在短短的二十多年间，智能手机风靡全球，成为了人们生活当中不可或缺的一部分。而智能手机的普及也在全球范围内催生出了一个新的“物种”——低头族。这些低头族们连过马路都紧盯着手机，成为交通安全的严重隐患。而在韩国，这一个现象尤其普遍，因此，韩国由智能手机引起的道路事故伤亡数量也是年年升高。那么，韩国采取了什么应对措施呢？
# A dangerous creature is haunting South Korean crossroads
In South Korea smartphone cases come with rings mounted on the back, to prevent clumsy owners from dropping them. This makes people look like they are literally married to their phones. In many of Seoul’s most Instagrammable coffee shops, couples on dates spend vastly more time looking at their screens than at each other. The ramifications go beyond the potentially dire consequences for romance.
在韩国，手机壳的背面通常都安装有指环扣，以防笨手笨脚的主人不慎将手机摔落。这让人们看起来像是真的跟手机结婚了。在首尔很多最 Ins 网红风的咖啡店里，约会的情侣们绝大部分时间都在盯着手机屏幕，而不是看着彼此。这不仅可能会严重影响恋爱关系，而且还会带来其他后果。
Walk around the streets of Seoul or any other South Korean city, and there is a real risk of bumping into people whose eyes are glued to their smartphone screens. Insurers estimate that around 370 traffic accidents annually are caused by pedestrians using smartphones. That figure does not include those who bump into lamp posts and the like while perusing the latest cat videos.
在首尔或者随便哪个韩国城市街头走走，就很有可能撞上目不转睛地盯着手机屏幕的行人。据保险公司估计，每年约有 370 起交通事故是因为行人看手机造成的。这一数字还不包括那些聚精会神刷着最新猫咪视频而撞上路灯杆之类的东西的人。
The government initially tried to fight the “smombie” (a portmanteau of “smartphone” and “zombie”) epidemic by distributing hundreds of stickers around cities imploring people to “be safe” and look up. This seems to have had little effect even though, in Seoul at least, it recently replaced the stickers with sturdier plastic boards.
起初，政府为了抵抗泛滥成灾的“手机僵尸”，在各个城市张贴了数以百计的贴纸，恳求人们“注意安全”，（走路时）抬起头来。然而，即使最近政府（至少在首尔）又把贴纸换成了更坚固的塑料牌，该尝试似乎仍然收效甚微。
Instead of appealing to people’s good sense, the authorities have therefore resorted to trying to save them from being run over. Early last year, they began to trial floor-level traffic lights in smombie hotspots in central Seoul. Since then, the experiment has been extended around and beyond the capital. For the moment, the government is retaining old-fashioned eye-level pedestrian lights as well. But in future, the way to look at a South Korean crossroads may be down.
于是，当局不再寄希望于唤起行人的自觉性，转而选择保护他们不被（车辆）碾压。去年年初，有关部门开始在首尔市中心——“手机僵尸”高度集中的闹市区——试行地面红绿灯。之后，该尝试扩展到了整个首尔，继而又扩展到了首都以外的城市。目前，政府仍保留传统的视线高度的人行道红绿灯。但是从今往后，人们在韩国的十字路口也许都可以看着地面过马路了。
