托福阅读材料之苹果公司平板电脑有望三月上市

Apple may ship its much awaited multimedia tablet device in March, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Monday.

据华尔街邮报周一报道，苹果公司可能将于三月发售备受期待的多媒体平板电脑。

Apple will announce the tablet later this month but the shipping date could change as plans have not been finalized, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

报道引用知情人的话说，苹果公司将于本月底发布这款产品，但是发售日期可能有变化，因为计划还没有最终确定。

The new device will come with a touchscreen sized about 10 inches to 11 inches and the company is working on two different finishes for the tablet, the report said.

报道说这款新的电脑触摸屏在10-11英寸之间，苹果公司正在打造两种面漆的版本。

Rumors about an Apple tablet have been floating for more than a year, and the Financial Times in December reported that Apple had reserved a location in San Francisco on January 26 for the possible launch of a tablet.

关于苹果平板电脑的传闻已经流传了一年多，12月的时候，金融时报报道说苹果已经在旧金山选择了一个地方，1月26日可能在这个地方发布平板电脑。

Financial analysts have said that the launch of a tablet-like device from Apple was imminent. The device is expected to be a larger version of the iPhone on which users can listen to music, play games, watch video or read electronic books. Kai-Fu Lee, a former Apple employee and previously the president of Google in China, recently blogged that the tablet would come with 3D graphics and a price tag below US$1,000.

金融分析家们说，苹果发布平板电脑的日子越来越近了。这款电脑预计会被当成一个放大的iPhone，用户可以使用这台电脑听歌、玩游戏、看视频或者读电子书。曾在苹果工作过的前谷歌总裁李开复最近写博说这款平板电脑会附带3D制图，售价在1000美元以下。

Apple reportedly has already made deals with service providers to deliver content to the device. Apple's purchase of streaming music provider Lala.com in December has also been linked to the tablet PC.

据报道苹果已经和服务提供商谈妥电脑的内容提供。苹果的传输音乐提供商Lala.com也会为PC平板电脑提供内容。

Enthusiast Web sites have speculated that the device may be called the iSlate, after MacRumors discovered that the islate.com domain name was owned by Apple.

在MacRumors发现islate.com已经被苹果公司注册之后，狂热的网民们推测这款平板电脑可能会被命名为iSlate。