am a late adopter of new technology, so I only recently discovered that an age-old urban problem had been solved. I was in a restaurant with friends. Outside it was cold, and on Sundays the bus ran only every 20 minutes. When to go to the bus stop? My friend pulled out his smartphone, and told me when my bus would arrive. It was a little trick - like finding another friend's house on my smartphone's GPS with three tired children in tow - but it made urban living easier. Thanks largely to smartphones, this is probably the best time ever to live in a packed city.
作为一个接受新技术比较迟的人，我直到最近才发现一个存在已久的城市生活问题已经得到解决。当时我和朋友在一家餐厅里，室外很冷，而且因为是周日的缘故，每20分钟才有一班巴士路过。那么，什么时候走出餐厅去公交站最合适呢？我的朋友掏出他的智能手机看了看，然后告诉我巴士预计将于何时到达。这里面的门道并不复杂——和我一边带着三个疲倦的孩子、一边用自己智能手机的GPS功能找到另一位朋友的住处区别不大——但它却让城市生活变得更加便捷。现在也许是有史以来在拥挤城市生活的最佳时期，这主要是拜智能手机所赐。