Superannuation is a retirement (including pensions退休金, 养老金) program in Australia. It has a compulsory element(强制因素) whereby(adv. 靠那个; 凭那个; 借以 a system whereby people could vote by telephone人们可以借助电话投票的系统) employers are required by law to pay an additional amount based on a proportion比例 of an employee's salaries and wages (currently 9%) into a complying(comply with遵守, 服从) superannuation fund, which can be accessed when the employee meets one of the conditions of release contained in Schedule of the Superannuation Industry Supervision Regulations 1994. Employers must make superannuation contributions to the employees' designated superannuation fund养老金基金 at least every three months. The superannuation contributions are invested over the period of the employees' working life and the sum of compulsory强制的 and voluntary contributions, plus earnings, less taxes and fees is paid to the person when they choose to retire. The sum most people receive is predominantly主要的 made up of compulsory employer contributions.
Pew Research: Wealthy Have Laptops, the Poor Have Cell Phones: While the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project stated that声称 wireless usage is up in almost all categories, some groups are trending(趋势, 趋向 (chiefly N. Amer.)change or develop in a general direction(主北美)趋向, 倾向 unemployment has been trending upwards失业率呈上升趋势) differently than others. It's no surprise that the wealthy would be more wirelessly equipped with a cell phone and laptop computer -- heck, they probably even have an iPad by now -- but the report saw something different in the the less affluent(富裕富足的 affluent societies, affluent people) and less educated masses. Many didn't even have a computer, but instead seemed to gravitate to(gravitate vi. gravitate to/toward(s) 被吸引到, 受吸引[attract]而转向 Most visitors to New York gravitate to Times Square大多数来纽约的游客都被吸引到时代广场 We all gravitated towards the food我们全受食物吸引 ) a cell phone to access the Internet. About 20 percent of high-school dropouts退学辍学者 use only a cell phone for wireless access, and 17 percent of them making less than $30,000 per year do the same. Households with less than $30,000 per year also had the highest jump, about 11 percent (tying with(tie with: 与...得分一样多, 与...持平) 18- to 29-year-olds) in wireless use. Part of the reason could be because of government subsidies(政府补助金, 政府补贴 subsidy补贴) that give cell phones to the poor. In a saturated饱和的 market, the only new business for mobile phone carriers may be the largest untapped([有用或宝贵的东西]未开发的,未利用的 The region is thought to have some of the world's largest untapped oil reserves) one. "The low-hanging fruit(Targets or goals which are easily achievable and which do not require a lot of effort. We're a small company with few assets, so to succeed in the short term, we need to go after the low-hanging fruit.) is gone, and the wireless companies are going after the nooks and crannies(something remote; "he explored every nook and cranny of science")," Roger Entner, a wireless industry analyst with Nielsen told the New York Times. " 'Oh, the poor: How can we sign them up(跟他们签合同)?' " Profits may not be large, but they're there利润虽不大, 但毕竟有啊 -- carriers can receive up to $10 per month in subsidies, sufficient to cover what amounts to about $3 in service, Entner said. About 73 percent of adults in poverty are estimated to have cell phones, likely because cell phones are one of the few consumer goods that can be obtained prepaid or pay-as-you-go(relating to a system of paying debts or meeting costs as they arise费用发生付款制), a necessity(必要条件, 必需品) for someone on a tight budget(预算紧张) who can't afford a hefty数额巨大的 deposit or a two-year contract. (No credit history can also make obtaining a cell contract next to impossible(几乎不可能).) While $400 for a laptop may seem cheap, it could be a week's pay for some consumers. Enter TracFone, one of the biggest services in the prepaid cell world, which offers plans starting at $9.99 per month, and also the purveyor of SafeLink, a free service easily afforded by low income users and subsidized给予补贴的 by taxpayers in 25 states and Puerto Rico. Wal-Mart's Straight Talk prepaid program has also garnered market share for the budget-conscious(1. [in combination]concerned with or worried about a particular matter关心…的, 对…感兴趣的, 担心…的 They were growing increasingly security-conscious他们越来越担心安全问题. 2. having knowledge of; aware of知道的, 了解的, 意识到的, 察觉的 We are conscious of the extent of the problem我们意识到问题的严重程度 3. [predic.](conscious of)painfully aware of; sensitive to不自然的, 敏感的 He was very conscious of his appearance他对自己的外表感到难为情 4. (of an action or feeling) deliberate and intentional(行为,感觉)有意的, 故意的, 存心的 a conscious effort to walk properly故作高雅走路的努力 ). Other providers are likely to start infiltrating渗透 the market when customers decide to upgrade service. "It's a clever marketing tool," Joel Kelsey, policy analyst with Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "Once the minutes are up, customers will dig deeper to pay for more." If statistics like Pew's continue, our country may even see a distinct difference in the poor and wealthy -- one reliant依赖依靠 on their cell to access the Internet while the other is laden with(充满) numerous gadgets, from laptops to iPads to game consoles, all with wireless Internet access. While many may view this as a preference优先, 偏爱, 选择权 for smartphones over unwieldy(笨重庞大, 不易操作的) laptops or PCs, it may be that for some people it isn't a preference at all, but simply what they can afford.
Low-income Users Latch on to(latch 门闩, 碰锁 latch on to 1. 纠缠 He spent the whole evening trying to latch on to my friends 2. 理解明白 [with clause]she'll soon latch on to what is happening她很快就会理解发生了什么 3. 考虑, 接受, 对...产生兴趣, 并加以利用 the newspapers latched on to the idea of healthy eating报纸热情宣传健康饮食的观念 The government have latched onto environmental issues to win votes) IPhone: Lower-income U.S. consumers are flocking to蜂拥 Apple's iPhone, sending an early signal that smartphones are changing from a luxury to a necessity, according to research company ComScore Mobile. In a series of surveys ending in August, ComScore found that iPhone purchases grew fastest among people with annual household incomes between US$25,000 and $50,000. The growth rate in this group was 48 percent, compared with just 16 percent among people with incomes above $100,000. Consumers in that lower-income group still made up only 15 percent of the iPhone crowd, which is dominated by affluent males between the ages of 18 and 35, the company said. But the fact that they are increasingly willing to pay $199 for an iPhone 3G and about $70 per month or more for AT&T's service plans suggests smartphones are becoming a mainstream product, said ComScore Mobile analyst Jen Wu. "Although it's not shifting the iPhone audience all that much, it is still indicating a larger trend that we might be seeing more of in the future," Wu said. The trend became most pronounced(明显显著的) after the iPhone 3G arrived in early July, with higher speed, the App Store for third-party tools and a 50 percent price cut, she said. Massive advertising, media coverage and word-of-mouth promotion are playing a role in attracting these users to the iPhone, but they may also see the device as a good value((钱)花得值,值得买, 物有所值 value something at something估价为 to consider something to be worth a certain amount. The museum curator valued the vase at one million dollars. I value this vase at one million dollars. take something at face value to accept something because of the way it first looks or seems, without thinking about what else it could mean Usage notes: The face value of a note or a coin is the number written on it. (often negative) These results should not be taken at face value - careful analysis is required to assess their full implications. Don't just accept her offer at face value. Think of the implications. Joan tends to take people at face value and so she is always getting hurt.) because of the number of things it can do, Wu said. Because it can be a music and video player, Internet access device, e-mail and instant-messaging platform, camera and many other things, the iPhone gives cash-strapped(strapped 钱不多的;身无分文的, 经济拮据的, 不宽裕的, 手头紧的 be strapped for cash 缺钱, 手头紧 I can’t come to the cinema tonight—I’m a bit strapped for cash今晚我不能去看电影了——我手头有点紧 ) consumers more for their money than do single-purpose products, she said. And because it can be used on the go, it can help people make better use of their time, she added. "People have started to see that it's worth the cost值回票价, 物有所值," Wu said. Typical uses of smartphones are also on the rise among people in this income group, according to ComScore. The number of people in this group who listened to mobile music has been growing at about 5 percent, versus a drop of 0.3 percent for the mobile market overall, the company said. Using a browser to check out news or other information also rose 5 percent in households making between $50,000 and $75,000 per year, and among people older than 45, ComScore said. Increasingly, people in all these groups find it's expected that they'll be able to get e-mail, access the Internet and use other data services on their phones, Wu said. In its studies of the mobile market, ComScore uses a sample of more than 33,000 users. Wu doesn't expect the current economic downturn经济萎缩, 经济滑坡 to make much of a dent in this trend(dent凹痕, 凹坑 make a dent/hole in sth减少, 削弱 The embarrassing stories about his past made quite a dent in his reputation关于他过去的令人难堪的传说损坏了他的名誉 ), which follows at least two years of rising monthly spending on mobile services. "I don't see there's going to be much of a slowdown减速, 减缓, just because wireless devices are so much more更加 of a necessity than they used to be," Wu said. Some of the demand may be met by less-expensive phones that have a subset of the iPhone's capabilities, as well as by rival platforms such as Google's Android, but the iPhone still reigns supreme as the handset to have, even though it represents only about 1 percent of the market, Wu said.
