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.

相对来说病毒对手机的威胁还不严重……但只是现在。

我们的计算机能从互联网上感染病毒。但是我们的手机也能遭受病毒侵害么？发表在《科学》（Science）杂志上的一项新研究给出了肯定的答案，但是除非更多的手机使用同一个操作系统，否则这种恶意手机病毒不会泛滥成灾。

计算机容易受到病毒的进攻，这是因为计算机共享数据，尤其是通过互联网来共享。当然，目前越来越多的人们使用他们的手机来发电子邮件、发送短信、下载那些“烦人的”铃声。所以有理由推断手机病毒一样也是一种威胁。

科学家们使用来自超过6百万个手机用户的匿名电话数据模拟可能的病毒爆发。他们得出结论：通过蓝牙在手机之间传播的病毒不构成太大的问题，因为这些手机使用者必须离的很近，这样他们的手机才能互相“看见”。但是，那些通过多媒体信息传输服务扩散的病毒能以快得多的速度传播。这些病毒在传播过程中会乔装打扮，比如它们会以朋友发送的一首很酷的歌曲的形式传播。不过好消息是，这些病毒想要乔装传播，它们需要手机使用者都使用同样的操作系统，而目前我们之中还没有多少人这样做，因为还没有针对手机的“微软远景”出现，这可真是谢天谢地。

Vocabulary:

Virus：病毒
Malicious：有害的
Epidemic：流行病；泛滥
Vulnerable：易受…伤害的
Annoying：令人讨厌的
Anonymous：匿名的
Potential：潜在的
Outbreak：大爆发
Proximity：临近
Disguise：乔装
Effective：有效的
Victim：受害者