Could you get by without using the internet for four and a half years? That’s exactly what singer and actress Selena Gomez has done in a bid to improve her mental health.
- get by 勉强维持；过得去
- in a bid to 为了；旨在
She has spoken extensively about the relationship between her social media usage and her mental wellbeing, recalling feeling like “an addict” when she became Instagram’s most followed user in 2016. “Taking a break from social media was the best decision that I’ve ever made for my mental health”, says she. “The unnecessary hate and comparisons went away once I put my phone down.”
- extensively/ɪkˈstensɪvli/ ：广泛地；大量地
- addict/ˈædɪkt/：瘾君子；上瘾的人
Ditching the web at large, however, is a far more subtle and complicated prospect. The increasing digitisation of our society means that everything from paying a gas bill to plotting a route to a friend’s house and even making a phone call is at the mercy of your internet connection. Actively opting out of using the internet becomes a matter of privilege.
- ditch/dɪtʃ/：抛弃；放弃（口语）
- at large 整个；总体上
- subtle/ˈsʌtl/：微妙的；不易察觉的
- digitisation/ˌdɪdʒɪtaɪˈzeɪʃn/：数字化
- plot/plɒt/：规划；绘制
- at the mercy of 受…… 支配；任由…… 摆布
- opt out of 退出；选择不参与
Ms Gomez’s multi-millionaire status has allowed her to take the “social” out of social media, so she can continue to leverage her enormous fame while keeping the trolls (恶意挑衅的帖子) at bay. The fact that she’s still the second most-followed woman on Instagram suggests it’s entirely possible to maintain a significant web profile to promote various projects—by way of a dedicated team—without being exposed to the cruel comments, hate mail and rape or death threats.
- multi-millionaire/ˌmʌlti mɪljəˈneə(r)/：百万富翁；巨富的人
- leverage/ˈliːvərɪdʒ/：利用；借助
- enormous/ɪˈnɔːməs/：巨大的；庞大的
- troll/trəʊl/：恶意挑衅的人 / 帖子
- keep...at bay 使…… 无法靠近；牵制
- dedicated/ˈdedɪkeɪtɪd/：专门的；专注的
以上内容译文：
你能在四年半的时间里不使用互联网勉强维持生活吗？这正是歌手兼演员赛琳娜・戈麦斯为改善自身心理健康而做出的选择。
她详细谈及了自己使用社交媒体的行为与心理健康之间的关系，回忆起 2016 年成为 Instagram 粉丝最多的用户时，自己感觉像个 “瘾君子”。她说：“停用社交媒体是我为心理健康做过的最正确的决定。一旦放下手机，那些无意义的恶意和攀比心理就都消失了。”
然而，从整体上放弃互联网是一个微妙且复杂的前景。社会日益数字化意味着，从支付燃气费、规划去朋友家的路线，甚至打电话，所有事情都受制于你的网络连接。主动选择不使用互联网反而成了一种特权。
戈麦斯女士的亿万富翁身份让她能从社交媒体中剥离出 “社交” 属性，这样她就能继续利用自己巨大的名气，同时避开恶意挑衅的帖子。她至今仍是 Instagram 粉丝数第二的女性，这一事实表明，人们完全可以通过专门的团队维护重要的网络形象、推广各类项目，而不必接触恶毒评论、仇恨邮件，以及强奸或死亡威胁。
