您正在看的时事英语是:手机不再仅仅是移动电话。 《纽约时报》: 手机不再仅仅是移动电话

(中文大意)

　　丹尼尔-阿贝隆（Daniel Abelon）买了一部既可以打电话又可以听MP3的手机，他的这部诺基亚手机带有MP3播放器，内存为64MB，可以存储十几首歌曲，他利用手机的USB接口与电脑相连，每天可以换新的歌曲，如果有电话打进来，歌曲就会自动停播，一旦电话挂断，歌曲又会自动恢复。24岁的丹尼尔说：“我当时正想买一个MP3播放器，同时我又需要一部新的手机，所以这促使我去买了这部有MP3功能的新手机。现在我的很多朋友都买了这样的手机。”

　　分析人士称，上述手机的多功能性、小巧精致的外观以及使用的简单化反映出最近几年手机行业取得了突飞猛进的发展。制造商们不仅在生产更小、更轻以及更精美的手机，而且他们还在给手机增加越来越多的功能，这使得以往那些功能单一的手机渐渐遭到用户遗忘。

　　虽然丹尼尔的手机并非适合每个用户，但如今大多数手机现在已经不仅仅是个移动电话，很多人用手机拍照，上网以及收发电子邮件，手机还成了个人数字助理，而且将来手机功能肯定还会继续增加。

　　LetsTalk.com在线手机销售网站的首席执行官德利-泰莫（Delly Tamer）表示：“过去一年中手机技术的进步与未来12个月手机技术的创新相比注定仅仅是九牛一毛。”

 

By KEN BELSON   

It is clear that Daniel Abelon loves his cellphone, but not only because he finds it stylish or easy to use. No, Mr. Abelon, 24, a business consultant in New York, loves his phone, a Nokia 3300, because he can listen to his favorite songs on its earphones when he rides to work on the subway.

His blocky phone, which he bought six months ago for just $25 when he renewed his plan with AT&T Wireless, includes an MP3 player and 64 megabytes of memory, enough for about a dozen songs. Mr. Abelon uses the phone's U.S.B. port to link to his computer to replace songs every day or so. What if a call comes in while he is absorbed in, say, Bob Dylan's "Hurricane"? No problem. The song automatically pauses when calls arrive and resumes when he hangs up.

"I was waiting for a while to buy an MP3 player, and I needed a new phone, so this gave me the impetus to buy one," said Mr. Abelon, who says strangers often strike up conversations about the phone when they see him using it. The versatility, size and simplicity of the phone are signs of how far the industry has come in recent years. Manufacturers are not only making smaller, lighter, slicker phones, but they are also adding features that make yesterday's models look like the clunky communicators on old "Star Trek" episodes.

Although Mr. Abelon's Nokia may not be for everybody, most phones these days are much more than just phones. Many now allow a user to snap photos, surf the Web, and send and receive e-mail; they also serve as personal digital assistants. And more change is inevitable.

"The advances in style in the past year are going to be nothing compared to the advances in innovation in the next 12 months," said Delly Tamer, chief executive of a Web site for cellphone buyers, LetsTalk.com.

Still, the abundance of technology packed into new phones has complicated shopping. Phone makers and carriers love to promote bells and whistles, but those add-ons can drown out a basic truth: mobile phones are still primarily about mobility and making phone calls.

That is why cellphone buyers should follow a few basic guidelines that have as much to do with sel