您的等候号码是84号。您的Phone Recording: Thank you for waiting. Your call 们非常重要。
is important to us. You are number 84 in the queue. 等待时间大约是2小时17分，或者我们Your approximate waiting time is 2 hours 17 一有机会便会回复您的来电。 minutes, or whenever we get around to answering your call.
New Words
Warranty
n. [U, C] a written agreement in which a company selling sth. promises to repair or replace it if there is a problem within a particular period of time 保修单 zillion
n. [U, C] an extremely large number 极大的数目
I've told you a zillion times what the problem is. Don't you understand it now? 关于问题的症结，我已经跟你讲了无数遍了。你现在还不明白吗？ clutter
vt. to fill an area with too many things and make it messy 凌乱地塞满，乱堆放
I hate some computer companies because they tend to clutter their machines with junk software most people don't use.
我讨厌某些电脑公司，因为他们老是在电脑上乱装些大多数人根本用不上的垃圾软件。 queue
n. [C] a line of people, cars, etc. waiting for sth. or to do sth. 队，行列
Phrases and Expressions
be under warranty
to be bound by a written promise by a company to fix or replace one of its products 在保修期内
The camera is still under warranty. 这个相机仍在保修期内。 run out
1) (of an agreement or a document) to become no longer valid 过期，失效
Sometimes, a product you buy will function perfectly long after the warranty runs out. 有时候买来的产品在保修期过了很久之后，仍然很好用。
2) (of a supply of sth.) to be used up or finished 用完，耗尽 Time is running out for the trapped miners. 被困矿工的时间正在一点点流失。 be at one's wits' end
to be very worried or upset because you have tried every possible way to solve a problem but cannot do it 智穷计尽；全然不知所措
To tell the truth, I'm at my wits' end trying to figure out the problem with my computer. 我想找出电脑里存在的问题，但说实话，我已经一筹莫展了。 get around/round to doing sth. 抽出时间来做某事
- 11 -
3. Text A Do-anything Pen May Change the Face of Computing 万能笔革新计算机技术
1 At a conference in California yesterday, the 1 昨天，在加利福尼亚的一个会议audience of 500-some technology veterans watched 上，500名资深技术员饶有兴趣地观看in fascination as a company called Livescribe 了Livescribe公司展示其卓越发明：一introduced its brilliant invention: a pen.
只钢笔。
2 Well, not just a pen—a computer that looks like a 2 当然这不仅仅是一只笔——是看pen. The pen does have ink and it makes lines on 上去像笔的电脑。这只钢笔确实有墨水，
同时也能把你写的任paper, but it also records a digital file of whatever 能在纸上留下笔划，
you write—both text and sketches—by using an 何东西录为数码文件——文本和草图都
即一infrared camera to read a code of tiny, nearly 可以——利用红外摄像机读入代码，此外，它invisible gray dots on the paper. It can also read bar 种在纸上几乎看不见的小灰点。要让它工作，你需要从codes. To make it work, you need to either buy a 还能读入条形码。
recycled paper notepad from Livescribe, or roll your Livescribe公司购买环保型记事本，或own by downloading a graphics file that prints on 是自己下载适用于大多数激光打印机的most laser printers.
图像文件。
3 It also records the sound around you and links it to 3 它还能记录你身边的声音并把这what you were writing at the time. Tap the pen to 种声音同你当时所写的东西连接在一起。
在对应文件上再次轻击钢笔，它会that text again, it reads the little dots, and you get an 比如，
audio playback from that time. As a journalist with 读入这些小灰点，播放当时录入的声音。
字迹潦草，还不会速lousy handwriting and no shorthand skills, I could 我是一名新闻记者，
正好需要它。在采访中只须就采访内use that. Just write an outline of what someone is 记，
然后用笔轻击笔记，就可以saying in an interview, and tap on the notes to hear 容写个提纲，
again what the person said.
再听一遍受访人所说的话了。
4 That in itself would be very cool, but the Livescribe 4 这种功能本身已经够新奇了，但folks have bigger plans. Here are some other things 是Livescribe人有更大的计划。下面是the pen can do: 5 Create 3D audio files
这只钢笔的其他功能： 5 制作3D音频文件
The Livescribe headphones include microphones, so Livescribe耳机有麦克风，因此你
实效记录传入你耳朵的声音。播you can record the sound exactly how and when it 能实时、
用任何耳机听，你都能得到和你当hits each of your ears. Play it back through any 放时，
headphones, and you get the same effect as if you 时听到的一样的效果。 were hearing sounds around you. 6 Create flash animations
6 制作flash动画片
无论你写什么、画什么，都能被捕捉
Whatever you write or draw can be captured as a 成flas*******。播放时，你会看见你
点击动画文件flash movie. Play it back and you see the drawings 的图画在屏幕上如何成形。
可以转到不同的超链接，如take form on your screen. Click on parts of the text in 的不同部分，
the animation and launch any linked items, such as 网页、音频或视频文件。 web pages, audio files, or videos. 7 Access commentary in a book
7 显示书中的注释
这只钢笔既能写也能读。例如，
The pen works for reading as well as writing. As an Livescribe给我展示了一本印在那种特example, Livescribe showed me a Bible, printed on 殊纸张上的《圣经》，轻击纸上的文字就
- 12 -
the special paper, where you can tap on words to get 能看到像脚注一样的注释，或能听到《<
里那些稀奇古怪的名字的发footnote-like commentary or hear pronunciations of 圣经>旧约》
the bizarre Old Testament names. 8 Write an email
音。
8 写电子邮件
The pattern of dots on every sheet of paper is 每张纸上的小灰点样式都是独特的。
这只钢unique. So if you write on a specific piece of paper, 因此如果你在特殊的纸张上写字，
the pen can use the dots not only to figure out what 笔不但可以根据墨点弄清楚你写的内容，
比方you wrote, but to figure out where you wrote it. 而且能弄清楚你是在什么地方写的。
Scratch a note on the back of someone's business 说，在某人的名片背面写下潦草的笔记
将钢笔连接到电脑，软件便会将你的card, for example, hook the pen up to your 后，
在杂志封底随手写封computer, and the software sends an email of your 笔记发给名片主人。
note to the card owner. Scratch a complaint out on 投诉信，你就能自动将信发送给杂志编the back page of a magazine and you can 辑。 automatically send a letter to the editor.
New Words
veteran
n. 1) [C] someone who has a lot of experience of a particular area or activity 经验丰富的人，老手
The veteran in journalism has been kidnapped in Iraq. 这位资深记者在伊拉克被绑架了。
n. 2) [C] someone who has been a soldier, sailor, etc. in a war 老兵，退伍军人 Unlike the United States, there is no day for the memory of veterans in China. 与美国不同，中国没有纪念退役军人的节日。 fascination
n. 1) [U] the state of being very attracted to and interested in sb./sth. 入迷，着迷 n. 2) [C, usu. sing.] a very strong attraction that makes sth. very interesting 魅力 sketch
n. [C] a simple, quickly-made drawing that does not show much detail 草图；素描，速写 His sketch of the suspect helped the police capture the murderer. 他画的嫌犯素描帮助警方抓到了谋杀犯。
vt./vi. to make a quick drawing of sb./sth. 画素描，画速写 He quickly sketched the view from the window. 他很快勾勒出了窗外的风景。 infrared
a.红外线的，使用红外线的 invisible
a. that cannot be seen 看不见的，隐形的
I couldn't help daydreaming after reading the novel The Invisible Man. 我看了小说《隐身人》之后老是做白日梦。 recycle
vt. to treat things that have already been used so that they can be used again 回收利用，再利用
- 13 -
This envelope is made from recycled paper. 这个信封是用再生纸制作的。 notepad
n. [C] 记事本，便条本 graphics
n. [pl.] 图像；图案，图样，绘图 laser
n. [U] a device which produces a very strong beam of controlled light 激光 lousy
a. 1) (informal) very bad 非常糟的，恶劣的
a. 2) used to show that you feel annoyed or insulted because you do not think that sth. is worth very much 讨厌的，该死的 shorthand
n. [U] a system of fast writing which uses special signs or abbreviations to record what sb. is saying 速记（法） commentary
n. [C] a written explanation or discussion of sth. such as a book or a play 注释，解释；评论footnote
n. [C] a note at the bottom of the page in a book, which gives more information about something 脚注 scratch
vt./vi. 1) to write something hurriedly or awkwardly （匆忙或笨拙地）写 The secretary scratched in the notebook as her boss was giving directions. 老板下指令时，秘书匆忙地在笔记本里做记录。
vt./vi. 2) to mark or score the surface of sth. with a sharp or pointed object 刮擦 They scratched their initials on a rock. 他们把自己名字的首字母刻到一块石头上。 hook
vt./vi. to fasten or hang sth. on sth. else using a hook 钩住，挂住 Please hook the rope over the nail. 请把绳子挂在那根钉子上。
n. 1) [C] a blow given with the elbow bent （拳击的）钩拳 n. 2) [C] 挂钩
Phrases and Expressions
bar code 条形码
laser printer 激光打印机 play sth. back
to play music, a film, etc. that has been recorded on a tape, video, etc. 播放录音（或录像等）She enjoyed My Heart Will Go On so much that she played it back time and time again. 她太喜欢《我心永恒》这首歌了，一遍又一遍地放。 hook sth. up to sth.
- 14 -
把……接通电子设备（或电源）
Will it take long to hook the telephone up? 安装电话要花很长时间吗？
As soon as they hook up the computer to the network, I can e-mail my friends. 他们一把电 脑连到因特网上，我就可以给朋友发电邮了。
- 15 -