三级aa视频在线观看-三级国产-三级国产精品一区二区-三级国产三级在线-三级国产在线

English 中文網 漫畫網 愛新聞iNews 翻譯論壇
中國網站品牌欄目(頻道)
當前位置: Language Tips> 合作專區> 英語學習專欄

科技,別總翻新太快
Hold on a moment, I want some new technology that lasts

[ 2010-06-08 15:30]     字號 [] [] []  
免費訂閱30天China Daily雙語新聞手機報:移動用戶編輯短信CD至106580009009

一個普通英國人一生會消耗掉多少電器?5臺冰箱、8臺烤面包機、6個微波爐、7臺電腦、6臺電視機、12個電水壺……35部手機!而且這些數字仍在增長,這個序列中的電器種類也越來越多。科技產品,因創新而為人追逐,也因創新而遭人擯棄。

科技,別總翻新太快

By Richard Morrison

李湘廷 選注

As John Updike once sourly but accurately observed, these days we are all conditioned to accept newness, whatever it costs.[1] Very soon, no doubt, Apple’s tablet will seem as an essential tool of modern living to us as the electric trouser-press did to our grandparents.[2] At least, it will until someone manufactures an even smarter, thinner and more essential tablet. Which, if recent history is any guide, will be in approximately six months’ time.

And that’s the bewildering[3] thing, isn’t it? Turn your back for a moment and you find that every electronic item in your possession is as dated as a mildewed tombstone.[4] Which wouldn’t be so bad in itself. Why should you care if people snigger because you use a mobile phone that actually predates Barack Obama’s presidency? [5]

But try getting the thing repaired when it goes wrong. It’s like walking into a pub and asking for a Dubonnet and lemonade.[6] You will be made to feel like some sort of time-traveller from the 1970s. “Don’t you want an upgrade?” you will be asked, incredulously.[7] “It’s not worth repairing that old thing.”

And so the mountain of dumped electrical debris grows.[8] A few years ago a satirically-minded sculptor constructed a gigantic statue made from the exact number of electronic goods that an average British person was estimated to discard in a lifetime.[9] It weighed three tons, stood 7ft high, and included five fridges, eight toasters, six microwaves, seven PCs, six TVs, 12 kettles, seven vacuum cleaners and 35 mobile phones.[10]

Even then, the calculation seemed on the conservative[11] side. Only 35 mobiles? In a lifetime? As every parent knows, any teenager will get through at least five phones each year. One will drown in the pocket of a pair of jeans chucked[12] in the washing machine. One will be lent to a girlfriend who has moved to Ipswich. One will be stolen during PE[13]. One will be left on a bus. And one will be accidentally flushed down the loo of a dodgy club in Camden Town.[14]

The enormous number of electronic items now regularly chucked out by British families is clearly one big problem. But this ceaseless discarding of gadgets has other consequences.[15] It contributes greatly, I think, to the uneasy feeling that modern life is whizzing[16] by faster than we can keep up. By the time I’ve learnt how to use a gadget it’s already broken, lost or redundant[17]. I’ve lost count of the number of TV remote-control thingies that I’ve bought, mislaid and replaced without working out what most of the buttons did.[18]

And the technology changes so bewilderingly fast—not least in the media world. Was it only 30 years ago that I saw my great predecessor William Mann (the music critic of The Times who famously declared the Beatles to be the finest songwriters since Schubert) sitting in the newspaper’s canteen after a concert and writing his review—with a fountain-pen![19] —for that night’s edition? And was it less than years ago that I spotted a high-powered businessman friend towing what seemed to be either a large crate or a small nuclear bomb on wheels through a railway station.[20] “Good grief[21],” I exclaimed. “What have you got in there? Your money or your wife?”

“Neither,” he replied, with the smug look of a man who knows he’s at the cutting-edge[22] of technology, no matter how ridiculous he looks. “This is what everyone will have soon—even you. It’s called a mobile telephone.”

I don’t lament[23] the pace of change. On the contrary, I’m dazzled by those high-tech designers who can somehow fit a camera, music-player, computer, phone and satellite navigation system into a plastic slab no bigger than a packet of fags.[24] Or invent a vacuum cleaner such as the one recently showed to me that can suck fluff straight into a dustbin via a system of pipes in your house walls.[25] (All you have to do is rebuild your entire home.) If the geniuses who dreamt up that could also find a way to keep the Tube[26] running on the first snowy day of winter, they would be making real progress for humanity.

What I do regret, however, is the built-in instant obsolescence[27] of so many household items. My parents bought a wooden wireless[28] in 1947, the year they were married. If 1973, the year I went to university, it was still pumping out[29] Family Favourites and The World at One. It sat in the kitchen like an old friend—which, in a way, it was. It certainly spoke to us more than we spoke to each other on some grumpy[30] mornings.

True, it had idiosyncrasies[31]. You had to know exactly how to tickle its knobs or tweak its dials to conjure discernible speech and music from the crackle.[32] But that was its mystique[33]. When my mum replaced it with a new-style radio that could also play cassette-tapes (gosh, remember them?) I felt a real sense of loss.

Such is the frenetic turnover of 21st-century technology that there’s no time to forge emotional bonds. Even if Apple’s new wonder-toys turn out to be the most significant tablets since the big ones that Moses dragged down the mountain[34], I very much doubt that they will resist the here-today-gone-tomorrow trend.

Vocabulary

1. 厄普代克曾酸溜溜但卻不乏卓識地講到,現代人都習慣了接受新事物,且不管代價幾何。John Updike: 約翰?厄普代克(1932—2009),美國作家,作品風格獨特,富于地方色彩,代表作有長篇小說《兔子,跑吧》等。

2. Apple’s tablet: 蘋果公司出品的平板電腦,于2010年1月推出,tablet原意為“寫字板”;electric trouser-press: 熨褲子的電熨燙機。

3. bewildering: 令人困惑的。

4. mildewed: 發霉的;tombstone: 墓碑。

5. snigger: 嘲笑,竊笑;predate: 早于……的;presidency: 總統的職務(任期)。

6. Dubonnet: 杜本內茴香酒,始創于1846年;lemonade: 檸檬汽水。

7. upgrade: 升級;incredulously: 表示懷疑地。

8. dumped: 廢棄的;debris: 垃圾,碎片。

9. satirically-minded: 意在嘲諷的;discard: 丟棄。

10. toaster: 烤面包機;PC: = personal computer,個人電腦,指臺式機;vacuum cleaner: 真空吸塵器。

11. conservative: 保守的,指保守估計。

12. chuck: 扔,拋。

13. PE: = physical education,體育課。

14. flush: 沖洗(尤指抽水馬桶);loo: <英俚> 廁所;dodgy club: 此處應指搖滾樂酒吧,該詞源自Dodgy Club(英國搖滾樂隊Dodgy建立的酒吧,樂隊常在該酒吧中演唱)。

15. ceaseless: 不停的;gadget: 小裝置,小機件。

16. whiz: 颼颼地移動,飛馳。

17. redundant: 多余的。

18. remote-control: 遙控器;thingy: = thingummy,[用以指不知其名或暫時忘記其名的人或事物]那個人,那個東西;mislay: 放錯。

19. predecessor: 前輩;Schubert: 舒伯特(1797—1828),奧地利作曲家;canteen: 食堂;fountain-pen: 鋼筆。

20. high-powered: 精力充沛的;tow: 拖;crate: 裝貨箱。

21. good grief: (表示詫異或恐懼)哎呀!天哪!

22. smug: 沾沾自喜的;cutting-edge: 尖端,前沿。

23. lament: 為……哀悼,悲傷。

24. slab: 薄片;fag: <口> 香煙。

25. fluff:(毛毯等落下的)絨毛;dustbin: 垃圾桶。

26. Tube: <英> 地鐵。

27. built-in instant obsolescence: 指(家庭用品)固有的會很快落伍的屬性。

28. wireless: 無線電收音機。

29. pump out: 噴出,此處指“播放(節目)”。

30. grumpy: 壞脾氣的。

31. idiosyncrasy: 特色,特性。

32. 你得知道怎么摁鍵子,撥旋鈕,以便從刺啦聲中找到能聽出模樣兒的講話或音樂。

33. mystique: 神秘性。

34. the big ones that Moses dragged down the mountain: 指《圣經?舊約》提及的在西奈山上由上帝親授摩西的“十條誡命”石板。

(來源:英語學習雜志)

 
讨论本文 (total China Daily Website - Connecting China Connecting the World

Sorry, the page you requested was not found.

Please check the URL for proper spelling and capitalization. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Chinadaily.com.cn, try visiting the Chinadaily home page

Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
)  
保存打印发送E-Mail推荐给MSNQQ好友进入英语点津论坛
中國日報網英語點津版權說明:凡注明來源為“中國日報網英語點津:XXX(署名)”的原創作品,除與中國日報網簽署英語點津內容授權協議的網站外,其他任何網站或單位未經允許不得非法盜鏈、轉載和使用,違者必究。如需使用,請與010-84883631聯系;凡本網注明“來源:XXX(非英語點津)”的作品,均轉載自其它媒體,目的在于傳播更多信息,其他媒體如需轉載,請與稿件來源方聯系,如產生任何問題與本網無關;本網所發布的歌曲、電影片段,版權歸原作者所有,僅供學習與研究,如果侵權,請提供版權證明,以便盡快刪除。
我来说两句
昵称:
网友评论仅供其表达个人看法,并不表明中国日报网同意其观点或证实其描述。发表评论查看全部评论(17
 

關注和訂閱

人氣排行

翻譯服務

中國日報網翻譯工作室

我們提供:媒體、文化、財經法律等專業領域的中英互譯服務
電話:010-84883468
郵件:translate@chinadaily.com.cn
 
 
主站蜘蛛池模板: 欧美在线观看视频免费 | 亚洲无线码一区二区三区在线观看 | 国产婷婷综合在线视频 | 亚洲精品在线影院 | 久久青青草原精品影院 | 久久99精品久久久久久园产越南 | 国产黄在线观看免费观看软件视频 | 99视频在线观看视频一区 | 亚洲精品三区 | jizzjizz日本护士 | 国产精品黄在线观看免费软件 | 伊人一区二区三区 | 人人澡人人澡碰人人看软件 | 在线精品福利视频你懂的 | 俄罗斯小younv另类 | 一级毛片a免费播放王色 | 香港a毛片免费全部播放 | 又黄又爽又猛大片录像 | 亚洲免费网站 | 国产欧美日韩不卡一区二区三区 | 青青热久久国产久精品秒播 | 国产成人免费观看 | 小优视频高清视频在线看 | 久久99精品久久只有精品 | 女性一级全黄生活片 | yy9299| 久久夏同学国产免费观看 | 亚洲欧美日韩中文字幕久久 | 女人18毛片久久鬼色 | 97精品国产自在现线免费 | 中国美女bbbbbxxxxx | 免费国产成人 | 国内黄色精品 | 亚洲欧美制服丝袜一区二区三区 | 亚色一区 | 亚洲成网站www久久九 | 亚洲逼院 | 蕾丝视频成人★在线观看 | 日本老太婆一级毛片免费 | 国产h视频在线观看高清 | 在线a网站|