Cell Phones Relatively Safe from Viruses...... For Now.

We can get viruses from the Internet. But can we catch viruses on our cell phones? A new study in the journal Science says yes, but the spread of such malicious mobile software won’t reach epidemic proportions until more cell phones are on the same operating system.
Computers are vulnerable to viruses because they share data, especially over the Internet. Of course, nowadays, more people are using their cell phones for email, text messaging and downloading annoying ring tones. So it stands to reason that cell phone viruses are a threat, as well.
Scientists used anonymous call data from more than six million cell phone users to help model a potential outbreak. And they concluded that viruses that spread from phone to phone by Bluetooth are not much concern, because users have to be in close physical proximity for their phones to “see” one another. However, viruses that spread through multimedia messaging services—so they’d come disguised as, say, a cool tune sent by a friend—can move much faster. The good news is that to be effective, these viruses need their victims to all use the same operating system. Which not enough of us do. Because there is no Microsoft Vista for mobile phones, yet. Thank goodness.

相對來說病毒對手機的威脅還不嚴重……但只是現在。

我們的計算機能從互聯網上感染病毒。但是我們的手機也能遭受病毒侵害么？發表在《科學》（Science）雜志上的一項新研究給出了肯定的答案，但是除非更多的手機使用同一個操作系統，否則這種惡意手機病毒不會泛濫成災。

計算機容易受到病毒的進攻，這是因為計算機共享數據，尤其是通過互聯網來共享。當然，目前越來越多的人們使用他們的手機來發電子郵件、發送短信、下載那些“煩人的”鈴聲。所以有理由推斷手機病毒一樣也是一種威脅。

科學家們使用來自超過6百萬個手機用戶的匿名電話數據模擬可能的病毒爆發。他們得出結論：通過藍牙在手機之間傳播的病毒不構成太大的問題，因為這些手機使用者必須離的很近，這樣他們的手機才能互相“看見”。但是，那些通過多媒體信息傳輸服務擴散的病毒能以快得多的速度傳播。這些病毒在傳播過程中會喬裝打扮，比如它們會以朋友發送的一首很酷的歌曲的形式傳播。不過好消息是，這些病毒想要喬裝傳播，它們需要手機使用者都使用同樣的操作系統，而目前我們之中還沒有多少人這樣做，因為還沒有針對手機的“微軟遠景”出現，這可真是謝天謝地。

Vocabulary:

Virus：病毒
Malicious：有害的
Epidemic：流行病；泛濫
Vulnerable：易受…傷害的
Annoying：令人討厭的
Anonymous：匿名的
Potential：潛在的
Outbreak：大爆發
Proximity：臨近
Disguise：喬裝
Effective：有效的
Victim：受害者