Why Not Look Away from the Screens

内蒙古 丛美清

□语篇导读

你听说过“行为瘾”吗？这种瘾的出现与现代电子产品密切相关。试想一下,智能产品在给你带来乐趣的同时,又耗费掉你多少时间？它在给你带来便利的同时,又给你的身心健康造成了多大的危害呢？为什么我们会抱着手机刷来刷去？我们到底应该怎样做呢？

Many of us lose ourselves in modern digital products.In the past,we thought of addiction as mostly related to chemical substances:heroin(海洛因),cocaine(可卡因),nicotine (尼古丁).Today,we have a problem with behavioral addictions.Most of people are spending nearly three hours a day on their cellphones.What's worse,teenage boys sometimes spend weeks alone in their rooms playing video games.

The people who create games wouldn't say their games can do harm to you.They just want you to spend as much time as possible on their products.Some of the games on smartphones need your payment when you play,so they expect to keep you playing.The producers will get more interest.

Do we need laws to protect ourselves？

Of course.It's not a bad idea to think about it,at least for games on the Internet.In South Korea and China,there are some suggestions for something called Cinderella laws.The idea is to protect children from playing certain games after midnight.

In a survey,60 percent of the adults said they keep their cellphones next to them when they sleep.We pay more attention to how many “likes” our Instagram photos are getting instead of whom we are talking to.It disturbs work and everyday life.

In my opinion,we should spend more time being in natural environments and sitting face to face with someone in a long conversation without any technology in the room.

◆词语沉淀

1.digital products电子产品

2.relate to与……相关；涉及……

3.behavioral addictions 行为瘾；成瘾

4.disturb/dɪ'stзːb/v. 打扰； 扰乱；使不安

5.substance/'sʌbstəns/n. 物质；实质；资源

6.payment/peɪ'mənt/n.支付；付费；报酬；报答

◆典句赏析

1.Many of us lose ourselves in modern digital products.我们中有许多人对现代电子产品上瘾。

lose oneself in sth.是比较常见的词组搭配,意思是“沉迷于……”,oneself是反身代词,表示“某人自己的”,其人称和数要随着主语而变化。介词in后面可以接名词或代词。

【即时尝试】许多青少年沉迷于网络游戏。

2.They just want you to spend as much time as possible on their products.他们只是想让你花尽可能多的时间在他们的产品上。

(1)“主语+spend+时间(金钱)+on sth./(in)doing sth.”句型结构,意思是“花费时间或金钱在某事上或做某事”。

(2)as...as possible相当于as...as you can,意思是“尽可能……”。

【即时尝试】你最好花费尽可能多的时间学习英语。

(答案见63页)

译文助读

我们中有许多人对现代电子产品上瘾。在过去,我们通常把上瘾和海洛因、可卡因、尼古丁这样的化学物质联系在一起。而今,又出现了一种行为瘾现象。大多数人每天会在手机上浪费将近3个小时之久。更严重的是,青少年们有时会为了玩电子游戏而一个人在房间里待上几个星期。

设计电子游戏的人绝不会说游戏会对你的身心造成怎样的伤害。他们的目的是想让你花尽可能多的时间在他们的产品上。智能手机上的一些游戏是需要付费的,所以他们想让你一直玩下去。这些设计者会从中牟取更多的利益。

我们需要立法保护我们自己吗？

至少对网络游戏而言,当然是可以考虑一下的。在韩国和中国,有人提出设立“灰姑娘法规”。其理念是保护儿童,让他们不在午夜之后玩某些游戏。

在一项调查中,60%的成人表示他们在睡觉时也会把手机放在身边。我们特别关心在Instagram上发布的照片获得了多少个“赞”,而不是去在意我们正在交谈的人。这种行为已经扰乱了我们的工作和日常生活。

我们为什么不能抽出更多的时间待在自然的环境里,在没有任何技术设备的房间里坐下来与他人面对面地谈谈心呢？