Smombie apocalypse
“低头族”的末日
A dangerous creature is haunting South Korean crossroads
一种危险生物在韩国的十字路口出没
Heedless smartphone zombies keep stepping out in front of cars
掉以轻心的“低头族”不断出现在车辆前面
Jul 6th 2019 | SEOUL
IN SOUTH KOREA smartphone cases come with rings mounted on the back, to prevent clumsy owners from dropping them. This makes people look like they are literally married to their phones. In many of Seoul’s most Instagrammable coffee shops, couples on dates spend vastly more time looking at their screens than at each other. The ramifications go beyond the potentially dire consequences for romance.
在韩国，智能手机外壳的背面装有指环，以防笨手笨脚的主人落下手机。这让人们看起来像是简直和手机结了婚。在韩国大多最值得发布到Instagram上的网红咖啡店里，约会的情侣们花在看屏幕上的时间要远远多于观看对方。而这些远远超过了恋爱带来的潜在可怕后果。
Walk around the streets of Seoul or any other South Korean city, and there is a real risk of bumping into people whose eyes are glued to their smartphone screens. Insurers estimate that around 370 traffic accidents annually are caused by pedestrians using smartphones. That figure does not include those who bump into lamp posts and the like while perusing the latest cat videos. 走在韩国首尔等任何城市的街上，有一个撞到那些眼睛盯着智能手机屏幕的“低头族”的真实风险。保险公司估计， 每年约有370起交通事故是由行人使用智能手机引起。这个数字不包括那些在阅读最新的猫视频时撞到灯柱等东西上的人员。
The government initially tried to fight the “smombie” (a portmanteau of “smartphone” and “zombie”) epidemic by distributing hundreds of stickers around cities imploring people to “be safe” and look up. This seems to have had little effect even though, in Seoul at least, it recently replaced the stickers with sturdier plastic boards.
韩国政府最初试图通过在城市周围分发数百张宣传贴纸来对抗“低头族”（“smombie手机僵尸/低头族”是“smartphone智能手机”和“zombie僵尸”两个词组合而成的）的流行，这些贴纸呼吁公众“注意安全”和抬头。这似乎没什么效果，至少在首尔是如此，尽管最近宣传贴纸已被更坚固的塑料板取而代之。
Instead of appealing to people’s good sense, the authorities have therefore resorted to trying to save them from being run over. Early last year, they began to trial floor-level traffic lights in smombie hotspots in central Seoul. Since then, the experiment has been extended around and beyond the capital. For the moment, the government is retaining old-fashioned eye-level pedestrian lights as well. But in future, the way to look at a South Korean crossroads may be down.
韩国当局试图拯救“低头族”免遭碾压之灾，而非唤起他们的意识。去年年初，韩国当局开始在首尔市中心的“低头族”聚集区试验地面交通信号灯。自此，这项试验已到扩展到首都首尔以外的城市。目前，韩国政府还保留着老式的与眼睛水平的交通信号灯。但以后在韩国的十字路口，眼睛可能需要向下看。（张思齐）
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