崩了都崩了我也崩了

刚刚，淘宝、闲鱼、钉钉、阿里云盘、饿了么、天猫精灵、夸克等众多阿里系App和服务均存在崩溃无法访问的情况。

你受到影响了吗？

🤔️小作业：

1. According to the article, what is one of the major influences on the current dominance of smartphone apps?

A) User preference for gaming applications.

B) Technical superiority of apps over early mobile web technologies.

C) The influence of digital advertising strategies.

D) Legal restrictions on mobile web development.

A) Increased revenue for app developers.

B) Greater control by Apple and Google.

C) More diverse digital services from a wider range of companies.

D) Higher security and privacy standards.

无注释原文：

Imagine a World Without Apps

From: The New York Times

Allow me to ask a wild question: What if we played games, shopped, watched Netflix and read news on our smartphones — without using apps?

Our smartphones, like our computers, would instead mostly be gateways to go online through a web browser.

Why bother changing, you ask? Because the downsides of our app system — principally the control that Apple and Google, the dominant app store owners in much of the world, exert over our digital lives — are onerous enough to contemplate another path.

There remain technical obstacles to using smartphone websites for everything. We’re also used to apps. But in recent months, Microsoft’s Xbox video gaming console, the popular game Fortnite and other game companies have moved ahead with technology that makes it possible to play video games on smartphone web browsers.

This is a big deal. Games are among the most popular smartphone apps, and they are often technically sophisticated. If video games can inch away from apps, maybe every other industry can, too.

Even small erosions in our app system raise two big questions: Have apps outlived their usefulness? And if apps weren’t dominant, would we have a richer variety of digital services from a broader array of companies?

The first thing to understand about apps is this: They were not inevitable. In the early smartphone era, there was a tug of war between technologies that were more like websites and the apps we know today. Apps won, mostly because they were technically superior.

But web browsers have become more capable, and cloud computing now enables a lot of sophisticated stuff to happen off the physical phone.

I first became interested in this topic because Aram Zucker-Scharff, who helps oversee digital advertising technology at The Washington Post, has been tweeting for years arguing that apps were a mistake and it’s time to move most of our smartphone activity to increasingly sophisticated mobile websites.

One of Zucker-Scharff’s points is about control. Apple and Google dictate much of what is allowed on the world’s phones. There are good outcomes from this, including those companies weeding out bad or dangerous apps and giving us one place to find them.

But this comes with unhappy side effects. Apple and Google charge a significant fee on many in-app purchases, and they’ve forced app makers into awkward workarounds. (Ever try to buy a Kindle e-book on an iPhone app? You can’t.) The growing complaints from app makers show that the downsides of app control may be starting to outweigh the benefits.

You know what’s free from Apple and Google’s iron grip? The web. Smartphones could lean on the web instead.

It’s easy to believe that fights over apps are merely one set of powerful companies — the Fortnite owner, Epic Games, and Spotify, for example — beefing over money with even more powerful companies, Apple and Google. It’s more than that, though.

This is about imagining an alternate reality where companies don’t need to devote money to creating apps that are tailored to iPhones and Android phones, can’t work on any other devices and obligate app makers to hand over a cut of each sale.

Maybe more smaller digital companies could thrive. Maybe our digital services would be cheaper and better. Maybe we’d have more than two dominant smartphone systems. Or maybe it would be terrible. We don’t know because we’ve mostly lived with unquestioned smartphone app dominance.

Overthrowing the app system is hard, and it may not be worth the trouble. But I’m coming around to the idea that the flaws of the app system can’t be fixed, and it’s worth exploring alternatives that minimize the role of apps in our digital lives.

注：完整题目见本文开头；中文文本为机器翻译并非一一对应，仅供参考

含注释全文：

Imagine a World Without Apps

From: The New York Times

Allow me to ask a wild question: What if we played games, shopped, watched Netflix and read news on our smartphones — without using apps?

我有一个大胆的想法：如果我们在智能手机上玩游戏、购物、观看Netflix、阅读新闻，都不使用应用程序（Apps）会怎样？

wild /waɪld/ 1）表示“荒无人烟的；未经开垦的”，英文解释为“Wild land is not used to grow crops and has few people living in it.”如：a wild, mountainous region 荒无人烟的山区；

2）表示“疯狂的；狂暴的；猛烈的”，英文解释为“uncontrolled, violent, or extreme”如：a wild party 狂野的聚会。

3）表示“不寻常的；极棒的；非凡的”，英文解释为“very unusual, often in a way that is attractive or exciting”举个🌰：Those are wild trousers you're wearing. 你穿的裤子可真棒。

Our smartphones, like our computers, would instead mostly be gateways to go online through a web browser.

我们的智能手机将与电脑一样，主要扮演通过网页浏览器接入互联网的角色。

1）表示“（通往…的）通道；门户”，英文解释为“a place through which you have to go to get to a particular area”举个🌰：Manchester is known as the gateway to the north. 曼彻斯特被称作通往英格兰北部的门户。

2）表示“通往（成功的）道路”，英文解释为“a way of achieving something”举个🌰：Hard work is the gateway to success. 努力是通往成功的道路。

3）表示“（系统中允许你使用其他部分的）通路”，英文解释为“something in a system that allows you to use its other parts”举个🌰：The bank is your gateway to a whole range of financial services. 银行是让你使用一大批金融服务的通路。

web browser /ˈweb ˌbraʊ.zər/ = browser 表示“网络浏览器”，英文解释为“a computer program that makes it possible for you to read information on the internet”

Why bother changing, you ask? Because the downsides of our app system — principally the control that Apple and Google, the dominant app store owners in much of the world, exert over our digital lives — are onerous enough to contemplate another path.

你可能会问，为什么要这样改变？因为目前应用系统的弊端——尤其是苹果和谷歌这些主导全球应用商店的公司对我们数字生活的控制——已足以让我们考虑另辟蹊径。

downside /ˈdaʊn.saɪd/ 表示“不利的一面，不利因素”，英文解释为“a disadvantage of a situation”举个🌰：The downside of living here, of course, is that it is expensive. 在这里生活的不利因素当然就是生活费用很高。

1）表示“首要的；占支配地位的；占优势的；显著的”，英文解释为“more important, powerful or noticeable than other things”举个🌰：The firm has achieved a dominant position in the world market. 这家公司在国际市场上占有举足轻重的地位。

2）表示“（基因）显性的，优势的”，英文解释为“a dominant gene causes a person to have a particular physical characteristic, for example brown eyes, even if only one of their parents has passed on this  gene”。

🎬电影《王牌特工：特工学院》（Kingsman: The Secret Service）中的台词提到：but a Kingsman wears it on whichever hand happens to be dominant. 但王牌特工都戴在惯用手上。

exert /ɪɡˈzɜːt/ 表示“运用；行使（权威、权力等）；施加（影响等）”，英文解释为“to use something such as authority, power, influence, etc. in order to make something happen”举个🌰：If you were to exert your influence they might change their decision. 如果你能施加你的影响，他们或许会改变决定。

onerous /ˈəʊ.nər.əs/ 表示“繁重的；麻烦的；艰巨的”，英文解释为“difficult to do or needing a lot of effort”如：the onerous task of finding a peaceful solution 寻找和平解决方案的艰巨任务。

1）表示“考虑；思量；思忖”，英文解释为“to think about whether you should do sth, or how you should do sth”举个🌰：I have never contemplated living abroad. 我从未考虑过去国外居住。

2）表示“考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）”，英文解释为“to think carefully about and accept the possibility of sth happening”举个🌰：The thought of war is too awful to contemplate. 战争太可怕了，真不敢去想。

3）表示“深思熟虑；沉思；苦思冥想”，英文解释为“to think deeply about sth for a long time”举个🌰：She lay in bed, contemplating. 她躺在床上冥思苦想。

4）表示“端详；凝视”，英文解释为“to look at sb/sth in a careful way for a long time”举个🌰：She contemplated him in silence. 她默默地注视着他。

There remain technical obstacles to using smartphone websites for everything. We’re also used to apps. But in recent months, Microsoft’s Xbox video gaming console, the popular game Fortnite and other game companies have moved ahead with technology that makes it possible to play video games on smartphone web browsers.

虽然使用智能手机网站来完成所有事情仍面临技术障碍，而我们也已习惯了应用程序。但最近几个月，微软的Xbox电子游戏机、热门游戏《堡垒之夜》（Fortnite）和其他游戏公司都在技术上取得了进步，使得在智能手机的网络浏览器上玩电子游戏成为可能。

表示“控制台，操纵台”，英文解释为“A console is a panel with a number of switches or knobs that is used to operate a machine.”举个🌰：Several nurses sat before a console of flickering lights and bleeping monitors. 几名护士坐在灯光闪烁、监听器嘟嘟作响的控制台前。

🎮这里指的是「手柄；掌机；游戏机」。

This is a big deal. Games are among the most popular smartphone apps, and they are often technically sophisticated. If video games can inch away from apps, maybe every other industry can, too.

这是一个重要的转变。游戏是最受欢迎的智能手机应用程序之一，而且技术上通常很复杂。如果电子游戏能逐步摆脱应用程序的束缚，或许其他行业也能跟进。

sophisticated /səˈfɪstɪˌkeɪtɪd/ 1）表示“老练的；久经世故的”，英文解释为“Someone who is sophisticated is comfortable in social situations and knows about culture, fashion, and other matters that are considered socially important.”举个🌰：He was a charming, sophisticated companion. 他是个有魅力、见多识广的伙伴。

2）表示“干练的”，英文解释为“A sophisticated person is intelligent and knows a lot, so that they are able to understand complicated situations.”举个🌰：These people are very sophisticated observers of the foreign policy scene. 这些人是外交政策领域干练的观察家。

3）表示“高级的；复杂的”，英文解释为“A sophisticated machine, device, or method is more advanced or complex than others.”举个🌰：Honeybees use one of the most sophisticated communication systems of any insect. 蜜蜂所使用的交流系统是昆虫中最复杂的之一。

inch /ɪntʃ/ 表示“缓慢地移动”，英文解释为“to move very slowly or in a lot of short stages”举个🌰：We are inching towards an agreement. 我们在慢慢努力达成共识。

📺美剧《吸血鬼日记》（The Vampire Diaries）第八季中的台词提到：You're inching up to Alaric 你在慢慢向阿拉里靠近，

Even small erosions in our app system raise two big questions: Have apps outlived their usefulness? And if apps weren’t dominant, would we have a richer variety of digital services from a broader array of companies?

应用系统即使是微小的改变，也会引发两个重大问题：应用程序是否已经过时？如果应用程序不再占据主导地位，我们是否会拥有来自更多公司更丰富多样的数字服务？

erosion /ɪˈrəʊ.ʒən/ 1）表示“削弱；逐步的破坏”，英文解释为“the fact of a good quality or situation being gradually lost or destroyed”举个🌰：The survey reveals a gradual erosion of the president's popularity. 民意调查显示了总统声望的逐渐削弱。

2）表示“侵蚀；腐蚀；磨损”，英文解释为“the fact of soil, stone, etc. being gradually damaged and removed by the waves, rain, or wind”如：soil/coastal erosion 水土流失/海岸侵蚀。

outlive your usefulness表示“不再有价值；已没用”，英文解释为“to no longer be useful”举个🌰：This old system has outlived its usefulness. 这个老系统已经没用了。

array /əˈreɪ/ 表示“（尤指非常有吸引力、令人赞赏并常以特定的方式排列的）一系列，一批，大量，大群”，英文解释为“a large group of things or people, especially one that is attractive or causes admiration or has been positioned in a particular way”举个🌰：There was a splendid array of food on the table. 满桌子都是美味佳肴。

The first thing to understand about apps is this: They were not inevitable. In the early smartphone era, there was a tug of war between technologies that were more like websites and the apps we know today. Apps won, mostly because they were technically superior.

关于应用程序，首先要明白的是：它们并非不可避免。在智能手机时代早期，曾有一场围绕更像网站的技术与我们今天所熟悉的应用程序之间的拉锯战。最终，应用程序因其技术优势而胜出。

inevitable /ɪˈnev.ɪ.tə.bəl/ 表示“不可避免的；必然发生的”，英文解释为“certain to happen and unable to be avoided or prevented”举个🌰：The accident was the inevitable consequence/result/outcome of carelessness. 这一事故是粗心导致的必然结果。

表示“拔河比赛”，英文解释为“a type of sport in which two teams show their strength by pulling against each other at the opposite ends of a rope, and each team tries to pull the other over a line on the ground”

But web browsers have become more capable, and cloud computing now enables a lot of sophisticated stuff to happen off the physical phone.

但现在网络浏览器已变得更加强大，云计算使得许多复杂的功能不必依赖于实体手机就能实现。

capable /ˈkeɪ.pə.bəl/ 表示“有能力的；熟练的；能干的”，英文解释为“able to do things effectively and skilfully, and to achieve results”举个🌰：She's a very capable woman/worker/judge. 她是个很能干的女人/很熟练的工人／能力很强的法官。

📍-capable 表示“可…的，有…能力的（加在名次后形成形容词）”，英文解释为“added to nouns to form adjectives that mean able to use the stated thing”举个🌰：These are nuclear-capable aircraft (= they can carry nuclear weapons). 这些飞机可载核武器。

I first became interested in this topic because Aram Zucker-Scharff, who helps oversee digital advertising technology at The Washington Post, has been tweeting for years arguing that apps were a mistake and it’s time to move most of our smartphone activity to increasingly sophisticated mobile websites.

我对这个话题感兴趣的起因是，《华盛顿邮报》（The Washington Post）数字广告技术负责人阿拉姆·祖克-沙尔夫（Aram Zucker-Scharff）多年来一直在推特上主张，应用程序是个错误，我们应该将大多数智能手机活动转移到越来越先进的移动网站上。

oversee /ˌəʊ.vəˈsiː/ 表示“监督；监察；监管”，英文解释为“to watch or organize a job or an activity to make certain that it is being done correctly”举个🌰：As marketing manager, her job is to oversee all the company's advertising. 作为营销经理，她的工作是负责公司所有的广告业务。

One of Zucker-Scharff’s points is about control. Apple and Google dictate much of what is allowed on the world’s phones. There are good outcomes from this, including those companies weeding out bad or dangerous apps and giving us one place to find them.

阿拉姆·祖克-沙尔夫的观点之一是控制权。苹果和谷歌在很大程度上主宰着全球手机上的内容。这其中有一些好处，包括这些公司能够筛除不良或危险的应用程序，并为我们提供一个统一的应用发现平台。

dictate /dɪkˈteɪt/ 1）表示“命令，下（令）;决定，规定”，英文解释为“to give orders, or tell someone exactly what they must do, with total authority”举个🌰：The rules dictate that only running shoes must be worn on the track. 规则规定跑道上只能穿跑鞋。

2）表示“影响；决定；要求”，英文解释为“to influence something or make it necessary”举个🌰：I wanted to take a year off, but my financial situation dictated that I got a job. 我想休息一年，但我的经济状况却迫使我必须工作。

表示“清除；剔除；淘汰”，英文解释为“to get rid of unwanted things or people from a group”举个🌰：The first round of interviews only really serves to weed out the very weakest of applicants. 第一轮面试实际上只是要淘汰那些实力最弱的申请者。

🎬电影《美眉校探》（Veronica Mars）中的台词提到：I'm just gonna go out there, see my dad...and help Logan weed out the shysters. 我只是去那儿看我爸爸...并且帮助罗根赶走那些讼棍。

But this comes with unhappy side effects. Apple and Google charge a significant fee on many in-app purchases, and they’ve forced app makers into awkward workarounds. (Ever try to buy a Kindle e-book on an iPhone app? You can’t.) The growing complaints from app makers show that the downsides of app control may be starting to outweigh the benefits.

但这种控制也带来了令人不快的副作用。苹果和谷歌在许多应用内购行为上收取高额费用，迫使应用开发者不得不采取一些笨拙的替代方案。（比如，你有没有尝试过在iPhone上的Kindle应用程序中购买电子书？事实上，你无法购买。）应用开发者的抱怨越来越多，表明应用程序控制的弊端可能已开始大于利。

表示“副作用；未曾预料的结果”，英文解释为“an unpleasant effect of a drug that happens in addition to the main effect”举个🌰：Does this drug have any side effects? 这种药有什么副作用吗？

workaround /ˈwɜː.kə.raʊnd/ 表示“变通办法，替代办法”，英文解释为“a way of dealing with a problem or making something work despite the problem, without completely solving it”举个🌰：The software still has a few glitches but we've come up with a workaround. 这个软件还是有一些小故障，但是我们已经想出了一个变通办法。

1）表示“（在重要性或意义上）超过”，英文解释为“If one thing outweighs another, the first thing is of greater importance, benefit, or significance than the second thing.”举个🌰：The advantages of this deal largely outweigh the disadvantages. 这笔交易的利远大于弊。

2）表示“比（某人）重”，英文解释为“If you outweigh someone, you are heavier than them.”举个🌰：He outweighed her by about 20 kilograms. 他比她重约20千克。

You know what’s free from Apple and Google’s iron grip? The web. Smartphones could lean on the web instead.

你知道什么是不受苹果和谷歌铁腕控制的吗？网络。智能手机可以转而依赖网络。

grip /ɡrɪp/ 作动词，1）表示“使入迷，吸引…的注意力”，英文解释为“to keep someone's attention completely”举个🌰：This trial has gripped the whole nation. 这场审判引起了全国的关注。

2）表示“紧握，握紧，紧抓（住）”，英文解释为“to hold very tightly”举个🌰：The baby gripped my finger with her tiny hand. 婴儿的小手紧紧握住我的手指。

3）表示“（感情等）强烈地控制；对…产生强烈影响”，英文解释为“When an emotion such as fear grips you, you feel it strongly.”举个🌰：Then he turned towards me, and I was suddenly gripped by fear. 然后，他转过身对着我，我突然惊恐万状。

作名词，grip /ɡrɪp/ 1）表示“控制，支配”，英文解释为“control over something or someone”举个🌰：Rebels have tightened their grip on the city. 叛军已经加强了他们对这座城市的控制。

2）表示“紧握，握紧，紧抓（住）”，英文解释为“a tight hold on something or someone”

📍iron grip 通常用来形容非常坚定或强硬的控制力。它经常用于形容政治、管理或任何形式的权威，强调其控制的严格和无法动摇的性质。比喻上，就像用铁一样坚固的手握住某物，意味着控制是坚定和难以被打破的。英文解释：An extremely strong or unbreakable grip, as with one's hands. / Total, dominant control (over someone or something).

表示“依靠，凭借”，英文解释为“to use someone or something to help you, especially in a difficult situation”举个🌰：He's always had his big brother to lean on. 他总是依靠他大哥。

It’s easy to believe that fights over apps are merely one set of powerful companies — the Fortnite owner, Epic Games, and Spotify, for example — beefing over money with even more powerful companies, Apple and Google. It’s more than that, though.

人们很容易相信，应用程序之争不过是一群强大的公司，如《堡垒之夜》所有者Epic Games和 Spotify，与更强大的公司，如苹果和谷歌，之间的金钱争斗。然而，事情远不止于此。

beef /biːf/ 作名词表示“牛肉”，熟词僻义，可以作名词也可以作动词表示“抱怨”，英文解释为“to complain”举个🌰：（名词）My main beef about the job is that I have to work on Saturdays. 我对这份工作最大的不满是周六还得干活儿。（动词）He was beefing about having to do the shopping. 他在为不得不去购物而抱怨。

📍此处beef引申为争吵、争执或有分歧。beef over money可以理解为因金钱问题产生的争执或不满。

This is about imagining an alternate reality where companies don’t need to devote money to creating apps that are tailored to iPhones and Android phones, can’t work on any other devices and obligate app makers to hand over a cut of each sale.

这是对另一种现实的想象，在这个现实中，公司不需要投入资金开发专门适用于iPhone和Android手机而不能在其他设备上运行的应用程序，应用程序开发商也不需要向应用商店支付手续费。

alternate /ˈɒl.tə.neɪt/ 作名词，表示“替代者”，英文解释为“a person or thing that can take the place of another”举个🌰：He was too sick to attend, so she served as his alternate. 他重病不能出席，她作为他的替代者参加。

作形容词，1）表示“轮流的，交替的”，英文解释为“with first one thing, then another thing, and then the first thing again”如：a dessert with alternate layers of chocolate and cream 巧克力和奶油层叠的甜点。

2）表示“间隔的；每隔（…时间）的”，英文解释为“If something happens on alternate days, it happens every second day.”举个🌰：Private cars are banned from the city on alternate days. 该市私家车限隔日出行。

3）美式 alternate 英式 alternative 表示“供选择的，供替换的”，英文解释为“An alternate plan or method is one that you can use if you do not want to use another one.”

tailored /ˈteɪ.ləd/ 表示“特制的，特供的”，英文解释为“made or changed especially to be suitable for a particular situation or purpose”举个🌰：The project clearly requires a tailored computer system. 这个项目显然需要一种特制的电脑系统。

oblige /əˈblaɪdʒ/ = obligate，obligate强调的是一种更正式或法律上的必须性，而oblige更侧重于道德、礼貌或社交上的责任。

1）表示“责成；强迫，迫使”，英文解释为“to force someone to do something, or to make it necessary for someone to do something”举个🌰：The law does not obligate sellers to accept the highest offer. 法律没有强制卖主必须接受最高的出价。

2）表示“（尤指按别人要求的去做以）讨好，帮助，为…效劳”，英文解释为“to please or help someone, especially by doing something they have asked you to do”举个🌰：We only went to the party to oblige some old friends who asked us to be there. 我们去参加这个聚会只是为了照顾一些老朋友的面子，他们特意要求我们到场。

cut熟词僻义，1）表示“份，份额（通常指钱）”，英文解释为“a share of something, usually money”举个🌰： When am I going to get my cut? 我什么时候能拿到我那份钱？

2）表示“伤口；切口；割痕”，英文解释为“an injury made when the skin is cut with something sharp”如：a deep cut 一道深深的伤痕。

Maybe more smaller digital companies could thrive. Maybe our digital services would be cheaper and better. Maybe we’d have more than two dominant smartphone systems. Or maybe it would be terrible. We don’t know because we’ve mostly lived with unquestioned smartphone app dominance.

也许更多小型数字公司可以蓬勃发展。我们的数字服务可能会更便宜、更优质。我们甚至可能会拥有超过两种主流的智能手机系统。当然，也可能结果并不理想。但我们无法知晓，因为我们几乎一直生活在未受质疑的智能手机应用程序的主导之下。

thrive /θraɪv/ 表示“茁壮成长；兴旺，繁荣”，英文解释为“to grow, develop, or be successful”举个🌰：His business thrived in the years before the war. 战前那些年，他的生意很兴隆。

Overthrowing the app system is hard, and it may not be worth the trouble. But I’m coming around to the idea that the flaws of the app system can’t be fixed, and it’s worth exploring alternatives that minimize the role of apps in our digital lives.

推翻应用系统虽然困难，可能也不值得付出努力。但我逐渐认识到，应用系统的缺陷可能无法修复，但探索将应用程序在我们数字生活中的作用降至最低的替代方案是值得考虑的。

overthrow /ˌəʊ.vəˈθrəʊ/ 1）表示“（用武力）推翻，打倒；打败”，英文解释为“to defeat or remove someone from power, using force”

2）表示“投（球）过猛;投球超过（接手或目标）；扔得比…远”，英文解释为“to throw a ball past the person or object you intended to throw to”举个🌰：The quarterback overthrew (the pass). 四分卫传球过猛。

not worth the trouble = more trouble than it's worth 表示“不值得费力去做；不值得这么麻烦”，英文解释为“If something is more trouble than it's worth or is not worth the trouble, it is not important or useful enough to make an effort doing it.”举个🌰：It's more trouble than it's worth to take it back to the shop and ask for a replacement. 把它拿回商店重换不值，太麻烦了。

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