时髦英语口语词汇讲解第10期:Cell 手机

When mobile phone technology came in a few years ago, the term was immediately shortened.
几年前，刚出现手机技术的时候，这个词马上就有缩写形式。

Mobile phones became 'mobiles'.
Mobile phones（移动电话）变成了‘mobiles'。

'I've got my mobile.' 'Have you got your mobile on?'
‘我带手机了’或者‘你手机开了没？’

But that was in the UK.
但是，这只是在英国而已。

In the United States, a different term emerged, 'cell phone', short for cellular phone.
在美国出现了另外一个词‘cell phone'，是cellular phone的缩写。

Now, cell phone was tricky because some people spelled it as one word and some people spelled it as two.
cell phone这个词有点棘手，因为有的人把它写成一个字，有的人把它写成两个单词。

I did a search on Google the other day, and the one-word spelling got eighteen million hits, and the two-word spelling got a hundred and thirty-five million hits.
我前几天在谷歌上搜索了一下，一个单词这种写法搜出了1，800万个结果，而写成两个单词这种写法搜除了1亿3千5百万个结果。

So it seems you can use both spellings at the moment.
看起来，眼下用两种写法都是可以的。

But either way, people shortened the phrase to 'cell'.
但是不管哪种写法，人们已经简单地将手机称为cell了。

And this usage is growing in the UK.
而这种用法在英国日渐增长。

Somebody the other day said to me, 'Have you got your cell?'
有个人某天对我说，‘Have you got your cell?'

'Call me on your cell!'
‘Call me on your cell!'（用你的手机打给我）

'Sync your cell with your company!' - that's synchronise - synchronise your cell with your company - that's the sort of phrase you get these days.
‘Sync your cell with your company!'（把你的手机跟你的公司同步）——现在，大家整天都能听到这样的用法。

I saw an advertisement, 'Cells have just got coloured!'
我见过一个广告：手机刚被上色了！

In other words, mobile phones are now in different colours.
换句话说，手机现在可以有不同的颜色。

It's a new sense of the word 'cell'.
这是cell（细胞）这个词新出现的意思——手机。

So, if somebody invites you to 'use my cell', it doesn't mean that they're asking you to go into their monastery, or indeed, asking you to visit them in prison!
如果某人欢迎你说‘use my cell'，这可不是在让你去他们的修道院（cell有‘修道院密室’的意思）或者去牢房看他们（这里是给我打电话的意思）。