2022年11月20日 VOA慢速英语：专家建议学生谨慎使用推特

 

Businessman Elon Musk became the owner of Twitter just three weeks ago. And many people have been concerned about the future of the social media company ever since.
商人埃隆·马斯克在三周前才成为推特的所有者。从那时起，许多人就开始关注这家社交媒体公司的未来。
 
Alexandra Roberts is a law and media professor at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. She had this to say:
亚历山德拉·罗伯茨 (Alexandra Roberts) 是马萨诸塞州波士顿东北大学的法律和媒体教授。她是这样说的：
 
"I have been a really active Twitter user for a long time and I have made fantastic connections there that have helped with my scholarship and with my teaching. And also, I've been able to learn from a lot of other people and I've been able to build a network. And I've gotten a lot of opportunities there as well."
“很长一段时间以来，我一直是一个非常活跃的 Twitter 用户，我在那里建立了很好的关系，这对我的学术和教学都有帮助。而且，我”我已经能够向很多其他人学习，我已经能够建立一个网络。而且我在那里也获得了很多机会。”
 
Since Musk took over, Roberts said, "everything kind of went haywire." Haywire means something that is out of control or not working.
罗伯茨说，自从马斯克接管公司以来，“一切都变得一团糟”。 Haywire 意味着失控或无法正常工作。
 
She noted that Twitter may no longer be as safe a space as in the past. There is less certainty that people are who they say they are.
她指出，Twitter 可能不再像过去那样安全。人们不太确定他们所说的那个人。
 
Shortly after his takeover of Twitter, Musk started a service that permitted anyone willing to pay $8 a month to get a "verified" account. In the past, a verified account was only available to the government, companies, reporters, and well-known figures verified by Twitter.
接管 Twitter 后不久，马斯克启动了一项服务，允许任何愿意每月支付 8 美元的人获得一个“经过验证”的帐户。过去，经过验证的帐户仅供政府、公司、记者和通过 Twitter 验证的知名人士使用。
 
Someone then set up a verified account with the name of the drug company Eli Lilly. The account sent out a tweet saying its insulin drug which helps people with diabetes would be free. The false tweet forced the real company to post an apology.
然后有人用制药公司 Eli Lilly 的名字建立了一个经过验证的帐户。该账户发了一条推文，称其帮助糖尿病患者的胰岛素药物将免费提供。虚假推文迫使真正的公司发表道歉。
 
Others set up false accounts under the names of well-known politicians and athletes and even Musk's own companies of Tesla and SpaceX. The service, called Twitter Blue, has since been suspended.
其他人以知名政治家和运动员的名义建立虚假账户，甚至马斯克自己的特斯拉和 SpaceX 公司。这项名为 Twitter Blue 的服务已被暂停。
 
Musk also cut half of Twitter's workforce. And changes in the service made some important employees decide to leave.
马斯克还裁减了 Twitter 的一半员工。服务的变化让一些重要的员工决定离开。
 
The developments concern people who have used the service for 16 years. Already, people are leaving Twitter and companies are pulling back advertisements.
这些发展涉及使用该服务 16 年的人。人们已经在离开 Twitter，公司也在撤回广告。
 
Less safe now
现在不太安全
 
A 2018 study published in PLOS One says Twitter has played an important role "in the discovery of scholarly information and cross-disciplinary knowledge spreading." The study also says people use the service to share real-time information and make connections.
2018 年发表在 PLOS One 上的一项研究表明，Twitter 在“发现学术信息和传播跨学科知识方面”发挥了重要作用。该研究还表明，人们使用该服务来共享实时信息并建立联系。
 
Roberts agreed that Twitter has been a good service for professors and students to connect with those who have similar work or school interests. During the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of going to large business events, people stayed home and were able to use Twitter to stay connected.
罗伯茨同意，Twitter 一直是教授和学生与具有相似工作或学校兴趣的人联系的良好服务.在 COVID-19 大流行期间，人们没有去参加大型商业活动，而是呆在家里并能够使用 Twitter 保持联系。
 
But Roberts added that the service "just became a lot less safe" and "this might be a time when people want to be more [careful] about what they share."
但罗伯茨补充说，这项服务“变得不那么安全了”，“现在可能是人们想要更加[小心]分享的内容的时候了。”
 
Roberts said it is probably a good idea for people to "back up" all the information they have on Twitter. She suggested students add other services, such as email or LinkedIn, to stay in touch with their contacts.
罗伯茨说这可能是一个人们“备份”他们在 Twitter 上的所有信息的好主意。她建议学生添加其他服务，例如电子邮件或 LinkedIn，以便与他们的联系人保持联系。
 
"You don't need to necessarily move things completely offline. But once you make a connection, it's smart to have some other way to continue that conversation with that person."
“你不一定需要完全离线。但一旦你建立联系，通过其他方式继续与那个人对话是明智的。”
 
Roy Gutterman teaches Media Law at Syracuse University in New York state. He advised students to be cautious and make sure that information was from "trusted sources."
Roy Gutterman 在 Media Law 教授纽约州锡拉丘兹大学。他建议学生们要谨慎，并确保信息来自“可信来源”。
 
On Twitter, Gutterman said it is a good idea to look at who is following an account to determine whether it is real. He said technology has made it easier for people to share and connect, but that they should be prepared for changes.
在 Twitter 上，古特曼表示，最好查看谁在关注某个帐户以确定该帐户是否真实.他说，技术让人们更容易分享和联系，但他们应该为变化做好准备。
 
"Cyberspace is littered with all sorts of dead entities, social media, email and other forms of media. Maybe the next major social media outlet is in gestation right now and will be born or maybe people will go back to Facebook."
“网络空间充斥着各种死去的实体、社交媒体、电子邮件和其他形式的媒体。也许下一个主要的社交媒体渠道正在酝酿之中，即将诞生，或者人们可能会回到 Facebook。”
 
And Roberts added that students who use Twitter to look for jobs or opportunities should "get what you need … but know it could be gone tomorrow."
罗伯茨补充说，使用 Twitter 寻找工作或机会的学生应该“得到你需要的东西......但要知道明天它可能会消失。”