(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
Computer technology has become a major part of people's lives. This technology has its own special words. One example is the word mouse. A computer mouse is not a small animal that lives in buildings and open fields. It is a small device that you move around on a flat surface in front of a computer. The mouse moves the pointer, or cursor, on the computer screen.
Computer expert Douglas Engelbart developed the idea for the mouse in the early nineteen-sixties. The first computer mouse was a carved block of wood with two metal wheels. It was called a mouse because it had a tail at one end. The tail was the wire that connected it to the computer.
Read, listen and learn English with this story. Double-click on any word to find the definition in the Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary.
Using a computer takes some training. People who are experts are sometimes called hackers. A hacker is usually a person who writes software programs in a special computer language. But the word hacker is also used to describe a person who tries to steal information from computer systems.
Another well known computer word is Google, spelled g-o-o-g-l-e. It is the name of a popular "search engine" for the Internet. People use the search engine to find information about almost any subject on the Internet. The people who started the company named it Google because in mathematics, googol, spelled g-o-o-g-o-l, is an extremely large number. It is the number one followed by one-hundred zeros.
When you "Google" a subject, you can get a large amount of information about it. Some people like to Google their friends or themselves to see how many times their name appears on the Internet.
If you Google someone, you might find that person's name on a blog. A blog is the shortened name for a Web log. A blog is a personal Web page. It may contain stories, comments, pictures and links to other Web sites. Some people add information to their blogs every day. People who have blogs are called bloggers.
Blogs are not the same as spam. Spam is unwanted sales messages sent to your electronic mailbox. The name is based on a funny joke many years ago on a British television show, "Monty Python's Flying Circus." Some friends are at an eating place that only serves a processed meat product from the United States called SPAM. Every time the friends try to speak, another group of people starts singing the word SPAM very loudly. This interferes with the friends' discussion – just as unwanted sales messages interfere with communication over the Internet.
This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Jill Moss. I'm Faith Lapidus.
文本来自51voa，译文属可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载
词汇解释
1.cursor n. 光标；（计算尺的）[计] 游标，指针
You can move the cursor by using the mouse.
你可以使用鼠标器来移动光标。
2.hacker n. 电脑黑客，企图不法侵入他人电脑系统的人
The hacker came smack up against the company's policy of keeping its records in code.
这个计算机黑客突然碰壁了，因这家公司实行了用密码保存公司纪录的政策。
3.spam n. 垃圾邮件；罐头猪肉
Powerful spam filtering solid interface and all the features you need.
强有力的垃圾邮件过滤、可靠贴心的用户界面，所有的特性都是你需要的。
4.unwanted adj. 不需要的；有害的；讨厌的；空闲的
You will have to kill these unwanted plants with poison.
你将不得不用药物把这些讨厌的植物毒死。
内容解析
1.It is a small device that you move around on a flat surface in front of a computer.
move around 走来走去；绕着……来回转
The planets move around the sun in ellipses.
各行星围绕太阳按椭圆形运转。
There is no room to move around.
地方太小，倒不开身。
2.This interferes with the friends' discussion – just as unwanted sales messages interfere with communication over the Internet.
interfere with 干扰，干涉；妨碍；触动或弄坏；乱动；与……抵触
The trees interfere with the view.
那些树挡住了视线。
Smoking often interferes with health.
吸烟妨碍健康。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语词汇典故。
电脑技术已成为人们生活的重要部分，该技术有特有的词汇。一个例子就是鼠标这个词，电脑的鼠标不是生活在楼里或开阔地的小老鼠，而是可在电脑前平坦平面上移动的小装置。鼠标能移动电脑屏幕上的光标。
电脑专家道格拉斯·恩格尔巴特于20世纪60年代早期提出鼠标的概念，第一个电脑鼠标是安有两个金属轮子、雕刻过的木块。之所以被称为鼠标，是因为后面还有尾巴，这个尾巴是连接电脑的电线。
要用电脑需要一定的培训，电脑专家有时被称为黑客。黑客通常是那些用特有的电脑语言写软件程序的人，但黑客这个词还被用来指那些试图从电脑系统偷窃信息的人。
另一个有名的电脑词汇是谷歌，这是流行的互联网搜索引擎的名字。人们使用这个搜索引擎来在网上寻找与某个话题有关的信息，开创这个公司的人使用Google这个词，是因为在数学种，googol是非常大的数字，是数字1后面有100个零。
如果用谷歌搜索一个话题，就能搜出很多与之相关的信息。有的人喜欢在谷歌上搜索朋友或自己，看他们的名字在互联网上出现多少次。
如果你谷歌某个人，可能会找到这个人的名字出现在博客上。博客是网站日志的缩写，博客是个人网页，会包含故事、评论、图片和其他网站的链接。有的人每天更新博客，有博客的人被称为博主。
博客与垃圾邮件不同，垃圾邮件是发到你电子信箱里不受欢迎的销售信息。这个名字来自多年前英国电视秀节目“飞行马戏团”中的一个有趣的笑话，有的朋友在一个饭店吃饭，那里只提供来自美国的名叫SPAM的加工肉制品。每次朋友们开始讲话，另一群人就开始大声唱着SPAM这个词，这就干扰了朋友们的谈话，就像不喜欢的销售信息干扰互联网上的通信一样。
这里是美国之音慢速英语词汇典故，作者吉尔·莫斯，我是Faith Lapidus。
