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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
如果大家觉得这些材料理解上有难度，不妨当做挑战自己的拔高训练，希望大家都有进步While having a meal with his wife in his home town of Utica in 2007, the pollster John Zogby struck up a conversation with his 20-year-old waitress about privacy, social networking and YouTube. He asked what limits she set on what she would reveal online.
struck up 使开始；建立起
set limits on 对……加以限制
reveal 展现；显示；揭露
"My boobs," she said. "but only on Halloween, and only for my friends.""Well," answers Zogby, in account from his book The Way We'll Be. "I'm your friend today, but tomorrow I might not be. Can you stop me from sharing your, um, breasts, with the rest of the world, or with the company you're hoping will hire you?""No," she replies, "but so many of us do this in one form or another that employers are just going to have to adjust or they won't have anyone to hire."As Spring Break draws to a close, the question of what belongs in the public realm and whom it affects becomes agonisingly pertinent1 to thousands of undergraduates across the country. Spring Break is the annual, formal Bacchanal: the riotous2, alcohol-drenched recess3 that launches scores of "Girls Gone Wild" videos, clogs4 toilets with condoms and beachside boardwalks with vomit5 and updates millions of Facebook pages.
Spring Break 春假
public realm 公共领域
pertinent adj. 切题的；中肯的
recess n. 1. [C,U]休息；休会；休庭 2. [C,U]【美】学校的假期；课间休息 v. [T] 1. 把...放在隐蔽处 2. 使凹进，使有凹进处But five years after Zogby's conversation, people seem to be recalibrating their limits. A report in the New York Times last month suggested an inhibition descending6 on Spring Break this year. "They are very prudish7," said one bartender in Key West. "They are so afraid everyone is going to take their picture and put it online. Ten years ago, people were doingfilthy, filthy9 things, but it wasn't posted on Facebook." It's a shame they are not having as much as they did or would like to (I'm assuming here that "filthy" is also fun), but if the price for having "filthy fun" is that it is broadcast to anyone who wants to see it, and many who don't, then it's clearly not a price worth paying.
recalibrate v. 重新刻度；再校准
prudish adj. 古板的；装正经的；过分规矩的assume vt. 1. 以为；假定为；（想当然地）认为 2. 承担；就任；取得 vi. 1. 装腔作势 2. 多管闲事There are limits to how much candour we can take or expect. With the exception of those in the most intimate parts of my life, I don't really want to know everything that people think about me. Nor do I want to know everything I think about them, or share it. A certain amount of artifice10 is necessary if we're all going to get through the day.
candour n. 率直；正直；公平
artifice n. 技巧；巧妙；诡计
Increasingly, however, it feels as though those limits are being constantly breached12, either voluntarily, accidentally, by force or by cunning. With blogs, tweets, webcams, Facebook and YouTube, there is always a mic or camera somewhere and it is always running. Our personal diaries have become an open book. The era in which we might reasonably expect to enjoy a conversation that is both discrete13 (separate, apart and autonomous) and discreet14 (cautious, unobtrusive and delicate) has passed. For the moment at least, we are all living our lives in public.
The personal fallout from all of this is clear and go beyond mere15 embarrassment16. Take Tyler Clementi, the 18-year-old Rutgers student who committed suicide after his roommate, Dharun Ravi, set up a camera in his room to watch Tyler in a gay sexual encounter. Later, Ravi would try the same again and tweet about it to his 150 followers17. In the past, such homophobia would have gone no further than malicious18 gossip – vicious, hurtful and wrong, certainly. But in all likelihood, it would not have been as devastating19 to Clementi's self-respect – and possibly with less fatal consequences. Throughout the western world, teenagers – particularly, young women – are routinely humiliated20 by having their indiscretions recorded and sent out to the world.
go beyond 超出；胜过
devastating adj. 毁灭性的；破坏性的
fatal adj. 致命的；毁灭性的
But there are political ramifications21, too, even if the consequences of these are less clear-cut. On the one hand, it forces elites22 out into the open where their deliberations and pronouncements might be judged against their actions. There are clearly benefits to this. The truly awful thing about the incident between then UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Gillian Duffy shortly before the last election was not just that he referred to her as "that bigoted23 woman" when he was in his car and didn't know the microphone was on. It was that only minutes before, he had told her she was "a very good woman [who had] served the community" when he did know they were on. That gave credence24 to the popular perception that the political class held voters in contempt. The problem wasn't that he got caught, it was that he did it in the first place.
hold in contempt 对……不屑一顾；轻视
Left there, however, and what we have is not more openness, but more gaffes25. Obama and Sarkozy deriding26 Binyamin Netanyahu, and Obama blabbing his post-election strategy for Russia, or Tony Blair's cringeworthy "Yo, Blair" encounter with George Bush at the G8. Entertaining and illustrative, certainly, but rarely more than that.
But on-mic embarrassment is not the whole story: the revelation of serious information that our rulers would rather we did not have can be compelling. WikiLeaks provides a good example. By redistributing information from the US government to the world, it gave the public an unprecedented27 insight into US diplomacy28. Interestingly, most of what it revealed we might have guessed. But once it was out there, it was difficult for officialdom to deny it and one could argue that these were not their secrets to keep.
redistribute vt. 重新分配；再分配
So far, so good. But there is a price we pay for this exposure that more than rivals the regretful blushes of a bare-breasted waitress at Halloween. The net effect will also be that, in future, US diplomats29 will be less forthright30 in offering honest opinions to their bosses for fear those opinions might one day be leaked and create an incident. So, by leaking confidential31 diplomatic correspondence, there is a chance of exposing hypocrisy32 – but that chance comes with the certainty of inhibiting33 open, private discussion. This endangers the kind of back-door discussions that made everything from the Northern Ireland peace process to the release of Nelson Mandela possible in a way they would not have been had everything been on display.
So far, so good 目前为止，一切很好；到目前为止还好leak v. 泄露
Moreover, for all the talk of openness, what we post we do not necessarily own. We are often handing over information about ourselves and our friends to corporate34 entities35 and advertisers, which can end up in the hands of a state that is interested in anything but openness. In Britain, the government is about to introduce legislation that would give the police and intelligence officers the right to trawl our Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and Skype interactions.
hand over 交出；送交
Whether personal or political, the problem with the very public lives we now all live is essentially36 the same. People generally arrive at positions through trial, error and experimentation37. They mature by making mistakes and learning from them. But if you feel the mic is always on, you're far more likely to do something anodyne38 for the record than think of something creative and take risks for all to see. The power to transmit amplifies39 not just the audience, but the consequences.
Less filth8. Less fun. Less candour. We are experiencing the Hawthorne effect, in whichstudying behaviour alters the behaviour itself, writ40 large. And while greater transparency may be one of the main outcomes, greater inhibition is no less so.
Hawthorne effect 霍桑效应（指工人、学生等因受到研究人员的关注而增加产量或提高成绩）To a large extent, this is a problem of our own making. Our personal diaries are, in no small part, an open book because we open them. We put details about ourselves out into the ether that often forfeit41 our right to privacy. It is now not uncommon42 to see relationships disintegrate43 in real time as long-term partners air grievances44 openly online.
to a large extent 在很大程度上
forfeit n. 没收物，罚金 v.[T] 没收，丧失 a. 被没收，被罚The personal, the private, the privileged and the confidential no longer really exist. The stories we would otherwise choose not to share are no longer ours to keep; the conversations we hope will go no further may just keep traveling. A remark may be off-the-cuff or off-the-top-of-your-head – but nowadays, you must always assume it's on the record.
Question time:
1. What's the influence on politics when the limits of candour are constantly breached?
2. Why did the auther say that the personal, the private, the privileged and the confidential no longer really existed?
【参考答案】
1. On one hand, it forces elites out into the open where their deliberations and pronouncements might be judged against their actions. However, on the other hand, what we have is not more openness, but more gaffes.
2. Because with blogs, tweets, webcams, Facebook and YouTube, there is always a mic or camera somewhere and it is always running.
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1
pertinent
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| adj.恰当的；贴切的；中肯的；有关的；相干的 | |
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riotous
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| adj.骚乱的；狂欢的 | |
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recess
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| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
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clogs
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| 木屐； 木底鞋，木屐( clog的名词复数 ) | |
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vomit
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| v.呕吐，作呕；n.呕吐物，吐出物 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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prudish
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| adj.装淑女样子的，装规矩的，过分规矩的；adv.过分拘谨地 | |
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filth
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| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
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filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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artifice
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| n.妙计，高明的手段；狡诈，诡计 | |
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breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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breached
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| 攻破( breach的现在分词 )； 破坏，违反 | |
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discrete
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| adj.个别的，分离的，不连续的 | |
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discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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devastating
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| adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的 | |
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humiliated
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| 感到羞愧的 | |
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ramifications
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| n.结果，后果( ramification的名词复数 ) | |
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elites
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| 精华( elite的名词复数 )； 精锐； 上层集团； （统称）掌权人物 | |
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bigoted
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| adj.固执己见的，心胸狭窄的 | |
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credence
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| n.信用，祭器台，供桌，凭证 | |
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gaffes
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| n.失礼，出丑( gaffe的名词复数 ) | |
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deriding
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| v.取笑，嘲笑( deride的现在分词 ) | |
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unprecedented
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| adj.无前例的，新奇的 | |
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diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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diplomats
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| n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人 | |
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forthright
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| adj.直率的，直截了当的 [同]frank | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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inhibiting
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| 抑制作用的，约束的 | |
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corporate
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| adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的 | |
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entities
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| 实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 ) | |
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essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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experimentation
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| n.实验，试验，实验法 | |
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anodyne
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| n.解除痛苦的东西，止痛剂 | |
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amplifies
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| 放大，扩大( amplify的第三人称单数 )； 增强； 详述 | |
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writ
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| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
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forfeit
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| vt.丧失；n.罚金，罚款，没收物 | |
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uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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disintegrate
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| v.瓦解，解体，（使）碎裂，（使）粉碎 | |
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grievances
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| n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚 | |
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