2015考研英语阅读英文原刊《经济学人》： 跳出机顶盒定式

　　Cable companies have long offered bundles of broadband, television and phone line.

　　有线电视公司很早便开始想用户提供宽带、电视、电话三线合一的服务，

　　Comcast is going much further with its home-services business, which includes alarmsystems, baby monitoring and temperature control.

　　而康卡斯特准备进一步综合家庭服务，该服务将涵盖报警系统、婴儿监视器及温度控制。

　　And it is bringing in partners.

　　康卡斯特还同其他公司展开合作，

　　In October Comcast teamed up with Twitter to allow its subscribers to find or recordprogrammes that are being tweeted about.

　　10月康卡斯特同推特强强联手，他们推出了一项可以让订购其电视节目的用户查找、记录推特用户推文中的节目。

　　Like its competitors it is also testing smaller, cheaper packages of television channels andbroadband, to appeal to cost-conscious youngsters.

　　同其竞争对手一样，康卡斯特也在测试更小、更为廉价的电视频道和宽带节目，以迎合节约的年轻群体。

　　The greatest change for Comcast is the reorientation of its business towards broadband.

　　康卡斯特最大的变化非宽带业务再定位莫属，

　　By next year Comcast may well have more subscribers to its broadband services than fortelevision.

　　明年康卡斯特宽带服务用户或许会超过其电视服务用户。

　　Those who eschew pay-TV will still need an internet package, and cable could pick upcustomers from satellite operators, whose internet speeds are slower.

　　那些抛弃付费电视的用户仍旧需要使用网络，有线网络可以从卫星运营商那里抢回部分用户，毕竟后者的网速更慢。

　　Ironically content going to the internet gives cable companies that monopoly power back toa certain extent,

　　巴克莱银行的分析师康南·文卡特斯瓦尔表示：极具讽刺意味的是转入网络的节目让有线电视公司可以在一定程度上进行垄断，

　　because you don't have competition in broadband to the extent you have it in video, saysKannan Venkateshwar of Barclays, a bank. Comcast and other cable companies areexperimenting more with usage-based pricing, charging more for heavy data consumption.

　　因为他们在宽带业务方面没了竞争对手，而在视频方面却有了。康卡斯特及其他有线电视公司正越来越多的尝试基于使用的付费方式，使用数据更多的用户需要支付更多费用。

　　Mr Roberts has always had big ambitions and an appetite for deals.

　　罗伯特总是雄心勃勃、扩张欲望强烈。

　　In 2004, two years after he became boss of Comcast, he launched an unsuccessful 66billion hostile bid for Disney.

　　2004年，罗伯特接任康卡斯特两年后便发起了对迪斯尼的恶意收购，但并未能如愿。

　　The deal with NBCU pushed Comcast to a new level in size and clout, at a time when mostmedia companies were slimming down to focus on what they did best.

　　收购环球影视时正值大部分媒体公司缩小规模、聚力做精之际，完成收购后康卡斯特的规模及影响力达到了更高的水平。

　　Time Warner, a content firm, has spun off Time Warner Cable; next year it will do the samewith Time Inc, its magazines business.

　　其竞争对手时代华纳公司出售了时代华纳有线公司，明年还会出售做杂志业务的时代出版集团。

　　The hunger games

　　饥饿游戏

　　Even Comcast's few critics acknowledge that the firm secured an excellent price andfavourable terms for NBCU. The rationale was that adding content would provide a hedge toComcast's core cable business.

　　即便康卡斯特没有人批评公司收购环球影视，毕竟这笔交易价格合理、条件有利，但关键在于继续收购会为康卡斯特的核心业务，即有线电视业务产生不利影响。

　　But few feel that there have been any significant benefits from content and distributionsharing a parent.

　　但是，没有人注意到共享一个母公司的两家子公司在业务内容及资源分配上会产生积极的作用。

　　I would be just as happy if they had not bought NBCU, says one Comcast shareholder.

　　康卡斯特的一位股东说道：很高兴他们收购了环球影视公司。

　　He might be happier to hear rumours that Comcast has hired a bank to advise it on a possiblebid for TWC,America's second-biggest cable operator.

　　如果听到了康卡斯特已经聘请某银行，估算竞标美国第二大有线电视运营商，即时代华纳有限公司可行性的谣言，他可能会更高兴。

　　This would give Comcast 34% of the American market. Scale can help cable firms competewith rival pay-TV services, and give more leverage in negotiations with content-providers,which continue to raise the cost of carrying their programmes.

　　如果竞标成功，康卡斯特将会占据美国有线电视市场34%的份额，规模化效益有利于康卡斯特同其他付费电视公司竞争，并且还能增加同节目供应商谈判的筹码，后者仍在为自己的产品加价。

　　That's why Liberty Global, a rival cable company, has its eye on TWC too.

　　这也是其竞争对手自有媒体公司同样有意竞标时代华纳有线公司的原因，自有媒体还投资了Charter通讯公司，后者也有意同时代华纳有线公司合并。

　　It has taken a stake in Charter, another cable operator keen to merge with TWC. Comcastis saying nothing about a deal, and some ask whether regulators would even allow it.

　　康卡斯特对于此次交易只字未提，有人会问监管部门是否会运行这笔收购。

　　30 Rock has already concluded its final season.

　　《我为喜剧狂》已经完季，

　　Who will mock Comcast, if Kabletown becomes Kablecountry?

　　谁来继续借此调侃自娱呢?如果Kabletown扩张成为Kablecountry，

　　词语解释

　　1.in order to 为了

　　In order to focus effectively, reverse the order.

　　为了有效地专注，将工作顺序反过来。

　　He arranged the accident in order to fake his owndeath.

　　他策划了这次事故以便造成他自己死亡的假象。

　　2.to the amusement of 为了娱乐

　　He made the mistake of doing that at a major tournament and was unceremoniouslydragged out of the room, still yelling, much to the amusement of the other players.

　　他是在做，在重大比赛，并毫不客气地拖出了房间，还大叫，这让其他玩家的娱乐错误。

　　Njambi wynn still remembers the year some students performed arap song about king henryand his wives at the british embassy, to the amusement of the ambassador. Another classperformed atraditional indonesian dance, while another began by singing the cyprus nationalanthem.

　　韦恩还记得有一年，一些学生在英国使馆表演了关于亨利王及其后妃们的饶舌歌曲，让大使感到很有趣另一班的学生表演了一段印尼传统舞蹈，还有一班的演出以唱塞浦路斯国歌开始。

　　3.adapt to 变得习惯于;使适应于

　　So how do you adapt to these constants?

　　那么你如何适应这几个常量呢?

　　Keeping trade going will therefore help countries adapt to climate change.

　　保持贸易持续进行将会因此而帮助国家适应气候变化。

　　4.subscribe to 同意，订阅

　　To use the new offering, subscribe to any feed.

　　要使用这个新功能，只需要订阅任意一个feed。

　　For weekly or daily emails, subscribe to the blog.

　　想订周邮或日邮，请关注此博客。

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