Animation refers to moving graphics images. Just as a static graphics image is a powerful form of communication， such is the case with animation. Animation is especially useful for illustrating concepts that involve movement.
Full-Motion Video
Full motion video， such as the images portrayed in a television， can add even more to a multimedia application.
All of theAbove
You can see that multimedia is by no means just one of the preceding technologies. Because of what hardware can and cannot do， it is often a trade-off between a certain number of static graphics images， audio sound， full motion video and text. As you may guess， textual information takes the least amount of space to store. Even if a multimedia machine had unlimited resources， you would still want to add a combination of these multimedia technologies.
【Vocabulary】
animation
n. 活泼，有生气
infinite
adj. 无限的，无穷的，极大的
font
n. 字体，字形；泉水，源泉
compact
adj. 紧凑的，紧密的，简洁的
resolution
n. 决心，决定，决议
application
n. 请求，申请，申请书
microphone
n. 扩音器，麦克风
convey
vt. 搬运，传达，转让
comprehension
n. 理解，包含
enhance
v. 增强，提高
illustrate
v. 举例说明，阐述，图解
portray
v. 描绘
static
adj. 静态的，静力的
combination
n. 联合，合并，化合，化合物
【参考译文】
多媒体元素
多媒体包含文本、声音、静态图像、动画和全运动影像等元素。
文本
文本是文字处理程序的基础，是一项基本的信息并且用于很多多媒体程序中。实际上，许多多媒体应用程序是基于由书本到计算机形式的转换，这种转换使用户能直接访问文本，并为其显示一个弹出式窗口，给出某些具体的词汇的定义。多媒体应用程序也使用户能够立刻显示与正在浏览的某个主题有关的信息。一本计算机化的图书其功能更为强大，它允许用户快速查找信息，而不必根据索引或目录去查找。
Windows操作环境赋予用户的文本表达方式几乎是无限的。作为多媒体程序员，你可以选择要显示文本的字体、大小、颜色等。通常多种形式显示文本可使人们更容易理解多媒体应用程序试图表达的信息。
声音
声音有几种不同的格式。今天也许最普遍的声音类型是声音红皮书，这是为CD消费者提供的标准，它作为一种国际标准并正式公布为IEC 908。之所以被称为声音红皮书是由于描述这种格式的书的封面是红色的。声音红皮书也被用于多媒体程序，它是获得高质量声音的基础。
另一种声音格式是Windows声波文件，它只能用于Windows环境下的PC机。声波文件包括用于回放声音的实际数字数据和文件头，文件头提供有关分辨率及回放速度的附加信息。声波文件可以存储通过麦克风录入的各种声音。
声音的最后一种类型是乐器数字接口，缩写为MIDI。MIDI格式实际上是由乐器制造商制定的一种标准，它不是声音的一种数字化形式，而是描述要演奏的音符的信息集合。MIDI不能存储音符之外的任何东西。MIDI音乐可以由音序器生成。
把声音融入多媒体应用程序，用户可以得到使用其他的通信方式无法得到的信息。有些类型的信息不用声音很难有效地表达，例如，用文本文字准确描述心脏跳动的声音以及大海的声音几乎是不可能的。
声音也可以加深用户对用其他媒体传达的信息的理解，例如，可以把看到的动画片叙述出来，还可以帮助人们进一步了解应用程序是做什么的，从而更好地理解应用程序。研究专家已经发现，用多种感官表达的信息，对信息的后期记忆很有帮助。最重要的是，多媒体信息可以引起用户的更大兴趣。
静态图像
当你想象图像时，可能会想到静态的图像——也就是像照片或图画那样的图像，这种类型的图像是静止不动的。静态图像是多媒体的重要部分，Windows也是图形环境，它比DOS环境更容易显示图像。
动画
动画指的是运动的图像。动画和静态的图像一样，都是强有力的交流形式。动画在解释运动的概念时特别有用。
全运动影像
全运动影像（如电视中的图像），可使多媒体的应用更加广泛。
综合以上诸元素
显然多媒体绝不是从前的某一种技术。由于硬件能力的限制，要权衡选择静态图像、声音、全运动图像和文本各自所占的比例。就像你可以猜到的一样，文本信息占用的存储空间最小。即使多媒体计算机有无限的资源，人们仍想改进这项综合技术，将这些多媒体技术融于一体。
【Reading Material】
The Multimedia Highway
Now that telecommunications networks are global， and when information providers and content owners determine the worth of their products and how to charge money for them， information elements will ultimately link up online as distributed resources on a data highway （actually more like a toll road）， where you will pay to acquire and use multimedia-based information.
Curiously， the actual glass fiber cables that make up much of the physical backbone of the data highway are， in many cases， owned by railroads and pipeline companies who simply buried the cable on existing rights of way where no special permits and environmental reports are necessary. One railroad in the United States invested more than a million dollars in a special cable-laying trenching car； in Great Britain， there is talk of placing a fiber-optic cable backbone along the decaying 19th century canal and barge system. Bandwidth on these lines is leased to others， so competing retailers such asAT&T， MCI， and Sprint may even share the same cable.
Full-text content from books and magazines will be accessible by modem and electronic link； feature movies will be played at home； real time new reports from anywhere on earth will be available； lectures from participating universities will be monitored for education credits； street maps of any city will be viewable--with recommendations for restaurants， in any language—and online travelogues will include testimonials and video tracks. This is not science fiction； it is happening now. Each of these interfaces or gateways to information is a multimedia project just waiting to be developed.
In a few years， interactive multimedia will be delivered too many homes throughout the world. Interest from a confluence of entertainment mega-corps， information publishers and providers， cable and telephone companies， and hardware and software manufacturers is already driving this inevitable evolution， and profound changes in global communications strategy are on the drawing boards. What will be piped through this new system are the very multimedia elements discussed in the chapters of this book： text， graphics， animation， sound， and video.
Entertainment companies that own content easily converted to multimedia projects are teaming up with cable TV companies such as QVC or Viacom （owner of MTV， Showtime， and Nickelodeon）. Film studios such as Disney and Warner Brothers are creating new divisions to produce interactive multimedia， and wealthy talents like Spielberg， Katzenberg， and Geffen （Dream Works） have formed new companies to join the action. Already， large media corporations are uniting to create huge conglomerates that will control the content of tomorrow’s information. Disney has merged with Capital Cities/ABC， Time Warner has purchased Turner Broadcasting， and Microsoft has joined forces with NBC. Indeed， Microsoft’s interests in the growing Internet are so pervasive that it risks breakup and reorganization by the government under antitrust and monopoly laws， as was required ofAT&T， the telephone giant.