我第一次用微信是二零一二年，那时候它还只是一个发消息的软件。
The first time I used WeChat was in 2012, when it was still just an app for sending messages.
现在打开手机，我一天里几乎所有的事情都在这个软件里完成。
Now when I open my phone, almost everything I do in a day gets done inside this one app.
早上用它买菜，中午用它付钱，晚上用它跟老家的父母通话。
In the morning I buy groceries with it, at noon I pay with it, and in the evening I call my parents back home with it.
我母亲六十多岁，以前连短信都不会发，如今在家庭群里发的语音比谁都多。
My mother is over sixty; she used to not even know how to send a text, yet nowadays she sends more voice messages in the family group than anybody.
方便当然是真方便，可是麻烦也跟着来了。
It is genuinely convenient, of course, but the trouble came along with it.
老板深夜发来的消息，你不回不行，回了又等于同意加班。
A message your boss sends late at night cannot go unanswered, yet answering it amounts to agreeing to work overtime.
有人开玩笑说，微信让上班和下班再也分不开了。
Someone joked that WeChat has made work hours and off hours impossible to tell apart.
在我看来，工具本身没有错，错的是我们把它当成了生活的全部。
In my view the tool itself is not at fault; what is wrong is that we have turned it into the whole of life.
所以这两年我做了一件小事：晚上十点以后，关掉工作群的提醒。
So over the past two years I have done one small thing: after ten at night, I turn off notifications from the work groups.
消息第二天还在，可我的晚上，终于又是我自己的了。
The messages are still there the next day, but my evenings have finally become mine again.
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teacher recordings are coming. Tap any word to see its meaning.
Key words 生词
微信WēixìnWeChat
语音yǔyīnvoice message
如今rújīnnowadays
深夜shēnyèlate at night
等于děngyúto be equal to; to amount to
提醒tíxǐngreminder; notification
Grammar note 语法点
连…都… — even…
连 marks an extreme case and 都 (or 也) follows: 以前连短信都不会发。
他忙得连饭都没吃。 — He was so busy that he did not even eat.
在…看来 — in someone's view
在 + person + 看来 marks a personal judgment, usually at the start of the sentence: 在我看来，工具本身没有错。
在他看来，这个决定并不合理。 — In his view, this decision is not reasonable.
不…不行 — must; cannot not
A double negative used for obligation: 你不回不行 means you have no choice but to reply.
明天的会议我不去不行。 — I really have to go to tomorrow's meeting.
Check yourself 小测验
1. When did the writer first use WeChat?
2. What does the writer's mother do now in the family group?
3. What small change did the writer make?
After this reading
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