Business Channel 2006-09-08&10

The IFA Consumer Electronics Fair is getting underway in Berlin. High definition TVs, next-generation DVDs and portable entertainment devices remain among the most talked about items, but this is the place where new products become talking points and then contend to become must-have technologies.

Chief Executive of Philips Consumer Electronics Rudy Provoost has come with a few new offerings.

Well, IFA is an exciting place, and we use this occasion to bring to market some real new innovations and, and clearly in the area of TV, er, we are right in the middle of the high definition revolution. It's starting and we are bringing to market a whole new range of, ur, high-definition flat TVs. Well, this is indeed another innovation, we see that Voice over IP becomes a very important er, new market, and in essence, Voice over IP is about reinventing the home communication category. So we are partnering together with Microsoft and Skype, and in essence we allow these consumers to use cordless phones to, to, to, to call eh, over the Internet, eh, in a way that they don't have to pay for it and in a way that it's very user-friendly.

Provoost is not alone in assigning a special significance to this date on his calendar. IFA, which is the world's oldest consumer electronics show, is benefiting from an upswing in the industry, and what had been a biennial¹ event is becoming an annual affair.

This year, there are over 1,000 exhibitors from 32 countries here to promote their products, some of which may surprise you.

This is a flash motion image synthesizing system.

Improving your swing through flash motion imagery may be fun, but it doesn't exactly fit the traditional definition of consumer electronics. But as Reuters' European Technology Correspondent Lucas van Grinsven explains, that is the trend.

Consumer electronics used to be just TVs, radios, hi-fi sets. But these days, you know, you can buy anything, you know, from navigation devices to mobile phones to Voice over IP products, and ah it can be anything. And it's really the technology touching² consumers' lives now. And the consumer electronics industry is growing rapidly, much more rapidly and much more healthily than the IT industry. If you look at the growth figures, the consumer electronics industry has grown by about 9 percent every year for the last five years.

As much as this is a showcase of new technologies, it is also something of a design exhibition. Call it the iPod effect or put it down to a technological³ fetish, alluring⁴ styles seem to do as much to stimulate⁵ sales these days as anything else, a fact not lost on the makers⁶ of these goods. Senior Research Designer for LG Electronics Olivia Kim translates for LG's VP of Digital Display Jae-Jin Shim.
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IFA used to be just a form in the structure of the product, however, now, it try to be one step closer to the customer, just like in fashion. We're er, able to do a design that is er, more, er, that'll lead to their life style or that'll be in their environment, worn with the environment.

The show opens to the public on Friday and continues through the sixth of September.

Matt Cowan, Reuters, Berlin.

vocabulary
1. upswing---noun. a marked increase or improvement: an upswing in stock prices.

2. biennial--adj. happening every two years: biennial games.

3. fetish--noun. An object of unreasonably excessive attention or reverence

1 biennial   

adj.两年一次的

参考例句：

• The workers were strongly against the biennial election.工人们强烈反对两年一次的选举。
• His is a biennial,and one of the most useful pasture plants we have.这是两年生植物，也是我们最有用的牧草之一。

2 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

3 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

4 alluring   

adj.吸引人的，迷人的

参考例句：

• The life in a big city is alluring for the young people. 大都市的生活对年轻人颇具诱惑力。
• Lisette's large red mouth broke into a most alluring smile. 莉莎特的鲜红的大嘴露出了一副极为诱人的微笑。

5 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。

6 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》