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By 中央社：劉耀畬編譯
2010-09-22 00:00:00
TALLADEGA, Alabama Quietly over the last decade, phones that make text messaging easy have changed life profoundly for millions of deaf people.
過去十年來，靜靜地，讓發簡訊很方便的手機，已經深刻改變了數以百萬計的聾人的生活。
Gone are the days of a deaf person driving to someone's house just to see if they are home. Wives text their deaf husbands in the basement, just as a hearing wife might yell down the stairs. Deaf teens blend in with the mall crowd since they're constantly texting, like everyone else in high school.
在過去，失聰人士可能只是為了看看某人在不在家，就開車到他家去，這種日子已經過去了。現在聾丈夫的妻子在地下室就發簡訊給老公，就像聽得到的妻子可能往樓梯下叫喊一樣。耳聾青少年很容易融入商場人群，因為他們一直在發簡訊，就像高中所有其他人一樣。
Visit the Alabama School for the Deaf, and it's impossible to miss the signs of a revolution that many hearing people simply never noticed. Most everyone at the school in Talladega has at least one handheld texting device, and some have two. At lunch, deaf diners order burgers and fries by text: Punch in the order and show it at the counter.
如果訪問阿拉巴馬州聾人學校，不可能會錯過一場革命的跡象，這場革命是很多聽覺正常的人根本不會注意到的。在塔拉德加這所學校，幾乎每個人都至少有一具手持的發簡訊設備，有些人還有兩具。午餐時，聾食客用簡訊訂漢堡和薯條：輸入訂菜指令，然後拿給櫃檯看。
For the first time, a generation of deaf people can communicate with the world on its terms, using cell phones, BlackBerrys or iPhones, of which some 260 million are in use in the United States. Matt Kochie, who is deaf, has been texting his entire adult life and has a hard time imagining a day without it.
破天荒第一次，一世代的聾人都可以使用手機、黑莓機或iPhone與世界親自溝通，目前約有2億6千萬人在美國使用這些手機。失聰的馬特‧科奇整個成年生活都在發簡訊，很難想像一天沒有簡訊的日子。
"We'd have to go back to pen and paper," said Kochie, 29, a teacher at the school. "We'd have to write back and forth to communicate."
「我們將不得不回去用筆和紙，」這所學校的教師科奇說。「我們不得不來回寫字溝通。」
Without his handheld, Walter Ripley said he would be back to relying on others for even basic communication. And texting is less work, said Ripley, 54.
沃特‧雷普利說，一旦沒有了他的掌上電腦，即使基本的溝通，他也將回去依靠別人。而且發簡訊還更省事，54歲的雷普利說。
"I don't have to depend on hearing people. It makes me a lot more independent. I don't have to ask people to call for me. Asking for people to call can be very frustrating," said Ripley, the school's athletic director.
「我不必依賴有聽力的人。這使我獨立得多。我不必請別人幫我打電話。請人打電話可以令人非常沮喪。」身為學校體育董事的雷普利說。
Kochie and Ripley both used sign language and interpreters during interviews, and deaf people still generally favor signing when talking face-to-face. It's faster and more expressive than pecking out letters on a tiny keyboard.
科奇和雷普利接受訪問時都用手語和翻譯員，面對面談話時，聾人仍然普遍喜歡使用手語。手語比在小鍵盤上點出字母，速度比較快，表達力也比較強。
Derek Schmitz, who graduated from the Mississippi School for the Deaf this year, said texting has made it easier for deaf people to form friendships with hearing people that would have been difficult just a few years ago.
今年畢業於密西西比州聾人學校的德里克‧施米茨表示，發簡訊已使得聾人更容易與聽力正常的人形成友誼，而這僅僅在幾年前都還有困難。
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