Coddling Plus Devices? Unequivocal Disaster for Our Kids.
溺爱加电子设备?这对我们的孩子来说无疑是一场灾难。
By Tracy Dennis-Tiwary
Imagine that your 10-year-old daughter gets chosen to join the first human settlement on Mars. She's ready to blast off but needs your permission.
想象一下,你 10岁的女儿被选入人类首次火星定居计划。她已经准备好发射升空,但需要你的许可。
You learn that the billionaire architect of the mission hasn't considered the risks posed by the red planet's toxic environment, including kids developing “deformities in their skeletons, hearts, eyes and brains.“ Would you let her go?
你了解到,设计这项任务的亿万富翁并没有考虑到红色星球的有毒环境会带来风险,包括孩子们会出现“骨骼、心脏、眼睛和大脑的畸形”。你还会让她去吗?
It's with this “Black Mirror“-esque morality play that Jonathan Haidt sets the tone for everything that follows in his new book,“The Anxious Generation.“ Mars is a stand-in for the noxious world of social media.
乔纳森·海特(Jonathan Haidt)在其新书《焦虑的一代》(The Anxious Generation)中,用这出《黑镜》式的道德剧为后面的内容定下了基调。火星是有毒的社交媒体世界的隐喻。
Haidt depicts increases in mental illness and distress beginning around 2012. Young adolescent girls are hit hardest, but boys are in pain, too, as are older teens.
海特指出,心理疾病和精神压力在2012年前后开始加剧。处于青春期的女孩所受影响最为严重,男孩也遭受其苦,年龄稍大的青少年同样如此。
The timing of this is key because it coincides with the rise of what he terms phone-based childhood. It wasn't phones alone. A second phenomenon coincided with the rise of the machines: the decline of play-based childhood.
这个时间点很关键,因为这与他所称的“手机童年”呈上升态势的时间完全吻合。不仅是手机。与各种电子设备的兴起同时出现的还有第二个现象:“游戏童年”的衰落。
We've overprotected our kids in the real world while underprotecting them in the virtual one, leaving them too much to their own devices.
我们在现实世界中过度保护孩子,而在虚拟世界中却对他们保护不足,任由他们沉迷数字设备。
Haidt is a digital absolutist, skeptical that healthy relationships between youth and social media are possible. We're better off banning phones in schools altogether, he asserts. Because, as he quotes a middle school principal, schools without phone bans are like a “zombie apocalypse“ with “all these kids in the hallways not talking to each other.“
海特是一个数字技术绝对论者,他不相信青少年与社交媒体之间可能存在健康的关系。他坚称,我们最好在学校里全面禁用手机。究其原因,他引用了一位中学校长的话,没有手机禁令的学校就像“僵尸末日”,“走廊里所有的孩子全都互不交流”。
生词好句
1.coddle
英[ˈkɒdl]美[ˈkɑːdl]
v.娇惯,溺爱
拓展:
She is so spoiled, and believes that everyone has to coddle her.
她被惯坏了,以为大家都得顺着她。
2.unequivocal
英[ˌʌnɪˈkwɪvəkl]美[ˌʌnɪˈkwɪvəkl]
adj.毋庸置疑的
拓展:
equivocal adj.模棱两可的
It’s an unequivocal answer.
这是一个明确无误的答复。
He was unequivocal in condemning the violence.
他旗帜鲜明地谴责暴力。
3.settlement
英[ˈsetlmənt]美[ˈsetlmənt]
n.移民,殖民
拓展:
the settlement of the American West美国西部的开拓过程
4.blast off
(导弹、火箭、航天飞机等)发射,升空,起飞
5.architect
英[ˈɑːkɪtekt]美[ˈɑːrkɪtekt]
n.设计师,缔造者
拓展:
the chief architect of the reform and opening-up policy改革开放的总设计师
词义辨析:architect vs. designer
比起designer,architect更适合用在宏伟庞大的工程里。
6.mission
英[ˈmɪʃn]美[ˈmɪʃn]
n.(军用飞机或航天火箭的)飞行任务
7.the risks posed by somebody
由某人某物而造成的危险
8.deformity
英[dɪˈfɔːməti]美[dɪˈfɔːrməti]
n.畸形
拓展:
form n.形状
deform v.变形
9.(n.)-esque
英[-esk]美[-esk]
suf.某种风格(或样式)的(in the style of something)
拓展:
Disney-esque迪士尼风格的
Harmlet-esque哈姆雷特式的
10.morality play
道德剧,寓言剧
11.set the tone for something
为某事定下……的风格
拓展:
The attitude of the founder will set the tone for the business.
创始人的心态将为公司定下基调。
12.noxious world
(本文)有害的、有毒的环境(toxic environment)
拓展:
noxious adj.有毒的,有害的
13.depict
英[dɪˈpɪkt]美[dɪˈpɪkt]
v.描述
14.as are somebody
……也一样
拓展:
He is rich, as is she.
他很有钱,她也一样。
15.A coincide with B
A与B同时发生
拓展:
Publication of his biography was timed to coincide with his 70th birthday celebrations.
他的传记特别安排在他的70寿诞庆典时出版。
16.decline
英[dɪˈklaɪn]美[dɪˈklaɪn]
n.衰减,衰落
拓展:
反义词:increase, rise
17.overprotect
英[ˈəʊvə, prəˈtekt]美[ˈoʊvər, prəˈtekt]
v.过度保护
拓展:
underprotect v.保护不足
overestimate v.高估
underestimate v.低估
overthink something思虑过度
underthink something过于简化,思考不足
18.leave somebody to something
不打扰某人做某事
拓展:
I'll leave you to your work.
我就不打扰你工作了。
19.digital absolutist
数字绝对主义者(指对数字技术,尤其是社交媒体持极端否定立场的人)
拓展:
digital adj.数字技术
absolutist n.绝对主义(源自政治哲学,认为某种原则不可妥协)
20.skeptical
英[ˈskeptɪkl]美[ˈskeptɪkl]
adj.不相信的,持怀疑态度的
21.We're better off doing something
我们最好还是做点什么
拓展:
We are better off spending money wisely.
我们最好不要花钱大手大脚。
22.assert
英[əˈsɜːt]美[əˈsɜːrt]
v.坚持主张
23.apocalypse
英[əˈpɒkəlɪps]美[əˈpɑːkəlɪps]
n.大灾难