EZCNN 易英网

Newsworthy Clips: Kid’s digital day: almost 8 hours Kid’s digital day: almost 8 hours 孩子数位的一天，几达八小时

 

课文朗读

 

课文讲解

 

繁體中文譯本

 

Kid’s digital day: almost 8 hours  孩子数位的一天，几达八小时

 

Kids these days spend so much time with electronic media – cellphones, iPods, video games and computers – that it might as well be a full-time job: more than 53 hours a week, a study finds.

一项研究发现，现代孩童在手机、iPod、电动玩具、计算机等电子媒体上花了很多时间，差不多是一份全职工作的时数了：每周超过五十三小时以上。

 

Compared with peers a decade ago, young people spend 79 more minutes of free time each day listening to music, watching TV and movies, playing video games and hanging out online. Nearly twice as many now say they do at least two of these at the same time.

与十年前同龄的闲暇时间来听音乐、看电视、看电影、打电玩、上网。同时从事两种以上活动的人数，更是十年前的近两倍之多。

 

The findings, out today in a Kaiser Family Foundation survey of 2,002 people ages 8 to 18, show that young people spend seven hours and 38 minutes using media in a typical day – up from six hours and 19 minutes a decade earlier.

凯瑟家庭基金会针对两千零二位八至十八岁年轻族群所做的调查今天出炉，结果显示，年轻人平常每天使用媒体的时间为七小时三十八分钟，高于十年前的六小时十九分钟。

 

Electronic media are now “a part of the air that kids breathe,” says Vicky Rideout, director of Kaiser’s Program for the Study of Media and Health.

凯瑟的「媒体与健康研究计划」主任维基．莱德奥表示，电子媒体如今宛如「孩子所呼吸的空气的一部分」。

 

Among other findings in the study:  调查还发现：

• Cellphone ownership has increased sharply since 2004, from 39 percent to 66 percent.   拥有手机者激增，从二００四年的三成九提高到六成六。
• iPod ownership has jumped even more since 2004, from 18 percent to 76 percent.    拥有iPod者增加的比率更高，从二００四年的一成八提高到七成六。
• 20 percent of kids’ media comes via mobile devices.    孩子使用的媒体有两成是透过行动装置。

 

The near-ubiquity of mobile devices has had a profound effect on kids’ free time, filling up “the interstitial spaces” in their daily lives, says Amanda Lenhart of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. She jokes that iPods and cellphones may be this generation’s “magazines and chewing gum” – harmless ways to fill time.

皮尤研究中心「因特网与美国生活项目」的亚曼达．连哈特指出，行动装置几乎无所不在，这对孩子的闲暇时间影响深远，填满了他们日常生活中的「间隙」。她开玩笑说，iPod和手机可能是这个世代的「杂志与口香糖」，是用来消磨时间的无害方式。

 

Rideout was “frankly astonished” at the sheer amount of time kids spend with electronic media: “Anything that takes up this much time – we really do need to think about it and talk about it.”

光是孩子花在电子媒体的时间就让莱德奥「着实吃了一惊」，「任何会占用这么多时间的事物，真的需要我们仔细想想、好好讨论。」

 

−by Greg Toppo

 

单词发音

 

More Information

hang out 闲逛；闲荡 spend time in a certain location or with certain people

interstitial [͵ɪntɚˋstɪʃəl] adj.（有）空隙的   relating to small gaps of time, situated between other thing

frankly [ˋfræŋklɪ] adv. 确实；坦率地说

 

 

 

 

课文朗读

 

课文讲解

 

Device helps former Navy man walk after stroke  电子器具相助，前海军军官中风后又能行走

 

October 16, 2006, began like any other day for Steven Peace. He went to work, had dinner with friends and watched TV before bed. But, when he stood up to walk to his bedroom, Peace had a massive stroke.

对于史蒂芬．皮斯来说，二００六年十月十六日一开始和平常日子没什么两样，他照样去上班，和朋友共进晚餐，睡前还看了电视，但当他起身走到卧室时，却发生了严重的中风。

 

“Bam! It’s like it hit me all of a sudden, and I didn’t know what it was,” Peace says.

「彷佛轰的一声！我的生活突然遭受巨变，而我当时根本搞不清楚发生了什么事，」皮斯指出。

 

He lay on the floor for 14 hours until a friend arrived and called an ambulance.

他就这样躺在地板上十四小时之久，直等到一位朋友来，并打电话叫救护车。

 

The stroke left him with about 10 percent to 15 percent use of his right arm and 60 percent of his right leg. He now has “foot drop,” a condition in which his right foot remains pointed toward the ground when he picks up his leg to walk. The NESS L300, an electronic device by Bioness Inc., helps correct this condition through electrical stimulation. The NESS L300 has proved so helpful in fact, Peace, 35, now competes in triathlons.

中风让皮斯的右臂功能仅剩一成至一成五、右腿仅剩六成，要说出自己的想法偶尔会有困难，此外，他还罹患垂足症，抬起右腿行走时，足部会垂向地面。Bioness 公司生产的NESS L300电子辅具，可藉由电刺激矫正这种状况。三十五岁的皮斯事实上还能参加铁人三项比赛，证明NESS L300的确有帮助。

 

Not only is the device small and easy to conceal, there is also a therapeutic advantage to the NESS L300. When patients are sitting, watching TV at home for example, they can turn on “training mode” to work the leg muscles. The device helps stretch the tendon behind the calf by eliciting a foot-flexing response.

NESS L300除了体积小，易于隐藏之外，也有治疗上的好处。病人坐着，例如在家看电视之时，可以启动「训练模式」来活动腿部肌肉，这个器具能引发足部屈伸反应，伸展小腿肚后方的肌腱。

 

In October, with the help of a cane and the NESS L300, Peace competed in a San Diego triathlon. In a video from the triathlon, he can be seen walking slowly and steadily, leaning on a cane and on the arm of an ER nurse. And he finishes the race.

十月时，皮斯借助手杖与NESS L300，而完成了圣地亚哥的铁人三项比赛。在该铁人三项比赛的录像带中，可以看到皮斯缓慢但稳定地行走，他倚靠手扙并挽着一位急诊护士的手，而完成了这项比赛。

 

“It felt wonderful,” Peace says. “Tears in my eyes welled up, and I couldn’t believe I was actually finishing it. Because before I got an injury I would never have dreamed of doing a triathlon and now, three years after having a stroke, here I am looking for more triathlons.”

皮斯表示，「感觉太棒了，我热泪盈眶，简直不敢相信自己居然完成了。因为在我受伤之前，作梦都想不到我会参加铁人三项，现在呢，在中风三年之后，我却期待着参加更多三项竞赛。」

 

−by Lindsey Anderson

 

单词发音

 

More Information

stroke [strok] n.（病）突然发作；中风

ambulance [ˋæmbjələns] n. 救护车

triathlon [traɪˋæθlɑn] n.【体】三项运动（游泳、单车、赛跑三项全能赛）

conceal [kənˋsil] v. 隐蔽，隐藏；隐瞒

therapeutic [͵θɛrəˋpjutɪk] adj. 治疗的；有疗效的   having a healing effect; tending to make a person healthier

calf [kæf] n. 腓，小腿

lean [lin] v. 依赖，依靠[（+on/upon）]

well up 涌出 come up (as of feelings and thoughts, or other ephemeral things)

 

 

 

 

课文朗读

 

课文讲解

 

What happens to 3-D glasses?  3-D眼镜何处去？

 

Laid end-to-end, the 3-D glasses worn by Avatar-goers since the blockbuster movie opened would reach from Los Angeles to Greenland. That’s a whole lot of plastic.

卖座影片「阿凡达」上映以来，狂热影迷所戴过的3-D眼镜如果头尾相连，可以从洛杉矶排到格陵兰，那可是好大一堆塑料。

 

Four companies provide 3-D systems for showing the wildly popular sci-fi epic in the USA: Dolby Laboratories, IMAX, Real-D and XpanD. Each has a recycling program in place, for hygiene and to keep what would otherwise be a mountain of plastic out of landfills.

这部极受欢迎的科幻巨片在美国上映时所使用的3-D系统，是由四家公司提供的：包括杜比实验室、IMAX公司、Real-D公司和XpanD公司。为了卫生以及不要让堆积成山的塑料被送进垃圾掩埋场，每一家公司都有3-D眼镜回收方案。

 

IMAX says its glasses can be washed up to 500 times. “When we put them through our glasses-cleaning machine, they come out as clean and sterile as they [would] come out of a dishwasher in a restaurant,” says Brian Bonnick, the Canadian company’s vice president of technology.

IMAX表示，IMAX眼镜可以洗上五百次。「把它们放进洗镜机清洗之后，有如从餐厅洗碗机拿出来时那么干净、无菌，」IMAX这家加拿大公司的技术部副总裁布莱安．普尼克表示。

 

Dolby’s glasses are also reusable. Each gives theater owners instructions on how to clean its reusable specs.

杜比的眼镜也可重复使用，戏院负责人也会被教导如何清洁可重复使用的3-D眼镜。

 

“We have glasses that have been used and washed thousands of times without degradation,” says director of marketing Page Huan. “They’re very environmentally friendly.”

「我们有些眼镜已经用过、洗过数千次，但质量丝毫不受影响，」营销经理佩姬．瑝恩表示，「这些眼镜非常环保。」

 

XpanD’s glasses also are built to be washed, though the company’s Michael Williams suggests keeping the dishwater temperature “under 120 degree or you might have a little glob of plastic” come out at the end of the wash cycle.

XpanD的眼镜同样也可清洗，不过该公司的麦可．威廉斯建议将清洗水温控制在「一百二十度以下」，否则洗完后「可能会有一小团塑料」跑出来。

 

Real-D has the lion’s share of 3-D projection systems in the USA, accounting for at least 700,000 3-D glasses used a day. According to Real-D’s Rick Heineman, the glasses are shipped to a cleaning facility near Los Angeles, where they’re sanitized, checked for defects, repackaged and shipped out.

Real-D在美国3-D投影系统的市占率很高，每天使用的3-D眼镜至少有七十万副是Real-D的产品。根据该公司的瑞克．海涅门表示，眼镜是送到洛杉矶附近的清洁厂，经消毒、检查瑕疵、重新包装之后再运送出去。

 

Moore Theaters in Michigan has done away with recycling altogether. It charges $3 for 3-D glasses patrons keep, says owner Carol Moore. “By this weekend, we had 22 percent coming back with glasses. …. That means they’re returning to see the movie or they’re giving them to friends.”

密西根的摩尔戏院连回收都省了。戏院负责人卡洛．摩尔表示，观众想保留3-D眼镜的话，费用是三美元，「到这个周末为止，有两成二的观众自带眼镜来看电影，这多半意味着，他们回来再看一次电影，或是他们把眼镜给了朋友。」

 

−by Elizabeth Weise

 

单词发音

 

More Information

in place 准备就绪 ready for use

landfill [ˋlændfɪl] n. 垃圾填埋；垃圾填埋地   a place where garbage is buried

specs [spɛks] n. 【口】眼镜

dishwater [ˋdɪʃ͵wɔtɚ] n. 洗碟的水

glob [glɑb] n.（一团）东西

do away with 废除, 停止 eliminate

 

 

 

单词发音

 

Vocabulary Focus

sharply [ˋʃɑrplɪ] adv. 突然，猛烈地 changing suddenly in a way that is immediately noticeable

ubiquity [juˋbɪkwətɪ] n. 到处存在，无所不在，普遍存在 when something or someone seems to be everywhere

elicit [ɪˋlɪsɪt] v. 引起; 引出；诱出 to obtain some type of reaction

epic [ˋɛpɪk] n. 史诗般的作品 a book or movie that is long and contains a lot of action, usually with a historical subject

hygiene [ˋhaɪdʒin] n. （尤指为防止患病或疾病传播的）卫生 the practice or principles of keeping oneself and one’s environment clean in order to maintain health and prevent disease

sterile [ˋstɛrəl] adj. 消过毒的，无菌的 free from bacteria

degradation [͵dɛgrəˋdeʃən] n. 毁坏；恶化 the process by which something is made worse; deterioration

lion’s share 比较多的部分, 或最大部分 the biggest part of something

sanitize [ˋsænə͵taɪz] v. 对……作卫生处理；给……消毒 to make something completely clean and free from bacteria