经济学人精读丨是你在玩手机，还是手机在玩你？
好想讲一个笑话，来个酷酷的开头，但是我不会
原文
①Smart devices are sometimes empowering. ②They put a world of information at our fingertips. ③They free people to work from home instead of squeezing onto a train with malodorous strangers. ④That is a huge boon for parents seeking flexible work hours. ⑤Smartphones and tablets can also promote efficiency by allowing people to get things done in spare moments that would otherwise be wasted, such as while queuing for coffee. ⑥They can even help slackers create the illusion that they are working around the clock, by programming their e-mail to be sent at 1am.
①But for most people the servant has become the master. ②Not long ago only doctors were on call all the time. ③Now everybody is. ④Bosses think nothing of invading their employees' free time. ⑤Work invades the home far more than domestic chores invade the office. ⑥Otherwise-sane people check their smartphones obsessively, even during pre-dinner drinks, and send e-mails first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
精读
这两段以生活中的场景为例，对智能手机的利弊进行了分析。我们先看第一段：
①Smart devices are sometimes empowering.
智能设备有时会赋予人以力量。
①句总领全段，其中，empower体现了智能手机的好处，是全段核心，而sometimes又为下文的转折埋下了伏笔。
empower一词我们可以从构词法的角度去理解。其前缀"em-"是"en-"的变形，表示“make(使...)”，比如：bitter→embitter（使痛苦），balm→embalm（使香气弥漫），所以，empower就是“使有力量，赋予力量”的意思。
empowering是它的形容词，表示“让人感到有力量的”，我们看一下它的英文解释：Something that is empowering makes you more confident and makes you feel that you are in control of your life. 让你感到更自信，感觉自己是生活的主人。因此，empowering在这不仅仅体现了智能机的好处，同时也与第二段的"servant"构成转折，一主一仆。
接下来，②-⑥句分别从信息、工作灵活性、效率以及邮件等四个方面对empowering展开分析：
②They put a world of information at our fingertips.
有了智能设备，只需移动指尖，就能看到全球动态。
②句从信息角度体现了empowering.
put...at our fingertips是一个很形象的表达，其字面意思是“把...放到我们的指尖”，常用来形容某事很方便、便捷。比如，网购类话题我们就可以说：
Taobao, among other online-shopping sites, puts a mall of items at our fingertips.
我们只需要动动手指，就可以在淘宝等其他的网购平台上购买很多东西。
还有电子书：
Online-reading devices, such as Kindle, put a world of books at our fingertips.
有了在线阅读器，比如Kindle，我们只需动动手指就可以博览群书。
我们也可以用put ... in our pocket来描述科技所带来的便捷性。
这句话的另一个知识点是a world of，"a+n.+of"的结构可以理解成some/many，在阅读理解中如果中间的名词不认识，比如a plethora of，我们完全可以处理成“很多”，轻松跨越生词障碍。
文中a world of information指“海量信息”。
③They free people to work from home instead of squeezing onto a train with malodorous strangers. ④That is a huge boon for parents seeking flexible work hours.
它们让人们能够在家工作，而不是在地铁上和臭烘烘的人挤在一起。这对追求弹性工作时间的父母来说是一个巨大的福利。
③④两句从灵活的工作时间方面体现了智能手机的好处，核心词：flexible work hours. 其中，③句为详写，④句为总结。
③句通过instead of进行对比，从而凸显出智能手机的优势：
智能手机：free people to work from home.（free在这里是动词，表示“解放，使自由”）
无智能手机：squeeze onto a train with malodorous strangers.
squeeze一词生动的体现了挤地铁的艰辛，和free形成鲜明的对比。它的意思是to force sb / sth / yourself into or through a small space“挤入”，比如下班回家，你等了三辆公交才挤上去，就可以说：
I finally managed to squeeze into the bus.
我们也可以用其比喻义，形容时间紧张、任务繁重，比如：
We managed to squeeze a lot into a week.
我们把很多事挤在一个星期里边做完了。
with malodorous strangers修饰train，指地铁上有一些臭烘烘的人。
malodorous [mæl'əudərəs] 的意思是having an unpleasant smell“臭的”，挤过北京一号线的人应该都有这种感受，等了好几班车终于挤了上去，却被夹在中间成悬空状，空气里夹杂着腋臭和煎饼果子的味道。
④句That is a huge boon for parents...中，boon又一次点明智能手机的好处。
boon的意思是something that is very helpful and makes life easier for you“好处”，常见搭配为be a boon to/for，表示“有利于”，比如：
AI is a boon for humans.
人工智能对人类是有好处的。
其反义词为bane，搭配为be a bane of，有关“利弊”的讨论中我们就可以说：
...is a boon for, not a bane of people/ the society / the world...，同时还押头韵，读起来更有一种节奏感。
seeking flexible work hours是现在分词作parents的后置定语，意思是：追求灵活工作时间的父母。
我们最后再看一下这句话：
③They free people to work from home instead of squeezing onto a train with malodorous strangers. ④That is a huge boon for parents seeking flexible work hours.
⑤Smartphones and tablets can also promote efficiency by allowing people to get things done in spare moments that would otherwise be wasted, such as while queuing for coffee.
智能手机和平板电脑也会让人们用原本会浪费掉的空余时间（比如排队等咖啡的时间）来完成一些事情，从而提高效率。
⑤句从效率方面体现了手机的好处，核心词：promote efficiency.
这句话的主干是：Smartphones and tablets can also promote efficiency.
tablet指片状的或牌匾状的东西，比如“药片”、“牌、匾、碑”、“便笺本”等，这里指“平板”。
promote efficiency是“提高效率”的意思，也可以说boost efficiency，或者用"make+adj."的形式：make it more efficient.
by allowing people to get things done in spare moments讲的是提高效率的方式：通过让人们在空闲时间把事情做完（来提高效率）。
spare moments / time的意思是“空闲时间”。
that would otherwise be wasted是spare moments的定语从句，otherwise是副词，表示一种相反的情况，可以翻译成“否则，如果不是这样的话”（下文还会出现），比如：
Make a note of the questions you want to ask. You will invariably forget some of them otherwise.
把想提的问题记下来，否则总是会漏掉其中的一些。
所以从句部分是说：如果不好好利用(get things done)的话，这些空闲时间都被浪费掉了。
such as while queuing for coffee举的是“应该好好利用的空余时间”的例子，queue for sth表示“为...排队”。
最后我们再看一下这个句子：
⑤Smartphones and tablets can also promote efficiency by allowing people to get things done in spare moments that would otherwise be wasted, such as while queuing for coffee.
⑥They can even help slackers create the illusion that they are working around the clock, by programming their e-mail to be sent at 1am.
拖延症患者也可以在智能机上设置凌晨1点发送邮件，从而造成一种熬夜努力工作的假象。
⑥句是《经济学人》教给我们的职场生存术。
这句话的主干是They can even help slackers create the illusion.
slacker源自其形容词slack，它的意思是not putting enough care, attention or energy into sth and so not doing it well enough“懈怠的，吊儿郎当的”，可以修饰人、工作、态度，比如：
He's been very slack in his work lately.
近来他工作很不认真。
也可以用来修饰纪律，比如：
Discipline in the classroom is very slack.
班里纪律十分松懈。
所以，文中的slacker就是我们常说的“拖延症患者”。
illusion的意思是something that seems to exist but in fact does not“错觉”，比如说她喜欢我、手机响了、老师不会点名等。常见搭配为：give/create the illusion of / that... 给人一种错觉。
that they are working around the clock是illusion的同为语从句，是对“错觉”的具体解释。
around the clock是一个固定搭配，描述的就是你考试周的状态，即“夜以继日地、连轴转地（工作或学习）”：
by programming their e-mail to be sent at 1am讲的是create the illusion的方式，program在这里是动词，英文解释是to give a computer, etc. a set of instructions to make it perform a particular task“编写、设定”，program the e-mail to be sent at 1 am表示“设置凌晨1点发送邮件”，把这个表达记住。
最后，我们把这段内容整体地回顾一下，看看有没有掌握：
①Smart devices are sometimes empowering. ②They put a world of information at our fingertips. ③They free people to work from home instead of squeezing onto a train with malodorous strangers. ④That is a huge boon for parents seeking flexible work hours. ⑤Smartphones and tablets can also promote efficiency by allowing people to get things done in spare moments that would otherwise be wasted, such as while queuing for coffee. ⑥They can even help slackers create the illusion that they are working around the clock, by programming their e-mail to be sent at 1am.
第二段
①But for most people the servant has become the master.
但对大多数人来说，仆人变成了主人。
①句预示了转折，总领第二段内容，核心词为：servant.
本段以But开头，因此，结合第一段内容我们可以预判，本段讲的是智能手机的危害。头脑中有了先入为主的判断，阅读起来会容易很多。
the servant指的就是the smartphones and tablets，和第一段开头的empowering相对。
the servant has become the master引起了我很大共鸣，我们使用智能手机的初衷是提高工作学习效率，让生活更加便捷。虽然这在一定程度上已经实现了，但我们稍不留神就让智能机反客为主：每天睁眼后的第一件事就是刷手机；睡觉之前也一定要玩会儿手机；学习或工作中遇到困难，先刷会儿手机冷静一下；聚餐的时候，也是人人抱着手机看着各自的朋友圈。不知不觉中，我们已经成了智能手机的奴隶。
②Not long ago only doctors were on call all the time. ③Now everybody is.
不久前，只有医生随时待命。现在每个人都是。
②③两句是对①句的解释，①=②+③。
Not long ago和now构成了时间上的转折，重点内容在now后面。
阅读中，now, today, thses days等表示现在时间点的词含有轻微的转折语气，也往往是重点所在，可以多注意一下。
on call是一个固定搭配，意思是available to be called when needed“随叫随到的、待命的”。
everybody is (on call all the time)呼应了①句的the servant has become the master.
④-⑥句从工作和生活两个角度体现了the servant has become the master：
④Bosses think nothing of invading their employees' free time. ⑤Work invades the home / far more than / domestic chores invade the office.
老板认为侵占员工自由时间没什么大不了的，工作对家庭的影响远远超过了家务琐事对工作的影响。
④-⑤句从工作角度体现了the servant has become the master.
④句中，think nothing of的意思是to think that a particular activity is normal or easy, even though other people think it is unusual or difficult.“不把...放到心上，对...满不在乎”，比如：
I think nothing of walking five kilometers a day.
我认为一天走5公里没什么大不了的。
invade一词用得很传神，它本义指“入侵、侵略”，此处可以理解成“干扰”，用英文解释是：to affect sth in an unpleasant or annoying way. 比如前沿科技类的作文开头我们可以这么写：
As the Internet invades our life,...
所以，文中Bosses think nothing of invading their employees' free time是说，老板们认为，侵占员工自由时间没什么大不了的。
我们看一下⑤句：Work invades the home / far more than / domestic chores invade the office.
这句话是“句子A+more than+句子B”的结构，意思是“A超过了B”，比如：
Smartphone helps me more than it invades me.
智能手机对我的帮助更大。
另外再注意两对同义替换：work→office；home→domestic chores(家庭琐事)。
最后我们再看一下这个句子：
④Bosses think nothing of invading their employees' free time. ⑤Work invades the home / far more than / domestic chores invade the office.
⑥Otherwise-sane people check their smartphones obsessively, even during pre-dinner drinks, and send e-mails first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
本来神志正常的一个人，却着魔似的翻看手机，甚至餐前饮酒期间也要如此。他们早上醒来第一件事就是发邮件，睡前最后一件事也是。
⑥句从生活角度体现了the servant has become the master.
这句话的主干是：Otherwise-sane people check their smartphones obsessively and send e-mails.
大结构是check their smartphones obsessively和send e-mails两个并列的动作，由and连接。（“看手机”的“看”一般用check，而不是see, look at, watch等。）
even during pre-dinner drinks起进一步强调的作用，修饰check their smartphones obsessively.
这句话重点在于理解otherwise.
一般词典给出的解释是“否则”，此外，它有时还表示“如果不发生当前新情况就会如何”，即“保持原先状态就会如何”，简单来说，就相当于中文的“本来如何”。比如：
In a fight, the otherwise friendly neighbor pounds his head with a brick.
在打斗中，本来很友好的邻居竟然拿砖头打了他的脑袋。
《新闻周刊》中曾有一篇关于心脏病的文章，里面有这么一句话：
Take depression. It at least doubles an otherwise healthy person's heart-attack risk
就拿忧郁症来说，它起码使得一个本来很健康的人心脏病发作的风险提高一倍
（take表示“例如”，相当于consider, take...for example）
再比如：
The new medicine saved me from an illness which might otherwise have been hopeless.
新的药物治好了我的一场本来会毫无希望治好的病。
所以，文中otherwise-sane people指的是“本来神志正常的人”。
一天不玩手机，人是不会死的，命是还在的，但魂丢了，说得就是这类人。
最后再把这段整体回顾一下，看看有没有掌握：
①But for most people the servant has become the master. ②Not long ago only doctors were on call all the time. ③Now everybody is. ④Bosses think nothing of invading their employees' free time. ⑤Work invades the home far more than domestic chores invade the office. ⑥Otherwise-sane people check their smartphones obsessively, even during pre-dinner drinks, and send e-mails first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
天冷加衣，感谢阅读！