But with laptops before breakfast, mobiles left switched on by bedsides and iPods stuck in ears as they fall asleep, I do worry my sons will soon lose the power of speech entirely. When I was a kid, I would spend hours gossiping with my mates, hanging out down the shops discussing clothes, boys and other urgent matters. My children are often happy to stay in their rooms and converse by keyboard. “Switch off the computer and get to bed,” I yell, as I get ready to turn off my own bedroom light. “22)Yep, I’m just saying goodnight to my mates,” they tell me.
但是,看着他们还没吃早餐就忙着开手提电脑,去睡了手机还要开着放床边,睡着了耳朵里还塞着iPod耳塞,我确实担心我的儿子们不久就会完全丧失讲话的能力。当我还是小孩时,我会花上数小时与伙伴们闲聊,一边到处晃悠商店,一边谈论衣服、男生以及其他要事。而今天我的小孩却往往乐于呆在房间里,用键盘聊天。“关掉电脑,上床睡觉,”我边准备关掉卧室的灯边喊道。“好,我正在跟我的伙伴们说晚安呢,”他们告诉我。
Should I resist the inevitable march of progress? Is it enough to use proper grammar and spell out text words in their entirety—much to my children’s amusement—or should I be communicating only when I can 23)see the whites of their eyes? After all, I know I’m a 24)hypocrite when it comes to the lure of the laptop... I used to start every day gazing at my children; these days I open my Mac before I open their doors.
我该不该与这必然的进程相抗衡?写信息时用正确的语法、拼出完整的单词(老是被我的孩子们取笑)是否就足够了,还是说,只有在近距离面对面时才跟他们沟通?毕竟,说到手提电脑的诱惑,我知道我自己是个“伪君子”……过去每天早上我都会看看我的孩子再开始一天的生活;但是这些天来,在打开他们的房门之前我会先打开我的苹果笔记本电脑。
Lisa Warner is a parenting expert whose website Fink (Family Interaction Nurtures Kids) produces conversation 25)prompt 26)cards for teenagers. “The way we communicate is changing and your family can’t live in a bubble and ignore technology,” she says, “But kids learn how to communicate from their parents and we lose all sorts of things—crucial body language for example—by not talking face to face. By all means make use of the new methods of communicating but make sure you take time to talk about things other than the daily routine.”
丽莎·华纳是一个育儿专家,她的网站Fink(“家庭互动呵护孩子成长”的缩写简称)提供了与青少年沟通方面的提示方法。“我们沟通的方式在不断变化,你的家庭不可能脱离现实生活在泡影里,不可能对科技视若无睹,”她说,“但是,孩子是从父母那里学会怎样跟人沟通的,而因为缺乏面对面的交流,我们失去了各种各样的东西,例如,重要的肢体语言。沟通的新方法是应该尽情充分利用的,但是必须确保你肯花时间去聊日常琐事以外的东西。
It’s 27)falling on deaf ears in our house. The more gadgets that appear, the less we have to do with one another. The way they plan their social life has changed, too. Everything is left to the last minute because everyone can be reached immediately, no matter where they are. Hours of no visible or audible signs of communication with their friends are suddenly followed by a slammed front door as they react to an urgent message or email. “What time are you coming back????” I text after them as they disappear up the road. I leave my phone next to my pillow as I try to sleep—comforted only by a 28)bleep-bleep of a response and an eventual key in the door.
但是,对我们一家而言,上述建议只是耳边风。越多数码小玩意出现,我们相互间打交道的时间就越少。他们安排社交生活的方式也改变了。所有的东西都留到最后一分钟,因为不管在哪里,所有人都能够立即联系得上。本来好几个小时也没有看见或听见他们跟朋友有什么交流,突然间他们会因收到一条紧急短信或者一封邮件,然后就甩门而去。“你什么时候回来?”当他们消失在路上时,我发短信问道。想睡了还不忘把手机放在枕头边——听到哔哔声的回复,以及最后钥匙在门里的转动声时才感到安心。
Last month, I asked my eldest son to email me his latest piece of English private study. It was a beautifully crafted piece of work based on 29)Sebastian Faulks’s Birdsong, in which my boy used words and phrases I could only dream coming from his mouth. It was thoughtful, moving and nothing like the usual 30)clipped language I get in his texts and emails. You see, it’s all there—it’s just lost inside the computer. With keyboards or phone 31)pads prompting most communication within the Hather house, it’s easy to forget we are still32)chatterboxes at heart. So I didn’t hold back when I told my son what I thought of his essay: “It’s really lovely,” I texted.
上个月,我叫我的大儿子将他英语课上最近的一篇自学研究论文电邮给我。那是根据塞巴斯蒂 安·福克斯的《鸟鸣》而精心写就的一篇文章。里面用到的那些辞藻是我只能在梦中才有可能听到从他嘴中说出来的。文章用词深刻而感人,完全不像我平常在他的短信和电邮里所看到的那些缺头少尾的词语。你瞧,一切都还在——只是都“丢失”在电脑里了。海特尔家里的沟通大部分已是通过电脑键盘或者手机按键驱动,随之我们很容易会忘记自己内心深处其实仍然是喋喋不休的。于是,我将自己对儿子论文的看法毫无保留地告诉了他。“文章真的很不错,”我在短信中写道。
