1、CLICK FOR A FRIEND? 一键交友? How would you feel if moving to a new town meant losing track of your friends? What if the only way of getting news from faraway friends was writing letters that took ages to be delivered? This was how things worked not very long ago. Thanks to advances in technology, how w
2、e make friends and communicate with them has changed significantly. 如果搬到一个新的城镇意味着与朋友失去联系, 你会作何感想?如果唯有通过写信和漫长的 等待才能得知远方朋友的消息,你会怎样?直到不久之前,现实情况还都是这样的。然而, 得益于技术的进步,我们结交朋友和与朋友沟通的方式发生了很大的变化。 Nowadays, we can move around the world and still stay in touch with the people that we want to remain friends with.
3、 Social media tools let us see what our friends are up to and maintain friendships.All you need is a wi-fi connection. 如今,我们可以一边环游世界,一边仍与我们希望与之维持友谊的人们保持联系。通过社交 媒体工具,我们能了解朋友所做之事、维持彼此间的友谊。而这一切只要有无线网络即可实 现。 The digital age also enables us to find people who share our interests, such as collecting model
4、 cars or playing an unusual instrument. Whatever our hobbies, the Internet can connect us with others who also enjoy doing them, even if they live on the other side of the world. 数字时代还可以帮我们找到志趣相投的人例如收集汽车模型或演奏不寻常的乐器。 不管 我们的爱好是什么,我们都能在网上结识同好,哪怕他们生活在世界的另一端。 But when you “friend” people online, does thi
5、s mean that they really are your friends? 然而,在网上跟别人“交朋友”时,这是否意味着他们真的是你的朋友呢? It depends. 这要视情况而定。 If people always exchange true personal information online, then yes, these friendships can be real and meaningful. But we need to keep in mind that what we see on social media is often not the whole tru
6、th about a person. 如果人们在网上交换的个人信息是真实的, 那么答案为“是的”, 这种友谊是真实而有意义的。 但我们需要谨记,我们在社交媒体上看到的,往往不是一个人的全部真面目。 On social media sites, people tend to post only positive updates that make them appear happy and friendly. But smiling photos can hide real problems. Remember the saying: on the Internet, nobody knows
7、youre a dog. A young person could be old; a woman could be a man; we could even be sharing our information with criminals. 在社交网站上,人们倾向于只发布正面的信息,塑造自己快乐和友好的形象。然而,微笑的 照片会掩盖真正的问题。记住这句话:在互联网上,没人知道你是一条狗。(网上展示的)年 轻人形象的背后可能是个老人, 而女性形象的背后可能是个男人, 我们分享个人信息的对象 甚至可能是罪犯。 But this doesnt mean that we should throw
8、the baby out with the bathwater. Although technology has changed the way we acquire friends, the meaning of friendship and our longing for friends remain the same. As Aristotle said, no one would choose to live without friends, even if he had all other goods. 但是,这并不意味着我们应该因噎废食、弃沙抛金。尽管技术改变了我们交朋友的方式,但 友谊的意义和我们对友谊的渴望依然不变。 正如亚里士多德所说的: 没有人会选择没有朋友 的生活,哪怕他拥有其他所有财富。