听播客学英语 79 如何来跟踪孩子

 　　Do you know the English expression “to keep track of” something? If you “keep track of “ something, you always have a good, up-to-date¹ knowledge of it. Here are some examples to help you understand the way we use the expression.

　　Molly is an air-traffic controller. She works² at a busy airport, and her job is to guide planes into the airport safely. She needs to keep track of all the planes which arrive at the airport.

　　Kevin likes to keep track of his money. He always writes down what he spends, so he knows how much money is left in his bank account.

　　Joanne has a job where she needs to visit lots of other companies, and to meet people at her office. She has a special programme on her computer to help her keep track of her appointments.

　　And John uses Facebook to keep track of what his friends are doing. Perhaps you use Facebook to keep track of your friends too.

　　The opposite of “keep track of” is “lose track of”. Sometimes, if I am reading a good book, I lose track of time. That is, I forget what time it is. Suddenly I realise that it is much later than I thought.

　　Kevin has three older brothers and an older sister. They are all married and have children. Kevin is “Uncle Kevin” to the children. But poor Kevin always loses track of the children’s birthdays. He cannot remember whether little Harry³ has a birthday in March or in June, and whether little Deborah is 3 or 4 years old.

　　At Kevin’s work, there have been a lot of changes. The boss has re-organised all the Departments and has moved a lot of people to new jobs. Kevin cannot keep track of all the changes. He cannot remember who is now doing which job.

　　I have a reason for telling you about “keep track of”. There was an article in the newspaper yesterday about the Consumer Electronics⁴ Show in Las Vegas in the United States. This is the show where firms display their latest clever gadgets⁶ which they hope to persuade the public to buy. A British company is displaying a gadget⁵ which looks like an ordinary wristwatch. Inside the watch is a chip which uses the Global Positioning System to keep track of where the watch is. The idea is that parents will buy these watches for their children; they can then receive text messages on their mobile⁷ phones which tell them where their child is. Is he at school? Has he gone to see his friend? And so on. But won’t children simply take the watch off if they do not want their parents to know where they are? Well, if the child removes the watch, this will immediately send a message to the parents.

　　The new device⁸ sounds like a way of making children prisoners. However, the company which makes it says that it hopes that it will give children more freedom, not less. Parents may be happy to let their children go out to visit friends, or to play in the park, if they always know where the children are.

　　I can however think of one problem. I wear a watch so that I always know what time it is. Most older people are like me, and have a watch. Children and teenagers, however, do not wear watches. If they want to know the time, they look at their mobile phones. They will not want to wear the new watch. They will know that its real purpose is to enable⁹ parents to keep track of the children, not to enable the children to keep track of the time.

　　What do you think? If you are a young person, would you agree to wear this new watch? If you are a parent, would you think that the watch is a good way to keep track of where your children are and what they are doing?

1 up-to-date   

adj.现代化的，最新的；跟上时代的

参考例句：

• The car is a beauty and quite up-to-date.那辆车子很漂亮是最新款的。
• He bought an up-to-date textbook.他买了一本最新的教科书。

2 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

3 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

4 electronics   

n.电子器件，电子学，电子技术

参考例句：

• About 45000 people worked in electronics in Scotland.苏格兰约有4.5万人在电子行业工作。
• He wants to brush up his knowledge of electronics.他想温习他的电子学知识。

5 gadget   

n.小巧的机械，精巧的装置，小玩意儿

参考例句：

• This gadget isn't much good.这小机械没什么用处。
• She has invented a nifty little gadget for undoing stubborn nuts and bolts.她发明了一种灵巧的小工具用来松开紧固的螺母和螺栓。

6 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

7 mobile   

adj.可移动的，易变的，机动的；n.运动物体

参考例句：

• The old lady sits on a mobile chair every morning.那位老妇人每天上午坐在一把可携带使用的椅子上。
• She's much more mobile now that she's bought a car.自从她买了汽车后，活动量就大多了。

8 device   

n.器械，装置；计划，策略，诡计

参考例句：

• The device will be in production by the end of the year.该装置将于年底投入生产。
• The device will save much time and effort for us.这种装置会使我们节省大量时间和气力。

9 enable   

vt.使能够；使可以；使成为可能

参考例句：

• Only teamwork will enable us to get the job done on time.只有团结一致，我们才能按时完成这项工作。
• This will enable China to go a step further in grain production.这是中国粮食生产再上新台阶的巨大动力。