英语大学生课外阅读
课外阅读1
现在，经营一个飞机制造公司便意味着亏钱，这点印度的Jet航空公司可以证明。1992年Naresh Goyal成立了自己的Jet航空公司，从而改写了印度的飞机制造历史。在公司成立早期，几乎控制印度整个国家的一半的市场，并慢慢地成为印度航空业的大户。然而，2007年末，Jet公司营业额大幅度下降，直至现在情况窘迫。
Airline-Sector(航空部门) Woes (困难)Slam(猛攻)India's Highflier
Running an airline is a reliable way to lose money. The turbulent (汹涌的，狂暴的)ride ofIndia's Jet Airways shows why.
Naresh Goyal shook up(使改组) Indian aviation (飞机制造业)when he founded Jet in 1992. With punctual (准时的，正点的)flights, new planes and friendly service, Jet was the firstcarrier(运输机) here to truly modernize(现代化) air travel.
Jet controlled nearly half the domestic (国内的)market by early this decade, with most ofthe rest going to state-owned(国有的) Indian Airlines. In Jet's 2004 fiscal year, as many ofthe world's carriers were still recovering from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., itoutpaced(赶超) the industry with net profits(净利润) of $33 million. Jet's initial (主要的)public offering, in 2005, valued Mr. Goyal's 80% stake at $2 billion.
课外阅读2
China recovery hopes gather pace
Despite signs of the bottoming-out (降至最低点)shown in the first half of this year, Asia'srecovery from the global economic downturn(开始下降) will be mild and slow, a topeconomist of the Asian Development Bank (ADB)(亚洲开发银行) said.
In a group interview with reporters based here, ADB Chief Economist (首席经济学家)Jong-Wha Lee said Asia is now in a transition period (过渡时期)from the bottom of the crisis to theroad of recovery.
But he warned that there are a lot of downsized (缩小尺寸的)risks along the road. "It is goingto be long and bumpy(崎岖的，不平的)," Lee said.
The ADB in March forecasted the economic growth for developing Asia to plunge to 3.4 percentin 2009 and climb up to 6 percent next year.
Lee said countries like China, India and Indonesia continued to show strong growthmomentum (势头)while manufacturing sectors(制造业) in some other export-dependent(依赖出口的) countries improved over the past quarter.
But he said the unexpected scale of economic deterioration (堕落，衰退)in industrialized (工业化的)countries especially the Europe prolongs (延长，拖延)the recovery of Asianeconomies.
Lee said now the consensus(一致意见) is that the European economy will contract 4 to 5 percent this year, worse than ADB's projection of 3 percent made in March. The prospect of theU.S. economy largely stays the same while Japan sends mixed signal on its current economicsituation.
The chief economist said export remains an important drive of Asia's growth and without theglobal recovery it will be very difficult for Asia to go back to its sustained growth path.
Lee said while Asia's current mild growth feeds on regional demand, the industrialized world, especially the U.S., remains a key market for Asia's exports.
Aside from the risk posed by a prolonged and deeper recession in the industrialized countries, Lee said the rise in commodity prices(商品价格) and protectionism (保护主义)measuresadopted by the developed countries will also affect Asia's recovery.
Keke Vew: Dawn always appears at the end of the dark.
课外阅读3
谷歌公司官方网站称将将会在今年晚些时候推出一款新的笔记本电脑操作系统，该消息一出，立即在业内引起巨大的反响。众所周知，目前，微软的操作系统约Windows约占市场的90%。虽然近期有所下降，但仍是市场主力。究竟谁将是最后的赢家呢?估计在短时间内不会有结果，然而这来那个大巨头之间的争战必定会给萧条的市场带来不小的冲击。
Google vs Microsoft: Clash of the titans
THE announcement came as a humble blog post on Google’s corporate website late onTuesday July 7th, but it delivers what is likely to be a dramatic shake-up (骚动，变革)for theinformation-technology (IT) industry. By promising to release, at some point later this year, an operating system for personal computers the online giant is launching a direct attack onMicrosoft, the world’s biggest software firm.
The confrontation(对抗) is likely to be momentous(重大的). Microsoft’s PC operatingsystem, Windows, boasts a market share of nearly 90%. Although the firm’s empire has beenshowing signs of decline, it remains a dominant power. Yet industry watchers see a hugethreat as the mighty internet company moves into new territory. TechCrunch, a leadingtechnology blog, made it clear how vulnerable it believes Microsoft to be, reporting the newsas “Google Drops A Nuclear Bomb On Microsoft”.
In reality it will be more of a slow explosion. At first Google’s Chrome OS(铬操作系统), as thenew software is called, will be targeted only at netbooks, the cheap and smallish laptops (轻小的便携笔记本)that are proving popular. The idea is to provide a compact operating systemwith a simple user interface that boots up in a few seconds and allows users to work securelyand easily with web-based applications, such as e-mail and social networks. This is why thesoftware is based on a stripped-down version of Linux, the popular open-source operatingsystem, and comes with Chrome, the browser that Google released late last year.
And it will take a while for the program to be ready for prime time. “We have a lot of work todo, and we’re definitely going to need a lot of help from the open-source community”, writesSundar Pichai, the Google executive in charge of the project, in the blog post announcing thenew product. The first netbooks running Chrome OS, he explains, will not be available forconsumers before the second half of next year.
Yet Google’s intention is clear. It plans to do what the now-defunct Netscape attempted whenit launched its first browser in the mid-1990s: to make Windows obsolete and turn the browserinto the dominant computing platform. Eventually Chrome OS will be used to power full-fledged PCs. All applications written for the software will be web-based and will work with otherbrowsers that are compliant with the latest web standards (even those running on Windows). Chrome OS would also allow users to work offline and synchronise changes later.
Microsoft has not offered an official reaction yet. But the firm must have anticipated such amove. Google’s assault comes when the once almighty software giant is vulnerable. WindowsVista, the latest version of its operating system, has not been a success. Its forays (突袭)intoGoogle’s main territory, web search and online advertising, have not brought big gains. European antitrust authorities are also still pursuing Microsoft, which limits its ability to strikeback at Google.
Yet it is much too early to count Microsoft out. It recently launched Bing, a new search service, which has taken some market share from Google. In October, roughly when Google will makeChrome OS available, Microsoft will release the next iteration of its operating system, Windows 7, a version of which is supposed to run well on netbooks. And the firm is spendingbillions on a “cloud”, a global network of huge data centres, which will rival Google’sinfrastructure and allow Microsoft to offer all kinds of web-based applications.
Will there be a clear winner? Probably not in the foreseeable future. The pockets of both firmsare simply too deep. And that is a good thing: the epic fight between the two giants promisesto speed up innovation. And that is what the IT industry needs to overcome the recession.
Keke Vew: Chrome OS是一款Google正式宣布处于开发中的基于PC的操作系统。
Google Chrome OS是一款基于Linux的开源操作系统。Google在自己的官方博客表示，初期，这一操作系统将定位于上网本、紧凑型以及低成本电脑。这款开源软件将被命名为Chrome OS，将在明年下半年上市。
Chrome OS系统和Chrome浏览器一样有三大重点要素，那就是速度、简洁、安全，启动和运行速度都会很快，界面元素将会最少化，并且直接集成Chrome浏览器、配合上网本提供流畅的网络体验，并支持Web程序。 Google的网络取代桌面的战略思想将再一次得到贯彻执行。快速、简易和安全将是Chrome OS最强调的三大特性，这款操作系统将设计成为最快和最瘦身的操作系统，只需几秒钟的时间便可启动PC并接入互联网。
Chrome OS将同时支持x86和ARM两种处理器架构。Google保证会在2009年年内提供Chrome OS的源代码，并计划2010年下半年正式发布。
