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閱讀與探究
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Computers are popular these days and they are playing an important role in our work and life. But do men and women have the same attitude towards the use of computers? Read the following text and see what the author has to say about how men and women differ in their use of computer technology.
目前，電腦很流行而且在我們的工作及生活中起到了重要的作用。但是對于電腦的使用，男性和女性的態(tài)度相同嗎？閱讀下面的文章，男性和女性對于電腦的使用存在不同，看看作者對此都說了些什么。
Gender Gap in Cyberspace
網(wǎng)絡(luò)空間的性別差異
by Deborah Tannen
德博拉·坦嫩
I was a computer pioneer, but I'm still something of a novice. That paradox is telling.
我很早就買了電腦，但仍然像個菜鳥。這個自相矛盾的說法很能說明問題。
I was the second person on my block to get a computer. The first was my colleague Ralph. It was 1980. Ralph got a Radio Shack TRS-80; I got a used Apple II+. He helped me get started and went on to become a maven, reading computer magazines, hungering for the new technology he read about, and buying and mastering it as quickly as he could afford. I hung on to old equipment far too long because I dislike giving up what I'm used to, fear making the wrong decision about what to buy and resent the time it takes to install and learn a new system.
我是這座大樓里第二個擁有電腦的人。第一個是我的同事拉爾夫。那是在1980年，拉爾夫買了一臺Radio Shack TRS-80電腦；我買了一臺二手蘋果II+電腦。他是我的電腦啟蒙老師，后來成了電腦專家。他喜歡讀電腦雜志，對雜志上的新技術(shù)如饑似渴，一有錢就購買新軟件，并能精通使用。我卻抱著這臺老舊的設(shè)備不放，因為我不喜歡放棄已經(jīng)用習(xí)慣了的東西，也害怕做錯決定買錯電腦，還討厭花時間安裝和學(xué)習(xí)新的系統(tǒng)。
My first Apple came with videogames: I gave them away. Playing games on the computer didn't interest me. If I had free time I'd spend it talking on the telephone to friends.
我的第一臺蘋果電腦里配有許多視頻游戲；但我把它們送給別人了。我對電腦游戲提不起興趣。如果我有空閑時間，我寧愿和朋友們煲電話粥。
Ralph got hooked. His wife was often annoyed by the hours he spent at his computer and the money he spent upgrading it. My marriage had no such strains ― until I discovered e-mail. Then I got hooked. E-mail draws me the same way the phone does: it's a souped-up conversation.
拉爾夫上癮了。他在電腦上耗的時間太長，又花大筆錢來升級電腦，經(jīng)常惹妻子生氣。在我發(fā)現(xiàn)電子郵件之前，我的婚姻從未有過類似的緊張局面。但電子郵件讓我上癮了，它吸引著我，就像是升級版的電話聊天。
E-mail deepened my friendship with Ralph. Though his office was next to mine, we rarely had extended conversations because he is shy. Face to face he mumbled, so I could barely tell what he was speaking. But when we both got e-mail, I started receiving long, self-revealing messages; we poured our hearts out to each other. A friend discovered that e-mail opened up that kind of communication with her father. He would never talk much on the phone (as her mother would), but they have become close since they both got on line.
電子郵件加深了我和拉爾夫的友誼。雖然他的辦公室就在我隔壁，但我們總聊不了幾句，因為他很害羞。面對面交談時，他說話含糊不清，我都聽不清他在說什么。但有了電子郵件后，我開始收到他推心置腹的長篇郵件；我們彼此互訴衷腸。有個朋友發(fā)現(xiàn)電子郵件打開了她和父親之間的交流之門。父親不會在電話里說個沒完（不像她母親那樣），但是父女在網(wǎng)上卻親密無間。
Why, I wondered, would some men find it easier to open up on e-mail? It's a combination of the technology (which they enjoy) and the obliqueness of the written word, just as many men will reveal feelings in dribs and drabs while riding in the car or doing something, which they'd never talk about sitting face to face. It's too intense, too bearing-down on them, and once you start you have to keep going. With a computer in between, it's easier.
我想知道，為什么有些男人在電子郵件里更容易敞開心扉？這可以歸結(jié)為技術(shù)的力量(他們對技術(shù)樂此不疲）和文字的委婉。正如很多男人在開車或者做事的時候會偶爾流露情感，但他們卻不肯坐下來面對面地吐露心跡。對男人來說，這樣氣氛太緊張，壓力過大，況且你一旦開始吐露就不能停止。而有一臺電腦在中間，交流就輕松多了。
