英美要闻：苹果春季发布会没“硬”货？

Apple Inc attempted to reintroduce itself on Monday as an entertainment and financial services company that also makes iPhones as it launched a streaming television service, a credit card and an online gaming arcade.

苹果公司在本周一举行发布会，推出了流媒体电视服务、信用卡和在线游戏平台,并试图塑造其不仅生产苹果手机，同时作为娱乐和金融服务公司的形象。

With appearances by Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg, the world’s second-most valuable technology company lifted the curtain on a television and movie subscription service called Apple TV+ that will stream original television shows and movies.

随着奥普拉•温弗瑞(Oprah Winfrey)和史蒂文•斯皮尔伯格(Steven Spielberg）与苹果的合作亮相，这家全球市值第二高的科技公司开启了名为Apple TV+的电视和电影订阅服务，该服务将播放原创电视节目和电影。

The star-studded lineup failed to excite investors, who sent Apple shares down 1.2 percent.

但众星云集的阵容未能激发投资者的热情，还导致苹果股价下跌1.2%。

The company’s long-expected plunge into the streaming video war is years behind leaders Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc. Apple left out key details such as pricing, making it difficult to judge how its service will stack up against competitors.

苹果公司长期以来对流媒体视频大战的投入比领先的Netflix公司和亚马逊公司落后多年。该公司还遗漏了定价等关键细节，因此很难判断其服务将如何与竞争对手相抗衡。

“While Apple may introduce a bigger roster of original content than Amazon and Netflix during their respective launches, the streaming market has arguably already reached a level of saturation and consumer fatigue in the United States,” said Colin Gillis, an analyst at Chatham Road Partners.

查塔姆路合作公司(Chatham Road Partners)分析师科林·吉利斯(Colin Gillis)表示:“尽管苹果可能会在新品发布期间推出比亚马逊(Amazon)和Netflix的产品更多的原创内容，但流媒体市场在美国可以说已经达到饱和和消费者疲劳的程度。”

The programming will come through a revamped television-watching app for users of Apple’s 1.4 billion gadgets worldwide, as well as owners of smart TVs and other devices.

编排的节目将通过一款改版的电视观看app播出，面向全球14亿苹果设备的用户，以及智能电视和其他设备的用户。

Apple is taking a different approach by offering paid “channels” from AT&T Inc’s HBO, Lions Gate Entertainment’s Starz and CBS Corp’s Showtime, alongside its own content.

苹果正在采取一种不同的方式，除了提供自己的内容外，还提供来自美国电话电报公司(AT&T)旗下HBO、狮门娱乐(Lions Gate Entertainment)旗下Starz和哥伦比亚广播公司(CBS)旗下Showtime的付费“频道”。

Its revamped app for subscribing to channels from others will come out in May, but Apple’s own original shows will not arrive until autumn, with pricing not yet announced. Apple said both its TV+ shows and the new version of the TV app will be available in more than 100 countries.

苹果将于5月推出其改版的订阅渠道应用，但苹果自己的原创节目要到秋季才会推出，定价尚未公布。苹果表示，其TV+节目和新版电视APP将在100多个国家推出。

Apple also introduced a credit card, a digital video game arcade, and added hundreds of magazines to its news app at an event at its Cupertino, California, headquarters.

苹果还在加州库比蒂诺(Cupertino, California) 总部的发布会上推出了信用卡、数码游戏平台，并在其新闻应用程序中添加了数百本杂志。

The launches come as Apple struggles with falling iPhone sales, which has prompted the company to turn more of its attention to services that provide regular subscription revenue.

苹果推出这些新产品之际，正艰难应对iPhone销量下滑问题，这促使公司将更多注意力转向可提供定期订阅收入的服务。

Hollywood celebrities helped debut the revamped television offering. Apple has commissionedprogramming from Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Winfrey, Spielberg and others.

好莱坞明星纷纷助阵新推出的电视节目。苹果已经委托詹妮弗·安妮斯顿（Jennifer Aniston）、瑞茜·威瑟斯彭（ Reese Witherspoon）、温弗瑞（Winfrey）、斯皮尔伯格（Spielberg）等人制作节目。

Winfrey, who announced a global book club and two documentaries, said she was drawn to Apple in part by its reach. “They’re in a billion pockets, y’all,” she said, referring to Apple’s ubiquitous devices.

温弗瑞成立了一个全球读书俱乐部，并制作了两部纪录片。她说，她被苹果吸引的部分原因是苹果的影响力。“它们在10亿人的口袋里，包括你们所有人，”她指的是无处不在的苹果设备。

Alongside its own iPhones, iPads and iMacs, Apple will make the programming widely available through smart TVs and devices from Roku Inc and others, departing from the past where it has tended to keep content exclusively on its own hardware.

除了iPhone、iPad和iMac，苹果还将通过智能电视和Roku 等流媒体公司的设备广泛提供这些节目。这与以前的做法明显不同，以前只能在苹果的硬件产品看到苹果的内容。

今日词汇

reintroduce /ˌriːɪntrəˈdjuːs/ v. 再介绍；再引入

streaming /ˈstriːmɪŋ/ n. 流媒体

arcade /ɑːˈkeɪd/ n. 游戏厅

lifte the curtain 揭开序幕

star-studded /ˈstɑːˌstʌdɪd/ adj. 星罗棋布的；明星荟萃的

lineup /ˈlɑɪnˌʌp/ n. 阵容；一组人

share /ʃeər/ n. 股份

plunge /plʌndʒ/ v./n. 投入

leave out 遗漏；省去；不考虑

stack up against 争胜负；较量

roster /ˈrɒstər/ n. 花名册

saturation /ˌsætʃərˈeɪʃən/ n. 饱和

fatigue /fəˈtiːɡ/ n. 疲劳

revamp /ˌriːˈvæmp/ v. 修补；翻新

gadget /ˈɡædʒɪt/ n. 小玩意；小配件

subscription /səbˈskrɪpʃən/ n. 订阅

debut /ˈdeɪbju/ v. 初次登台；开张

commission /kəˈmɪʃən/ v./n. 委任

ubiquitous /juːˈbɪkwɪtəs/ adj. 无处不在的

exclusively /ɪkˈskluːsɪvli/ adv. 专属地