我想介绍的第二篇文章是个短篇的幽默故事，叫做《计算机的性别The gender of computers》。一个科学家想知道应该称呼计算机他还是她，于是就找了两组人做实验，一组是女人，一组是男人。 女人组报告说计算机的属性……
在我们的课本《new directions》的“性别角色 gender roles”这一章里有两篇好玩的文章，我当时一边看一边笑，看完念给r听，他也大笑。忍不住把这两篇也分享一下。
第一篇是位于首都华盛顿乔治敦大学的deborah tannen教授写的，她是一位知名语言学家，出过好几本关于男女性别差异的书。这篇文章《sex, sighs, and conversation: why men and women can’t communicate》首次刊登于1990年的波士顿环球报boston globe上。这篇文章写得很风趣，以下为我的翻译。然后她转头问男人:“你今天过的咋样？”男人说:“还不是老样子。”她不满:“你什么都没说。”他反抗:“没发生什么事啊！”
我想介绍的第二篇文章是个短篇的幽默故事，叫做《计算机的性别the gender of computers》。一个科学家想知道应该称呼计算机他还是她，于是就找了两组人做实验，一组是女人，一组是男人。
女人组报告说计算机的属性应该是男的，因为:
1. in order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;
2. they have a lot of data but still can‘t think for themselves;
3. they are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they are the problem;
4. as soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer you could have gotten a better model.
男人组报告说计算机的属性应该是女的，因为:
1. no one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2. the native language they use to communicate with other computers is impossible to understand for everyone else;
3. even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval;
4. as soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.