Part of the reason I live the way I do is that as a freelance writer, my income is unpredictable and at best fairly unspectacular. Thus it behooves me to keep in mind thedifference between wants and needs. Like all human beings, I have some needs that are absolute: about 2,500 calories a day, a half a gallon of water to drink, a sanitary means of disposing of my bodily wastes, water to bathe in, something muscular to do for part of the day and a warm, dry place to sleep. To stay sane I need contact with people and with nature, meaningful work and the opportunity to love and be loved.
我之所以选择这样的生活方式，部分原因是，作为一名自由作家，我的收入是难以预料的，最多的时候也是相当普通的。这对我来说理应牢记想要和需要的区别。像所有的人—样，我有些需要是绝对的：一天摄取大约2,500卡路里的热量，喝半加仑水，处理身体废物的卫生设备/工具，用来洗澡的水，抽空做些强身健体的运动，还需要有一个温暖干燥的地方睡觉。为了保持神志正常，我需要和人们联系，和自然接触，需要有一份有意义的工作，拥有爱与被爱的机会。
I don't need, nor do I want, to complicate my life with gadgets. I want to keep technology at the periphery rather than at the center of my life, to treat it like meat in Chinese cuisine as a condiment rather than as a staple food. Technology should abet my life, not dominate or redefine it. A really good tool—like a sharp kitchen knife, a wheelbarrow or a baby carrier, all of which have been with us in some form for thousands of years—makes a useful difference but doesn't displace human intelligence, character or contact the way higher technologies sometimes do. Working people need the tools of their trade, and as a writer, I do have a fax, but I've resisted the pressure to buy a personal computer. A manual typewriter has worked well for me so far. Noticing that the most computer-savvy people, I know are always pining for more megabytes and better software, I've decided not to climb on the purchasing treadmill of planned obsolescence.
我既不需要，也不想让各种小玩意使我的生活复杂化。我想让科技处于我生活的外围而不是我生活的中心，我只想把它们当成是中国菜中的肉，仅仅是一种调味品，而不是主食。科技应该帮助我的生活，而不是主宰或者改变我的生活本质。—件真正好的工具——如一把锋利的菜刀，一辆独轮手推车或者一个婴儿背带，所有这些都是我们以不同形式用了几千年的物件——会产生有益的影响而不是像高科技一样有时候会取代人类的智慧、改变人的特性或者联络方式。工作的人需要有本行业的各种工具，作为一名作家，我确实有一部传真机，但是我顶住了购买一台个人电脑的压力。目前对我来说，一台手动打字机就足够了。当我发现我认识的那些最精通电脑的人总是在渴望着更大的内存和更好的软件时，我决定不让自己登上那辆需要不断购买更新换代产品的购物脚踏车。
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