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本文选自《纽约时报》1月10日刊文章。2020年国际消费电子展于1月07-10日在美国拉斯维加斯举行。50年来,CES是世界上规模最大、最具影响力的技术盛会,一直是创新者和突破性技术的聚集地,也是将下一代创新引入市场的全球舞台。今年的展会覆盖了从超高清电视、“智能”灯泡、电动骨骼到可以横着开的概念车,以及送厕纸的家居机器人。这里的每个小物件都相当于是一台电脑,这也意味着芯片行业在经历低谷后,将会迎来复苏。本文也会分享一些会展上的黑科技,让大家一饱眼福。
由于篇幅较长,本文节选全文重点段落进行精讲,译文仅供参考。
选文精讲
A revival is under way in the chip business
芯片行业正在复苏
The high-tech industry is as cyclical as any commodity
高科技产业就像任何商品一样具有周期性
TO SEE JUST how fast microchips are eating the world, look at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), an annual gadget-fest held in Las Vegas. This year’s event includes everything fromultra-high-definitiontelevisions, “smart” light bulbs and powered exoskeletons to concept cars that can drive sideways and house robots designed to deliver toilet paper. Every one of these must-have consumertrinketsis a computerin disguise, withinnardsmade from microprocessors, memory chips andcircuit boards.
ultra-high-definition television: 超高清电视
trinket: 小玩意、小饰品
in disguise: 伪装
innards: 内脏、内部结构
circuit board: 电路板
要想知道微芯片是如何以多快的速度吞噬这个世界,看看每年在拉斯维加斯举行的CES消费电子展吧。今年的展会覆盖了从超高清电视、“智能”灯泡、电动骨骼到可以横着开的概念车,以及送厕纸的家居机器人。这些消费者必备的小玩意中,每一件都相当于是一台电脑,内部由微处理器、内存芯片和电路板组成。
Yet the industry upon which all this is built has beenhaving a torrid timeof late. Future Horizons, a chip-industry analysis firm, reckons that global semiconductor sales shrank by about 12% in 2019, to $410bn. Samsung Electronics, a South Korean company that is the world’s biggest maker of memory chips, reported a 56% fall in quarterly operating profits in October,dragged downby the poor performance of its chip division. Entire economies have been feeling the pain. Semiconductors account for a fifth of South Korea’s exports, which have fallen for 12 monthsin a row, partly owing to the sector’s weakness.
have a terroid time: 艰难时期、多事之秋
drag down: 拖累、往下拽、受...不利影响
in a row: 连续
然而,造就了这么多新奇小玩意的行业,最近处于艰难时期。芯片行业分析公司Future Horizons估计,全球半导体销售额在2019年缩水约12%,至4100亿美元。全球最大的存储芯片制造商、韩国三星电子(Samsung Electronics)公布,受其芯片部门业绩不佳的影响,该公司10月份的季度营业利润下降了56%。整个经济体都感受到了这种下滑,半导体占韩国出口的五分之一,韩国出口已连续12个月下降,部分原因是半导体行业的疲软。
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