Microsoft brings instant chat to 
　　TV screen, through games
　　Microsoft planned to announce today that it will make its Windows Live Messenger service available on its Xbox 360 game consoles, bringing instant messaging from the computer to the television.
　　The move was meant to help Microsoft stay ahead of Sony, its chief rival in the electronic games business, in delivering the richest online experience for game players. It is also an element of Microsoft’s overall strategy to connect people across PCs, televisions and mobile devices like cellphones.
　　More than 200 million people use Windows Live Messenger to chat with friends, family members and colleagues. Separately, more than six million Xbox 360 owners are connected to the company’s Xbox Live online community, an enhancement that lets people with broadband Internet connections communicate with one another.
　　In the second week of May, those two worlds will begin to converge. Xbox Live members will be able to link their “gamertag” ,the online identity they use within the Xbox community, to an existing Windows Live Messenger account. Players will then be able to chat with their instant-messaging contacts using a virtual on-screen keyboard or a USB keyboard plugged into the game machine.
　　Microsoft executives said they hoped to offer voice chat between Xbox and Live Messenger users later this year.
　　“We feel this is a huge step in driving social networking further into the family room by allowing Xbox 360 users to IM directly from their couch,” said John Rodman, Microsoft’s group manager for the Xbox 360, in a telephone interview last week. “Now you don’t have to manage two separate groups of friends online.”
　　Microsoft and Sony are battling to dominate the high end of the console gaming market. (Nintendo, by contrast, is appealing largely to families and more budget-conscious players.) In years past, game consoles stood out from one another mostly by their game offerings. But now it appears that top game publishers like Electronic Arts will release most of their biggest games for both the Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3.
　　As a result, Microsoft and Sony are attempting to differentiate their game machines with other features, like film playback capabilities and online services.
　　Microsoft has been ahead of Sony in online console game-playing, but last month Sony announced that it was developing a new Internet service called PlayStation Home that could surpass some elements of Xbox Live. The instant�瞞essaging feature appears to be one part of Microsoft’s response.
　　考研詞匯：
　　delivery[diˈlivəri]
　　n.傳遞，傳送，交付
　　[真題例句] Coupled with the growing quantity of information is the development of technologies which enable the storage and delivery of more information with greater speed to more locations than has ever been possible before.[1995年閱讀3]
　　[例句精譯] 伴隨著信息量的不斷增長(zhǎng)是技術(shù)的發(fā)展，這些技術(shù)使得人們能夠比過(guò)去以更快的速度向更多的地方儲(chǔ)存和發(fā)送更多的信息，這在以前是不可能的。
　　enhancement[in’hɑ:nsmənt]
　　n.增進(jìn), 增加
　　converge[kənˈvə:dʒ] 
　　v.聚合, 集中于一點(diǎn)vt.會(huì)聚
　　account[əˈkaunt]
　　n.①賬(目，戶);②敘述，說(shuō)明;③價(jià)值，地位;v.(for)①說(shuō)明，解釋;②占;③(take into~)考慮;顧及
　　[真題例句] (71) Actually, it isn�餿, because it assumes that there is an agreed account (n.②) of human rights, which is something the world does not have.[1997年翻譯]
　　[例句精譯] (71)事實(shí)并非如此，因?yàn)檫@種問(wèn)法是以人們對(duì)人的權(quán)利有共識(shí)為基礎(chǔ)的，而這種共同認(rèn)識(shí)并不存在。
　　[真題例句] Is it true that the American intellectual is rejected and considered of no account (n.③) in his society? [2006年翻譯]
　　[例句精譯] 是否美國(guó)的知識(shí)分子在社會(huì)中真的被排斥并被認(rèn)為毫不重要?
　　[真題例句] Kitcher is a philosopher, and this may account (v.①), in part, for the clarity and effectiveness of his arguments.[1996年閱讀5]
　　[例句精譯] 肯切爾是位哲學(xué)家，這也許能部分說(shuō)明他的理論為何明確而有說(shuō)服力。
　　[真題例句] Multinational corporations accounted (v.②) for less than 20% of international trade in 1982.Today the figure is more than 25% and growing rapidly.[2001年閱讀4]
　　[例句精譯] 跨國(guó)公司在1982年只占國(guó)際貿(mào)易不到20%的份額。而現(xiàn)在，這個(gè)數(shù)字上升到25%，并且還在迅速上升。
　　[真題例句] Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm argue that their work gives a correct baseline, which future management efforts must take into account (v.③).[2006年閱讀3]
　　[例句精譯] Myers博士和 Worm博士認(rèn)為他們的研究給出了正確的基準(zhǔn)線，今后的管理工作必須要把這一基準(zhǔn)線考慮在內(nèi)。
　　budget[ˈbʌdʒit]
　　n.預(yù)算;v.做預(yù)算
　　[真題例句] “We know that,” the men from the budget (n.) office have said, “but what do you think? Is it worthwhile going on? What do you think we might expect?”[1999年閱讀5]
　　[例句精譯] 預(yù)算部門(mén)的人說(shuō)：“這點(diǎn)我們知道，但你的意見(jiàn)如何?你覺(jué)得值得做下去嗎?你覺(jué)得我們可以期待什么呢?”
　　surpass[səˈpɑ:s]
　　v.超過(guò)，勝過(guò)
　　[真題例句] (24：Because) they are adjusting to their new bodies and a whole host of new intellectual and emotional challenges, teenagers are especially self�瞔onscious and need the (25：confidence) that comes from achieving success and knowing that their accomplishments are (26：admired) by others.[2003年完形]
(26) [A] claimed[B] admired
　　[C] ignored [D] surpassed
　　[例句精譯] 因?yàn)榍嗌倌晷枰�調(diào)整和適應(yīng)身體上、智能上和情感上所面臨的許多挑戰(zhàn)，所以，他們的自我意識(shí)很強(qiáng)，他們需要培養(yǎng)能獲取成功的，以及能讓他人羨慕成就的自信心。
　　(26) [A] 聲稱(chēng)[B] 敬佩
　　[C] 忽視[D] 超過(guò)
　　背景常識(shí)介紹：
　　統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)字顯示17歲以下的青少年中一半以上的人每周至少上網(wǎng)發(fā)送一封電子郵件或是一條即時(shí)信息。微軟和索尼兩家視頻游戲機(jī)巨頭比較近雙雙推出了升級(jí)版的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)游戲服務(wù)來(lái)爭(zhēng)奪價(jià)值300億美元的市場(chǎng)。
　　參考譯文：
　　微軟，將即時(shí)信息服務(wù)通過(guò)游戲帶入電視熒屏
　　今天，微軟公司按計(jì)劃將宣布為他的Xbox360游戲機(jī)的控制器提供窗口即時(shí)通服務(wù)，將即時(shí)信息服務(wù)從電腦帶入電視。
　　此舉措寓意在于幫助微軟領(lǐng)先索尼——這個(gè)在電子游戲商業(yè)領(lǐng)域主要的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手——帶給游戲玩家比較豐富的在線體驗(yàn)。這也是微軟公司將通過(guò)個(gè)人電腦、電視、移動(dòng)設(shè)備如手機(jī)把人們聯(lián)系起來(lái)的整體戰(zhàn)略的一個(gè)方面。
　　全球有兩億多人使用windows的即時(shí)通和朋友、家人、還有同事聊天。另外，還有6百多萬(wàn)Xbox游戲機(jī)的擁有者和公司的Xbox Live在線社區(qū)連接起來(lái)，這又促使擁有寬帶連接的用戶通過(guò)網(wǎng)絡(luò)彼此交流。
　　從5月的第二個(gè)星期開(kāi)始，Windows 即時(shí)通和Xbox Live在線社區(qū)將合并在一起，Xbox Live的用戶可以把他們的玩家代號(hào)和他們現(xiàn)有的Windows 即時(shí)通帳號(hào)連接起來(lái)。這樣，游戲玩家就可以通過(guò)虛擬的屏幕鍵盤(pán)或者是插入游戲機(jī)的USB鍵盤(pán)隨意的聊天了。
　　微軟的主管人員表示他們希望能在今年的下半年為Xbox玩家和即時(shí)通的使用者們提供語(yǔ)音聊天服務(wù)，考試大。
　　微軟的Xbox360小組經(jīng)理John Rodman在上一周的電話采訪中表示：“我們認(rèn)為通過(guò)使Xbox360的玩家們躺在自家的沙發(fā)上就能獲得I.M.(即時(shí)通信)服務(wù)，我們把社會(huì)網(wǎng)絡(luò)更進(jìn)一步的帶入家庭，現(xiàn)在，你完全不必在線管理兩組分開(kāi)的朋友，而可以把他們合并到一起�！�
　　微軟和索尼為占領(lǐng)游戲市場(chǎng)的比較高控制終端展開(kāi)了激戰(zhàn)。在過(guò)去的幾年中，游戲的控制臺(tái)程序大部分都是由生產(chǎn)商提供的。但是，現(xiàn)在，似乎像Electronic Arts這樣的頂級(jí)游戲發(fā)行商把大部分的大游戲的控制臺(tái)程序讓渡給了Xbox360和索尼PlayStation3自己做。
　　因此，微軟和索尼都在嘗試著賦予他們的游戲機(jī)與眾不同的特色，諸如，電影回放功能以及種種在線服務(wù)。
　　微軟已經(jīng)在在線玩游戲的控制臺(tái)程序上先索尼一步，但是，上個(gè)月，索尼宣布他們已經(jīng)發(fā)布一種叫做PlayStation Home的新的Internet服務(wù)，此項(xiàng)服務(wù)能在某些功能上超過(guò)Xbox Live。即時(shí)通服務(wù)似乎是微軟對(duì)此舉動(dòng)作出回應(yīng)的一部分�！　�