You see them on every block: people being propelled through their routines listening to their own individualized soundtracks, with the outside world serving as a stage set.

Headphones are now fashion statements. Status symbols. Fetish objects on par with luxury watches and limited-edition Nikes.

在每個街區你都會見到耳機的蹤影：人們從事於例行公事時聆聽著個人化的音樂，外在世界成了舞台布景。

現下，耳機是時尚的展示、身分地位的象徵，且為媲美精品手表和限量版耐吉商品的戀物對象。

William Crosson, a 28-year-old executive recruiter and part-time DJ, wears V-Moda Crossfade Wireless headphones, a $270 set that looks like something a cyberhooligan might wear to a Berlin disco.

Alexander Gilkes, a member of Vanity Fair’s best-dressed list and founder of the auction site Paddle8, wears $400 headphones made by Master & Dynamic.

現年28歲的威廉．克羅森是高級主管招募者，也是個兼職DJ，戴的是要價270美元的V-moda全罩蓋耳式無線耳機，看起來像是網路流氓會戴到柏林迪斯可舞廳去的耳機。

亞歷山大．吉爾克斯名登「浮華世界」雜誌最佳衣著金榜，也是拍賣網站Paddle8的共同創辦人，戴著要價400美元、由紐約頂級耳機品牌Master & Dynamic所製作的耳機。

Martin Gaynor, a 27-year-old freelance app developer for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, wears Symphonized 2s, a pair of wood-covered, over-the-ear headphones that he bought on Amazon for $53.

“The wooden earthy look just seemed to complement the subdued classical look I have on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “It just matched.”

紐約市公園及康樂事務局的自由接案應用程式開發人員，27歲的馬丁．蓋諾戴的則是他在亞馬遜網站上以53美元購買的一對木質耳掛式耳機Symphonized 2s。

他說：「木頭樸實的外表似乎跟我日常展現的低調古典外觀搭配。很搭。」

Don’t forget the cultural bellwether Beyonce. In her “Lemonade” video last year, she belted out “Sandcastles,” a ballad of a woman scorned, while wearing $550 Prymas.

Global headphone sales hit a peak of $8.4 billion in 2013, and two years later, that figure rose to $11.2 billion, according to the research firm Futuresource Consulting. The company predicts that sales will rise another $2 billion by 2018, meaning we have yet to reach Peak Headphone.

可別忘了文化領頭羊碧昂絲。在她去年的「檸檬水」影片中，當她大聲唱著敘述女人遭鄙視歌謠「沙堡」時，戴的是要價550美元的Pryma耳機。

研究公司Futuresource Consulting指出，全球耳機銷售額在2013年達到84億美元的高峰，兩年過後這個數字上升至112億美元。該公司預估，2018年前銷售額將再增加20億美元，這意味著我們還未達到「耳機高峰」。

The combination of the iPhone and headphones in many varieties (in-ear, over-the-ear, shaped-to-your-ear and so on) gives city dwellers the ability to largely avoid an experience that was once arguably the whole point of living in the crowd — interacting with others.

In a fraught public sphere, headphones provide a measure of privacy. Those who fall deeply into a Spotify playlist or the latest installment of an addictive podcast enter a cocoon-like zone all but impenetrable to tourists, beggars and those do-gooders with clipboards.

“Headphones are the front line of urban social defense,” said Julie Klausner, a comedian, actor and writer. “I’m introverted and socially anxious by nature. My worst nightmare is sitting next to someone on a plane or someone who wants to strike up a conversation on an elevator.”

iPhone和許多種（耳塞式、耳掛式、按耳型而製耳機等等）耳機的組合，讓城市居民在很大程度上能夠避開跟他人互動，而這種互動經驗曾經堪稱生活在人群中的唯一理由。

在令人不安的公共空間裡，耳機提供了一定的隱私。那些深陷於Spotify播放列表，或最新一期令人上癮的播客的人，進入了一個繭狀地區，幾乎讓觀光客、乞丐以及那些帶著剪貼板的不切實際社會改革家無法侵入。

身兼諧星、演員和作家的茱麗葉·克勞斯納說：「耳機是城市社交防衛的第一線。我天性內向且對社交感到焦慮。我最大的夢魘就是坐在飛機上時旁邊有人，或是乘電梯時有人來搭訕。」

說文解字看新聞

文／陳韋廷

耳機是現代人幾乎不可或缺的配備，無論聽音樂、講電話、玩遊戲等等都不能沒有它，稱之為生活必需品也不為過，而這項裝置近年更成為時尚年輕人追求的潮貨。

耳機類型繁多，除文中提到的耳塞式與耳掛式外，還有on-ear（耳罩式）、over-the-head（頭戴式）、backwear（後掛式）及wireless（無線）等形式。

此外，earphones也指的是耳機的意思，無論是headphones或earphones，通常都使用複數型態，還有要注意的是，中文所說的「戴」，英文會用動詞wear來表達，而近年來流行的可穿戴裝置，英文即為wearable device，例如智慧手表（Smart Watch）、智慧眼鏡（Smart Glasses）健身追蹤器（Fitness Trackers）、穿戴式相機（Wearable Camera）等等。

文中片語on（a）par with意指「等同於、與其相當」，on 後面也可以加個冠詞 a，介系詞with後接人或事物，例句：He is on（a）par with his brother in intelligence.他的智力跟弟弟不相上下。

Just keep moving. Even if only an inch forward. That’s the key.

How else would cyclists riding in La Ruta de Los Conquistadores — a mountain bike race marketed, quite reasonably, as the world’s toughest — make it to the finish line in one piece? How else would they conquer a merciless route that includes steep climbs, choking humidity, muddy jungle trails and swift-moving rivers that may or may not contain the occasional hungry crocodile?

只管不停向前，那怕只前進1英寸，這就是關鍵。

不然，參加「征服者之路」自行車怎能安全抵達終點？他們又如何能征服這麼一條無情的賽道？沿途有陡坡，令人窒息的濕氣，泥濘的叢林步道，以及湍急的河流，河中偶爾還有饑餓的鱷魚。也因此，這項山地自行車賽被當成世上最艱難的比賽來行銷，相當合理。

But first things first: If they did not press forward, how would they get off this bridge?

The course on this, the third and final day of La Ruta, was flat, and the finish line beckoned from a soft-sand beach less than 20 miles down the road. But first there was a cruel twist. Before they reached the beach, competitors had to traverse railroad tracks that crossed several high bridges like this one, with murky rivers swirling ominously below their unevenly spaced wooden ties.

先處理最要緊的一件事，就是若不奮力向前推進，他們無法離開這座橋。

「征服者之路」比賽第三天也是最後一天的路線是平坦的，終點線在前方不到20英里的柔軟沙灘上發出召喚，但首先得通過個殘酷的意外考驗。在他們到達沙灘前，參賽者必須穿越橫越好幾座高橋的鐵路軌道，那些橋就像這座橋一樣，而間隔不均的鐵路枕木下方則是不祥地蜿蜒而下的混濁河水。

The ties could be rickety, or slick with oil, or set wide enough apart for a human body to slip through — or all three. To cross, hundreds of cyclists had to carry their bikes, or roll them, as they stepped gingerly, silently and in single file, as if in a church procession.

Not everyone could handle the stress. One racer near the front of the pack dared to look down between the wooden ties and froze, immediately creating a backup of riders who wanted nothing more than to keep moving, if only an inch, because momentum helped their balance. The rider, a Costa Rican, needed to be rescued by a wooden cart that was kept handy to ferry “chicken people who don’t want to walk,” said the race’s founder, Roman Urbina.

這些鐵路枕木可能不牢靠，或因上面有油而很滑，或間隔寬到能讓一個人的身體墜下，也可能三者兼具。數百名自行車車手為穿越此處，必須抬著或牽著他們的自行車，小心翼翼地、默默地走成一排，彷彿教會遊行隊伍。

然而並非人人都應付得了壓力。隊伍前端一名參賽者大膽從鐵路枕木間向下看，卻嚇得呆立不敢動彈，只想繼續移動的車手們因而立刻被擋住了，這些車手希望哪怕只移動一英寸也好，因為動能有助平衡。這項比賽的創辦人羅曼．烏爾比納說，這名哥斯大黎加籍車手必須用一個方便運送「不想走路的膽小的人」的木製手推車救出。

But as the cart rolled away and the bottleneck cleared, the real question about the race was not how the riders would complete it.

It was: Why did they start it?

In the early days, according to Urbina, the race started at the Pacific Ocean and went clear across Costa Rica to the Caribbean Sea, following a compilation of routes taken by Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century. But this country — famed for its raw beauty, with its lush foliage, multicolored macaws and fog-covered mountains — has grown much since La Ruta’s debut race in 1993. More buildings. More highways. More cars. More of everything, it seems, and that has meant fewer ways for cyclists to go all the way from coast to coast without bumping into something impassable for a person on two wheels. The race this year was a total of 135 miles, about the length of a long stage of the Tour de France. But it is the terrain, not the distance, that makes La Ruta so painful.

但隨著手推車的離開與交通阻礙的清除，這項比賽真正的問題並非是車手如何完成比賽。

真正問題在於他們為何要開始這項比賽。

烏爾比納指出，比賽早期從太平洋岸開始，並穿越哥斯大黎加到加勒比海，照著16世紀西班牙征服者所使用的彙總路線。但自從「征服者之路」比賽在1993年首度舉辦以來，這個富於原始之美，擁有繁茂林木、五彩金剛鸚鵡與薄霧罩山嶺而聞名的國家已成長許多。建築物多了，高速公路多了，汽車多了，一切都變多了，而這也意味著能讓車手從海岸騎到海岸，一路上不會碰到讓他們無法通行的情況的道路變得更少了。今年比賽路線總長度為135英里，大概跟環法自行車賽一個長段的距離一樣，然而讓「征服者之路」比賽如此痛苦的，不是距離，而是地形。