考研英語(yǔ)美文賞讀：電子游戲，戀上手機(jī)

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►Business： Video games A crush on mobile

商業(yè)：電子游戲，戀上手機(jī)

A big merger shows where the money is heading in the industry.

一次大規(guī)模的合并顯示出行業(yè)內(nèi)資金的流向。

Compare “Candy Crush Saga” with the “Star Wars” franchise and it comes as a shock that the casual game's creator，

2012年迪士尼收購(gòu)盧卡斯影業(yè)和電影《星球大戰(zhàn)》系列特許經(jīng)營(yíng)權(quán)的價(jià)格是40億美元，

King Digital Entertainment， would sell for almost 50% more than the $4 billion that Disney paid for Lucasfilm in 2012.

相比之下，休閑類游戲開(kāi)發(fā)商King數(shù)字娛樂(lè)公司和旗下游戲《糖果傳奇》特許經(jīng)營(yíng)權(quán)將會(huì)以多出近20億美元的價(jià)格出售，這是令人意想不到的。

But in paying $5.9 billion in cash and stock for King on November 3rd Activision Blizzard， a giant in video games for computers and specialist gaming consoles， is doing more than buying another industry leader.

但是在11月3日的這場(chǎng)以59億美元現(xiàn)金和債券達(dá)成的交易中，作為行業(yè)中首屈一指的計(jì)算機(jī)視頻游戲開(kāi)發(fā)商和第三方游戲發(fā)行商，動(dòng)視暴雪實(shí)際比收購(gòu)一家他行業(yè)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者做地更多。

Its purchase is an acknowledgment that the future of video games， and of gaming profits， is in mobile， where games are usually given away， and where their creators make money by selling extra features to the most enthusiastic players.

這項(xiàng)收購(gòu)意味著手機(jī)決定著電子游戲的未來(lái)或者說(shuō)未來(lái)游戲行業(yè)的收益，因?yàn)槭謾C(jī)游戲的玩家經(jīng)常流失，并且游戲的開(kāi)發(fā)商通過(guò)手機(jī)能夠通過(guò)向最狂熱的玩家銷售附加功能而賺取利潤(rùn)。

Mobile games have been by far the fastest-growing part of the market in recent years， and have broader international appeal because of the penetration of smartphones.

近年來(lái)，手機(jī)游戲已經(jīng)成為游戲市場(chǎng)中發(fā)展最快的部分。由于智能手機(jī)的普及，手機(jī)游戲具有更為廣泛的國(guó)際需求。

By Activision's reckoning， worldwide revenues from mobile games will almost catch up with those from PC and console games by 2019， reaching $55 billion (up from an estimated $36 billion this year) .

動(dòng)視(Activision)估計(jì)截至2019年手機(jī)游戲的收益將會(huì)與計(jì)算機(jī)游戲與主機(jī)游戲收益的總和基本持平，(從今年預(yù)計(jì)的360億美元)增至550億美元。

PC and console games' sales are projected to reach $57 billion by then.

屆時(shí)，計(jì)算機(jī)游戲和主機(jī)游戲的銷售額計(jì)劃達(dá)到570億美元。

With “Candy Crush Saga” in its arsenal， Activision will have one of the most successful mobile games yet seen， access to an active monthly user base of nearly half a billion people and dozens of new foreign markets where smartphones， not consoles， are the game platforms of choice.

動(dòng)視(Activision)將通過(guò)《糖果傳奇》(Candy Crush Saga)，這個(gè)目前看來(lái)最成功的手機(jī)游戲，擁有接近5億的月活躍用戶以及大量來(lái)自國(guó)外新興市場(chǎng)，選擇智能手機(jī)作為游戲平臺(tái)而不是主機(jī)的玩家。

Those users might enjoy mobile versions of some of Activision's hits， like the “Guitar Hero” series.

那些用戶很可能熱衷于動(dòng)視(Activision))發(fā)行的一些熱門手機(jī)游戲例如《吉他英雄》系列。

The combined company will become the world's second-biggest in terms of video-gaming revenues， with close to $7 billion a year， placing it behind only Tencent， a Chinese gaming and social-media conglomerate.

就電子游戲的凈收入而言，合并后的公司將以每年接近70億的收益排名第二，位列中國(guó)一家游戲和社交媒體的多元化公司-騰訊公司之后。

Activision has flailed about in mobile gaming (even if it has had a recent hit with “Hearthstone”， a digital card game) .

動(dòng)視(Activision)仍然在向移動(dòng)游戲市場(chǎng)瘋狂地招手，即使目前旗下已經(jīng)擁有一款熱門的卡牌類電子游戲《爐石傳說(shuō)》。

Though King's shares have weakened since it gave a profit warning in May this year， there are worries that Activision may be paying richly for its big move into mobile.

今年五月，King數(shù)字娛樂(lè)公司發(fā)布利潤(rùn)預(yù)警導(dǎo)致股票下跌，但是人們更加擔(dān)心動(dòng)視(Activision)可能為大幅進(jìn)入移動(dòng)游戲市場(chǎng)付出更多的代價(jià)。

James Gwertzman， the boss of Playfab， a provider of back-office technology for game developers， says it is not clear if Activision and King can add that much value to each other's gaming platforms， in the way that Disney can exploit the “Star Wars” characters and stories acrossits various businesses.

為游戲開(kāi)發(fā)者提供服務(wù)的游戲后端服務(wù)商Playfab的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人兼CEO詹姆斯·高茲曼(James Gwertzman)表示相比迪士尼開(kāi)發(fā)星球大戰(zhàn)的人物和故事并與其自身的多個(gè)產(chǎn)業(yè)融合，現(xiàn)在還很難說(shuō)動(dòng)視(Activision)和King數(shù)字娛樂(lè)公司能否為彼此的游戲平臺(tái)增加更多的價(jià)值。

There is also no guarantee that King can establish another runaway success like “Candy Crush Saga” —although it has created a moderately successful sequel in “Candy Crush Soda” —or that the flagship “Saga” game will remain a hit.

雖然已經(jīng)開(kāi)發(fā)了一個(gè)還算成功的游戲《糖果蘇打傳奇》作為《糖果傳奇》的續(xù)作，但King數(shù)字娛樂(lè)公司也不能保證一定能夠開(kāi)發(fā)出另外一款如同《糖果傳奇》一樣大獲成功的游戲，又或者讓《糖果傳奇》繼續(xù)保持火熱。

The faddish mobile game of the moment， like， say Zynga's “FarmVille”， can give way seemingly overnight to new franchise hits—in its case， to “Candy Crush Saga” itself.

如同Zynga(一家社交游戲公司)曾經(jīng)推出的一款手機(jī)游戲《農(nóng)場(chǎng)小鎮(zhèn)》，短暫地風(fēng)靡一時(shí)，似乎一夜之間就讓位于新發(fā)行的游戲《糖果傳奇》。

1.mobile gaming 手機(jī)游戲

例句：This increase in mobile device usage has also led to the growth of the mobile gaming industry.

移動(dòng)設(shè)備的普及也促進(jìn)了手機(jī)游戲產(chǎn)業(yè)的發(fā)展。

2.back-office 后勤部門

例句：As a result， many back-office jobs， for example， have been relocated to mainland China.

例如，很多后臺(tái)職位因此轉(zhuǎn)移到了中國(guó)內(nèi)地。

3.catch up with 趕上;追上

例句：The law caught up with him yesterday.

昨天，他被捉拿歸案。

4.give away 放棄;贈(zèng)送

例句：He was arrested for having given away state secrets.

他因泄漏國(guó)家機(jī)密而被捕。