VOA慢速英语:New Generation of Laptops Spell Trouble for PCs

Competition in the world of personal computers is fierce. Computer makers are working on new ways to persuade people to buy PCs. The advertising campaigns could be seen earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.
全球个人电脑市场竞争激烈，电脑制造商正想出新办法来劝说人们买电脑。今年早些时候在内华达州拉斯维加斯举行的消费电子展上广告活动就已上马。

Mike Fard is a marketing representative at Intel, his company manufactures Semi-conductor chips for computers.
Mike Fard是英特尔公司的销售代表。该公司生产电脑内的半导体芯片。

"This year it's all about touch, we have touch computers based on Windows 8 running the Intel processors, but even more exciting than just touch, is the ultra-book convertible. What that means is that you have a standard laptop that converts into a tablet and we have multiple designs that feature this capability."
“今年的主题是触屏，我们生产了使用因特尔处理器的Windows 8触屏电脑，但比触屏更令人激动的是，这种超极本可以转换。意思是说，它既是标准的笔记本电脑，又能转换成平板电脑。同时我们就此还有多种设计。”

Yet sales of personal computers are slow. Recently, research company IDC reported that worldwide sales of PCs dropped 14 percent in the first three month of 2013. The company said this was the worst drop since it started collecting information in 1994.
然而，个人电脑的销售疲弱。最近，IDC市场研究公司(International Data Corporation)报告称，今年前三个月，全球个人电脑销量下降了14%。该公司表示，这是他们自1994年开始收集数据以来最大的跌幅。

In April, Intel said its earnings fell 2.5 percent to 12.6 billion dollars, compared to earnings last year. Intel's net income dropped 25 percent to 2 billion dollars.
4月份，因特尔称其收入与去年相比下降了2.5%，只有126亿美元。因特尔的净收入下降了25%，只有20亿美元。

One possible reason for the slow sales is the rise of tablet computers, such as Apple's iPad and other mobile devices. Intel and its competitors have sought to work their way out of their sale's trouble by offering new products. These include ultra-book, a thin light weight notebook computer which came out in 2011. But the inventions have yet to increase sales.
销售疲弱的一个可能的原因是平板电脑的崛起，比如苹果的iPad等移动设备。英特尔及其竞争对手都试图通过推出新产品努力摆脱销售困境。其中就包括超级本，这款超轻薄笔记本电脑于2011年推出，但它的销量也有待提高。

Industry experts are also concerned about reaction to Microsoft windows 8 operating system, it was released last October.
行业专家还担心公众对去年10月推出的微软Windows 8操作系统的反应。

Bob O'Donnell, an IDC vice president said the Windows 8 launch not only failed to increase PC sales, but seemed to have slowed the market. He blamed Microsoft for developing a program with what he calls "radical changes", he has criticized the company for removing the start button from the operating system.
IDC公司副总裁Bob O'Donnell称，Windows 8 不但未能增加PC销量，看上去反倒阻碍了市场。他指责微软公司开发了一款“彻底改变”的程序，并批评该公司从操作系统中删除了开始按钮。

Without reacting to the criticisms, Windows Corporate vice president Julie Larson-Green announced this month that Microsoft will release a Windows 8 update. She expects the first public preview on the update to take place in June.
微软公司Windows部门副总裁Julie Larson-Green本周宣布微软将发布Windows 8 更新。她预计该更新将于6月份首次公开。

Intel has said it wants to be more influential in the manufacture of chips for mobile devices. Its chips began appearing in smart phones for the first time about a year ago. But critics say Intel's latest technology called "Ivy Bridge" is far behind that of the competition. The company believes this will change with its new mobile chip design which is set for release later this year.
因特尔称希望能在移动设备芯片制造商更具影响力，其芯片一年前首次出现在智能手机中。但批评者表示，英特尔公司被称为"Ivy Bridge"的最新技术在竞争中远远落后。该公司表示，这种情况将通过定于今年晚些时候发布的最新手机芯片设计而有所改变。