虛擬世界「元宇宙」
Facebook announced that it has changed its corporate name to Meta. The name change reflects the company’s growing ambitions to shift away from a social media business and reinvent itself as a pioneer of a new virtual world known as the “metaverse.”
臉書宣布已將公司名稱更改為Meta，此舉反映出公司日益增長的野心，欲跳脫社交媒體事業，重新定位，成為新虛擬世界「元宇宙」的先驅。
corporate(adj.)(大)公司的shift away from…跳脫reinvent oneself改造;改頭換面pioneer(n.)先驅、先鋒、創始人=front runner
CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the name change at the Facebook Connect augmented and virtual reality conference, where he sketched the company’s plan to focus on the digital trend — a virtual world where people will feel they are with one another and have a “sense of presence” although they are far apart.
臉書執行長祖克柏在「Facebook 聯外通」年度擴增與虛擬實境會議上宣布公司改名，他在會上勾勒公司的新計畫，聚焦下一波數位趨勢——打造出一個讓人們覺得儘管分隔兩地，仍與彼此在一起，有「存在感」的虛擬世界。
augmented reality擴增實境virtual reality虛擬實境sketch(v.)(給…)畫素描、(爲…)畫草圖、勾勒出a sense of presence存在感a sense of achievement成就感
In this metaverse, people hang around freely as avatars; they could invite friends into their virtual world as if they were physically together.
人們將以虛擬化身悠遊在這個「元宇宙」，他們可以邀請朋友進入他們的虛擬世界，彷彿就好像他們真的在一起一樣。
avatar(n.)(印度神話中)下凡化作人形的神、(網路遊戲或網路聊天室中的)虛擬化身as if(conj.)似乎;好像physically(adv.)肉體地;身體上地、實際上physically disabled殘障的a physically demanding job耗費體力的工作
Zuckerberg said the company believes that the metaverse will be next in line to the mobile internet.
祖克柏說，Meta認為「元宇宙」將成為移動互聯網後的下一波趨勢。
next in line 是～的接班人或繼承者
It is hoped that the new digital world will reach a billion users and generate hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue while supporting jobs for millions of creators and developers.
希望「原宇宙」能觸及10億用戶，創造千億贏收，同時為上百萬名創作者和開發者提供就業機會。
generate(v.)産生revenue(n.)(政府的)稅收;(公司的)收益
In recent years, the company has stepped up its efforts in virtual reality hardware.
臉書近年來不斷開發虛擬實境硬體。
step up 加速、加緊腳步
Apart from introducing a series of Portal video-chatting devices with AR features, it has also rolled out various versions of the Oculus virtual-reality headsets and its smart glasses in partnership with Ray-Ban.
除了一系列具有AR功能的Portal視訊聊天裝置外，也推出各種版本的Oculus VR頭戴裝置，並與雷朋合作推出智慧眼鏡。
apart from=aside from=in addition to…device(n.)裝置、器械headset(n.)頭戴式裝置in partnership with…與…結盟;合作=in collaboration with…
Around $10 billion will be invested in developing technologies needed to build the metaverse in 2022.
Meta預計在2022年投資約100億美元開發構建元宇宙所需的技術。
be invested in…被投資在…
The CEO said it would take five to 10 years for elements of the new virtual world to become mainstream.
祖克柏表示，元宇宙的元素需要5到10年的時間才能成為主流。
element(n.)元素;要素mainstream(adj.)(思維、思想或信念等)主流的mainstream media主流媒體a mainstream Hollywood movie好萊塢主流電影