所屬教程:讀金融時報學(xué)英語

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2022年02月14日

手機版
掃描二維碼方便學(xué)習(xí)和分享

07 丟了手機的“天賜幸福”

有人說，手機已經(jīng)成為現(xiàn)代人的一個“器官”，深深地植入到我們的日常里了。不過FT專欄作家露西·凱拉韋在丟了手機之后，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)了生活的另一面。

Last Wednesday, after a seven-day break, I rejoined the modern world.For a full week I had done something frightening, shaming yet ultimately liberating.I had been without a phone.

在度過了一個七天的“假期”后，上周三，我終于又回歸了現(xiàn)代社會。在這整整一周的時間里，我先是感到不安、愧疚，不過最后又覺得自由——這是離開手機的一個星期。

This strange period started in Washington DC in a taxi bound for the airport.I had spent the journey doing emails on my phone, which I put down on the seat to pay the driver, only to leave the cab without it.In airport security a few minutes later I reached into my bag.No phone.I emptied it on to the floor.Nothing.My heart started to race, my breathing turned shallow and I was prickling with sweat.

這一段奇特經(jīng)歷始于華盛頓。那時我正坐在駛向機場的出租車上，一路上都在用手機處理郵件。后來在向司機付錢時，我把手機放在座位上，下車的時候就給忘了。幾分鐘后在機場安檢時，我才翻了翻我的包，發(fā)現(xiàn)沒有手機。我甚至還把包里的東西全都倒在地上——還是沒找到手機。一瞬間，心跳加快，呼吸急促，身上冒汗。

I've lost my phone, I wailed at the person next to me.Half a dozen people overheard, and an impromptu crisis team formed.Someone tried to ring my number, but it was on silent.Others asked if I knew the name of the cab company and if I'd paid by card? No and no, I said.

我抓著身邊的人就開始慟哭：我把手機搞丟了！不少人都聽到了，好心人們迅速組成了應(yīng)急處理小分隊。有的人試著撥打我的號碼，不過我的手機是靜音狀態(tài)。還有人問我記不記得出租車公司的名字，或者是不是刷卡支付的——“沒記住，也沒有刷卡”，我回答。

Already I'd learnt two things.People in general are very nice.And on the scale of human calamities losing your phone is now seen as up there with cardiac arrest.

到這里，我認識到兩件事。1，一般來說人們還是很善良的；2，對于現(xiàn)代人而言，丟手機簡直是堪比心臟驟停般的災(zāi)難。

Two hours later, queueing for a taxi in Boston I felt the need, Ancient Mariner style, to tell my story to the man next to me.He asked for my Apple login details and then showed me on his phone a little blue circle moving slowly over a bridge.There it is, he said.It's 396 miles away.I looked at the blob and wanted to cry.

兩個小時后，在波士頓排隊等候出租車時，我像柯勒律治筆下的老水手一樣，覺得需要跟身邊的人傾訴我的故事。這個人要了我的蘋果賬號細節(jié)，然后指著自己手機上的一個正緩緩跨越一座橋的小藍圈給我看——“你的手機在那兒”，他說，“離我們396英里遠”。我看著那一團只想哭。

In my hotel room I sat on the edge of one of two vast beds and gazed down on the city, lit up below me.Room service was on its way, and from my laptop I emailed various people to say I'd lost my phone.By any standards I was safe, facing no imminent or distant risk.Yet still I felt all wrong: exposed and vulnerable.The stress of the speech I was giving was nothing by comparison.

在酒店的房間里，我坐在一張大床邊，俯瞰這座城市，慢慢點亮。客房服務(wù)在來的路上，我用我的電腦給各種人發(fā)郵件，告訴他們我把手機丟了。不管怎么說，我還算是安全的，沒有遠慮也沒有近憂。不過我還是覺得既沒有安全感又脆弱。相較而言，我對于將要發(fā)表演講所感到的緊張，簡直不值一提。

At the conference the next day the delegates filed out for coffee, but there was no networking going on as everyone was in silent communion with their emails.With no such comfort blanket I had no choice but do something retro — engage a stranger in conversation, who rewarded me by being both interesting and vaguely useful.

第二天的會議上，與會代表們陸續(xù)去喝杯咖啡，不過大家之間全無交流，因為每個人都在沉默著處理郵件。不過我沒有這樣的福利，于是只能做點“復(fù)古”的事情：找了個陌生人交談。我發(fā)現(xiàn)這個人的回應(yīng)不僅有趣，還有那么點兒用。

Later out on the street and bound for South Station, I did another thing I hadn't done since I got my first smartphone.I asked a woman for directions, and she duly provided them.Here was my next discovery: asking a person is better than Google Maps.It is faster and doesn't require reading glasses.

隨后在大街上和駛向波士頓南站的路上，我做了一件自從我用了智能手機就再也沒做過的事情——向一個女士問路。她也很詳細地把路線告訴了我。于是我的另一個發(fā)現(xiàn)是：找人問路比Google強。問路其實更快，并且我也不需要戴上眼鏡去看屏幕。

On the train to New York I did my emails.Because it is a kerfuffle opening the laptop and signing on, I did them in one go, after which I shut the machine and read a book.

在駛向紐約的火車上，我處理了我的郵件。所有瑣屑的事情在我打開電腦的時候一股腦地涌了進來，我把它們一口氣全部處理完了。隨后我關(guān)了電腦，讀了一本書。

It then occurred to me that the invention of the BlackBerry was not progress.There is nothing to be gained from having your emails follow you around — and much to be lost as it detracts from whatever else you are doing.

隨后我意識到，黑莓手機的發(fā)明其實并不是一個進步。它不過是讓那些郵件如影隨形地跟著你，并且因為你常常三心二意地做著別的事，很多郵件都會被錯過。

By day three, all panic had gone, replaced by an unaccustomed feeling of freedom.Without my whole world tugging at me from my pocket I could simply marvel at the beauty of Central Park South in the early morning sun.

丟手機后的第三天，我感到惶恐已經(jīng)全然消失，取而代之的是一種前所未有的自由感。我的世界再也不是被口袋里的手機牽著鼻子走，在清晨，終于可以簡簡單單地對著晨光里的南中央公園感到驚嘆了。

Back home in London there were only two occasions when a phone might have come in handy.The first was when I'd missed the last overground home, and I wanted Uber, but this wasn't too bad as soon enough a bus came trundling along.

回到倫敦，只有兩件事讓我感到，可能需要手邊有個手機。第一個是當(dāng)我錯過最后一班地上鐵回家，我想要個手機叫優(yōu)步。不過這個問題不難解決，因為很快就有一輛巴士緩緩駛來。

The second was when I was meeting someone who had tried to text to tell me she was running late.All that happened was I was left waiting for 20 minutes, which I spent thinking about what I wanted from the meeting.

第二件事是，我沒有收到約見的一位女士的短信，她試著發(fā)信息告訴我她趕不及了，要晚點到。結(jié)果是我在那里等了20分鐘，在這20分鐘里，我想了想這次會面想要達成什么。

When my new phone arrived last Wednesday, I felt no pleasure at the neat white oblong box.I opened my text messages dreading all the messages I'd missed, only to find none at all — texts don't automatically transfer from one gadget to another.

當(dāng)上周三我的新手機送到的時候，拿著那個精致的長方形白盒子，我卻開心不起來。我心驚膽戰(zhàn)地打開短信，想要查看這幾天里錯過的全部消息，不過什么也沒發(fā)現(xiàn)——短信不能自動地在手機之間轉(zhuǎn)存。

There was only one bad thing about losing my phone.I lost face at the same time.When one of my sons left his phone on a park bench a few months ago I told him if he wasn't mature enough to look after a smartphone, he wasn't mature enough to own one.My loss proves something different.Evidently, I'm too mature to look after mine.And now I know I'm too mature to need it as well.

在丟手機這件事上，只有一件壞事情，那就是我丟人了。幾個月前，我兒子把手機丟在了公園長椅上。我告訴他：如果你還不能懂事到看好一部智能手機，那就不能擁有一部。我丟手機的事情說明了另外一個道理。顯然，我過于“懂事”，因此也沒有照看好自己的手機?，F(xiàn)在我知道，自己已經(jīng)懂得如何不再那么依賴手機了。

詞匯總結(jié)

wail [we?l]

vi.哀號；悲嘆

vt.為某人死亡而悲痛；哀悼某人；哀號著說

n.哀號；悲嘆；慟哭聲

I've lost my phone, I wailed at the person next to me.

我抓著身邊的人就開始慟哭：我把手機搞丟了！

calamity [k?'l?m?t?]

n.災(zāi)難；不幸事件

cardiac ['kɑ?d??k]

n.強心劑；強胃劑

adj.心臟的；心臟病的；賁門的