◎陈科芳 浙江外国语学院

域外采风

苹果：从手机到汽车

◎陈科芳 浙江外国语学院

导读

本期阅读材料选自《经济学人》（The Economist），这是一份由伦敦经济学人报纸有限公司出版的杂志，于1843年9月由詹姆士·威尔逊创办。创办的目的是“参与一场推动前进的智慧与阻碍我们进步的胆怯无知之间的较量”，这句话被印在每一期《经济学人》杂志的目录页上。杂志的大多数文章写得机智、幽默、有力度，严肃又不失诙谐，并且注重于如何在最小的篇幅内告诉读者最多的信息，其封面设计也往往很有特色。杂志主要关注政治和商业方面的新闻，但是每期也有一两篇针对科技和艺术的报道，以及一些书评。杂志中所有文章都不署名，而且往往带有鲜明的立场，但又处处用事实说话，因为其主编们认为：写出了什么东西，比出自谁的手笔更重要。从2012年1月28日的那一期开始，《经济学人》杂志开辟了中国专栏，为有关中国的文章提供更多的版面。《经济学人》有意识地将自己看作是一份国际性杂志，其报道不仅仅局限于或偏重于英国或欧洲，因此其80%以上的读者是在英国以外地区。其全球发行量据报道大约有半数销往北美洲，20%在欧洲大陆，15%在英国，10%在亚洲。

要读懂这类文体的材料，除了对相关主题知识有所了解之外，基本的一些词汇也是需要掌握的。首先需要了解一些专有名词，包括The Economist《经济学人》、The Wall Street Journal《华人街日报》、BMW宝马、Volkswagen大众、Tesla特斯拉、Elon Musk埃隆·马斯克公司、Google谷歌等。平时同学们需要尽量多看报，多听新闻，双语版的更佳。需要掌握的名词包括：auto business,tech industry,debut,swarms of,venture,legions of,the massive hit,gross profit margins,compliance,newbie,firm, emission,entrepreneur,malware,rivalry等，需要掌握的动词包括 showcase,infiltrate等，其他词性的词汇包括lucrative,rigorously等。虽然面上显得词汇量要求比较高，其实在上下文中，结合语境和主题知识，完全可以很好地推测出词汇的意义，不必因为词汇望而生畏。

从逻辑脉络来看，本文的开头指出苹果公司立志涉足新领域即开发新型汽车，接下来说明了苹果公司为该目标所做的准备工作，随后指出汽车开发和手机开发是有区别的，最后指出苹果公司选择开发iCars还是有其自身优势的。同学们在阅读过程中，会发现主题知识的帮助非常大，如果事先了解苹果公司的动态和跟其关联的业界动态的话，会比较容易读懂这篇文本。由此可见，平时的阅读量和知识面对阅读理解是多么重要。

阅读材料

Business:Apple From iPhones to iCars

Apple is entering the auto business,but the road ahead could be rough.Having redefined the personal-computer and mobile-phone industries,Apple has set its sights on a new,moving target.

The darling of the tech industry is aiming to debut an electric car in 2019,according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.For years there had been speculation that Apple had auto ambitions.It has been hiring swarms of engineers to work on the project,code-named Titan,which now employs around 600.

With around$200 billion stored up,Apple certainly has enough cash to spend on a new venture.Its legions of fans are always eager to see it launch a new offering that makes a splash.Its most recent product,the Apple Watch,has not been the massive hit some analysts expected,and Apple’s launch event earlier this month was rather dull,showcasing mainly tweaks to existing products.Launching a car would be far more daring and,in theory,highly lucrative.Global car sales were worth around$2 trillion last year.

However,there are many things about the car business that make it quite unlike peddling phones.The replacement cycle for an iPhone is a mere two years.Consumers hold on to their cars for far longer.To make business sense,Apple’s cars would need to earn returns comparable to those of its existing products.But gross profit margins like Apple’s current 40%or so are something most large-scale carmakers can only dream of.At BMW,one of the most profitable of these,such margins are around 20%.

An even more important factor is that,as demonstrated by all thisweek’s attention on Volkswagen,cars are more heavily regulated than consumer electronics.Compliance with safety standards and emissions rules is likely to be more rigorously enforced in future.That is a tricky prospect for even the most experienced carmaker,let alone an industry newbie.

The firm’s capabilities in mobile devices will be an advantage,as cars become ever more connected to the internet.But the risks associated with connected cars are of a different order to those with mobile phones.This week it was revealed that malware had infiltrated some of the smartphone apps sold in Apple’s store,including two of the most popular apps in China.This was embarrassing but not disastrous.If similar malware got into an Apple car,the results could be deadly.

Such concerns are not enough to discourage tech firms from driving at full speed into the car business.Leading the way is Tesla,a maker of upmarket electric vehicles set up by Elon Musk,a successful tech entrepreneur.Google is working on a self-driving vehicle and an operating system for cars,and recently hired a former motor-industry executive to run its autonomous car project. Apple’s decision to enter the motor industry may be fuelled in part by not wanting to leave Google with control of the dashboard and cars’operating systems.Their rivalry is turning into a road race.