Apple Inc.'s iPad appeared to get off to a strong start over the weekend as swarms of buyers flocked to stores after weeks of publicity about the tablet-style computer.

苹果公司(Apple Inc.)的iPad周末正式上市销售后似乎开局势头强劲，大批买家涌入苹果专卖店购买这款产品，此前数周这款形似写字板的电脑已被宣传得家喻户晓。
But the long lines soon faded, and few stores sold out of the device, which continues to face questions about how broadly demand for it will spread beyond technology enthusiasts.

但专卖店外排起的长队不久就缩短了，出现iPad售磬的店铺并不多，不断有人质疑说，除了那些科技产品迷外，普通消费者对iPad究竟能有多大需求。

Apple hasn't offered iPad sales forecasts, and it declined to comment on sales and stock figures. But Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster -- based on longer-than-expected lines at stores and high expectations for online preorders -- more than doubled his initial first-day sales estimate to between 600,000 and 700,000 units, including preorders. He also lifted his 2010 forecast to 5.5 million units from 2.8 million.

Some other analysts have been even more upbeat. On Friday, research firm iSuppli Corp. predicted that 7.1 million iPads will sell world-wide this year, with sales nearly tripling to 20.1 million by 2012. But others are more pessimistic. Forrester Research, for example, has predicted first-year sales of three million.

苹果公司一直未提供对iPad的销售预测，它也拒绝对这款产品的销售和库存数字发表评论。但券商Piper Jaffray的分析师芒斯特(Gene Munster)将他估计的iPad上市首日销售量提高了一倍，增至60万至70万部，其依据是苹果专卖店外长于预期的购买者队伍以及预计会有很多人从网上订购iPad，他的预期数字中包括预定的部分。芒斯特还将他预期的2010年iPad销售量从280万部上调到550万部。
其他一些分析师的预期甚至更为乐观。研究公司iSuppli Corp.上周五预计，今年全球将售出710万部iPads，而到2012年以前的销售量将比这高出近两倍，达到2,010万部。但也有一些分析师的看法较为悲观。比如Forrester Research就预计，iPad上市第一年的销量将只有300万部。

There was no shortage of excitement as Apple opened its stores' doors at 9 a.m. Saturday morning. Hundreds of people were lined up at the flagship outlets in New York and San Francisco.

不过，当苹果专卖店上周六早9点开门迎客时，现场却并不缺乏激动情绪。当时数百人已早早排在了苹果纽约和旧金山旗舰店的门外。
In many places, though, customers were able to buy iPads without a wait by midmorning. And unlike what happened at the 2007 debut of Apple's iPhone, few stock outages were reported. Also, on Easter Sunday, many Apple stores were closed, and several open ones reported ample iPad supplies.

但在许多地方，人们不用凌晨排队也能买到iPad。而且与苹果在2007年首次推出iPhone时的情形不同，iPad存货告磬的报导很少见。此外，在复活节的这个周日，许多苹果专卖店不开门，几家依然开门营业的专卖店也报告说iPad供应充足。
The initial iPads, which range in price from $499 to $699, offer only short-range Wi-Fi communication. Devices with 3G cellular Web connectivity are expected to arrive late this month, at a starting price of $629, with Internet-access plans sold separately.

首批推出的iPad价格在499至699美元之间，只能进行短距离的无线保真(Wi-Fi)通讯。具备3G移动互联网接入功能的iPad预计将于本月晚些时候面市，起价为每部629美元，上网费另算。

By Saturday morning, more than 3,100 iPad apps were already available for the device, which can also play programs originally developed for the iPhone and the iPod touch. Many that placed high in the sales rankings at Apple's App Store were from media companies offeringaccess to their content. A Netflix Inc. app for streaming movies was the top free non-Apple app for the iPad, followed by an app from Walt Disney Co.'s ABC television network that offers free streaming of ABC shows.

截至上周六早晨，iPad已拥有3,100多个应用程序，那些原本为iPhone和iPod开发的程序也适用于iPad。苹果应用程序专卖店销售排名靠前的程序中，有许多来自媒体公司，这些程序使顾客得以接入媒体公司的内容。在非苹果公司开发的免费iPad程序中，最受欢迎的是Netflix Inc.开发的一款看电影软件，位居其后的是华特-迪士尼公司(Walt Disney Co.)旗下ABC电视网提供的一款应用程序，它能让人免费观看ABC的节目。

The arrival of the iPad also brought Apple's own e-book store, iBooks, which the app store urged users to download right away. It opened with 60,000 e-books, but none from Bertelsmann AG's Random House, the world's largest trade publisher. E-bookstore competitors Amazon.com Inc. and Kobo Inc. offer Random House books for download that can be read using their iPad apps, which are free downloads.

与iPad一同推出的还有苹果公司自己的电子书专卖店iBooks，苹果的应用程序专卖店敦促顾客立即到iBooks下载图书。iBooks开业伊始推出了60,000部电子书，但没有一本来自贝塔斯曼集团(Bertelsman AG)旗下的蓝登书屋(Random House)，后者是世界最大的出版商。苹果在电子书店领域的竞争对手亚马逊公司(Amazon.com Inc.)和Kobo Inc.则提供可供下载的蓝登书屋图书，这些图书免费下载，并可用两公司为iPad开发的应用程序阅读。

Geoffrey A. Fowler / Shira Ovide

• device [di´vais] n.装置；器具；策略 (初中词汇)
• comment [´kɔment] n.&v.评论；评注；注意 (初中词汇)
• estimate [´estimət, ´estimeit] n.估计；评价 vt.估价 (初中词汇)
• research [ri´sə:tʃ] n.&vi.调查；探究；研究 (初中词汇)
• excitement [ik´saitmənt] n.兴奋；骚动；煽动 (初中词汇)
• unlike [,ʌn´laik] a.不同的 prep.不象... (初中词汇)
• communication [kə,mju:ni´keiʃən] n.通信；通讯联系 (初中词汇)
• available [ə´veiləbəl] a.可用的；有效的 (初中词汇)
• arrival [ə´raivəl] n.到达；到达的人(物) (初中词汇)
• initial [i´niʃəl] a.最初的 n.首字母 (高中词汇)
• easter [´i:stə] n.(耶稣)复活节 (高中词汇)
• originally [ə´ridʒənəli] ad.本来；独创地 (高中词汇)
• offering [´ɔfəriŋ] n.提供；礼物；捐献 (高中词汇)
• access [´ækses] n.接近；通路；进入 (高中词汇)
• random [´rændəm] n.偶然的行动 (高中词汇)
• publisher [´pʌbliʃə] n.书籍出版者；发表者 (高中词汇)
• weekend [´wi:kend, ,wi:k´end] n.周末休假 (四级词汇)
• shortage [´ʃɔ:tidʒ] n.不足(量)；缺少 (四级词汇)
• network [´netwə:k] n.网状物 vt.联播 (四级词汇)
• broadly [´brɔ:dli] ad.广，宽；明白；粗鲁 (六级词汇)
• forecast [´fɔ:kɑ:st] vt.&n.预测；预报 (六级词汇)