智能手机行业的成熟值得庆祝【经济学人精讲】第198期
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第198期精讲
本文选自经济学人2019年1月10日文章。2018年第四个季度，苹果销量下滑，股票也受挫，整个智能手机行业表现也不及2017年，这是智能手机市场饱和和人们更换手机速度变缓的结果。但创新会因此放缓吗？当然不会。最新智能手机已经拥有3D人脸识别、AI支持相机等功能，此外，它还应用于诸如手机支付和流媒体等其它创新领域，在未来，手机还可能用于智能家居和无人的士叫车。智能手机销量下滑对该行业来说可能不是好事，但对整个人类来说，这是一个可喜的迹象，说明革命性技术已经普及。
由于篇幅较长，本文节选原文标题和全文重点段落进行精讲，帮助大家提高英语阅读和写作能力。
1 英文原文
Peak smartphone? Good
The maturing of the smartphone industry is cause for celebration
It’s bad news for Apple shareholders, but good news for humanity
Jan 10th 2019
WHEN APPLE cut its revenue estimate for the last quarter of 2018 because of unexpectedly slow sales of iPhones, markets convulsed. The company’s share price, which had been sliding for months, fell by a further 10% on January 3rd, the day after the news came out. Apple’s suppliers’ shares were also hit. This week Samsung, the world’s largest maker of smartphones by volume, which also sells components to other smartphone-makers, said its sales were weaker than expected for the quarter, too.
Analysts reckon that the number of smartphones sold in 2018 will be slightly lower than in 2017, the industry’s first ever annual decline. All this is terrible news for investors who had banked on continued growth (see article). But step back and look at the bigger picture. That smartphone sales have peaked, and seem to be levelling off at around 1.4bn units a year, is good news for humanity.
2 选文精讲
Peak smartphone? Good 智能手机达到峰值了吗？太好了
The maturing of the smartphone industry is cause for celebration
智能手机行业的成熟值得庆祝
be cause for: 引起，导致，这里是值得的意思
It’s bad news for Apple shareholders, but good news for humanity
这对苹果的股东来说是个坏消息，但对人类来说却是个好消息
WHEN APPLE cut its revenue estimate for the last quarter of 2018 because of unexpectedly slow sales of iPhones, markets convulsed. The company’s share price, which had been sliding for months, fell by a further 10% on January 3rd, the day after the news came out. Apple’s suppliers’ shares were also hit. This week Samsung, the world’s largest maker of smartphones by volume, which also sells components to other smartphone-makers, said its sales were weaker than expected for the quarter, too.
revenue estimate: 营收预期
convulse: 剧烈震动（throw (a country) into violent social or political upheaval：a wave of mass strikes convulsed the Ruhr, Berlin, and central Germany）
hit: 遭受打击、不良影响，hit是个非常好的小词，这里表示“to have a bad effect”，在作文中，可完美的替换掉“affect”。此外，外刊也常用“hurt”来表示“造成不良影响”的意思，与之相对的反义词是“help”,"有利于、有助于"，eg. The tax increases will certaily hit the poor.(= affect the poor, have a bad effect on the poor.)；此外，英文中有很多 hit 和名词构成的口语表达，在这些表达中，hit 并不表示“击打”，而是和后面的名词构成不同的具体含义，在这里分享给大家：
hit the jackpot: 指“获得成功，尤其是赚了/赢了很多钱”。eg. They hit the jackpot when they bought the lottery ticket。在生活中，hit the jackpot是一个常用的表达方式，并不总是表达“中了大奖”，还可以表达一个人“得到了意想不到的好运”；
hit the road：并不是“打路”，而表示“上路”，比如你和朋友吃完饭，说“我们该走了”、“我们该上路了”，就可以说：let’s hit the road. 非常地道；
hit the light：并不是“打灯”，也不是脑袋撞到灯，而是“开灯”；
hit the sack：这里的sack 本意指“布袋子”，后来引申为睡袋和床的意思，hit the sack 并不是“打布袋子”，而是“睡觉、就寝”；
hit the books：用功读书，eg. I have an exam tomorrow, so I need to hit the books tonight.
由于iphone销售意外放缓，苹果下调了2018年最后一个季度的营收预期。消息传出的第二天，该公司已经连续数月下跌的股价在1月3日又下跌了10%。苹果供应商的股价也受到了影响。本周，全球销量最大的智能手机制造商三星表示，本季度销量也低于预期。三星还向其他智能手机制造商销售零部件。
Analysts reckon that the number of smartphones sold in 2018 will be slightly lower than in 2017, the industry’s first ever annual decline. All this is terrible news for investors who had banked on continued growth. But step back and look at the bigger picture. That smartphone sales have peaked, and seem to be levelling off at around 1.4bn units a year, is good news for humanity.
bank on: 指望
level off: 达到平衡
分析人士估计，2018年智能手机销量将略低于2017年，这是智能手机行业首次出现年度下滑。对于那些指望手机销量持续增长的投资者来说，所有这些都是坏消息。但是退一步从更大的角度去看这个问题，智能手机销量已达到峰顶，似乎正稳定在每年14亿部左右，这对人类来说是个好消息。