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Video Chat Opens Opportunities 视讯通话开创商机 视讯通话开创商机

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This increasingly prevalent technology expands possibilities for face-to-face services  这项愈来愈普及的科技拓展了面对面服务的可能性

You once had to leave home to see a psychiatrist for therapy, a music teacher for guitar lessons or a makeup artist for face-to-face consultations. Now they can come to you, virtually, through video chat.

过去，你得出门才能去看精神医师接受治疗、找音乐老师上吉他课，或者向彩妆师寻求面对面咨询。现在，则是他们上门找你，只不过是透过视讯通话的虚拟管道。

Long the darling of science fiction aficionados, video chat has never much caught on for personal calls. But this year, with the technology being incorporated into a widening array of digital gadgets, professionals specializing in one-to-one services are experimenting with video chat as a way to vastly extend their reach.

视讯通话虽然向来深受科幻迷所喜好，却一直没有在个人用户间流行起来。但今年，随着愈来愈多的数字器材纳入这项科技，专门采取一对一服务的行业也开始尝试运用视讯通话，藉此大幅扩张自己的服务范围。

Online video chat technology, once the province of geeks and corporate users, has become far more user friendly and available. Recently, Apple’s iPhone 4 and HTC’s Evo4G phone debuted, both with video chat capability. Selected televisions now come with built-in cameras for video chat. On computers, Skype, Yahoo Messenger, iChat and other messaging services have offered video chat for several years. But image quality, reliability and user-friendliness have greatly improved over time.

在线视讯通话科技原本只有科技狂和企业人士才会使用，现在却变得相当普及，使用起来也容易许多。苹果的iPhone 4与宏达电的Evo 4G都在近来首度推出，两者都具备视讯通话的功能。现在，特定电视机也具有内建摄影机以供用户进行视讯通话。在计算机上，Skype、Yahoo!奇摩实时通、iChat及其他讯息服务则是自从好几年前就已开始提供视讯通话服务。不过，影像画质、通话稳定度与操作接口的简易度也随着时间过去而出现了大幅改善。

Barriers removed  移除障碍

“Previously, people had to be kind of tech-savvy to use video chat,” said Alfred Poor, an analyst with research group GigaOm Pro. “Now, with new products coming on the market with video chat already installed, that kind of barrier is no longer there.”

「以前，只有比较精通科技的人，才懂得使用视讯通话，」研究机构GigaOm Pro的分析师艾佛德．普尔说：「现在，由于市场上推出的新产品都已内建视讯通话功能，所以这种障碍已经不复存在。」

GigaOm is so bullish on the technology that it estimates the annual number of video chats will increase from 600 million worldwide in 2008 to 30 billion by 2015.

GigaOm对于这项科技非常乐观，估计每年全球视讯通话的数量将从二００八年的六亿通增加到二０一五年的三百亿通。

Susan Fussell, associate professor of communications at Cornell University, doubts that personal calls will be a huge part of that boom if it comes. Crowds famously lined up to see AT&T’s Picturephone at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, but the technology didn’t catch on in homes.

康乃尔大学传播副教授苏珊．傅塞尔则抱持怀疑的态度，认为就算视讯通话确实能够达到那么蓬勃的发展，主要的推动力也不会是个人通话。在一九六四年的纽约世界博览会上，美国电话电报公司的影像电话虽然众所周知地吸引了大批群众排队参观，但这项科技却没有普及于一般家庭。

“Back when the Picturephone came out, housewives thought they had to put on makeup and dress up,” Fussell said. “No one wants to do that on a day-to-day basis.”

「当初影像电话刚推出的时候，家庭主妇觉得自己还得化妆打扮才能讲电话，」傅塞尔说：「没有人会想要每天都这么做。」

单词发音

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darling [ˋdɑrlɪŋ] n. 宠儿 a favorite

aficionado [ə͵fisjəˋnɑdo] n. …迷; 狂热爱好者

gadget [ˋgædʒɪt] n. 小巧; 设计精巧的机械

province [ˋprɑvɪns] n.（活动，职务的）范围

reliability [rɪ͵laɪəˋbɪlətɪ] n. 可信度, 可靠性

boom [bum] n.（商业等的）景气，繁荣

famously [ˋfeməslɪ] adv. 出名地 with the result of becoming famous

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The geographic factor is perhaps the biggest attraction for video chat services.

地理因素也许是视讯通话服务最吸引人的地方。

Christian Phoenix was taking guitar lessons when he lived in California. Then five years ago he moved to South Dakota.

克里斯丁．菲尼克斯当初住在加州的时候，曾在那里学吉他。后来，他在五年前搬到了南达科他州。

“Guitar lessons were nowhere to be found,” said Phoenix, 33, a computer consultant. “There wasn’t even a music store nearby.”

「这里根本找不到地方可以学吉他，」菲尼克斯这位三十三岁的计算机顾问说：「附近甚至连一家音乐行都没有。」

David Fisher was a guitar teacher who lived in a city with no such shortage.

戴维．费雪是个吉他老师，他所居住的城市则丝毫不乏这种音乐资源。

“There are tons of guitar teachers in Nashville [Tennessee], as you can imagine,” Fisher said. He started giving online lessons to “stay afloat and stay competitive.”

「可想而知，田纳西州纳许维尔的吉他老师多不胜数，」费雪说。他于是开始从事在线教学，以便「维持生计，保持竞争力」。

Now about half of Fisher’s students come to him by video chat. Phoenix found him on Craigslist this year and began taking lessons for $35 an hour.

现在，费雪约有半数的学生都是透过视讯通话上课。今年，菲尼克斯在「克雷格分类广告」上找到了费雪，而开始以每小时三十五美元的学费向他学吉他。

“The main thing with the webcam lessons is that initially you have to get used to it,” Phoenix said. “Sometimes you have to zoom so the teacher can see your fingers.”

「视讯上课的重点是刚开始必须让自己习惯这种方式，」菲尼克斯说：「有时候你必须放大影像，老师才能看到你的手指。」

An area that’s ripe for video chat expansion is medicine, said market analyst Ken Hyers of Technology Business Research.

医学是个相当适合应用视讯通话科技的领域，科技产业研究公司的市场分析师肯．亥尔斯如此表示。

“We’re seeing a broad push across markets,” he said. “The infrastructure is much more able to support it now.”

「市场上已广泛推出这种科技的应用，」他说：「现在的基础建设已经比较能够支持这样的发展。」

A wide variety of possible uses  应用方式有各式各样的可能性

Mental health professionals, who rely on talk and visual cues, have adopted the technology.

必须仰赖交谈与视觉线索治疗病患的心理健康专业人员，已经开始采用这项科技。

In February, during a blizzard on the East Coast, two of psychiatrist Patrick Barta’s patients were snowed in and couldn’t make it to his Maryland office. In both cases, he suggested video chat sessions.

二月间，在（美国）东岸的一场暴风雪当中，精神医师帕特里克．巴塔的两名病患被雪困在家里，无法前往他位于马里兰州的诊所。他于是提议这两名病患使用视讯通话。

“I could see their mannerisms and felt safe enough to prescribe them with meds they needed.”

「我可以看到他们的行为表现，因此觉得有足够的信息可以进行判断，为他们开立所需的药方。」

Video chat sessions now account for 20 percent of his practice. Most of these clients are under 35. “The older crowd tends to be more leery of it,” Barta said.

现在，他的心理咨商服务有百分之二十是透过视讯通话进行，这些病患大部分都在三十五岁以下。「年纪较大的病患比较不信任这种科技，」巴塔说。

－by Shan Li

单词发音

Vocabulary Focus

psychiatrist [saɪˋkaɪətrɪst] n. 精神科医生 a doctor who is trained to help prevent people from getting mental illnesses and treat those that already have one

array [əˋre] n. 大量[S][（+of）] a large group of things or people, especially one which is attractive or causes admiration and often one which has been positioned in a particular way

debut [dɪˋbju] n. 首次露面 to perform or be introduced to the public for the first time

bullish [ˋbʊlɪʃ] adj. 看涨的；乐观的 believing that something will have success in the future

afloat [əˋflot] adj. 免于经济困难（或负债）的 having enough money to pay what you owe

(be) snowed in 被雪困住的 to be unable to travel away from a place because of very heavy snow

leery [ˋlɪrɪ] adj. 【非正式】怀有戒心的; 不信任的 not trusting of someone or something and usually avoiding them if possible

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zoom [zum] v.（用变焦距镜头）将画面推近 to bring a photographic subject, movie scene, etc., into closeup or cause it to recede by using a zoom lens

ripe [raɪp] adj. 准备妥当的，时机成熟的

push [pʊʃ] n. 推销运动 Informal a special effort or attempt to advance

blizzard [ˋblɪzɚd] n. 大风雪，暴风雪

mannerism [ˋmænərɪzm] n. 习性；言谈举止 a distinctive behavioral trait; an idiosyncrasy

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