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Computers are popular these days and they are playing an important role in our work and life. But do men and women have the same attitude towards the use of computers? Read the following text and see what the author has to say about how men and women differ in their use of computer technology.
目前，电脑很流行而且在我们的工作及生活中起到了重要的作用。但是对于电脑的使用，男性和女性的态度相同吗？阅读下面的文章，男性和女性对于电脑的使用存在不同，看看作者对此都说了些什么。
Gender Gap in Cyberspace
网络空间的性别差异
by Deborah Tannen
德博拉·坦嫩
I was a computer pioneer, but I'm still something of a novice. That paradox is telling.
我很早就买了电脑，但仍然像个菜鸟。这个自相矛盾的说法很能说明问题。
I was the second person on my block to get a computer. The first was my colleague Ralph. It was 1980. Ralph got a Radio Shack TRS-80; I got a used Apple II+. He helped me get started and went on to become a maven, reading computer magazines, hungering for the new technology he read about, and buying and mastering it as quickly as he could afford. I hung on to old equipment far too long because I dislike giving up what I'm used to, fear making the wrong decision about what to buy and resent the time it takes to install and learn a new system.
我是这座大楼里第二个拥有电脑的人。第一个是我的同事拉尔夫。那是在1980年，拉尔夫买了一台Radio Shack TRS-80电脑；我买了一台二手苹果II+电脑。他是我的电脑启蒙老师，后来成了电脑专家。他喜欢读电脑杂志，对杂志上的新技术如饥似渴，一有钱就购买新软件，并能精通使用。我却抱着这台老旧的设备不放，因为我不喜欢放弃已经用习惯了的东西，也害怕做错决定买错电脑，还讨厌花时间安装和学习新的系统。
My first Apple came with videogames: I gave them away. Playing games on the computer didn't interest me. If I had free time I'd spend it talking on the telephone to friends.
我的第一台苹果电脑里配有许多视频游戏；但我把它们送给别人了。我对电脑游戏提不起兴趣。如果我有空闲时间，我宁愿和朋友们煲电话粥。
Ralph got hooked. His wife was often annoyed by the hours he spent at his computer and the money he spent upgrading it. My marriage had no such strains ― until I discovered e-mail. Then I got hooked. E-mail draws me the same way the phone does: it's a souped-up conversation.
拉尔夫上瘾了。他在电脑上耗的时间太长，又花大笔钱来升级电脑，经常惹妻子生气。在我发现电子邮件之前，我的婚姻从未有过类似的紧张局面。但电子邮件让我上瘾了，它吸引着我，就像是升级版的电话聊天。
E-mail deepened my friendship with Ralph. Though his office was next to mine, we rarely had extended conversations because he is shy. Face to face he mumbled, so I could barely tell what he was speaking. But when we both got e-mail, I started receiving long, self-revealing messages; we poured our hearts out to each other. A friend discovered that e-mail opened up that kind of communication with her father. He would never talk much on the phone (as her mother would), but they have become close since they both got on line.
电子邮件加深了我和拉尔夫的友谊。虽然他的办公室就在我隔壁，但我们总聊不了几句，因为他很害羞。面对面交谈时，他说话含糊不清，我都听不清他在说什么。但有了电子邮件后，我开始收到他推心置腹的长篇邮件；我们彼此互诉衷肠。有个朋友发现电子邮件打开了她和父亲之间的交流之门。父亲不会在电话里说个没完（不像她母亲那样），但是父女在网上却亲密无间。
Why, I wondered, would some men find it easier to open up on e-mail? It's a combination of the technology (which they enjoy) and the obliqueness of the written word, just as many men will reveal feelings in dribs and drabs while riding in the car or doing something, which they'd never talk about sitting face to face. It's too intense, too bearing-down on them, and once you start you have to keep going. With a computer in between, it's easier.
我想知道，为什么有些男人在电子邮件里更容易敞开心扉？这可以归结为技术的力量(他们对技术乐此不疲）和文字的委婉。正如很多男人在开车或者做事的时候会偶尔流露情感，但他们却不肯坐下来面对面地吐露心迹。对男人来说，这样气氛太紧张，压力过大，况且你一旦开始吐露就不能停止。而有一台电脑在中间，交流就轻松多了。
