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Paying attention to the right thing at the right time is important for many activities in daily life.For one—driving—it is critical.In the United States,more than 40,000 people die in motor vehicle crashes every year.More people die each month in crashes than the total killed in the terrorist attacks of 9/11.Although alcohol impairment and speeding account for most of these fatalities,failures of attention also play an important role.The increasingly ubiquitous technology in our vehicles can either impair or improve how we distribute our attention,thus diminishing or enhancing safety.Driving provides a stark illustration of the importance of technology-mediated attention.

The degree to which technological distractions contribute to crashes is difficult to identify,because a glance away from the road leaves no physical evidence.To document driver behavior,small groups of volunteers have been filmed while they drive.In one such study,data collected with unobtrusive video cameras and instrumentation in 109 cars over 12 to 13 months found that failures of attention—including both drowsiness and distraction (performing nondriving tasks such as talking on a phone or adjusting the radio)—contributed to 78% of the 69 crashes and 65% of the 761 near-crashes.Distraction associated with nondriving tasks contributed to 22% of crashes and near-crashes.

Increased complexity of the distracting task increased the likelihood of crashes and nearcrashes; relative to undistracted driving,such incidents were about three times as likely for highly complex tasks (such as dialing a phone) and twice as likely for moderately complex tasks (such as inserting a CD).The frequency with which drivers engaged in distracting activities was strongly associated (correlation of 0.72) with drivers’ involvement in attentionrelated crashes and near-crashes.Attention-related failures are thus not random occurrences.They are a consequence of enduring behavior patterns,in which frequent episodes of inattention make crashes more likely.

Driving,particularly while engaged in distracting activities,challenges the attentional capacity of people—it requires a constant shifting in the center of the driver’s attention between competing demands and rapid reactions to “unexpected” events.Even when a driver’s eyes are directed to the road,the cognitive demands of a nondriving task,such as a cell phone conversation,can disrupt scanning the environment around the vehicle and can lead drivers to neglect important hazards.The more mentally demanding the task is,the greater the disruption.When the driver’s eye movements are concentrated on the center of the road,critical hazards,such as the pedestrian on the right or left,can go unnoticed.

Attention and risk.(A) Technology such as cell phones can introduce distractions,as illustrated by a driver paying attention to a phone call and not a child pedestrian.The neglect of hazards and gaze concentration increases risk above an acceptable threshold.Drivers usually underestimate risks.(B) Technology may mitigate distraction by helping drivers to distribute their attention and guiding them to engage distractions only when roadway demands are low.The driver,alerted to the hazard,now attends to driving.The cell phone interaction is now separated in time from the pedestrian encounter,and with repeated encounters,perceived risk is closer to the actual risk.

The failure to adequately attend to the roadway also contributes to a more insidious problem: Drivers who have been distracted might not be aware that they have had a near-miss of a crash—they cannot remember what they have not noticed.Drivers do not receive adequate feedback concerning how much distracting activities undermine their driving safety (even when they crash).Poor feedback contributes to a poor correspondence between actual and perceived performance decrements associated with distractions,which may lead drivers to adopt dangerous patterns of behavior.

Most drivers tend to overestimate their abilities.In a survey,88% judged themselves to be safer than the average driver.Another survey found that this superiority bias persisted even with expert police drivers when they rated their ability relative to that of their peers.Drivers often fail to adjust their behavior even after surviving a crash involving a fatality.A similar bias afflicts those who engage in distracting activities; drivers who use a cell phone tend to perceive the probability of a distraction-related crash to be lower for themselves than for their peers.

Technology need not only lead to distractions,however; it can also mediate driver attention to enhance driving safety.Drivers can be given an alert that directs their attention away from distractions and back to the roadway if they look away from the road for too long.Emerging technology can also record a history of distraction (such as drivers’ eye movements and gadget usage) and the associated decline in driving performance.This information can then be shared with drivers to enhance their appreciation for the risks associated with driving while distracted.

Recent studies suggest that such postdrive feedback holds substantial promise for improving driver performance.Feedback given to people after they drove while engaging in distracting activities led these drivers to respond faster to vehicles braking ahead and to keep their eyes on the road.Another study tracked teenaged drivers who drove with a camera that captured abrupt braking and steering responses.The videos and a summary of these events were shared with the teens and their parents weekly.Results showed an 89% decline in the number of events triggered by risky drivers.Even after the feedback was removed,the rate of events remained low until the end of the study 6 weeks later.Enhanced feedback can thus lead to lasting changes in how drivers attend to the road.This positive influence of technology on driver attention might outweigh the negative effects of distracting technology.

Whether such technology-mediated attention enhances or diminishes safety remains a critical question.Answering this question will require precisely controlled driving simulator studies to further understand the dynamics of technology-mediated attention,as well as naturalistic studies that collect information on how technology affects people’s behavior on the road.（1,135 words）

motor vehicle　n.机动车

terrorist attack　n.恐怖分子袭击

impairment　n.损害；伤害

fatality　n.死亡；灾祸

ubiquitous　adj.普遍存在的

technology-mediated　adj.以科技为中介的

distraction　n.注意力分散

document　v.记录；证明

unobtrusive　adj.不突出的；不引人注意的

nondriving　adj.非驾驶的

inattention　n.不注意；粗心；疏忽

attentional　adj.注意的

roadway　n.道路；路面

insidious　adj.隐伏的

decrement　n.减缩

afflict　v.折磨；使痛苦

gadget　n.小器具；小配件

appreciation　n.充分认识；领会

postdrive　n.驾驶后

outweigh　v.比……重要

the terrorist attacks of9/11：九一一袭击事件（也被称为“9·11”恐怖袭击事件、九一一恐怖攻击事件）。是2001年9月11日发生在美国本土的一系列自杀式恐怖袭击事件，在这场灾难中，包括劫机者在内共有2 749人死亡。

1.【原文】The degree to which technological distractions contribute to crashes is difficult to identify,because a glance away from the road leaves no physical evidence.

【译文】技术应用导致的注意力分散在多大程度上会导致撞车很难认定，因为眼睛离开路面向其他地方一瞥留不下任何实物证据。

【解析】本句翻译时虽然不需要在逻辑结构上做调整，但前面主句中的定语从句要注意安排。这里的“technological distraction”应为“由技术应用而导致的注意力分散。”这从下文中可以得到验证。

2.【原文】In one such study,data collected with unobtrusive video cameras and instrumentation in 109 cars over 12 to 13 months found that failures of attention—including both drowsiness and distraction (performing nondriving tasks such as talking on a phone or adjusting the radio)—contributed to 78% of the 69 crashes and 65% of the 761 nearcrashes.

【译文】在这样的一项研究中，研究人员运用摄像机和仪器仪表在不干预驾驶的情况下对109辆车的驾驶员进行了12～13个月的数据收集。数据显示，这些车辆在此期间所发生的69起撞车事故中的78%以及761起几乎造成撞车事故中的65%都起因于注意力不集中，包括困倦和注意力分散（驾驶期间操作非驾驶任务，比如打电话或调节收音机）。

【解析】这个长句非常复杂，信息庞杂。首先需要析出“data…found that…”与“failures of attention…contributed to…”这样的主干结构，然后依照逻辑顺序把译文分为几个小句。这样安排起来整个句子结构上就比较清晰。

3.【原文】Driving,particularly while engaged in distracting activities,challenges the attentional capacity of people—it requires a constant shifting in the center of the driver’s attention between competing demands and rapid reactions to “unexpected” events.

【译文】驾车，尤其是在驾车过程中还有转移注意力的行为，对驾驶人的注意力潜能是一种挑战。这要求驾驶员在驾驶中注意力的中心要不断在各种要求和对“不测”事件的快速反应之间转换。

【解析】本句原文结构清晰，但“challenge”这个词需要注意选择，此处做了直译处理，如果对该词做一些引申，翻译成“对驾驶者的注意力提出了高要求。”也是不错的选择。此外，“unexpected”译为“不测”是比较简洁的处理。

4.【原文】Technology such as cell phones can introduce distractions,as illustrated by a driver paying attention to a phone call and not a child pedestrian.

【译文】科技比如说移动手机的使用可能导致注意力分散，司机在开车时注意力集中到手机上，就不会注意到走路的孩子。

【解析】本句中的“introduce”应取其引申义，此处翻译为“导致”；而“a child pedestrian”，如果译文中也安排“孩子”做修饰语，可能会背离原意，也不好表述，这里处理成“走路的孩子”，贴近原意。

5.【原文】Technology may mitigate distraction by helping drivers to distribute their attention and guiding them to engage distractions only when roadway demands are low.

【译文】科技也可能通过帮助司机分配注意力、引导司机只在路况不复杂时从事分散注意力的活动，以此来降低注意力的分散。

【解析】这里的“helping…and guiding…”为并列结构，处理的时候要注意。“roadway demands are low”如果直译为“路上要求低”则会造成不明所以的结果，翻译成“路况不复杂”则比较清晰明白。

6.【原文】The failure to adequately attend to the roadway also contributes to a more insidious problem: Drivers who have been distracted might not be aware that they have had a near-miss of a crash—they cannot remember what they have not noticed.

【译文】无法专心注意路面还会造成一个更为隐蔽的问题：那些注意力被分散的司机可能不会意识到自己刚刚与撞车事故擦肩而过，因为他们无法记得自己没有注意到的问题。

【解析】此句中的“failure”无法直译为“失败”，应注意语气后面的修饰语“to adequately attend to the roadway”，找到合适的搭配词。“near-miss”构词巧妙，翻译为“擦肩而过”清晰明确。

7.【原文】Poor feedback contributes to a poor correspondence between actual and perceived performance decrements associated with distractions,which may lead drivers to adopt dangerous patterns of behavior.

【译文】没有良好的反馈，驾驶员就不能很好地在与分散注意力相关的实际驾驶行为与感知驾驶行为之间建立联系，从而导致驾驶员采取危险的行为模式。

【解析】本句中的“poor”一词也需要取其引申义，还需要考虑与“feedback”和“correspondence”的搭配。译文中两个地方采用了“没有良好”与“不能很好地”，实现了较好的对应。

8.【原文】Another survey found that this superiority bias persisted even with expert police drivers when they rated their ability relative to that of their peers.

【译文】另外一项调查发现，就是专业的警察驾驶员，在与自己的同行比较驾驶技术时，也带有这种具有偏见的优越感。

【解析】本句中的“superiority bias”意思应为“bias growing out of a sense of superiority”，此处翻译为“具有偏见的优越感”是可行的译法。

9.【原文】This information can then be shared with drivers to enhance their appreciation for the risks associated with driving while distracted.

【译文】这些信息接下来可以与其他驾驶员分享，以增强他们的危险意识，提高他们对于驾驶时注意力分散的认识。

【解析】原文有一个行为、目的关系存在。译文需要注意再现这种关系。这里，汉语句子的顺序就可以表示这层关系。单词“appreciation”理解时要注意其后面的搭配“for the risks”，其意思应为“充分意识；领会”。

10.【原文】Recent studies suggest that such postdrive feedback holds substantial promise for improving driver performance.

【译文】最近的研究表明，这些驾后反馈对提高驾驶者的驾驶技能有很实际的意义。

【解析】此处的“suggest”由于其主语是“recent studies”，可以翻译为“表明”或“显示”。“hold promise for”的含义为“对……有意义”或“为……带来希望”，这里依照上下文取前者。

11.【原文】Answering this question will require precisely controlled driving simulator studies to further understand the dynamics of technology-mediated attention,as well as naturalistic studies that collect information on how technology affects people’s behavior on the road.

【译文】要回答这个问题，人们需要进行精确控制的驾驶模拟研究，以进一步了解技术导入注意力的动态变化，同时还需要进行自然主义的研究，以便收集信息，了解技术会如何影响人们在路上的驾驶行为。

【解析】本句中“require”一词的宾语为“simulator studies”和“naturalistic studies”，译文把这两项并列，并用“同时”衔接，使结构层次更清楚。

对于日常生活中的很多行为而言，在正确的时间注意力集中于正确的事情很重要。而对于驾驶行为来说，这却是性命攸关。在美国，每年有4万多人死于机动车撞车事故。每个月在撞车事故中死亡的人数超过9·11恐怖分子袭击遇害人数的总和。虽然造成这些恶性事故的主要原因是酗酒和超速驾驶，但注意力不集中也是一个很重要的原因。越来越多普遍应用于机动车上的科技既可能破坏注意力的分配，也有助于提高注意力的分配。驾驶为我们提供了一个鲜明的例证，可以让我们看到科技导入注意力的重要性。

技术应用导致的注意力分散在多大程度上会导致撞车很难认定，因为眼睛离开路面向其他地方一瞥留不下任何实物证据。为了记录驾驶员的驾驶行为，实验者找来几组志愿者，通过录像来记录他们的驾驶行为。在这样的一项研究中，研究人员运用摄像机和仪器仪表在不干预驾驶的情况下对109辆车的驾驶员进行了12～13个月的数据收集。数据显示，这些车辆在此期间所发生的69起撞车事故中的78%以及761起几乎造成撞车事故中的65%都起因于注意力不集中，包括困倦和注意力分散（驾驶期间操作非驾驶任务，比如打电话或调节收音机）。22%的撞车事故以及近乎撞车事故是由于操作非驾驶任务相关的注意力分散造成的。

随着驾驶中分散注意力的行为越来越复杂，驾驶中发生撞车和几乎撞车的可能性也越来越大。相对于集中注意力的驾驶，完成高度复杂的分散注意力的任务（比如拨电话号码）导致撞车和几乎撞车事故的可能性大约提高三倍，而较复杂的转移注意力的任务（比如驾驶中插入CD盘）导致上述事故发生的可能性提高二倍。驾驶员在驾驶过程中分散注意力的频率同与注意力相关的撞车和几乎撞车事故紧密相关（相关系数0.72）。这样来看，注意力不集中导致事故发生就不是无意发生的事情了。习惯性的行为模式导致了这些事故的发生，而这其中，经常性地一段时间内驾车漫不经心更可能导致撞车事故的发生。

驾车，尤其是在驾车过程中还有转移注意力的行为，对驾驶人的注意力潜能是一种挑战。这要求驾驶员在驾驶中注意力的中心要不断在各种要求和对“不测”事件的快速反应之间转换。即使驾驶员的眼睛盯着前面的路，但非驾驶任务如手机对话的认知要求也可能干扰他对汽车周围环境的认识从而忽视重要的威胁。非驾驶任务对脑力的要求越高，对驾驶造成的干扰越大。当驾驶员眼睛集中注意道路的中央时，他可能注意不到其他严重的威胁，比如车左边或车右面的行人。

注意力与危险。（1）科技比如说移动手机的使用可能导致注意力分散，司机在开车时注意力集中到手机上，就不会注意到走路的孩子。忽视潜在危险、不能够集中注意力会使行车危险提高到不可接受的阈值。司机通常低估危险的存在。（2）科技也可能通过帮助司机分配注意力、引导司机只在路况不复杂时从事分散注意力的活动，以此来降低注意力的分散。这种情况下，驾驶员时刻警惕危险，专心驾驶。司机现在使用手机就被及时与汽车与行人的接触分离开，汽车与行人多次接触后，司机感受到的危险就更接近于真实的危险。

无法专心注意路面还会造成一个更为隐蔽的问题：那些注意力被分散的司机可能不会意识到自己刚刚与撞车事故擦肩而过，因为他们无法记得自己没有注意到的问题。对于转移注意力的行为在多大程度上会破坏驾驶安全（甚至在发生撞车时），驾驶员不会收到充分的反馈。没有良好的反馈，驾驶员就不能很好地在与分散注意力相关的实际驾驶行为与感知驾驶行为之间建立联系，从而导致驾驶员采取危险的行为模式。

多数驾驶者往往高估自己的驾驶技术。在一项调查中，88%的人自认比一般的驾驶员驾驶安全。另外一项调查发现，就是专业的警察驾驶员，在与自己的同行比较驾驶技术时，也带有这种具有偏见的优越感。即使在经历了发生致命碰撞的事故后，很多驾驶员也常常无法调整自己的行为习惯。另一个类似的偏见也让那些习惯从事注意力转移行为的驾驶者苦恼不已：那些驾驶中使用手机的驾驶员往往会认为自己因为注意力转移导致车祸的可能性比其他同样使用手机的驾驶员要低。

但技术进步不只是能导致驾驶时注意力分散，它也能让驾驶者注意力集中以增加行车安全。如果驾驶者的注意力被分散，可以有警报提醒他们注意。如果他们长时间不注意路面的情况，也会有警示提醒他们把注意力转移到路上。新的技术也能记录驾驶者注意力分散的历史（比如驾驶者的眼动与驾驶时小工具的使用）以及与此相关的驾驶技能的降低。这些信息接下来可以与其他驾驶员分享，以增强他们的危险意识，提高他们对于驾驶时注意力分散的认识。

最近的研究表明，这些驾后反馈对提高驾驶者的驾驶技能有很实际的意义。为有注意力分散行为的驾驶者提供反馈可以让这些驾驶者在面对危险时反应更快，让他们把目光放到路上。另外一项研究中，研究者在年少的驾驶者车里安装相机，跟踪他们驾车时急刹车以及转向时的反应。然后每周把这些录像以及这些时间的总结与这些少年以及他们的父母一起分享。结果证明，由危险的驾驶员引起的事件数量下降了89%。在这些反馈被取消后，一直到这项研究结束后的6周时间里，事故发生率一直很低。这样来看，加强反馈可以对驾驶员如何集中注意力于路面带来持久的影响。这种集中注意力的技术对于驾驶的积极影响可能超过了分散注意力的技术所带来的负面影响。

这种技术导入的注意力能促进安全还是降低安全仍然是一个很重要的问题。要回答这个问题，人们需要进行精确控制的驾驶模拟研究，以进一步了解技术导入注意力的变化，同时还需要进行自然主义的研究，以便收集信息，了解技术会如何影响人们在路上的驾驶行为。