时髦英语口语词汇讲解第47期:Wifi! 无线网!

Wi-fi. W-I-F-I. Sometimes written with a hyphen, sometimes not.
Wi-fi， 无线网络，有时候中间会有连字符，有时候没有。

Wireless fidelity. Technically, it's a standard ensuring that equipment works on a wireless network. It's on analogy with 'hi-fi', for high fidelity, that used to be common for recording some years ago.
Wifi全称为wireless fidelity.(无线保真)，从专业的角度讲，是一种确保不需要线缆也可使用因特网的技术。 Wifi和hi-fi（高保真）相似--“高保真”一词多年前就出现了，是用来形容唱片音效的。

It's an interesting usage because it shows the return of a word that everybody thought had gone completely out of date - 'wireless'.
Wi-fi这个词很有趣，因为人们可以从它身上看到过时的单词卷土重来的现象： wifi来自单词wireless （无线）。

I mean, 'wireless' was around when wireless was invented, but it was quickly replaced by 'radio'.
收音机刚被发明的时候，“wirless”（无线电；收音机）开始出现在人们的生活中，但是这个词很快被radio（无线电；收音机）所取代。

And everybody talks about 'radio broadcasting' not 'wireless broadcasting' and then, suddenly it came back in again with this internet connection.
说到电台的时候，人们往往用“radio broardcasing”而不是“wirelss broadcasting”，但是随着网络的出现，wireless又开始被人们使用。

It's used now for all sorts of applications.
Wireless（无线技术）现在被用于各种各样的家电。

TV remotes can be talked about as wireless, if you control your garage door, it's a wireless control, mobile phones are sometimes referred to as wireless, and GPS, you know, satellite things in your car - wireless.
例如，电视遥控是无线的；你可以遥控车库的门；手机也是无线的；还有GPS（全球定位系统）--也就是你车里受卫星控制的玩意--也是无线的。

Has a lot of associated terminology, of course, wi-fi is just one word of many that has come into usage in the last few years, talking about the way in which we cope with the internet.
在过去的几年里，被人们用于日常生活的跟网络相关的专业术语有很多，wifi只是其中之一。

'Hot spot' is another one, for instance, that's a location which offers a wireless connection to the internet - you sometimes see people outside houses with their laptops, where there's a hot spot, there is a connection to the internet from nearby.
例如hot spot (热点)--提供无线网络的一个地方--你有时候会看见某人拿着笔记本电脑连接附近网络的无线网点上网。

Incidentally, the opposite of 'wireless' is 'wired' - that is, using wires to carry the signal, as in, say, cable television, and that's led also to an extended use - 'wired'. 'He's wired' - that means he's alert, he's capable, he's ready.
顺便提一下，wireless的反义词是wired（有线的）--也就是用线缆来传输信号，如有线电视；但是此处wired还有另外一个用法--如He’s wired.意思是，他已经有所警觉（有准备的；有能力的；）

And people who are 'wired up' are like that too! I'm wired up at the moment!
当然我可以说某人有点wired-up (兴奋)--这里又是wired的另一个用法了。我现在就有点wired-up (兴奋)。