譯/田思怡
In Amish Country, the Future Is Calling
A young woman, wearing a traditional full-length Amish dress and white bonnet, stepped away from a farmers market, opened her palm and revealed a smartphone. She began to scroll through screens, seemingly oblivious to the activity around her.
Not far away, a man in his late 60s with a silvery beard, wide-brimmed straw hat and suspenders adjusted the settings on a computer-driven crosscut saw. He was soon cutting pieces for gazebos that are sold online and delivered around the country.
一名穿著艾美許傳統長衣裙、戴白色帽子的年輕女子，從一個農民市集走出來，她張開手掌，露出一支智慧型手機。她開始滑手機螢幕，似乎對四周的活動渾然不覺。
不遠處，一名年近70、蓄銀白山羊鬍、頭戴寬邊草帽、穿吊帶褲的男子，調整了電腦控制的橫切鋸的設定。他即將切割木料以製作涼亭，成品在網路上銷售，運送到全國各地。
艾美許人刻意與文明保持距離，連到海邊都是罕見的經驗。 美聯社
艾美許人刻意與文明保持距離，連到海邊都是罕見的經驗。 美聯社
The Amish have not given up on horse-drawn buggies. Their rigid abstinence from many kinds of technology has left parts of their lifestyle frozen since the 19th century: no cars, TVs or connections to electric utilities, for example.
But computers and cellphones are making their way into some Amish communities, pushing them — sometimes willingly, often not — into the 21st century.
艾美許人沒有放棄馬車。他們嚴格戒絕多種科技產品，以致部分生活方式停留在19世紀：例如，沒有汽車、電視或與電力公司的連結。
然而，電腦和手機正打入一些艾美許人的社區，把他們推進21世紀──他們有時候甘願如此，但通常不是。
New technology has created fresh opportunities for prosperity among the Amish, just as it has for people in the rest of the world. A contractor can call a customer from a job site. A store owner's software can make quick work of payroll and inventory tasks. A bakery can take credit cards.
But for people bound by a separation from much of the outside world, new tech devices have brought fears about the consequence of internet access. There are worries about pornography; about whether social networks will lead sons and daughters to date non-Amish friends; and about connecting to a world of seemingly limitless possibilities.
就和世上其他人一樣，艾美許人也因新科技而獲得發達的新機會。包商可以從工地打電話給業主。商店老闆的軟體可以快速處理有關薪水和盤點的工作。麵包店可以收受信用卡。
不過，對於藉由與大部分外在世界隔絕而凝聚在一起的人來說，新科技裝置帶來對於上網後果的恐懼。擔心網路色情人侵；擔心社群網站會讓兒女與非艾美許人的朋友約會；擔心與一個似乎有無限可能的世界接觸。
"Amish life is about recognizing the value of agreed-upon limits," said Erik Wesner, an author who runs a blog, Amish America, "and the spirit of the internet cuts against the idea of limits."
John, who works a computerized saw at Amish Country Gazebos near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, likened it to the prohibition on automobiles.
經營「艾美許的美國」部落格的作者艾瑞克．韋斯納說：「艾美許人生活的基礎是認可大家同意的限制的價值，而網路的精神與限制的概念牴觸。」
在賓州蘭開斯特市附近的「艾美許鄉村涼亭」商店用電腦化鋸子的約翰，用不准使用汽車來打比方。
"Not using cars is a way of keeping us together," he said. (Like most of the people interviewed for this article, he declined to give his surname, out of an Amish sense of humility; many refrained from having their faces photographed for the same reason.)
"There's always a concern about what would lead our young folk out of the church and into the world," John added.
The internet also threatens another Amish bonding agent: For a society in which formal education ends after eighth grade, youngsters learn a trade or craft alongside a relative or other member of the community.
他說：「不用汽車是讓我們凝聚在一起的一種方式。」（如同這篇報導訪問的大多數人，他不願透露他的姓氏，出於艾美許人的謙遜；許多人基於相同理由不願意讓人拍攝他們的臉。）
約翰接著說：「會引導我們的年輕人走出教堂，走進世界的東西，總是讓人們不安。」
網路也威脅到艾美許人的另一種粘著劑：這個社會裡的正式教育在八年級之後結束，年輕人跟著一位親戚或社群的其他成員學習一門行當或一種手藝。
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