2007年VOA标准英语-iPhone Modified for Any Mobile Service

By Todd Grosshans
Washington
06 September 2007
 

The Apple iPhone

The very popular iPhone must be used with the not so popular cellular¹ network AT&T. People using other networks must break their contracts to switch to AT&T. That can cost up to $250. But a teenager has modified the computer code in an iPhone, freeing it from its corporate² master and letting it work with other carriers. VOA's Todd Grosshans has more.

Apple advertisements read: "There's never been an iPod that can do this.

17-year-old wiz kid, George Hotz

No there certainly has not. The iPhone, the most hyped mobile phone ever, has been hacked³ by this guy: 17-year-old-George Hotz, making the phone potentially usable on networks all over the world. "It's very technical, and it requires opening up your phone, soldering⁴ a wire, the two points, and then running some software that I wrote, putting your iPhone back together. Inserting any sim card that you want, and then just using it."

It can cost over $200 to get out of a contract with a cell phone company and switch to another. So people pining for an iPhone but stuck with, say, a T-Mobile contract, are out of luck unless they pay the penalty fee. In this case, Hotz placed a T-Mobile SIM card, a small chip that identifies a phone to a network, in an iPhone. Voila...This was a high tech feat⁵ using some low-tech tools.

The trick to opening the iPhone case -- there's an official Apple case opener tool -- guitar picks. "Some guy told me," explained Hotz, "that when we first started, when I first got the iPhone, 'Hey dude, to open it up, just slide a guitar pick right in there.' Sure enough, pops right open."

A mobile phone repair company in Kentucky gave Hotz a car, a Nissan 350z, for his hacked phone.  CertiCell says they bought the phone as a piece of cell phone history and has no plans to commercially market the phone or its reworked software.

1 cellular   

adj.移动的；细胞的，由细胞组成的

参考例句：

• She has a cellular telephone in her car.她的汽车里有一部无线通讯电话机。
• Many people use cellular materials as sensitive elements in hygrometers.很多人用蜂窝状的材料作为测量温度的传感元件。

2 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

3 hacked   

生气

参考例句：

• I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
• I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。

4 soldering   

n.软焊；锡焊；低温焊接；热焊接v.（使）焊接，焊合( solder的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Care must be exercised in attaching the lead wires to the soldering tabs. 在往接线片上焊导线时必须非常小心。 来自辞典例句
• I suggest posing me with a soldering wand over my head like a sword. 我想让自己这样像把剑一样把电焊杆举过头顶。 来自电影对白

5 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。