Unit Seven Unit Seven Unit Seven Unit Seven

Location Innovation Location Innovation

Before you watch • The employee’s phone is linked to

a computer that tracks his movements so that his employer knows exactly where he is.

• Watson’s Water has hundred of suppliers out in the field, delivering supplies and fixing water coolers.

track• To pursue successfully:• 成功地追捕：• “When, like a running grave, time tra

cks you down” (Dylan Thomas)• “ 时间象奔跑的坟墓，把你捕获” ( 迪

伦 · 托马斯 )

water coolers• 水冷却器

Before you watch 2• Companies want to keep tabs on

their employees, to make sure they are doing what they say they are and where they are. Some employees may find this very intrusive.

keep tabs on• keep tabs on 【非正式用语】• To observe carefully:• 密切注意：• Let's keep tabs on expenditures.• 让们密切注意开支情况

intrusive• adj.• 打扰的 , 插入的

CNN Reporter • If you want to know where Thomas

Joy is, just contact him on the mobile. Don’t worry if he doesn’t pick up. Joy’s phone is linked to a computer that tracks his movements.

CNN Reporter 2• As he roams around Hong Kong ,

dispatchers from his company can see his position on a map. The information is delivered in real time and is accurate within two hundred meters. That’s not a precise fix, but it can be delivered without the use of expensive satellite technology.

dispatcher• 调度程序• 车辆调度员

First Man• Previous technologies have tended

to rely on, hardware-driven solutions, and that has proven to be an expensive proposition for companies.

proposition• 主张 , 建议 ,

CNN Reporter• The Pinpoint Company has

developed a tracking service for the Hong Kong market. Regular mobile phones are used and subscribers are also able to receive text messages from their employer. This service has been adopted by, among others, Watson’s Water, which has hundreds of workers out in the field, delivering supplies and fixing water coolers. That’s what Thomas Joy does.

Pinpoint• To locate or identify with precision.• 精确地定位或确认• To take precise aim at:• 瞄准：精确地对准目标• pinpoint a target.• 瞄准目标

subscriber• 订户 , 签署者 , 捐献者

Continued• Companies are paying on average

twenty dollars per month to keep tabs on each of their employees. Firms use the tracking system to improve efficiency.

First Man • It typically ranges anywhere

between ten to fifteen percent in increase productivity; that is a tangible saving, ok, which you can measure by how many additional jobs the field workers are doing in a month.

CNN Reporter• Some analysts point out these

systems can be intrusive, since employees are always carrying a mobile.

Second Man • As an employee, there’s just not

much you can do about it if your boss wants to know where you are. You could, in the past, say that you were at some bar. In fact, there are some bars called “The Office” where you can actually tell truthfully to your boss or in fact your spouse that you’re still at some bar.

First Man• All of our services are developed

around the fact that we must protect the privacy of the user.

CNN Reporter• It’s too early to say where this

technology is heading but, in Hong Kong , the impact could be far-reaching, Pinpoint’s technology knows whether an employee’s downtown or in the suburbs, on a mountain, or in the middle of the Ocean.

Far-reaching• Having a wide range, influence, or eff

ect:• 远大的，深远的，广泛的：有广泛的范

围、影响或效力的：

First man• That means one of the guys is

drowning.

CNN Reporter • But before you mount a rescue,

give the employee a call. Even if they’ve disappeared, most likely they’ll still be breathing.

• Andrew Brown, CNN, in the Hong Kong Cross-harbor tunnel.

mount• To prepare and set in motion:• 发动：准备并进行一次运动：• mount an attack.• 发动一次进攻

rescue• An act of rescuing; a deliverance.• 救援：救援的行为；解救