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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，經常惹妻子生氣。在我發現電子郵件之前，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。有個朋友發現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？這可以歸結為技術的力量(他們對技術樂此不疲）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。
