Unit7 Kids and Computers Digital Danger翻译.doc

Unit 9 Kids and Computers: Digital Danger Alison Sperry 1. Theres a familiar saying, Play is childrens work. Through play, people who study child development tell us, children develop the skills and outlooks that determine the adults they will become. Playing house or school, for example, helps them try on the roles of Mom or Dad or teacher. Athletic activities help kids develop coordination, learn to work as part of a group, and gain confidence and a sense of fair play. Even solitary activities like reading connect children with the wider world, encouraging a sense of empathy with the greater human family. 2. But in very recent years, other forms of entertainment have had an enormous impact on growing children. For many kids, computer activities and video games now take up much --even most -- of the time formerly devoted to more traditional forms of play. Entering adulthood now are the first Nintendo babies, a generation raised more on Virtual Boy and Mortal Kombat than baseball and Uncle Wiggly. How have they been affected by this change in the concept of play? Social scientists, parents, and talk show pundits will be debating the question for years to come. But we can start drawing our own conclusions. As amusing and ingenious as electronic entertainment can be, children -- and society they live in -- are the losers when they rely on these forms of fun. Unlike traditional games and toys, wired entertainment encourages kids to be unimaginative, socially immature, and crudely desensitized to the world around them. 然而，近几年来，其他的娱乐形式对孩子的成长产生了巨大的冲击。现在有许多孩子，电脑活动和电子游戏占据了他们的许多——甚至所有的——时间，以前这些时间是花在比较传统游戏上面的。现在长大成人的是第一批玩“任天堂”的孩子，是一代凭借玩“虚拟男孩”和“致命战斗”养大的，而并非靠打垒球或看连环画《维格列大叔》带大的。这种“玩”的理念上的变化对孩子产生了什么影响？社会科学家、家长，还有脱口秀专家在未来的岁月里将对这个问题争论不休。不过，我们可以开始得出我们自己的结论。虽然电子娱乐也许是很有趣，也很富有创意，但是，一旦沉湎于这种形式的娱乐，孩子以及他们生活的社会必定是输家。与传统的游戏和玩具不同，“联网”的娱乐形式会造成孩子缺乏想象力、社会生活不成熟，以及对身边世界毫无掩饰地麻木不仁的后果。 3. Watch a child take a ball of Play-Doh in her hand and begin to roll it experimentally. First its a simple ball