1    I wonder if anyone will ever do a study of how technology has actually harmed the quality of life of the average person who has fully adopted the digital lifestyle. This isn’t to say that the word processor(处理器) and the information Web site haven’t benefited us all in lots of ways. I’m talking about the fact that, with the computer in particular, you have to take the good with the bad — and it is starting to look mostly bad.

2    And by bad, I mean time-wasting. Seriously time-wasting. Do we really need to send e-mail correspondence(信件) to the same person sometimes three or four times in one day just to say that you agree with something? And of course to find this correspondence we have to wade through(费力地读完) an inbox(收件箱) full of e-mail junk.

3    People are spending hours on e-mail daily. HOURS! Instead of being a great convenience(方便), it is a great burden(负担).

4    And that’s just the tip of the time-wasting iceberg(冰山). What about Web surfing or getting involved in threaded(按话题串起来的) debates(辩论)? There goes the day.

5    With news-ranking sites such as Digg.com(一个由用户挖掘并推动的新闻网站) you can not only waste your time becoming the editor, but you can also be a writer and blow off steam in the comments section. And of course you do not want to look like an idiot(白痴) with your comments, so you read the 5,000 other comments first to make sure that your point is original, just in case Waterfall4327 notices that in comment #245 Gerrymander988 said the exact same thing!

6    Want to waste even more time? Become a blogger(博客作者). The mechanism(机制) is easy and it’s cheap — free, in fact. While you are blogging you can check other blogs and create a network of the banal(平淡无奇). This is a great use of your time, no? “Today I ate a cheese sandwich. No wait, it wasn’t like the cheese sandwich that other blogger ate 10 years ago. Really, it wasn’t.”

7    And, of course, the bane(令人头疼的事) of the blogosphere(博客世界) is still cat pictures.

8    For every picture of a human baby in the blogosphere there are 10 pictures of cats. What does that tell you about the state of the world? There is something especially pathetic about 30-year-old women treating these cats like babies and essentially bragging(吹嘘) about this on their blogs.

9    Offshoots(衍生物) of this banality(平庸乏味) are new sites such as Twitter(推特) that allow you to simply say what you are doing at any time, day or night. Are you reading a book? Then tell the world. Everyone wants to know, don’t they? Are you washing your hands? Cool. Everyone wants to know that, too. They really do.

10    And, yes, there is the other side to Twitter — the people who read the posts. Usually they are the same people who make the posts, thus they get to double their time wastage with one service. “See what others are saying about you!” Golly(天哪), like I need to know now!

11    I don’t have to go into detail about the time-wasting ordeal of beating a computer or console game, do I? I mean, let’s face it. Something is amiss(出差错的) when people actually get tendonitis(肌腱炎) from playing Wii(一种家用游戏机) games. I can assure you that you do not get tendonitis in 15 minutes. It takes hours and hours of repetitive play. When you are done, what have you accomplished? Zip(无), that’s what.

12    And computer technologies are not the only time killer(杀手). The entertainment business has loaded us up with time-wasting notions. The entire idea of a “home theater” is ludicrous(荒谬的). And yes, I do have one, but is watching TV and DVD movies a good use of my time? Exactly how much drama, comedy(喜剧), and History Channel(一个专门播放历史纪录片的美国电视频道) programming about Hitler does one person watch in a lifetime? It’s as if we are all watching a double feature — two movies — each and every day of our lives. Only a movie reviewer(评论家) should have to do that. Why is the public doing it?

13    There is no efficiency or a good use of your time in any of this.

14    Then again, you have to wonder what can be done. I say start by tearing out the home theater, disconnecting the computer, and giving them both to charity. Good luck. 

1）I’m talking about the fact that, with the computer in particular, you have to take the good with the bad.

我要谈论的是这样一个事实，即好的坏的你都得接受，尤其是就电脑而言。

句中that you have to take the good with the bad是the fact的同位语。

2）There goes the day.

往往一天就过去了。

口语中，短语there goes something常用以引起注意、加强语气等。又如：

There goes the last bus. 

末班车开走了。

There goes the phone. 

电话铃响了。

3）Today I ate a cheese sandwich. No wait, it wasn’t like the cheese sandwich that other blogger ate 10 years ago. Really, it wasn’t.

今天我吃了一个奶酪三明治，不，等等，它跟那个博客作者10年前吃的奶酪三明治不一样。真的，不一样。

请注意作者的讽刺口吻。读者应该可以判断出，作者觉得网站上的内容无聊极了。本文中有不少类似含有讽刺意味的句子，如下文中的Everyone wants to know that, too. They really do. 等等。

4）Offshoots of this banality are new sites such as Twitter that allow you to simply say what you are doing at any time, day or night.

这种平庸乏味的衍生物就是推特之类的新网站，不管白天黑夜，你在任何时间正在做什么，它们都让你尽管说好了。

本句是倒装句，主语是new sites such as Twitter that allow you to simply say what you are doing at any time, day or night。Twitter中文称作“推特”，是一个社交网络及微博服务网站。

5）Zip, that’s what. 

一无所获，这就是结果。

本句中，zip = nothing, that’s what = that’s what you have accomplished。