Exercises1:
It’s an odd paradox: thanks to cell phones, PDAs and the Internet, we’ve never before been in touch and within reach of so many people. And yet, we’ve never been so lonely, either.
这是一个奇怪的悖论：由于手机、掌上电脑（Personal Digital Assistant）和因特网的出现，我们从未像今天这样能接触到这么多人。然而，我们也从未如此孤独过。 Which is to say, our loneliness is largely something （we’ve inflicted on ourselves） through countless lifestyle choices, many of them good, some even critical. But in the end, is it all worth it?
这就是说，我们的孤独感很大程度上是由我们选择的诸多生活方式强加给自己的。其中很多方式给我们带来了便利，甚至是必不可少的。但说到底，这些值得吗？
What is lost //when we have e-mail pals on the other side of the world, but don’t
know our own neighbors?
我们可以通过电子邮件结识远在世界另一端的朋友，但却不认识身边的邻居，此时我们失去了什么？
Are bigger salaries, bigger cars, bigger homes worth the price of smaller social circles and diminished relationships? 我们的工资高了、车子豪华了、房子宽敞了，但社交圈却变窄了、保持联系的人却少了，这种代价值得吗？
Our loneliness has costs: crime goes up when neighbors don’t look out for each other. The burden on public services increases when we’re not helping each other out. And the din of an iPod is no substitute for genuine connection with another human being.
孤独让我们付出了代价：当邻居不在相互关照，犯罪增加了；当我们不再彼此帮忙，公共服务机构的负担增加了；整天听iPod 喧闹的音乐无法代替于他人面对面地交流。
There’s no easy way out of our collective loneliness, and no solution that come without trade-offs.
没有什么简单的方法能帮助我们摆脱集体的孤独，所有的解决办法都要付出代价。
But some of those trade-offs are worth reconsidering, lest we consume our lives with the things that matter least, at the expense of those that matter most.
但是为了避免我们错过最重要的事情，而把一生都耗费在极其琐碎的事情上，付出一定的代价还是值得考虑的。
