Unit twenty-seven
One gizmo, one chore
　　 Here’s my simple test for a product of today’s technology: I go to the bookstore and check the shelves for remedial books. The more books, the more my suspicions are raised. If computers and computer programs supposedly are getting easier to use, why are so many companies still making a nice living publishing books on how to use them?
　　Computers manipulate information, but information is invisible. There’s nothing to see or touch. The programmer decides what you see on the screen. Computers don’t have knobs like old radios. They don’t have buttons, not real buttons. Instead, more and more programs display pictures of buttons, moving even further into abstraction and arbitrariness. I like computers, but I hope they will disappear, that they will seem as strange to our descendants as the technologies of our grandparents appear to us.
　　 Computers have the power to allow people within a company, across a nation or even around the world, to work together. But this power will be wasted if tomorrow’s computers aren’t designed around the needs and capabilities of the human beings who must use them. That means retooling computers to mesh with human strengths – observing, communicating and innovating – instead of asking people to conform to the unnatural behavior computers demand. That just leads to error.
　　 Many of today’s machines try to do too much. When a complicated word processor attempts to double as a desktop publishing program or a kitchen appliance comes with half a dozen attachments, the product is bound to be unwieldy and burdensome. My favorite example of a technological product on just the right scale is an electronic dictionary. It can be made smaller, lighter and far easier to use than a print version, not only giving meanings but even pronouncing the words. Today’s electronic dictionaries, with their tiny keys and barely legible displays, are primitive but they’re on the right track.
　　One gizmo, one chore. Now imagine a host of specialized devices replacing a single powerful computer that tries to do a little of everything. Imagine a pocket checkbook, a drawing pad, a file-folder-size spreadsheet. Each would be self-contained but would communicate with the others through infrared light beams or radio links. The word I just looked up in the dictionary would be inserted into the letter I am writing; the right picture or spreadsheet calculation would become part of a report I’m doing for work; my electronic checkbook would log on with the bank every evening to update and reconcile the figures.
　　We would no longer have to learn the arbitrary ways of the computer. We could simply learn the tools of our trade – sketch pads, spreadsheets, schedules. How wonderful if would be to ignore the capricious Nature of technology – and get on with our work.
remedy n.1補(bǔ)救辦法,糾正辦法 2.藥品,治療法 vt.1.補(bǔ)救,糾正 2.醫(yī)治,治療
remedial a.1.治療的 2.補(bǔ)救的 3.補(bǔ)習(xí)的
rectify vt.糾正,修復(fù)
suspicious a.1.猜疑的,疑心的 2.可疑的 3.表示懷疑的
suspicion n.1.懷疑,不信任 2.猜疑,嫌疑
[聯(lián)想詞]
skeptical a.表示懷疑的
dubious a.1.懷疑的,猶豫不決的 2.有問題的,靠不住的
doubtless ad.無疑地,肯定
credible a.可信的,可靠的
manipulate vt.1.操縱,控制,影響 2.操作,使用
[聯(lián)想詞]
maneuver n.1.調(diào)動(dòng),調(diào)遣 2.策略,花招 vt. 1.調(diào)動(dòng),調(diào)遣 2.操縱,控制
knob n.1.球形把手 2.旋鈕 3.小塊
[聯(lián)想詞]
shaft n.1.柄,桿 2.束,光線 3.軸 4.豎井
descendant n.后代
mesh n.網(wǎng)孔vt.1.用網(wǎng)捕捉,使纏住 2.使嚙合
[聯(lián)想詞]
web n.1.網(wǎng) 2.網(wǎng)絡(luò)
sieve n.篩網(wǎng),濾網(wǎng) v.篩分
innovation n.1.新事物,新方法 2.革新,創(chuàng)新
innovative a.1.革新的,新穎的 2.富有革新精神的
wield vt.1.運(yùn)使,運(yùn)用,交配 2.使用(武器等)
wieldy a.易處理的,易使用的,易掌握的
legible a.1.清楚的,易讀的 2.容易覺察的,容易辯認(rèn)的
illegible a.模糊的,難以辨認(rèn)的
gizmo n.機(jī)械裝置,小玩意兒(俚)
chore n.1.家庭雜務(wù),日常零星工作 2.困難的工作,令人討厭的工作
specialize vi.專門研究,專攻
specialty n.1.專業(yè),專長(zhǎng) 2.特產(chǎn),名產(chǎn)
spreadsheet n.空白表格程序
infrared a.紅外線的
ultraviolet a.紫外線的
spectrum n.1.光譜,頻譜 2.范圍,幅度,系列
capricious a.變化無常的，變幻莫測(cè)的