When almost everyone has a mobile phone, why are more than half of Australian homes still paying for a landline（座机）?
当几乎每个人都拥有手机时，为什么超过一半的澳大利亚家庭仍在付费使用座机电话？

These days you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in Australia over the age of 15 who doesn’t own a mobile phone. In fact plenty of younger kids have one in their pocket. Practically everyone can make and receive calls anywhere, anytime.
如今，在澳大利亚15岁以上的人中，几乎找不到没有手机的人。事实上，许多年轻孩子都随身携带手机。几乎每个人都可以随时随地打电话和接听电话。

Still, 55 percent of Australians have a landline phone at home and only just over a quarter （29%） rely only on their smartphones according to a survey （调查）. Of those Australians who still have a landline, a third concede that it’s not really necessary and they’re keeping it as a security blanket — 19 percent say they never use it while a further 13 percent keep it in case of emergencies. I think my home falls into that category.
然而，根据一项调查，55%的澳大利亚人在家里有座机电话，只有略超过四分之一（29%）仅依赖智能手机。那些仍然拥有座机电话的澳大利亚人中，有三分之一承认它并不是真正必要的，他们只是将其保留作为一种安全保障-19%的人表示他们从未使用过，另外13%的人保留它以备紧急情况。我觉得我的家庭属于这个范畴。

More than half of Australian homes are still choosing to stick with their home phone. Age is naturally a factor（因素）— only 58 percent of Generation Ys still use landlines now and then, compared to 84 percent of Baby Boomers who’ve perhaps had the same home number for 50 years. Age isn’t the only factor; I’d say it’s also to do with the makeup of your household.
超过一半的澳大利亚家庭仍然选择保留他们的座机电话。年龄自然是一个因素-只有58%的Y世代偶尔还使用固定电话，而相比之下，84%的婴儿潮一代可能已经使用相同的家庭号码50年了。年龄不是唯一的因素；我想也与家庭成员的组成有关。

Generation Xers with young families, like my wife and I, can still find it convenient to have a home phone rather than providing a mobile phone for every family member. That said, to be honest the only people who ever ring our home phone are our Baby Boomers parents, to the point where we play a game and guess who is calling before we pick up the phone（using Caller ID would take the fun out of it）.
像我和我妻子这样有年幼家庭的X世代，仍然发现保留座机电话比为每个家庭成员提供手机更为方便。话虽如此，老实说，我们家庭电话的来电几乎只有我们的婴儿潮父母，以至于我们玩一个游戏，在接电话之前猜测是谁在打电话（使用来电显示会让这个游戏没趣味）。

How attached are you to your landline? How long until they go the way of gas street lamps and morning milk deliveries?
你对座机电话有多依赖？它们何时会像煤气路灯和早晨送奶一样退出历史舞台？

1. What does paragraph 2 mainly tell us about mobile phones?
   A. Their target users. B. Their wide popularity.
   C. Their major functions. D. Their complex design.
   答案：B

2. What does the underlined word “concede” in paragraph 3 mean?
   A. Admit. B. Argue.
   C. Remember. D. Remark.
   答案：A

3. What can we say about Baby Boomers?
   A. They like smartphone games. B. They enjoy guessing callers’ identity.
   C. They keep using landline phones. D. They are attached to their family.
   答案：C

4. What can be inferred about the landline from the last paragraph?
   A. It remains a family necessity.
   B. It will fall out of use some day.
   C. It may increase daily expenses.
   D. It is as important as the gas light.
   答案：B