When the Kids' Favorite Toy Is Daddy's iPhone

　　Yesterday, my toddler broke another toy. But this wasn't an inexpensive, plastic doo-dad. It was my husband's iPhone.

　　Like many parents these days, my husband and I sometimes band over our smartphones to our son to soothe him or keep him entertained. It's partly laziness on our party---no other toy, it seems, can captivate him like the iPhone or BlackBerry. He's fascinated by the buttons and touchscreen, the sounds and lights. He hold it up to his ear and pretends he's making an important business call (or arranging a playdate with his best friend.) He somehow even managed to reprogram my BlackBerry to autotype in the Catalan language.

　　When we take away the BlackBerry or iPhone he wails; no other plaything even a pretty realistic toy cellphone satisfies him as much. (The marketing copy for the toy phone says "This authentic looking play phone will surely distract your child from getting a hold of your cell phone!" Ha! I wish.)

　　We often hide our phones-we don't want him to ruin them or grow too dependent on them but be almost always tracks them down once he hears the ring or the buzz of an incoming message. (Hiding a phone is tough, however, for those parents who need to have phones handy in case they're on call or the office beckons.) And when we pick up the phone or check messages, that only makes our son want the phone more, since he always wants whatever is in our hands.

　　Invariably, my son sticks the phone in his mouth and it ends up slobbery and pocked with bitemarks. Or when be eventually tires of the phone, he'll toss it aside, which is how my husband's iPhone met its recent doom.

　　We're not alone in using our cellphones as high-tech rattles. The AP recently ran a story on how more parents are downloading kid-friendly apps, such as white noise and rattle sounds and easy video games, to their cellphones. And according to a recent NPR report, one parent to encourage his 11-month-old baby to crawl, waves his Blackberry so the baby will crawl toward the gadget.

　　Readers, do you ever resort to handing over your smartphones to your kids? Any horror stories? Any good kid-friendly apps to recommend?

　　何时老爸手机成了儿童玩具了

　　昨天，我家宝宝又弄坏了一个玩具。但这可不是便宜的塑料小玩意儿。那是我丈夫的iPhone手机。

　　跟当前的许多父母一样，我们两口子有时会把自己的智能手机给儿子玩，以此来哄他或者逗他。在我们来说这样做一部分是因为懒——似乎没有别的玩具能像iPhone或黑莓一样让他着迷。他被手机上的按键、触摸屏和声光深深吸引。他将手机举在耳边，假装在打一个重要的商业电话(或是跟好朋友约好一起去玩)。他甚至还不知怎么将我的黑莓手机调成了加泰罗尼亚语的输入模式。

　　要是我们拿走黑莓或者iPhone，他就会大哭;别的任何玩具都没法像手机一样满足他，即便是相当逼真的玩具手机也不例外。(这个玩具手机的宣传页上写着“这部看上去跟真的一模一样的玩具手机肯定能转移孩子的注意力，让他们不再染指你的手机!”哈!但愿如此。)

　　我们常常将于机藏起来，不想让他给弄坏了或是对手机太过依赖，但只要他听到铃声或信息提示音，他总能找到。(但有些父母需要将手机放在手边以备随时待命或公司有事，在这样的情况下很难藏起手机。)而当我们接电话或是查看信息时，小家伙只会更想拿到手机，因为我们手里不管拿着什么他都想要。

　　我儿子无可避免地会将手机放进嘴里，最后手机上就会沾满了口水，还满是牙印。或者等他终于玩腻了，他就会将手机乱扔，我丈夫的iPhone不久前就是这样惨遭不幸的。

　　拿手机当高科技玩具的并不是只有我们两个。美联社(AP)不久前的一篇报道称，越来越多的父母往手机里下载适合孩子的应用程序，比如白噪音和铃鼓的声音，还有简单的视频游戏。美国国家公共电台(NPR)最近的一则报道说，一位父亲为了鼓励11个月大的孩子爬，就挥动他的黑莓手机，这样孩子就会朝手机那边爬去。

　　读者们，你们有没有拿手机当玩具哄过孩子?有没有什么惨痛的故事?有什么适合孩子的应用程序可以推荐吗?

　　句型讲解：

　　1. We often hide our phones-we don't want him to ruin them or grow too dependent on them but he almost always tracks them down once he hears the ring or the buzz of an incoming message.

　　本句是一个复合句，主句是由 but引导的并列的句子。破折号后面 we don't...on them是对we often hide our phones的目的的补充说明。其中 or引导两个并列的动词短语。once引导时间状语从句，其中or连接两个并列的名词短语。

　　语法重点：并列结构，时间状语从句

　　2. And when we pick up the phone or check messages, that only makes our son want the phone more, since he always wants whatever is in our hands.

　　本句是一个复合句，主句是 that only makes our son want the phone more. when引导时间状语从句，since引导原因状语从句，其中whatever引导的名词性从句作want的宾语。

　　语法重点：时间状语从句，原因状语从句，名词性从句

　　3. The AP recently ran a story on how more parents are downloading kid-friendly apps, such as white noise and rattle sounds and easy video games, to their cellphones.

　　本句是一个复合句，其中how引导的名词性从句作on的宾语。such as表示举例。

　　语法重点：名词性从句