Literally, multimedia means two or more media.If the publisher of this book wanted to join the current hype about multimedia, he could advertise the book as using multimedia technology.After all, it contains two media:text and graphics（the figures）. Nevertheless, when most people refer to multimedia, they generally mean the combination of two or more continuous media, that is, media have to be played during some well-defined timed times interval, usually with the users interaction. In practice, the two media are normally audio and video, that is, sound plus moving pictures.

　　In the multimedia environment, we have graphics and text at the same time, we can also add the photograph, animation, good-quality sound, and full motion video.All of the technologies make computers more interesting and much easier to use. For example,a multimedia program can play a segment of movie: a cat was playing a reel of thread, with mewing… The tableau can a be immediately captured and pasted to a text at the side of a paragraph of words.

　　CD－ROM

　　CD－ROM is an optical technology that is used to make compact disks for CD stereo systems; it has now been adapted to store data for computers.CD disk is an optical disc, on which data is recorded as a set of dips in the surface. When a laser beam shines across the dips,the reflected distortion represents the data.Optical disc has a 600 megabyte capacity and are well suited for the computer applications needing the vast storage.The playback effect of optical discs for music is very perfect,no hiss and crackle as with other photo-records.A computer system must have a CD driver that is designed to read the disks and translate the data into a form it can process. CD disks can store huge volumes of data and are very useful for reference material an encyclopedia, for example.However, as the name（read-only memory）implies, CD disks cannot be written on or changed in any way.

　　一、全文翻译

　　“多媒体”到底意味着什么？

　　从字面上看，多媒体是指两种或两种以上媒体。如果本书的出版者想加入当前多媒体广告的行列，那么，他就可以声称这本书已经使用了多媒体技术。因为，毕竟，它包含两种媒体，文本和图形（插图）。然而，当大多数人谈及多媒体时，他们通常是指混合了两种或两种以上连续的媒体，即，媒体可以在一段规定的时间之内连续播放，并且通常伴随着与用户的交互。实际上，这两种媒体通常指音频和视频，即声音加移动的图片。

　　在多媒体环境中，我们可以同时拥有图形和文本，也可以增加图片、动画、高质量的音响和全动录像，这些技术使得计算机使用起来更有趣也更容易。例如，一个多媒体程序可以播放一段电影：一只小猫正在玩线团，发出“喵喵”的声音……，这个画面可以立即剪贴到一段文字旁边。

　　CD-ROM

　　CD－ROM原是一种用于制作CD立体声系统的小型圆盘的光学技术，现在它已经被用来为计算机储藏数据。CD盘是一种光盘，其数据以一组坑的形式记录在光盘表面上，当激光束扫过这些坑的时候，返回的失真程度就代表了这些数据。光盘有600兆字节的容量，非常适合需要大存储量的计算机应用。音乐光盘播放音乐的效果非常完美，没有像用其他唱片那样的嘶嘶声和噼啪声。计算机系统必须配备一个CD驱动器用来读取光盘并将数据转换到计算机能够处理的形式。CD盘可以储存大量数据，这对于文献资料的存储非常有用，如存储一部百科全书。然而，正如其名字（只读存储器）所指出的那样，CD盘不能写，也不能用任何方式改变其内容。

　　二、单词

　　1、literally 逐字地、照字面地

　　translate a passage literally 逐字直译一篇文章；

　　2、interval 间隔、距离

　　The interval between the two posts measures thirty meters.

　　那两根柱子间距30米。

　　3、audio 听觉的、声音的；

　　4、video（n） 录象，电视，录象机；（a）电视的，录象的；

　　5、animation 动画片；

　　6、segment 部分；部门；

　　The company dominates this segment of the market.

　　该公司控制了这一部分市场。

　　7、tableau 如画的描写，动人的场面；

　　8、optical 眼睛的、视力的、光学的；

　　9、laser 激光；

　　三、句型分析

　　Nevertheless,[when most people refer to multimedia] they generally mean the combination of two or more continuous media, (that is, media have to be played during some well-defined timed times interval, [usually with the user's interaction.])