Charging cables are the most overlooked technology in your life, until they break and you're stuck with a dying phone.
充电线是你生活中最容易被忽视的技术，直到它们坏掉，而你只能拿着一部快没电的手机束手无策。
You're the reason they keep failing.
它们老是坏，原因就在你身上。
Here's how to take better care of them.
下面说说如何更好地照顾它们。
Michael Pecht tortures charging cables.
迈克尔·佩赫特会对充电线进行严酷测试。
He's the founder of the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering at the University of Maryland, a laboratory where tech companies send gadgets to learn why they break.
他是马里兰大学高级生命周期工程中心的创始人，这个实验室接收科技公司送来的小设备，用来弄清它们为什么会坏。
"We're like the morgue," Pecht tells me, "but for electronics".
佩希特告诉我：“我们就像太平间，只不过服务对象是电子设备。”
His team has subjected USB cables to unspeakable horrors, smashing, stretching, plugging them in too many times, you name it.
他的团队让 USB 线经受过难以形容的折磨：挤压、拉伸、反复插拔，凡是你想得到的都做过。
As if that isn't enough indignity, he sticks the busted cables under X-rays to study the damage.
仿佛这样折腾还不够，他还把坏掉的线缆放到 X 光下研究损伤情况。
I called Pecht with what I thought was a simple question: what's the perfect way to wrap a charging cable?
我给佩赫特打电话，问了一个我以为很简单的问题：缠绕充电线的最佳方法是什么？
My whole life, I believed you need to wrap your cables in loose concentric circles – not too tight!
我一直以为，应该把线缆绕成松散的同心圆，不能太紧！
– because over constricting or tangling is a shortcut to ruined wires.
因为缠得过紧或缠成一团，是毁掉电线的捷径。
It's an extremely common idea among people I know, so I expected to hear a bit of science to support my cable wrapping technique.
在我认识的人当中，这是一种极其常见的看法，所以我原本期待听到一些科学依据来支持我的绕线方法。
Instead, I found that I – and probably millions of other people too – have been wasting our time.
结果我发现，我以及可能还有数百万人，一直都在浪费时间。
"It just doesn't matter," says Pecht.
“这根本不重要，”佩赫特说。
"We've done work for some of the big computer companies, the ones you're thinking of when I say that.
“我们为一些大型计算机公司做过工作，就是我这么说时你脑海里想到的那些公司。
We've never seen any failures from wrapping them up wrong."
“我们从没见过因为绕线方式错误而导致的任何故障。”
This was so difficult to square with my cable philosophy that I contacted other experts, who all told me the same thing: wrap your charging cables however you want.
这和我的线缆理念太难调和了，于是我联系了其他专家，而他们都告诉我同一件事：你想怎么绕充电线就怎么绕。
There are, however, some other bad habits that have been shortening the lifespan of my cables.
不过，还有一些其他坏习惯一直在缩短我的线缆寿命。
Things I've been doing every day for decades.
这些事我几十年来每天都在做。
My poor wires.
我可怜的电线。
I wish I'd known.
真希望我早知道。
The good news is I'm here to share what I learned so you can stop making the same mistakes I did.
好消息是，我会在这里分享我的发现，这样你就可以不再犯和我一样的错误。
Our cables work hard for us, but we rarely realise until they stop working and we are left without a way of charging our devices.
我们的线缆一直在为我们卖力工作，但我们很少意识到这一点，直到它们停止工作，让我们没法给设备充电。
Don't they deserve a little respect?
难道它们不值得一点尊重吗？
If you aren't convinced, then know that caring for your cables is better for your wallet and the environment too.
如果你还不信，那就要知道，好好爱护线缆对你的钱包和环境都有好处。
"There're two types of people in this world: people who destroy cables and people who don't," says Kyle Weins, co-founder of iFixit, a sustainability and consumer rights company that helps people repair their own electronics.
iFixit 联合创始人凯尔·温斯说：“这个世界上有两种人：会把线弄坏的人，和不会的人。”iFixit 是一家关注可持续发展和消费者权益的公司，帮助人们自行修理电子设备。
It's painful to admit it, but I think I'm in the destructive group.
承认这一点很痛苦，但我觉得自己属于会把线弄坏的那一类人。
"When cables break, it's almost always because it fails where the cable meets the plug."
“线缆断掉时，几乎总是因为线缆与插头连接的地方出了问题。”
Ready for an anatomy lesson?
准备好来上一堂结构课了吗？
Your cables are full of little metal wires wrapped with insulation.
你的线缆里面布满了包着绝缘层的细小金属线。
On the far end, they thread into a connector with a plug at the end.
在另一端，它们穿入一个连接器，连接器末端带有插头。
That joint is where things go wrong.
那个连接处正是问题发生的地方。
It makes sense if you think about it.
仔细想想，这其实说得通。
When you're using a cable, the connector acts like an anchor, and all the bending happens right at the end of the wire.
当你使用线缆时，接头就像一个锚点，所有弯折都集中在线材末端。
Imagine a paper clip.
想象一下一个回形针。
Bend it at the same point over and over and it breaks.
反复在同一个位置弯折它，它就会断。
"On a microscopic level, bending beyond the elastic range makes the bonds between the atoms break and reform as they shift positions," says Robert Hyers, head of the mechanical and materials engineering department at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the US.
美国伍斯特理工学院机械与材料工程系主任罗伯特·海尔斯说：“从微观层面看，超过弹性范围的弯折会让原子之间的键在原子移动位置时断裂并重新形成。”
"You get this accumulation of defects called dislocations where the atoms don't line up, like wrinkles in a rug."
“你会看到这种缺陷的累积，叫作位错，也就是原子没有排列整齐，就像地毯上的皱褶。”
Too many dislocations hardens the metal, then it snaps, and your paper clip is ruined.
位错过多会使金属变硬，随后它就会折断，你的回形针也就毁了。
The metal wires inside a cable work the same way.
线缆内部的金属导线也是同样的道理。
Hopefully you'll feel bad enough for those atoms to avoid some of these common problems.
但愿你会为那些原子感到足够心疼，从而避开下面这些常见问题。
"One thing a lot of people do, including me sometimes when I'm lazy, is just pull on the long part of the cable to unplug it," Pecht says.
佩赫特说：“很多人会做的一件事，包括我有时犯懒也会这样，就是直接拽住线缆的长段把插头拔出来。”
"That's causing additional stress where it wouldn't if you just pulled on the connector itself."
“这会造成额外应力；如果你只是拉连接器本身，就不会出现这种情况。”
A key source of strife comes from cables that are too short for the job, Hyers says.
海尔斯说，一个主要麻烦来源是线缆对用途来说太短。
If you're stretching the cable out to make it reach a socket, you're hurting it.
如果你为了让线够到插座而把它拉长绷直，你就是在伤害它。
Or, if you find yourself lying in bed (or anywhere else for that matter) with your phone plugged in, pulling the connector at a sharp angle to keep using it, you're asking for trouble.
又或者，如果你发现自己躺在床上（其实在任何地方都一样），手机还插着线，为了继续使用而把接头扯成一个很大的角度，那你就是在自找麻烦。
"Another thing we see people do is plug their phone in and then stick it in the cup holder in their car to prop it up," says Weins.
韦恩斯说：“我们还看到人们会把手机插上充电，然后把它塞进车里的杯架中支起来。”
"So, the phone is sitting on the cable and all the pressure of the phone weight, including bouncing as you drive, is right on that point."
“所以，手机压在电线上，手机重量带来的所有压力，包括你开车时颠簸产生的压力，都集中在那个点上。”
Stop it.
别这样了。
That's just cruel.
那简直太残忍了。
Here's the thing: it actually does matter how you wrap many longer heavier cables.
问题在于：对于许多更长、更重的线缆，你怎么缠绕其实确实很重要。
Ask anyone who works in film or audio, and they'll tell you about the "over-under" cable wrapping technique professionals swear by.
问任何从事影视或音频工作的人，他们都会告诉你专业人士深信不疑的“上下交替”绕线技巧。
But Weins and others tell me the rules don't apply to your flimsy flexible charging cables.
但韦恩斯和其他人告诉我，这些规则并不适用于你那些又薄又软的充电线。
Weins says it certainly isn't good for your cables to wrap them up too tightly.
韦恩斯说，把线缆缠得太紧当然对它们不好。
But unless you're folding the cable at a sharp angle like a weirdo, or pulling on the connector or bending while you coil it up, a bad wrap job is very unlikely to cause a problem.
但除非你像个怪人一样把线缆折成很急的角度，或者在盘线时拉扯接头、让它弯折，否则糟糕的绕线方式不太可能造成问题。
It all comes down to abusing the connector.
归根结底，问题都在于粗暴对待接头。
Treat that part of the cable with respect, "and it'll last longer than I will", says Hyers.
海尔斯说，好好爱惜线缆的那一部分，“它就会比我活得还久”。
But that's assuming the cables are up to the job in the first place.
但前提是这些线缆本来就能胜任这项工作。
Everyone I spoke to told me a lot of the problem is cheap, poorly made cables.
和我交谈过的每个人都告诉我，问题很大一部分在于线缆便宜且做工差。
You can probably skip the dinky options you can get for a couple of bucks at the gas station.
加油站里花几美元就能买到的那种廉价小线，你大概可以直接跳过。
Invest in more robust cables and you'll spend less money replacing them.
买更结实的线缆，你就会少花些钱去更换它们。
• Your phone's blue light isn't ruining your sleep
• 手机发出的蓝光并没有毁掉你的睡眠
One thing to look for is braided cables, which use tight textiles or a nylon mesh woven over the wires instead of a plastic exterior.
可以留意的一类产品是编织线缆，它们用紧密的织物或尼龙网包覆在导线外，而不是使用塑料外皮。
"That's a good rule of thumb," Weins says.
“这是一个很好的经验法则，”韦恩斯说。
"Even Apple has gone to braided cables in their most recent models just because the strength and the shielding of the braids is going to protect it better."
“就连苹果在最新款产品中也改用了编织线缆，因为编织层的强度和屏蔽保护能更好地保护线缆。”
All of this is, objectively, small stuff.
客观地说，所有这些都是小事。
Cables are probably the least glamorous piece of technology in your life.
线缆大概是你生活中最不起眼的科技产品。
They exist to be functional.
它们存在的意义就是实用。
And if they function, they can be ignored.
而只要它们还能用，人们就可以不去理会它们。
But ignore them the wrong way, and they'll quietly fail on you, one microscopic crack at a time.
但如果你用错误的方式忽视它们，它们就会一次产生一道微小裂纹，悄悄地坏给你看。
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