Read the NEWS in English 🌐 Advanced Vocabulary and Grammar from CNN · Your World In English
本课通过阅读CNN科技行业新闻，学习高级词汇和语法结构，提升英语理解与表达能力，适合练习新闻阅读和商务英语。
In today's English lesson, we're going to read a CNN news article together.
在今天的英语课上，我们将一起阅读一篇来自 CNN 的新闻文章。
This advanced lesson will focus on the essential vocabulary and grammar you need to know, not only to fully understand this article,
这节高级课程将重点讲解你所需掌握的基本词汇和语法知识。这些知识不仅有助于你完全理解这篇文章的内容，
but to participate in the culture of the English-speaking world.
而是为了参与英语世界的文化生活。
We will analyze each paragraph.
我们将逐一分析每个段落。
I will take detailed notes, and you can download a free PDF of these notes by clicking the link in the description.
我会详细记录这些内容，而您可以通过点击描述中的链接免费下载这些记录的 PDF 文件。
Finally, at the end of the lesson, I will read the article one more time a little faster
最后，在课程结束时，我会再快速地读一遍这篇文章。
at a natural speed so you can focus on my pronunciation and intonation.
请以自然的语速来听，这样你就能更好地关注我的发音和语调了。
Let's get started.
我们开始吧。
Here's the title of today's article.
以下是今天文章的标题。
Sony to lay off 900 at PlayStation as tough times for the video games industry persist.
由于电子游戏行业仍处于艰难时期，索尼计划裁减PlayStation部门的900名员工。
Here we have the phrasal verb lay off.
这里我们讨论的是短语动词“lay off”（解雇员工）。
This means to stop employing someone because there's no work for them to do.
这意味着因为没有工作可以让某人去做，所以就不再雇佣这个人了。
This is different than when someone gets fired.
这与某人被解雇的情况有所不同。
Usually, you get fired because you've done something wrong.
通常，你被解雇是因为你做错了什么。
You get laid off if a company decides to close or downsize to reduce costs.
如果公司决定关闭或裁员以降低成本，你就会被解雇。
We have a grammatical structure that's very common in news articles.
我们使用了一种在新闻文章中非常常见的语法结构。
Sony to lay off 900.
索尼将裁员900人。
It's very common to omit the verb "be" in the titles of news articles.
在新闻文章的标题中省略动词“be”是非常常见的现象。
This is a reduced form of "Sony is to lay off 900."
这是“索尼将裁员900人”这一消息的简化版本。
This sentence uses "be" plus the "to" infinitive as a formal way to announce that something is planned to happen in the future.
这个句子使用了“be”加上“to”+动词原形（即不定式），这是一种正式的表达方式，用于说明某件事计划在将来发生。
It sounds more official and professional than just saying, "Sony will lay off 900."
这样的表述听起来更加正式、更加专业，也比简单地说“索尼将裁员900人”要好得多。
Some more examples would be, "The president is to make an announcement this week," or "The author is to publish a new book next month."
还有一些其他的例子，比如：“总统本周将发表一项声明”，或者“作者下个月将出版一本新书”。
Tough times is an adjective noun collocation.
Tough times”是一个形容词名词的搭配短语（即由形容词和名词组成的固定表达）。
A collocation is a group of words that are frequently used together.
搭配”（collocation）是指一组经常一起使用的词语。
In this case, the adjective "tough" and the noun "times" create a very common phrase.
在这种情况下，形容词“tough”（艰难的）和名词“times”（时期）组合成一个非常常见的短语。
Tough times usually refer to a difficult economic period.
艰难时期”通常指的是经济不景气的时候。
"Persist" is a very useful verb, which in this context means that something bad continues to exist or happen.
Persist”是一个非常实用的动词，在这个语境中，它表示某种不好的情况或现象会持续存在或发生。
If you're a fan of video games like me, then you are aware that tough times persist for many companies in this industry right now.
如果你和我一样是电子游戏的爱好者，那么你应该知道：目前这个行业的许多公司都面临着严峻的挑战（或者说：许多公司正处于困境之中）。
Let's read the first paragraph.
我们来看看第一段吧。
Electronics giant Sony announced on Tuesday that it will be cutting 900 jobs, or 8%, in PlayStation's global workforce.
电子巨头索尼周二宣布，将在PlayStation的全球员工中裁减900个岗位（占总员工的8%）。
The layoffs will impact all regions for Sony interactive entertainment.
这次裁员将影响到索尼互动娱乐（Sony Interactive Entertainment）在所有地区的业务运营。
According to the PlayStation press release, with its in-house London studio responsible for the competitive singing video game,
根据PlayStation发布的新闻稿，这款竞技性歌唱类电子游戏的开发工作由该公司位于伦敦的内部工作室负责完成。
SingStar, closing entirely.
SingStar服务即将全面停止（即不再提供任何服务）。
Here, a "giant" refers to a large, successful company that is well known in its industry.
在这里，“巨头”指的是那些规模庞大、经营成功且在所在行业中享有盛誉的公司。
Sony is a giant in the field of electronics.
索尼是电子领域的巨头。
In this context, "cut" means to reduce the amount of something.
在这种情况下，“减少”（cut）指的是降低某事物的数量。
We're using the future continuous tense here.
我们在这里使用了“将来进行时”（future continuous tense）这一时态。
"We'll be cutting."
我们将进行削减。
We're emphasizing that the action will happen over a longer period of time, not all at once.
我们强调，这一系列行动将在较长的时间内逐步实施，而不会一次性完成。
Well, hopefully not all at once.
嗯，希望不会一下子全部发生。