2015考研英语阅读英文原刊《经济学人》：网络沃尔玛

　　2015考研英语复习正是强化复习阶段，考研英语阅读在考研英语中占了40分，所以考研英语阅读是英语科目中重要的一项。新东方名师法律硕士0老师曾建议过考研生需要坚持每天泛读10-15分钟的英文原刊。强烈推荐了杂志《经济学人》.杂志中的文章也是考研英语的主要材料来源.希望考研考生认真阅读，快速提高考研英语阅读水平。

　　The Walmart of the web

　　网络沃尔玛

　　The internet giant’s new tablet computer fitsitsstrategy of developing big businesses by chargingsmall prices

　　互联网巨头用低价战略，进军平板电脑市场

　　A couple of years after it launched its website in1995, Amazon was the subject of an unflatteringreport entitled “Amazon.Toast”. The pundit who penned it predicted that the fledgling onlinebookseller would soon be crushed by Barnes & Noble (B&N), a book-retailingbehemoth which had just launched its own site.

　　1995年上线后的几年，亚马逊便成为一份名为《AmazonToast》报告唱衰的对象。编写该报告的专家预测，羽翼未丰的在线图书零售商亚马逊很快就会被巴诺挤出市场，后者是网站刚刚上线的图书零售巨头。

　　Far from being crushed, Amazon is doing the crushing. Borders, a once-mighty book chain,was flattened this year. B&N looks likea frightened capybara running from a fierceBrazilian she-warrior. Amazon is now one of the web’s most successful e-tailers. Even Apple isfeeling the heat.

　　亚马逊没有被挤出市场，反而变被动为主动。昔日强大的连锁书店Borders今年被清盘。巴诺看起来就像一只胆颤心惊的南美水豚正逃避着剽悍的亚马逊女战士。亚马逊现在是互联网上最成功的在线零售商。即便是苹果也感到热浪灼人。

　　On September 28th Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s boss, unveiled a tablet computer called the KindleFire. It will compete with gadgets such as B&N’s Nook Color tablet and Apple’s iPad. Thenew Amazon tablet, which has a somewhat smaller screen than the iPad and only offers Wi-Ficonnectivity, is likely to be just the first salvo in a titanicbattle.

　　9月28日，亚马逊的老板Jeff Bezos发布了一款名为Kindle Fire的平板电脑。它将与巴诺的Nook Color电子书和苹果的iPad展开竞争。新款亚马逊平板电脑的屏幕比iPad小几分，并且只提供无线保真网络连接，它的出现有可能是一场鏖战前的第一枪。

　　Like Apple, Amazon boasts a huge collection of online content, including e-books, films andmusic. And like Apple, it lets people store their content in a computing “cloud” and retrieve itfrom almost anywhere. But the two firms part company when it comes to pricing. The KindleFire, which will be available from mid-November in America, will cost only $199. That is far lessthan the cheapest iPad, a Wi-Fi-only device which costs $499. B&N responded to theKindle Fire by cutting the price of its Nook Color to $224. This week Amazon also rolled out anew range of Kindle e-readers, the cheapest of which costs just $79. “We are building premiumproducts and offering them at non-premium prices,” beamed Mr Bezos.

　　与苹果相似，亚马逊号称其有大量的在线内容，有电子书、电影和音乐。在另一点也和苹果相像，它允许人们将自己的内容存储在它的计算云中，并且可以从几乎任何地方取回。但是，这两个公司在对产品的定价上却大相径庭。Kindle Fire九月中旬将在美国上市，仅售199美元。这比只有Wi-Fi功能售价为499美元，最便宜的iPad还要便宜的多。本周，亚马逊还推出了新款Kindler电子阅读器，最便宜的仅售79美元。亚马逊的老板Bezos说：“我们打造优质的产品并以低价提供给消费者。”

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