[中文]数码时代的旅行“乐趣”
[1] 如今出门旅行比过去复杂多了。十年前,当你在为三日商务旅行收拾行李时,你只需确保你的行李包里装有足够多的衣物,必需的个人卫生用品,也许还有你的地址簿,甚至一个计算器。仅此而已。
[2] 现在收拾行李却是完全不同的一回事,如果你是去参加会议并做产品展示则尤其如此。首先,你需要保证你在任何时间,任何地点联络畅通。因此这意味着手机在旅行中必不可少。如果旅行时间较长,你还得想着带上手机充电器。第一件,第二件,检查一下;我把两件都准备好了装进包里。
[3] 其次,你很可能需要用到地址簿,日程表,语音备忘录,以及存储在你掌上电脑里的其他一切有用资源。如果你将旅行一段时间,并且拥有一个配备充电池的掌上电脑,你还会想着带上掌上电脑的充电器。第三件,第四件,放入包里。
[4] 现在是iPod时代,你知道要带上自己的音乐。那么把iPod音乐播放器,iPod充电器以及两者的连接线都装进包里。第五件,第六件,第七件,检查!
[5] 我们大多数人在旅行时还会用到手提电脑,那就把它也装进去吧。手提电脑的各种配件 —— 长途飞行时使用的备用电池,外接电源以及扩展外接电源使用范围的电源线。另外,既然我要做展示,就必须带上连接手提电脑与投影仪的适配器 —— DVI 和VGA模式都需要,因为你根本不知道将要使用何种类型的投影仪。于是第八件到第十三件物品被装进了包里。
[6] 到达目的地之后当你想要连接上网络的时候,你很可能发现那里不能提供无线上网,因此一条短的网络连接线成为了第十四件物品。至少你应该把这装进去备用。如果你像我这次旅行一样,在家时忘记装进包里,只得在目的地买了这第十四件物品。你可能还想带上你的调制解调器连接线,以防万一!我们现在数到第十五件物品了。
[7] 当然,苹果公司确实提供了性能卓越的无线路由器产品,即便酒店想要将你限制在书桌旁,这一产品也能让你通过无线方式畅游网络。因此有了第十六件物品。这个旅行包开始变得沉甸甸的了。
[8] 在这个时代,你还想留有一些旅行途中的数码记忆。于是数码相机进入包内,占据了第十七个位置。与相机同行的是一大堆配件。你需要电池充电器(第18件),一块(19)或两块(20)备用电池,一张(21)或两张(22)备用记忆卡。你可能还想把这所有东西都装在一个精致紧凑的相机盒里(23)。为把那些数码图像从相机下载到电脑上,可别忘带优盘连接线(24)!好在你决定这次旅行不拍摄任何数码录像,因此可以把摄像机及一堆配件留在家里。
[9] 既然我们已经决定带上iPod音乐播放器和手机,那就再带一副iPod耳机(25),或许还有一副手机耳机(26)。
[10] 旅行期间,如果你需要与家人保持视频联系,你的旅行包将继续膨胀。我们将把艾赛特视频摄像头(27)加入进来,还有安装在手提电脑上的艾赛特支架(28)以及艾赛特桌面支架(29;以防万一你需要在台式机上使用艾赛特摄像头)。你还得携带两个把火线接口线缆固定在艾赛特摄像头上的塑料夹(30和31),以及用来将摄像头连接到电脑上的火线接口线缆本身(32)。
[11] 最后,我们别忘了这整堆东西必须装在什么里面带走—— 考虑到这堆物品的大小,能装走它们的也是相当坚固实在的东西!因此你的 “电子迷玩具包”成为了第33件也是最后一件物品。
[12] 本周旅行我可能没把这30多件物品全部带上,但显然已经带了一大半!虽说你可以用一种集手机、掌上电脑、照相机三种电子产品的功能于一体的设备来减轻一点负担,但同时也是在用每一件设备的一些属性来换取只携带一件物品的便利。当然如果你是一名全职专业旅行勇士,也许有钱和干劲去把这堆设备最小化。对于我们这些生活在技术世界里的临时旅行者而言,却很难摆脱这堆零碎繁杂的技术产品!
[13] 更令人烦恼的是这些必需品(或多或少)完全与你旅行的时间长短无关。旅行一天或十天无关紧要,你得把这整堆东西无一例外地带上!
[14] “轻松旅行”的时代似乎是一去不复返了。
[/中文]
[外文]The “Joy” of Travel in the Digital Age
By Rob Griffith
许敏 译注
[1] Traveling has become a much more complex endeavor than it used to be. A decade ago, packing for a three-day business trip would require nothing more than ensuring that you had sufficient clothes in your bag, the required personal care items, and perhaps your address book and maybe even a calculator. But that was about it.
[2] Packing today, especially if you’re giving a presentation, is a whole different ballgame. First, you need to make sure that you’re reachable, anytime, anywhere. So that means the cell phone makes the trip. And if it’s a trip of any length, you’ll also want to take your cell phone charger. Item one and two, check; I got both things ready to go in the bag.
[3] Next, you’re probably going to need access to your address book, schedule, voice memos, and all of the other nuggets of wisdom hiding in your PDA. And again, if you’re going for any length of time and have a PDA with a rechargeable battery, you’ll want to take the PDA’s charger as well. Items three and four, into the bag.
[4] This being the age of the iPod , you know you’re going to take your music, too. iPod into the bag, iPod dock into the bag, and iPod/dock cable into the bag. Items five, six, and seven, check!
[5] Most of us also use laptops when we travel, so that heads for the bag as well. And the accessories for the laptop - a spare battery for those long flights, the power brick, and the power cord to extend the power brick’s range. In addition, since I was presenting, I had to bring my laptop-to-projector adapters - both the DVI and the VGA versions, since you never know what type of projectors you’ll be using. There go items eight through thirteen into the bag.
[6] More than likely, you’ll want to connect to a network when you arrive at your destination, and you can’t rely on wireless, so a short Ethernet cable becomes item number fourteen. At least, it should. If you’re like me on this trip, item fourteen is purchased at the destination, after forgetting to pack it back home! And you may want to bring your modem cable, too, just in case! We’re up to fifteen items now.
[7] Of course, Apple does offer this great Airport Express product, which will let you roam wirelessly even when the hotel wants to keep you tethered to the desk. So there’s item number sixteen. This bag is starting to get heavy!
[8] In this age, you’re also going to want some digital memories of your trip. So in goes the digital camera, taking the 17th spot. But with the camera comes a whole slew of additional gizmos. You’ll want the battery charger (18th item), a spare battery (19) or two (20), and an extra memory card (21) or two (22). And you’ll probably want all this stuff in a nice, compact camera case (23). Don’t forget about the USB cable (24) to download those digital images from the camera to the computer, too! Good thing you decided not to shoot any digital video this trip, so you can leave the video camera and its collection of parts behind!
[9] Now we’ve already established that we’re taking an iPod and a cellphone, so we’re also carrying a set of iPod headphones (25), and perhaps a headset for the phone (26).
[10] If you’ve got people back home that you need to keep in visual contact with during the trip, the bag will continue to expand. Into it we’ll add the iSight video camera (27), an iSight laptop mounting bracket (28), the iSight desk mount (29); just in case you’re asked to use the iSight with a desktop machine, the two plastic clip pieces that secure the FireWire cable (30 and 31) to the iSight, and the FireWire cable itself (32), to connect the camera to the computer.
[11] Finally, let’s not forget that this entire collection of crud has to be carried in something — something relatively substantial, too, given the size of the collection! So your “techie toy bag” becomes the 33rd and final item.
[12] While I may not have had all 30+ things with me this week, I clearly had the vast majority! And while you can reduce the load somewhat with a combined cellphone/PDA/camera, you’ll be trading in features in each of these devices for the convenience of a single gizmo. If you’re a full-time professional road warrior, of course, you’ve probably got the money and the incentive to minimize the collection of devices. For us occasional travelers in the tech world, though, we’re pretty much stuck with our pile of techno bits!
[13] What’s extra grating is that these requirements are (more or less) completely independent of the length of the trip you’re taking. It matters not if the trip is for one day or ten days, you’ll be taking this whole pile with you just the same!
[14] The days of “traveling light” are long gone, it seems.
[/外文]
|