小宇哥的CS學習筆記

Using electronic gadgets outdoors may endanger users' lives

    People who wearing headphones might want to ditch them while walking outside. A study finds that accidents involving pedestrians wearing the devices have tripled in recent years.

    Researchers combed several sources to find incidents in the U.S. of crashes involving pedestrians and vehicles from 2004 to 2011. Searching the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Google News archives and Westlaw Campus Research, they found 116 cases of death or injury involving pedestrians wearing headphones. Cases in which people were using mobile phones (including hand-free devices) were excluded.

    Over the years the number of cases increased, from 16 in 2004 and 2005 to 47 in 2010 and 2011. The victims' average age was 21, and most (68 percent) were male. The majority (67 percent) were under the age of 30. Most (55 percent) were hit by trains, and 70 percent of crashes, most of which were in urban areas, were fatal.

ditch (v) 拋棄；丟棄

pedestrian (n) 步行者；行人

exclude (v) 排除在外；不包括

fatal (adj) 致命的；毀滅性的

surveillance (n) 監測；監督

archive (n) 資料庫；檔案

gadget (n) 小玩意；零件

hazard (n) 危險

triple (v) 使...3倍

comb (v) 梳理(頭髮)；徹底調查

endanger (v) 使...危險

incident (n) 事件

urban (n) 城市的

majority (n) 大多數