《英语流行话题阅读:语境识词4500》72 E-mail Is Here to Stay

　　Unit 72
E-mail Is Here to Stay
Is e-mail a blessing¹ or a curse? Last month, after a week's vacation, I discovered 1,218 unread e-mail messages waiting in my inbox. I pretended to be dismayed, but secretly I was pleased. This is how we measure our wired worth in the late 1990s -- if you aren't overwhelmed by e-mail, you must be doing something wrong. Never mind that after subtracting the stale office chitchat and dumb jokes forwarded by my friends who should know better, there were 7 messages actually worth reading. I was doomed² to spend half my workday just deleting junk.
E-mail. Can't live with it, can't live without it. Artists, advertisers and freedom fighters, lovers and sworn enemies -- they've all turned to e-mail as they would to any new medium of expression. E-mail is convenient, saves time, brings us closer to one another, helps us manage our ever-more-complex lives. Books are written, campaigns conducted, crimes committed -- all via e-mail. But it is also inconvenient³, wastes our time, isolates⁴ us in front of our computers and introduces more complexity⁵ into our lives. To some, e-mail is just the latest chapter in the evolving his story of human communication.
Yet e-mail -- and all online communication -- is something different; it captures the essence of life at the close of the 20th century with an authority that few other products of digital technology can claim. E-mail simultaneously⁶ allows us to cope with that acceleration⁷ and contributes to it. Are our attention spans shortening under attacks of new, improved forms of stimulation⁸? If we accept that the creation of the global-spanning Internet is one of the most important technological⁹ innovations over past 500 years, then we must give e-mail -- the living embodiment of human connection across the Net. The way we interact with people is changing; e-mail is both the catalyst¹⁰ and the instrument of that change.
It may even help us find those whom we want love in the first place. E-mail encourages the shy. It offers a semi-risk environment to start romance. Because it lacks the immediate¹¹ threat of physical rejection¹², people who are shy or had painful romantic failures in the past can use the Net as a way to build a relationship in the early romantic stages. But it's not just about love. E-mail also flattens¹³ hierarchies¹⁴ in the bounds of an office. It's far easier to make a suggestion to your superiors and colleagues via e-mail than it is to do so in a pressure-filled meeting room. Anytime when we have something that is difficult to say, e-mail can make it easier. It serves as a buffer¹⁵ zone.
E-mail, ultimately, is a fragile thing, easy to forge, easy to destroy. A few weeks ago a co-worker of mine accidentally and irretrievably wiped out 1,500 of his own saved messages. For a person who conducts the bulk of his life online, such a digital tragedy is like erasing¹⁶ part of your own memory.
Meanwhile, now that we are all connected across time zones and corporate¹⁷ firewalls, we are beginning to lose sight of the difference between what is work and what is play. Six years after I logged onto CompuServe for the first time, I went to Alice Springs, a frontier town in Australia for a holiday. Instead of wandering through the desert and seeking camels, I found myself checking my mail to see if the Wired Magazine had fresh inquires for me about a story I had submitted. I was on the job -- in large part because I had an e-mail address and had made the Devil's bargain with the wired world. As I listened for the sound of the modem¹⁸ connecting in Alice Springs, I felt I had lost control over some valuable part of my life. Your boss will refrain from calling you at 11:30 pm, but not from sending an enquiring¹⁹, must-be-answered-as-soon-as-you-log-on e-mail. E-mail doesn't just collapse²⁰ distance. It demolishes²¹ all boundaries. And that can be, depending on the moment, either a blessing or a curse.

1 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

2 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

3 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？

4 isolates   

v.使隔离( isolate的第三人称单数 )；将…剔出（以便看清和单独处理）；使（某物质、细胞等）分离；使离析

参考例句：

• The transformer isolates the transistors with regard to d-c bias voltage. 变压器可在两个晶体管之间隔离直流偏压。 来自辞典例句
• In regions with certain isolates of TRV, spraining is more prominent. 在具有TRV某些分离物的地区，坏死是比较显著的。 来自辞典例句

5 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

6 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

7 acceleration   

n.加速，加速度

参考例句：

• All spacemen must be able to bear acceleration.所有太空人都应能承受加速度。
• He has also called for an acceleration of political reforms.他同时呼吁加快政治改革的步伐。

8 stimulation   

n.刺激，激励，鼓舞

参考例句：

• The playgroup provides plenty of stimulation for the children.幼儿游戏组给孩子很多启发。
• You don't get any intellectual stimulation in this job.你不能从这份工作中获得任何智力启发。

9 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

10 catalyst   

n.催化剂，造成变化的人或事

参考例句：

• A catalyst is a substance which speeds up a chemical reaction.催化剂是一种能加速化学反应的物质。
• The workers'demand for better conditions was a catalyst for social change.工人们要求改善工作条件促进了社会变革。

11 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

12 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

13 flattens   

变平，使（某物）变平( flatten的第三人称单数 )； 彻底打败某人，使丢脸； 停止增长（或上升）； （把身体或身体部位）紧贴…

参考例句：

• After Oxford the countryside flattens out. 过了牛津以远乡村逐渐平坦。
• The graph flattens out gradually after a steep fall. 图表上的曲线突降之后逐渐趋于平稳。

14 hierarchies   

等级制度( hierarchy的名词复数 )； 统治集团； 领导层； 层次体系

参考例句：

• That's a trip of two hierarchies. 那是两个领导层之间的互访。
• Hierarchies of authority, spans of control, long-range plans, and budgets. 等级森严的权力机构，控制范围，长期计划，预算。 来自英汉文学 - 廊桥遗梦

15 buffer   

n.起缓冲作用的人(或物)，缓冲器；vt.缓冲

参考例句：

• A little money can be a useful buffer in time of need.在急需时，很少一点钱就能解燃眉之急。
• Romantic love will buffer you against life's hardships.浪漫的爱会减轻生活的艰辛。

16 erasing   

v.擦掉( erase的现在分词 )；抹去；清除

参考例句：

• He was like a sponge, erasing the past, soaking up the future. 他象一块海绵，挤出过去，吸进未来。 来自辞典例句
• Suddenly, fear overtook longing, erasing memories. 突然，恐惧淹没了渴望，泯灭了回忆。 来自辞典例句

17 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

18 modem   

n.调制解调器

参考例句：

• Does your computer have a modem?你的电脑有调制解调器吗？
• Provides a connection to your computer via a modem.通过调制解调器连接到计算机上。

19 enquiring   

a.爱打听的，显得好奇的

参考例句：

• a child with an enquiring mind 有好奇心的孩子
• Paul darted at her sharp enquiring glances. 她的目光敏锐好奇，保罗飞快地朝她瞥了一眼。

20 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

21 demolishes   

v.摧毁( demolish的第三人称单数 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• Huge surges cause severe flooding that demolishes buildings, washes out beaches and highways, and drowns people. 巨大的涌浪引起剧烈的泛滥，从而摧毁房屋，冲坏海滩与公路，使人们惨遭灭顶之灾。 来自辞典例句