2007年NPR美国国家公共电台五月-Washington State's TWD: Texting While Dri

This is All Things Considered from NPR News. I'm Michele Norris. And I'm Andrea Seabrook. Okay, be honest. When was the last time you got lost driving and called a friend on your cell phone to get directions or dialed your spouse¹ to give a heads-up that you were stuck in traffic? Five states have passed legislation² banning calls on hand-held cell phones while driving. Now Washington State has gone one-step further. It has passed the first explicit³ ban on text-messaging while driving. Chana Joffe-Walte reports.

When she starts driving, Jen Diamond in Seattle first has to get to the right Radio Station, then directions.

Your entire route is now shown. Continu to follow...

Then her four-year-old Elija has requests from the backseat, lots of them.

I want to listen to Beastie Boys now.

Take the next left turn.

Then recovering the grapes from Elija who is now dropping them on the floor. There are also toys rolling up under Jen's feet, and of course they're never-ending pounding in her back.

You are kicking my chair, Eli.

And then, a text message from her partner. "Close to home", Jen texts back, "five minutes." And then…

Actually that last part didn't really happen. But it could, when the text messaging ban in Washington State goes into effect, January 1st, 2008. But everything that did happen the DJying, GPSing and beating the kids, all still legal, although Jen's parenting magazine does make her feel guilty for it.

One of our magazines that we got said you shouldn't do anything other than drive when you are driving, but nobody does that.

Really? No one just pays attention to driving? I jumped out of Jen's pimped-out mom van and into Linda Stone's BMW to find out.

So we are on the highway. (Okay) Let's see what people are doing. We are in spy mode⁴, and you are our spy leader. My spy follower⁵, Linda Stone is an ex-software executive⁶ who's now a tech consultant⁷ writing a book about attention. At first, we only see minor⁸ offences: a girl doing her hair, some guy eating chips, but then we hit traffic. And the criminals come out of the woodwork. That woman is text-messaging, right there. She is. In the Honda. She is totally stopped and text-messaging. And looking down on her lap.

OK, OK, I know that's bad. But I'm gonna play the role of a rule-obsessed five-year-old here for a minute and ask the obvious: what about the guy we just saw reading the paper? How come that's not banned? Or the woman we see flossing her teeth. The close-eyed singing or the tons of people we see eating? There are hundreds of things we do in our car that are potentially dangerous distractions⁹. But Linda Stone says the ban on text-messaging is symbolic¹⁰. She says it represents a larger push to do one thing at a time.

We are looking at different ways to protect our time. You see the signs all around of people caring more about protection and quality of life.

Signs like how everyone and their mom does yoga nowadays. And literal¹¹ signs that say no cell phones in restaurant or even some stores. Stone says the text ban is part of finally declaring: Enough is enough.

I think that if someone had tried to legislate¹² this, even five years ago, there is no way that they would have been able to pass this bill. And I think that it's because people are so ready to start making changes.

For those of you in Washington State who are not ready to start making changes, very soon there will be $101 tickets waiting for you. And violators just say you know, in traffic, yes you can tell.

She's text-messaging. She's doing email, oh my god. She is so not eyes on the road. She is so eyes on her blackberry, now hiding it because she knows we see her.

For NPR News I'm Chana Joffe-Walte in Seattle.

She thinks you are undercover.

I am.

1 spouse   

n.配偶(指夫或妻)

参考例句：

• Her spouse will come to see her on Sunday.她的丈夫星期天要来看她。
• What is the best way to keep your spouse happy in the marriage?在婚姻中保持配偶幸福的最好方法是什么？

2 legislation   

n.立法，法律的制定；法规，法律

参考例句：

• They began to draft legislation.他们开始起草法规。
• The liberals band together against the new legislation.自由党员联合一致反对新的立法。

3 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

4 mode   

n.方式，样式，模式，风格，时兴；[音乐]调式

参考例句：

• Wearing jeans is out of mode at present.现在穿牛仔裤过时了。
• His mode of doing business is offensive to me.他干事情的方式叫我很不喜欢。

5 follower   

n.跟随者；随员；门徒；信徒

参考例句：

• He is a faithful follower of his home football team.他是他家乡足球队的忠实拥护者。
• Alexander is a pious follower of the faith.亚历山大是个虔诚的信徒。

6 executive   

adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理

参考例句：

• A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
• He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。

7 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

8 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

9 distractions   

n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱

参考例句：

• I find it hard to work at home because there are too many distractions. 我发觉在家里工作很难，因为使人分心的事太多。
• There are too many distractions here to work properly. 这里叫人分心的事太多，使人无法好好工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

11 literal   

adj.照字面的，原义的，逐字的

参考例句：

• This word should not be taken in its literal sense.这个词不能按本义去理解。
• He made a literal interpretation.他逐字解释。

12 legislate   

vt.制定法律；n.法规，律例；立法

参考例句：

• Therefore,it is very urgent to legislate for the right of privacy.因此，为隐私权立法刻不容缓。
• It's impossible to legislate for every contingency.为每一偶发事件都立法是不可能的。