The Magic Io Personal Digital Pen

　　1　Check out the io Personal Digital Pen launched by Logitech：It’s a magic pen that can store everything you write and transfer it to your computer. And you don’t have to lug a hand-held device along with you for it to work.1

　　2　Logitech’s technology works like this：The pen writes normally, using normal ballpoint pen ink2. But while you are writing, a tiny camera inside the pen is also taking 100 snapshots per second of what you are doing3, mapping your writing via a patchwork of minute dots printed on the paper. All this information—the movement of your pen on the paper, basically — is then stored digitally inside the pen, whether you are writing notes or drawing complex diagrams. You can store up to 40 pages worth of doodles in the pen’s memory. As far as you are concerned4, you are just using a normal pen.

　　3　It is only when you drop the pen into its PC-connected cradle that the fun begins. Special software on your PC will figure out what you have done, and begin to download any documents you have written since the last time it was there. Depending on whether you have ticked certain boxes on the special notepad, it can also tell whether the document is destined to be an e-mail, a “to do” task, or a diagram to be inserted into a word-processing document. Once the documents are downloaded you can view them, print them out or convert them to other formats.

　　4　The io Personal Digital Pen is a neat and simple solution to the problem of storing, sharing and retrieving handwritten notes, as well as for handling diagrams, pictures and other non-text doodling. You don’t have to carry a laptop along with you. All you have to do is just whip out the pen and the special paper and you are off5.

　　5　It is a great product because it does not force you to work differently—walking around with a screen strapped to your arm, or carrying with you extra bits and pieces. The pen is light and works like a normal pen if you need it to, while the special notepads look and feel like notepads. The only strange looks will be from people who are curious why you are writing with a cigar.

　　6　The io Personal Digital Pen also has potential elsewhere. FedEx6, for example, is introducing a version of the pen so that customers can fill out forms by hand — instead of punching letters into cumbersome devices. Once that data is digital more or less anything can be done with it — transferring it wirelessly to a central computer, for example, or via a hand-phone. Doctors could transmit their prescriptions direct to pharmacies, reducing fraud; policemen could send their reports back to the station, reducing paperwork.

　　词汇：

　　lug 吃力地携带　 snapshot快照 　patchwork 拼凑的东西，杂絵

　　doodle 信手写就的资料 　cradle 座，支架 　download 下载

　　tick 打上小记号 　notepad 记事本 　destined 预定的

　　laptop 笔记本电脑，膝上电脑 　whip 猛地拔出 　strap 用带扣住

　　cumbersome 麻烦的　pharmacy 药房

　　注释：

　　1.And you don’t have to lug a hand-held device along with you for it to work：to work是动词不定式，用作目的状语，修饰lugb for it是work的逻辑主语。it指代io Personal Digital Pen。

　　2.ballpoint pen ink：圆珠笔墨水

　　3.a tiny camera inside the pen is also taking 100 snapshots per second of what you are doing：is also taking 100 snapshots和of what you are doing之间插入了per second。

　　4.As far as you are concerned：就你而言

　　5.…you are off：……你就能开始工作了

　　6.FedEx：联邦快递公司

　　练习：

　　1.Paragraph 2 _________.

　　2.Paragraph 3 _________.

　　3.Paragraph 5 _________.

　　4.Paragraph 6 _________.

　　A　A Friendly and Convenient Device

　　B　Ways to Download the Stored Information

　　C　Examples of Other Potential Applications of the Io Pen

　　D　Customers’ Passion for the Io Pen

　　E　FedEx the First User of the Io Pen

　　F　Working Principles of the Io Personal Digital Pen

　　5.There is no need to learn how to use the io Personal Digital Pen because _________.

　　6.If you want to download what you have done with the magic pen, _________.

　　7.The magic pen is particularly convenient when you work away from home or office because _________.

　　8.No matter what you write or draw, _________

　　A　you don’t have to carry your laptop along

　　B　the information will be shown digitally on the pen

　　C　FedEx has special software to store your information

　　D　it works like an ordinary pen

　　E　you simply place the pen into its computer-connected cradle

　　F　the movement of your pen is recorded digitally inside the pen

　　答案与题解：

　　1.F　第二段介绍神奇笔的工作原理。笔内装有一个摄像头，把写的字或画的图转换为数码，存储在笔内的记忆装置里。

　　2.B　第三段介绍把神奇笔存储的信息下载到电脑中的过程，其中很重要的一个设备是将笔与电脑相连接的cradle(笔座)。

　　3.A　第五段介绍神奇笔的优越性，使用的方式和使用普通笔一样，不用携带显示屏，不用带附件。所以，这段的内容可以概括为A friendly and convenient device。

　　4.C　最后一段列举了有可能使用神奇笔的其他地方。

　　5.D　文章中多处都提到the io Personal Digital Pen用起来很方便，普通的笔怎么用，the io Personal Digital Pen也怎么用。因此，it works like an ordinary pen是答案。

　　6.E　download和使用cradle的内容可在第三段第一句、第二句中找到。

　　7.A　题干中的convenient和when you work away from home or office提示我们要选A。第五段第一句说，外出时不用携带显示屏或附件。

　　8.F　第二段第三句是选F的依据。

　　译文：神奇的io私人数字笔

　　仔细看看由Logitech公司发明的io私人数字笔吧。这是一种神奇的笔。可以将你写的所有东西储存下来并转换到计算机上，而你在使用这种数字笔时却不必携带手持设备。

　　Logitech技术的工作原理如下：这种笔使用一种普通的圆珠笔墨水，和平常一样写字。但是当你写字时，笔内的一个极小的摄像头也在以每秒钟100张的速度对你所写的内容进行快速拍摄，通过印在纸上的小点块拼出你所写的内容。然后，无论你是记笔记还是画复杂图表，所以的信息——基本上都是笔在纸上的移动——都将以数字形式存储于笔中。你可在笔的存储器中存储多达40页的资料。而对你来说，你只不过是在使用一支普通的笔而已。

　　只有当你将笔插入与PC机连接的笔座中时，有趣的事才真正开始。你的PC机的专用软件会估算出你所做之事，并下载你最新写下的所有文件。根据你是否在专用记事本的一些特定框里打对号，这种笔还可以辨别出文档是电子邮件、“待执行”人物还是要插入文字处理文档的图表。文档下载后，你就可以查看、打印或将其转换为其他形式。

　　io私人数字笔可妥善又简单地解决手写笔记的存储、共享和检索问题，也可处理图表、图片以及其他非文本资料。你不必携带电脑，你只需要拿出笔和专门用纸就能开始工作了。

　　这是一种很了不起的产品，因为你的工作不会因之产生任何麻烦——你不必携带显示屏，也不必携带任何附件。它非常轻便，如果你需要的话，也可以当普通笔来用，而这种专用记事本看起来摸起来都很像普通记事本。有些人会很好奇，不明白为什么你在用雪茄写字，这是唯一看起来令人费解的地方。

　　io私人数字笔在其他方面也很有潜力。例如，联邦快递公司正引进一种数字笔，从而用户可用手填写表格，而无需再费力劳神地打进机器中。如果数字为数字型，几乎所有事情都可由这种笔来完成——例如将数据通过无线方式或手机传输到中心计算机上。医生可将处方直接转到药房，减少了欺诈行为的发生。警察可将报告发回警察局，减少了文书工作。

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（责任编辑：何莹莹）