The Useless Design Features in Modern Products（Part 2)
现代产品中的那些无用的设计（第二部分）
Early cars looked very similar to hose-drawn carriages and were even known as "horseless carriages" (Credit: Getty Images) 早先的汽车看上去像是马拉的马车，而且还因此而被称为”没有马的马车“。 But the public like cars to look a certain way. Though electric cars don’t need cooling grilles – batteries don’t get as hot and they’re chilled in a different way – many have them anyway to avoid looking weird. They’re purely aesthetic and often made of rubber. Meanwhile hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius make artificial sounds to make them sound more like normal combustion engines. 但是，但大众对汽车的外观是有一定的期待的。虽然电动汽车不需要散热格栅—电池不会变的很热，而且电池的冷却方式也不一样 — 但很多电动汽车都有散热网，以免看起来怪异。它们纯粹是处于审美的需要，且经常是橡胶做的。同时，混合动力的车，比如丰田的普锐斯，还特别制作了模拟普通汽车汽油燃烧的声效，让它们感觉跟驾驶普通汽车一样。 aesthetic：审美的; 美的，美学的; At its most basic, the concept includes mimesis, or one material masquerading as another. This includes laminate flooring intended to look like the natural wood of the past, retro plastic hair combs dyed to look like tortoiseshell, and resin billiard balls emulating those made of ivory. This form is almost as ancient as civilisation itself. 说回到最根本，一个概念不断得到模仿，或一个材料伪装成另一个。这包括现在的强化地板的外观做的像过去的天然木材, 复古塑料梳子经过染色后看起来像玳瑁壳, 还有那些模仿象牙制成树脂台球。这种形式几乎和文明本身一样古老。 mimesis：模仿，拟态; masquerading：假扮; 假装 laminate：（将薄片砌合在一起）制成（材料） retro：复古的; 怀旧的; tortoiseshell：龟甲; 龟板; 玳瑁壳; resin：树脂; 合成树脂; 松香; billiard：台球的，弹子戏的; emulating ：模仿; ivory：象牙质 ancient：古代的，已往的; 古老的，过时的; civilisation：文明，文化; Over six thousand years ago in the southern Levant, modern Jordan, the Ghassulian people discovered how to work metal. Previously they had constructed tools, such as axes, from stone. 6000多年前, 在南地中海东部, 也就是现在的约旦, 迦苏勒人发现如何加工金属。而在此之前，他们用的是石头来制作工具的，比如斧头。 work metal：加工金属 Now they started using copper. 现在他们开始使用铜。 This new material was much more versatile, since it didn’t have to be painstakingly chipped into shape. It led to a whole range of elaborate inventions, from crowns to ornamental sceptres. But many objects created in this era retained a decidedly stone-age look.、 这种新材料更有发展前途，因为它不需要费力就能被凿成形状。它导致了一系列的精心发明，从皇冠到观赏权杖。但在这个时代创造的许多物品，却坚定不移的保留了的石器时代的外观。 versatile：多才多艺的; 多功能的; （指工具、机器等） 多用途的; ornamental：装饰的，装饰用的; sceptre：权杖 retained：保存; 保持 decidedly：果断地; 明确地; 坚决地; 毫无疑问地 “It has been true since the beginning of invention that new designs look like the old ones,” says Don Norman, the director of the Design Lab at University of California, San Diego. Then, as today, entirely new materials took a while to catch on. “If it doesn’t look the way I expect it to look, I have no clue what to do with it.” 加州大学圣地亚哥分校设计实验室主任 Don Norman说: “自从有了发明以来，新的设计看起来总是像旧的一样，这是倒是真的。” 以前就像今天一样，全新的材料需要一段时间才能开始广泛使用。“如果一个东西看起来不像我期待的样子的话，我不知道拿它做什么。” catch on：变得流行; But occasionally, copycat design happens almost by accident. In 1949, Frank McNamara was dining with clients at Majors Cabin Grill Steak House, New York. When the bill arrived, he realised that he had left his wallet at home in another suit. There are a lot of rumours about what happened next. 但偶尔, 模仿的设计几乎是偶然发生的。在 1949年, Frank McNamara在纽约的Majors Cabin牛排馆与客户用餐。该结账时, 他意识到他把钱包放在家里的另一套西装里了。这以后接下来发生的事情有很多传言。 occasionally：偶尔; 偶然; 有时候; copycat：盲目模仿者; rumours：谣言; 谣传; 传闻; 风闻 Some people say that his wife drive over to deliver some cash, while others insist he signed a note promising to pay the restaurant back – a practice that was unheard of at the time. One source says the dinner itself never actually happened. Regardless of the truth, a year later McNamara returned to the restaurant and paid with a small cardboard card known as the Diners Club Card. This was a landmark step in the development of the credit card – the first multipurpose charge card. 有人说, 他的妻子开车去送一些现金, 而另一些人则坚称他签下了一张纸条, 承诺要付回餐馆的钱--这是当时闻所未闻的一种做法。一个消息来源说晚餐本身并没有真正发生过。不管真相如何, 一年后McNamara回到了这家餐馆, 用一张纸片做的叫做 “食客俱乐部卡”（Diner’s 大来卡的）卡支付餐费。这是信用卡发展的里程碑的第一步 — 第一张多用途消费卡。 regardless：不管怎样，无论如何; Diners Club Card：大莱卡，大来信用卡 diners：用餐者，食客 landmark：有重大意义或影响的; 里程碑的 multipurpose：多用途的
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