马鞍山市2014高考英语阅读理解、动词短语精讲讲练（14）及答案
(·山西省三市联考)The iPhone, the iPad, the iPod: each of Apple's products sounds cool and has become a fad(一时的风尚). Apple has cleverly taken advantage of the power of the letter “i” — and many other brands are following suit. The BBC's iPlayer — which allows Web users to watch TV programs on the Internet — adopted the title in 2008. A lovely bear — popular in the US and UK — that plays music and video is called “iTeddy”. A slimmeddown version of London's Independent newspaper was launched last week under the name “i”．
In general, singleletter prefixes(前缀) have been popular since the 1990s, when terms such as email and ecommerce first came into use.
Most “i” products are targeted at young people and considering the major readers of Independent's “i”， it's no surprise that they've selected this fashionable name.
But it's hard to see what's so special about the letter “i”. Why not use “a”， “b”， or “c” instead? According to Tony Thorne, head of the Language Center at King's College, London, “i” works bec ause its meaning has become ambiguous. When Apple uses “i”， no one knows whether it means Internet, information, individual or interactive, Thorne told BBC Magazines. “Even when Apple created the iPod, it seems it didn't have one clear definition，” he says.
