标题和导语

    The Guardian view on digital exclusion: online must not be the only option

    • exclusion 排斥
      • exclude 将xxx排除在外

    The interests of a significant minority are being neglected as everyday tasks are conducted via smartphones and tablets

    第一段

    On the eve of this week’s rail strikes, it was reported that industry bosses are planning to phase out paper train tickets and shut almost 1,000 station ticket offices in England.

    • strike 罢工
      • 除了文中的rail strike「铁路工人罢工」
      • 相关表达还包括coal/postal strike「煤矿/邮政工人罢工」
    • phase out 逐步废除
      • phase in就是「逐步引入」

    The government says nothing has been decided. But the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has made no secret of his desire to see savings delivered in this way; some stations, Mr Shapps likes to point out, sell only a handful of tickets each week and the vast majority of transactions have moved online.

    • transport secretary 交通大臣
      • equal “secretary of state for transport”
      • 英国一般secretary翻译为 大臣，美国的话，一般翻译为 部长
    • phase in就是「逐步引入」

      第二段

    Irrespective of the outcome of the current standoff with the RMT union, the direction of travel is clear.

    • irrespective of 不考虑某事
      • regardless of sth
    • standoff 僵局
      • 同义词： deadlock、stalemate、impasse
    • RMT = National union of Rail,Maritime and Transport Workers
      • 铁路、海事、运输工人全国联盟

    In the name of modernisation and cost-cutting, station ticket offices are likely to follow many high street bank branches and rural post offices into the vaults of sepia-tinted memory.

    • high street 高街的、大众的
      • 在美国叫做 main street
      • high street fashion 大众款式
    • rural 乡村的，农村的
    • vault 金库；墓穴
    • sepia 深褐色
      • sepia photograph 泛黄的照片
    • tint 给xxx染色
      • rose-tinted「玫瑰色的」；再补充一个rose-tinted glasses「玫瑰色眼镜」，除了指「玫瑰色镜片的眼镜」，还可以表示「对某事的看法过于乐观」
    • station ticket offices are likely to follow many high street bank branches and rural post offices into the vaults of sepia-tinted memory.
      • 这句话好美：车站售票局会步入大众银行支行和乡村邮政局的后尘，成为我们泛黄的记忆
      • follow A and B into C 跟随A和B到了C

    For those of us who have grown used to the advantages of organising travel via a smartphone, there will be little to mourn. But for people without online access or skills – who tend to be older, poorer and more vulnerable – another small social barrier will have been erected.

    • mourn 哀悼
    • access 使用某物的机会
      • access to sth
    • will have been 这里是挺有趣，在老外的视角里：时间节点这个东西就是一种感角，作者不一定很清楚的交代出来

      第三段

    From GP appointments to payment apps for parking, more and more key services are now delivered digitally.

    • GP 全科医生 在英国很常见
      • general practitioner

    Local councils, cash-strapped and in search of efficiency savings, are moving inexorably online in the way they do business. BT plans to phase out traditional landlines by 2025.

    • local councils地方议会 相当于地方政府
    • cash-strapped 财政困难的（形容人物均可）
      • strapped 手头紧的(一般用来形容人)
    • inexorably 不可阻挡地
      • inexorable 不可阻挡的
    • landline 有线电话

    As this revolution takes place, unjustified assumptions are being made about the ability of some users to cope. In the case of health and social care, it will often be those most in need of assistance who are least able to navigate a digital route to accessing it.

    • social care/work「社会福利工作」、healthcare「医疗保健」和elderly care「养老护理」

    • navigate vt. 导航、航行

      • navigation system 「导航系统」
      • 引申义 「应对（复杂情况）」： navigate the legal system「应对司法系统」

      A recent Ofcom report estimated that around 6% of households – 1.5m homes – have no internet access. Millions more of us remain irregular and unconfident users of the internet.

    • Ofcom = Office of Communications

      • 一般Of开头的很多都是英国的机构
        • Ofsted = Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills
        • Ofgem = Office of Gas and Electricity Markets
    • irregualr 不定时的

    As digital technology becomes the gatekeeper to swathes of everyday life – a process accelerated by the pandemic – a significant minority risks exclusion and isolation.

    • swathe 一长条、一大片（土地）

    第四段

    The inexorable shift online is inevitable, but its fallout needs to be managed with more care. Technology should not be allowed to drive people to the side of their own lives, as anecdotal evidence suggests is increasingly the case.

    • fallout 后果
    • side 边缘
      • kerbside/curbside 路缘
    • anecdotal 传闻的
      • anecdote 传闻
      • anecdotal evidence 传闻性证据
      • hard fact 确凿的事实
    • as anecdotal evidence suggests is increasingly the case.
      • as (anecdotal evidence suggests——插入语) is the case

    Ros Altmann, the former pensions minister and Conservative peer, recently wrote of being contacted by an elderly woman who no longer drives to her local park, because she cannot download the car parking app required.

    • pension n.养老金、退休金
      • pension scheme 养老金计划
      • Department for Work and Pensions(DWP) 就业和养老金部 会负责管理养老金
    • 英国内阁各大臣/部长的头衔：一个department「部」里的老大是Secretary of State「大臣」，也是该部门最高的官职；次一级的官员是Minister of State「国务大臣」，一般会分管部内的一部分工作；职位最低的头衔是Parliamentary Undersecretary「政务次长」。其实三个头衔的中文译名不是最重要的，搞清楚三个职位谁高谁低就足以帮我们看懂很多英国新闻了；
      • image.png
    • Conservative peer
      • Conservative 大写 代表保守党
      • peer 贵族; peeress 女贵族

    As the sheer range and complexity of digital requirements expands, the desperate recruitment of middle-aged sons and daughters as unpaid consultants has become a phenomenon of our times. Meanwhile, the growing rarity of person-to-person interactions while making transactions – or just seeking advice and information – can exacerbate a sense of isolation among the lonely.

    • sheer 这个词本身是没有意义的，要结合词来使用
      • the sheer weight/size of 强调数目之大，多
    • a sense of sth xxx的感觉
      • a sense of responsibility
      • a sense of security
    • exacerbate 加剧

    第五段

    The debate over ticket offices offers an opportunity to reflect more broadly on the increasing role of technology in our social landscape. Clearly, much more needs to be invested in helping marginalised groups gain easy online access. But a diversity of provision also needs to be protected. Some people will never become comfortable using smartphones or tablets to get vital tasks done. Alternative and viable offline options must be maintained for important services. Contactable telephone numbers and staffed public access points should always be available. This will cost more. But that is the price of being fair to those who find themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide.

    • landscape「形势、局势」
    • the marginalised「边缘群体」（结合记忆marginalise「使……边缘化」）
    • viable「可行的」
      • feasible
    • provision 供给
      • housing provision 住房供给
    • staff 为xxx配备职员
      • staffed 有职员的
    • access point 接入点
    • digital divide 数字鸿沟

    卫报会偏向于左派媒体，在效率与公平方面，偏向于公平