英语听力精选进阶版 11240（在线收听）

Cell 

Professor David Crystal 

When mobile phone technology came in a few years ago, 

the term was immediately shortened. Mobile phones 

became 'mobiles'. 'I've got my mobile.' 'Have you got your 

mobile on?' But that was in the UK. In the United States, a 

different term emerged, 'cell phone', short for cellular 

phone.  

Now, cell phone was tricky because some people spelled it 

as one word and some people spelled it as two. I did a 

search on Google the other day, and the one-word spelling 

got eighteen million hits, and the two-word spelling got a 

hundred and thirty-five million hits. So it seems you can 

use both spellings at the moment. But either way, people 

shortened the phrase to 'cell'. And this usage is growing in 

the UK.  

Somebody the other day said to me, 'Have you got your cell?' 'Call me on 

your cell!' 'Sync your cell with your company!' - that's synchronise - 

synchronise your cell with your company - that's the sort of phrase you 

get these days.  

I saw an advertisement, 'Cells have just got coloured!' In other words, 

mobile phones are now in different colours. It's a new sense of the word 

'cell'. So, if somebody invites you to 'use my cell', it doesn't mean that 

they're asking you to go into their monastery, or indeed, asking you to 

visit them in prison!