TED演讲:选择的困惑(2)

 This is my supermarket. Not such a big one. I want to say just a word about salad dressing¹. 这是我家附近的一个超市。不算很大。我只想说说这里的色拉调料。

175 salad dressings² in my supermarket, 我这家超市有175种各式色拉调料，

if you don't count the 10 extra-virgin olive oils and 12 balsamic vinegars 还没算上10种不同牌子的特级初榨橄榄油和12种Balsamic葡萄醋任你选购，

you could buy to make a very large number of your own salad dressings, in the off-chance that none of the 175 the store has on offer suit you. 如果碰巧那175种色拉酱都不和你的口味，你就可以用它们调出另一大批你自己的色拉酱。

So this is what the supermarket is like. 你看，这就是超级市场的样子。

And then you go to the consumer electronics store to set up a stereo system -- speakers, CD player, tape player, tuner, amplifier 然后你转身出来到一家家用电器店去配置一套立体音响系统--音箱啦，CD机啦，磁带机，收音机，放大器，

and in this one single consumer electronics store, there are that many stereo systems. 就这么一家家用电器店里，立体音响系统就多得数不清。

We can construct six-and-a-half-million different stereo systems out of the components³ that are on offer in one store. 用这家店的组件你可以配出近650万种各种组合的立体音响系统来。

You've got to admit that's a lot of choice. In other domains⁴ -- the world of communications. 你没法不承认这可是不小的一堆选择吧。换个行业，说说通讯。

There was a time, when I was a boy, when you could get any kind of telephone service you wanted, as long as it came from Ma Bell. 我还是孩子那会儿，你要想接通电话服务，那就得去玛贝尔公司，只此一家。

You rented your phone. You didn't buy it. One consequence of that, by the way, is that the phone never broke. 你不用买，只需去租一架电话机回来。通常情况是，那电话用到死都不会坏。

And those days are gone. We now have an almost unlimited⁵ variety of phones, especially in the world of cell phones. 那种日子早已一去不返了。如今我们几乎有无穷无尽的电话品种，尤其是手机。

These are cell phones of the future. My favorite is the middle one -- the MP3 player, nose hair trimmer, and creme brulee torch. 这些都是未来的手机。其中我最津津乐道的是中间那款--带着MP3播放机，鼻毛剪和法式焦糖布丁的喷火枪。

And if by some chance you haven't seen that in your store yet, you can rest assured that one day soon, you will. 如果你还没在你家旁边的商店里见过的话，不必担心，用不了多久你就会看到的。

And what this does is it leads people to walk into their stores asking this question. 这事的结果是，人们跑到商店里问:

And do you know what the answer to this question now is? The answer is "no." 你们有没有一款不带这么多功能的？你想,回答会是什么？回答是“没有”。

It is not possible to buy a cell phone that doesn't do too much. 如今你已经不可能买到一款不干那么多事的手机了。

1 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

2 dressings   

n.敷料剂；穿衣( dressing的名词复数 )；穿戴；（拌制色拉的）调料；（保护伤口的）敷料

参考例句：

• He always made sure that any cuts were protected by sterile dressings. 他总是坚持要用无菌纱布包扎伤口。 来自辞典例句
• I waked the orderly and he poured mineral water on the dressings. 我喊醒勤务，他在我的绷带上倒了些矿质水。 来自辞典例句

3 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

4 domains   

n.范围( domain的名词复数 )；领域；版图；地产

参考例句：

• The theory of thermodynamics links the macroscopic and submicroscopic domains. 热力学把宏观世界同亚微观世界联系起来。 来自辞典例句
• All three flow domains are indicated by shading. 所有三个流动区域都是用阴影部分表示的。 来自辞典例句

5 unlimited   

adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的

参考例句：

• They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
• There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。