One evening in February 2007, a student named Paula Ceely brought her car to a stop on a remote road in Wales. She got out to open a metal gate that blocked her path .That’s when she heard the whistle sounded by the driver of a train. Her Renault Clio was parked across a railway line. Seconds later, she watched the train drag her car almost a kilometre down the railway tracks.
2007年2月的一个晚上，一位名叫宝拉·西利的学生把她的车停在了威尔士一条偏僻的路上。她下车打开一扇挡住去路的金属门。这时她听到火车司机吹响了汽笛。她的雷诺Clio停在一条铁路线上。几秒钟后，她看到火车把她的车沿着铁轨拖了将近一公里。
Ceely’s near miss made the news because she blamed it on he GPS. She had never driven the route before. It was dark and raining heavily. Ceely was relying on her GPS, but it made no mention of the crossing. “I put my complete trust in the device and it led me right into the path of a speeding train,” she told the BBC.
西利的未遂事件成为新闻，因为她把这归咎于他的GPS。她以前从未开过这条路。天很黑，下着大雨。西利依靠她的GPS，但它没有注意到十字路口。她告诉英国广播公司：“我完全信任这个设备，它把我带到了一列超速行驶的火车的轨道上。”。
Who is to blame here? Rick Stevenson, who tells Ceely’s story in his book When Machines Fail Us, points the finger at the limitations of technology. We put our faith in digital devices, he says, but our digital helpers are too often not up to the job. They are filled with small problems. And it’s not just GPS devices: Stevenson takes us on a tour of digital disasters involving everything from mobile phones to wireless keyboards.
这该怪谁？瑞克·史蒂文森在他的书《当机器让我们失败时》中讲述了西利的故事，他指出了技术的局限性。他说，我们相信数字设备，但我们的数字助手往往无法胜任这项工作，它们有很多小问题。不仅仅是GPS设备：史蒂文森带我们了解了从手机到无线键盘的各种数字灾难。
The problem with his argument in the book is that it’s not clear why he only focuses on digital technology, while there may be a number of other possible causes. A map-maker might have left the crossing off a paper map. Maybe we should blame Ceely for not paying attention. Perhaps the railway authorities are at fault for poor singalling system. Or maybe someone has studied the relative dangers and worked out that there really is something specific wrong with the GPS equipment. But Stevenson doesn’t say.
他在书中的论点的问题在于，尚不清楚他为什么只关注数字技术，可能还有其他一些原因。地图制作者可能会在纸质地图上留下十字路口。也许我们应该责怪西利没有注意，也许铁路当局对糟糕的信号系统负有责任。或者，也许有人研究了相对的危险性，发现GPS设备确实存在特定的问题。但史蒂文森没有说。
It’s a problem that runs through the book. In a section on cars, Stevenson gives an account of the advanced techniques that criminals use to defeat computer-based locking systems for cars. He offers two independent sets of figures on car theft; both show a small rise in some parts of the country. He says that once again not all new locks have proved reliable. Perhaps, but maybe it’s also due to the shortage of policemen on the streets. Or changing social circumstances. Or some combination of these factors.
这是贯穿全书的一个问题。在关于汽车的一节中，史蒂文森介绍了犯罪分子用来击败基于计算机的汽车锁定系统的先进技术。他提供了两组关于汽车盗窃的独立数据；两者在该国的一些地区都有小幅增长。他说，并不是所有的新锁都被证明是可靠的。也许吧，但也可能是因为街上缺少警察，或者不断变化的社会环境，或者这些因素的组合。
The game between humans and their smart devices is amusing and complex. It is shaped by economics and psychology and the cultures we live in. Somewhere in the mix of those forces there may be a way for a wiser use of technology.
人类和他们的智能设备之间的游戏既有趣又复杂。它是由经济学、心理学和我们生活的文化所决定的。在这些力量的混合中，可能有一种更明智地使用技术的方法。
If there is such a way, it should involve more than just an awareness of the shortcomings of our machines. After all, we have lived with them for thousands of years. They have probably been fooling us for just as long.
如果有这样的方法，它应该不仅仅是意识到我们机器的缺点。毕竟，我们和它们一起生活了数千年，它们愚弄我们的时间可能也同样长。
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