. Satya Nadella, Microsoft chief, has not publicly commented on the matter, but a spokesperson for the Seattle-based company pointed to a statement by the Reform Government Surveillance organisation, of which it is a member, opposing the order.

Silicon Valley executives including Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook chief; Jack Dorsey, Twitter founder; and Sundar Pichai, head of Google, have all sided with Mr Cook. National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden called the showdown “the most important tech case in a decade”.

But James Comey, FBI director, has insisted that the case is “quite narrow”.

“We don't want to break anyone's encryption or set a master key loose on the land,” Mr Comey wrote in a blogpost on Sunday night.

Mr Gates told the FT that there were benefits to the government being able to enforce taxation, stop crime and investigate terror threats, but said there must be rules on when the information can be accessed.

“I hope that we have that debate so that the safeguards are built and so people do not opt — and this will be country by country — [to say] it is better that the government does not have access to any information,” he said.

Mr Gates was speaking at the launch of the annual letter from his charitable organisation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in which he argues that “an energy miracle” will be needed to bring electricity to the one-fifth of the world's population that does not currently have it, while still reducing carbon emissions to zero.

“Let's science the expletive-

out of this,” he said, quoting Matt Damon's character in the movie, The Martian. “I don't know what the expletives are.”

請根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容，完成以下自測題目：

1.Which company was founded by Bill Gates?

A.Microsoft

B.Apple

C.IBM

D.Oracle

答案(1)

2.Which one is not mentioned as Gates' opinion?

A.It is similar to get information from phone company.

B.His remark is representative of Microsoft.

C.Government would not set a wider precedent.

D.There were benefits to the government being able to enforce taxation.

答案(2)

3.Who called the showdown “the most important tech case in a decade”?

A.Bill Gates

B.Mark Zuckerberg

C.Edward Snowden

D.Sundar Pichai

答案(3)

4.What may not happen if government access to information in a good way as Gates said?

A.enforce taxation

B.stop crime

C.investigate terror threats

D.invest affairs

答案(4)

* * *

(1)答案：A.Microsoft

解釋：Gates與保羅·艾倫一起創(chuàng)建了微軟公司，曾任微軟董事長、CEO和首席軟件設計師。

(2)答案：B.His remark is representative of Microsoft.

解釋：他的言論不代表微軟。

(3)答案：C.Edward Snowden

解釋：發(fā)表這一言論的是告發(fā)美國國家安全局的愛德華·斯諾登。

(4)答案：D.invest affairs

解釋：Gates并未提到對婚外情的調(diào)查。