As you probably know, clothing has been around since the time of Adam and Eve —and it's become a lot more sophisticated than those early fig leaf designs1 . On the other hand, electronics have been with us for only a few hundred years — beginning with Franklin running around with his portable lightning rod2 . With gadgets more popular than ever these days, the combination of clothing and electronics was inevitable.
First let me mention a line of jackets launched in the fall of 2000 by Royal Philips' Electronics and Levi Strauss &Co3. Philips'original press release4 called it"merging fashion and technology in the creation of work wear for the digital age . "I love that kind of talk.
Each design is said to contain"a simple body area network using wires integrated into the body design. "What it really does is allow you to use a Philips Xenium GSM mobile phone5 and MP3 player in a jacket — all controlled by a unified remote .
A company named VivoMetrics6 has designed a different type of electronic garment. It's called LifeShirt, and it's an ambulatory monitoring system stuffed into a flexible, washable T-shirt.
VivoMetrics has built a system that allows doctors to monitor more than 40 physiological signs ( heart rate , breathing rate, blood pressure , etc. ) over extended periods of time while patients are away from a doctor's office or hospital. One of the early target markers is people who suffer from sleep apnea7 .
"Various wires plug into a Springboard module that records and holds all of the medical data. The patient can then send the information wirelessly to their doctor or send the module to the lab. "
. .. But it says that this is the type of product that will probably never be available to consumers. Its real purpose is for clinical and medical research.
The company hopes to market the LifeShirt to pharmaceutical companies and research centers conducting trials of new drugs. VivoMetrics is going to show off the product. The company says it has" secured one driver, Jon Herd, to wear the shirt during his race".
I believe these produ cts are only the tip of the iceberg. In the future I think we 'll see more varied combinations of electronics and clothing. They'll find new ways to meld future computer designs with clothing to improve our lives seamlessly.
练习题：
Ⅰ. Give synonyms to the following words:
1. merge 2. monitor 3 . stuff
4. portable 5. ambulatory 6 . show off
Ⅱ. Question:
What is the unique function of Life Shirt and its early target marker?
答案：
Ⅰ. 1. immerge / submerge / involve 2. watch over / admonish
153 3. pack / full / cram 4. light / handy / manageable
5. moving / walking 6 . exhibit / display / set off
Ⅱ. VivoMetrics has built a system that allows doctors to monitor more than 40 physiological signs ( heart rate, breathing rate , blood pressure , etc. ) over extended periods of time while patients are away from a doctor’s office or hospital. One of the early target markers is people who suffer from sleep apnea.
参考译文：
电子服装
大家可能知道, 自亚当和夏娃开始, 服装就存在了, 并且现在的服装比早期那些无花果树叶做成的服装, 要复杂精致得多。另一方面, 自富兰克林拿着他那轻便式避雷针四处奔走开始, 电子产品伴随着我们也仅仅是几百年的时间。如今, 小电子产品倍受欢迎, 因而服装和电子产品的结合也就不可避免了。
首先, 我要提及的是2000年秋季飞利浦皇家电子公司和利维· 斯特劳斯公司联合推出的一系列的茄克。飞利浦新闻原稿称“ 在数字时代的服装设计当中, 融合了时尚和科 技 ”。我喜欢那种说法。
据说每一款设计都包含“ 一个简单的由电线连接茄克各部位的区域网络。”其目的是使飞利浦X enium 全球通手机和MP3可以在茄克衫内使用。这些功能都由一个统一的遥控器控制。
一家名为唯我的健康信息与监测公司设计了一种与众不同的电子服装。人们称之为 “ 救命衫”, 它有一个内置于有弹力的耐洗的T 恤衫里的移动监视系统。
唯我公司建立的这种系统, 使医生在病人离开医生办公室或医院期间, 也能够长期监测到病人的40 多种生理征候( 心率、呼吸率、血压等) 。这件产品早期的市场定位是针对患有睡眠呼吸暂停症的病人的。
“ 各种电线插入能记录并储存所有医疗数据的跳板式模块。病人可以通过无线电的方式将信息传送给医生或将模块送到实验室。”
但是听说消费者很难买到这种产品。它真正的用途是临床医学研究。
公司希望把这种“ 救命衫” 推销给制药公司和测试新药品的研究中心。唯我公司夸赞自己的产品, 他们说这种产品“ 救了一名叫乔恩· 赫德的司机的命, 他在比赛中穿了这件衬衫”。
我相信这些产品只是冰山一角。未来, 我们将看到更多的电子产品和服装的融合。人们将会找到新的融合方法, 从而让我们生活得更完美。
