英語聽力小短文走遍全世界32:谷歌的登頂之路

英語聽力原文：

Google is a world-famous company, with its headquarters in Mountain View, California. It was set up in a Silicon Valley garage in 1998, and inflated(膨脹)with the Internet bubble. Even when everything around it collapased the company kept on inflating.

Google是世界著名的大公司，總部設(shè)在加州的山景城。它于1998年成立于硅谷的一個汽車修理廠，并隨著網(wǎng)絡(luò)泡沫迅速成長而不斷發(fā)展。即使是在它周圍的公司一個個垮掉時，它仍然在繼續(xù)發(fā)展壯大。

Google's search engine is so wide-spread across the world that search became Google, and google became a verb. The world fell in love with the effective, fascinatingly fast technology.

Google的搜索引擎遍及全世界，以至于“搜索”一詞變成了Google，而Google變成了一個動詞。整個世界都為Google這個高效快捷的搜索技術(shù)而著迷。

Google owes much of its success to the brilliance of S. Brin and L. Page, but also to a series of fortunate events. It was Page who, at Stanford in 1996, initiated the academic project that eventually became Google's search engine. Brin, who had met Page at a student orientation a year earlier, joined the project early on.

Google的成功在很大的程度上要歸功于謝爾蓋·布林和拉里·佩奇的才華和一系列幸運事件。正是佩奇于1996年在斯坦福大學發(fā)起這個最終成為Google搜索引擎的學術(shù)項目。布林是在早一年的新生見面會中認識佩奇的，并在項目開始不久就加入進來。

They were both Ph. D candidates when they devised the search engine which was better than the rest and, without any marketing, spread by word mouth from early adopters to, eventually, your grandmother.

當初設(shè)計這個搜索引擎時，他們倆個都是計算機博士學位申請人。而其搜索引擎沒有經(jīng)過任何市場推廣卻經(jīng)大家的口口相傳從早期的使用者最終傳播開來。

Their breakthrough, simply put, was that when their search engine crawled the Web, it did more than just look for word matches; it also tallied(統(tǒng)計)and ranked a host of other critical factors like how websites link to one another. That delivered far better results than anything else.

簡單地說，他們的突破在于：當他們的搜索引擎在網(wǎng)上搜索時，不僅僅是尋找相匹配的詞語，它還會對許多其他關(guān)鍵因素進行統(tǒng)計和分級，例如，如何將網(wǎng)絡(luò)彼此連接起來。這樣所呈現(xiàn)的結(jié)果要遠遠優(yōu)于其他搜索引擎。

Brin and Page meant to name their creation Googol(the mathematical term for the number 1 followed by 100 zeroes), but someone misspelled the word so it suck as Google. They raised money from prescient(有先見之明的)professors and venture capitalists, and moved off campus to turn Google into business.

布林和佩奇本來打算把他們的搜索引擎命名為Google(數(shù)學術(shù)語：1 后面有100個零)，但是人們誤拼成了Google。他們從有先見之明的教授和富有冒險精神的資本家那里籌集資金，將谷歌搬出校園轉(zhuǎn)換成商業(yè)運營。他們試圖向其他搜索引擎公司出售他們的技術(shù)，但是沒有一家能支付他們提出的價格，于是他們自己成立了一個搜索引擎公司，也許早在這時幸運之神就開始降臨。

Perhaps their biggest stroke of luck came early on when they tried to sell their technology to other search engines, but no one met their price, and they built it up on their own.

他們試圖向其他搜索引擎公司出售他們的技術(shù)，但是沒有一家能支付他們提出的價格，于是他們自己成立了一個搜索引擎公司，也許早在這時幸運之神就開始降臨。

英語詞匯整理：

1. headquarter n.. 總公司

eg: The European correspondent will headquarter in Paris.

歐洲記者將她的總部設(shè)在巴黎。

短語：

UN Headquarter 聯(lián)合國總部

Business headquarter 所屬部門

headquarter space 總部空間

Happy Headquarter 快樂大本營

2. garage n. 汽車修理廠

eg: Nancy took her car to a local garage for a check-up.

南希把她的車開到一家當?shù)氐钠囆蘩韽S檢查。

短語：

underground garage 地下車庫

attached garage 附加車庫

detached garage 獨立式車庫

garage door 汽車庫門，車庫門

parking garage 停車場(室內(nèi))

3. inflate v. 膨脹

eg: Financial crisis rapidly inflated to a nation-wide economic crisis.

金融危機迅速擴展成全國性的經(jīng)濟危機。

短語：

swell inflate 脹大

inflate value 波動值

4. bubble n. 泡沫

eg: When water boils, bubbles rise to the surface.

水開時,水面起了泡泡。

短語：

bubble off 形成泡溢出

bubble out 噗噗地涌出

bubble over 煮沸溢出

bubble up 冒泡,像泡一樣冒起

prick a (或the)bubble 拆穿西洋鏡

bubble point 泡點;沸騰點

bubble effect 泡沫效應

5. collapse v. 垮掉

eg: The poor girl collapsed from tiredness.

可憐的小女孩由于疲勞而暈倒了。

短語：

collapse from 由于……而垮掉,暈倒

collapse under 被……所壓塌

collapse for 折疊

collapse strength 抗擠強度;破裂強度

collapse load 損毀荷載

6. wide-spread adj. 普遍的

eg: With the development of economy and advancement of peoples life, buying private cars becomes more and more wide-spread .

隨著經(jīng)濟的發(fā)展和人們生活水平的提高，購買家用轎車已越來越普遍。

短語：

wide-spread scheme 延展計劃

wide-spread Collar 寬角領(lǐng)

wide-spread news 廣泛流傳的消息

wide-spread use 廣泛使用

7. effective adj. 高效的

eg: These are effective measures.

這些都是有效的措施。

短語：

be effective against 有抗……效力的

effective from 從……生效

become effective (法律、協(xié)定、決議等)生效，發(fā)生效力

8. fascinatingly adv. 著迷地

eg: Her face became fascinatingly distorted.

她著迷地歪斜著臉。

同近義詞：

bewitchingly/ attractively adv. 極有吸引力地;迷人地

9. owe v.感激;欠

eg: He gave me a lot of help. I owed much to him.

他給我許多幫助,我非常感激他。

短語：

owe a grudge 懷有惡意

owe it to oneself to do something 認為自己應該做某事，認為有必要做某事

owe for 欠買(某物的)錢

owe on 在……上欠債

owe to 欠……(某物);應該感謝;把……歸功于

10. brilliance n. 才華

eg: He played with great brilliance.

他的演奏顯示出他卓越的才華。

短語：

brilliance control 亮度調(diào)節(jié)

point brilliance 光點亮度

11. fortunate adj. 幸運的

eg: It is fortunate that the tanker did not leak.

慶幸的是，油罐車沒有發(fā)生泄漏。

短語：

fortunate for sb. 某人運氣好

fortunate in doing sth. 做……幸運

fortunate in 有好運氣;于……很幸運

12. initiate v. 發(fā)起

eg: He initiated a movement for a change in the law.

他發(fā)起了一項改變法律的運動。

短語：

initiate into 介紹或接納某人加入……;使某人獲知……

initiate fire 引發(fā)火災

13. orientation n. 介紹;方向

eg: The winding trail caused the hikers to lose their orientation.

蜿蜒的小徑使徒步旅行者迷失了方向。

短語：

goal orientation 目標定向;目標取向

image orientation 圖像定像;圖象取向

orientation program 新生訓練;新生練習

investment orientation 投資方向

marketing orientation 市場取向

14. candidate n. 候選人

eg: He is a candidate for the office of governor.

他是州長的候選人。

短語：

sell candidate like soap 在競選中采取廣告手法大肆宣傳

as a candidate 作為候選人

candidate for 候選人;人選

P.S.: candidate for后面一般加職業(yè)或者職位等。例：candidate for Presidency總統(tǒng)候選人， candidate for the position of typist 打字員職位候選人。

15. devise v. 發(fā)明

eg: He devised a new type of transistor.

他發(fā)明了一種新的晶體管。

短語：

devise to 將……遺贈給

devise an idea 想出一個主意

16. breakthrough n. 突破

eg: He finally has a breakthrough in his creation.

他終于在創(chuàng)作上有了突破。

短語：

breakthrough in 在……方面的進展

breakthrough point 突破點

make a breakthrough 有重大發(fā)展或突破

breakthrough technology 突破性技術(shù)

17. crawl v. 爬行，緩慢前進

eg: The train crawled over the damaged bridge.

火車緩緩地開過這座已損壞的橋梁。

短語：

crawl to 巴結(jié),奉承

crawl with 爬滿,滿是

move at a crawl 緩慢行進

18. tally v. 統(tǒng)計

eg: Have they tallied up the for and against?

他們統(tǒng)計贊成票和反對票了嗎?

短語：

buy on tally 賒購

live (on) tally [英國俚語]非婚同居

tally with 與……相符合

tally up 總結(jié);加一;結(jié)算

19. rank v. 評等級

eg: We rank him among the best tennis players.

我們把他列入最優(yōu)秀網(wǎng)球運動員之列。

短語：

rank with 與……并列

in the ranks 當兵，當戰(zhàn)士

keep rank 保持隊形

pull (one's )rank on [美軍俚語]仗勢欺壓;利用職權(quán)(對下級)強迫命令

take rank of 居于……之上;(級別)高于……

20. host n. 一大群

eg: A whole host of difficulties has arisen.

一大堆的困難出現(xiàn)了。

短語：

a host of 許多，一大群;眾多，大量

act as host 作為主人招待,做東

play host to 招待,接待

21. critical adj. 關(guān)鍵的

eg: The incident happened at a critical point in the campaign.

該事件發(fā)生在運動的關(guān)鍵時刻。

短語：

critical about 挑剔

critical in one's choice 選擇苛刻

critical of 挑剔;對……感到不滿，對……表示譴責

22. deliver v. 產(chǎn)生

eg: She delivered twins at 5 p.m.

她于下午5時產(chǎn)下孿生兒。

短語：

deliver up 交出，放棄

deliver from 從……處釋放出來

deliver of 為……接生;生(孩子)

deliver on 履行,實行

deliver as 作為……播送

deliver oneself to 向……投案自首

deliver sb of fear 消除某人的恐懼

deliver a book/baby 送書;接生

佳句采摘：

Their breakthrough, simply put, was that when their search engine crawled the Web, it did more than just look for word matches; it also tallied(統(tǒng)計)and ranked a host of other critical factors like how websites link to one another.

簡單地說，他們的突破在于：當他們的搜索引擎在網(wǎng)上搜索時，不僅僅是尋找相匹配的詞語，它還會對許多其他關(guān)鍵因素進行統(tǒng)計和分級，例如，如何將網(wǎng)絡(luò)彼此連接起來。