The Office Plant Sensor

The break room at Uma's office has a small smart plant sensor. It is clipped to the fig tree by the window. It reports the plant's water and light levels straight to everyone's phones. For weeks, it has quietly kept the plant alive without much attention.

乌玛办公室的休息室里有一个小小的智能植物传感器。它夹在窗边的无花果树上。它会把植物的水分和光照情况直接报告到每个人的手机上。几个星期来，它悄悄地让这棵树活了下来，没有人怎么在意。

Then one Monday, the sensor starts sending alerts every few hours. "Water level critical," it warns, again and again. Uma, who has watered the tree faithfully since it arrived, is confused and a little offended. She waters it anyway, just to be safe.

然后，在一个星期一，传感器开始每隔几个小时就发一次警报。“水位严重不足，”它一遍又一遍地提醒。自从这棵树搬来，乌玛一直尽心地给它浇水，此刻她既困惑，又有点委屈。她还是浇了水，只是为了保险起见。

By Wednesday, the soil is soaked, and the leaves have started turning yellow at the edges. Percy, who sits near the plant, notices first. "Someone else might be watering it too," he says. "There's no way this is normal for one person's schedule."

到了星期三，土壤已经湿透了，叶子的边缘开始发黄。坐在植物附近的珀西最先注意到了。“也许还有别人在给它浇水，”他说，“这不可能是一个人的浇水安排。”

They check the sensor's app together and find a shared log. It turns out the new intern has also watered the tree this week. Nobody explained that Uma already handles it. Between the two of them, they have watered the poor plant nearly every day.

他们一起查看传感器的应用程序，发现了一份共享记录。原来，新来的实习生这周也给这棵树浇过水。没有人跟她说过乌玛已经在管这件事了。两个人加起来，几乎每天都给这可怜的植物浇水。

"I should introduce myself properly," Uma admits, laughing at the mix-up. Percy agrees that the office needs a simple sign-up sheet instead of two people guessing. They tape a small note to the pot: "Watered by Uma every Monday. Please don't add more!"

“我真该好好自我介绍一下，”乌玛承认道，对这场误会笑了起来。珀西同意，办公室需要一张简单的登记表，而不是让两个人瞎猜。他们在花盆上贴了一张小字条：“乌玛每周一浇水。请不要再多浇了！”

The following week, the sensor finally goes quiet again. The soil dries out at a normal pace, and new green leaves begin to appear. Percy jokes that the plant survived office life better than most new employees do. Uma just smiles and waters it exactly once, right on schedule.

下一周，传感器终于又安静了。土壤以正常的速度变干，新的绿叶开始冒出来。珀西开玩笑说，这棵植物在办公室里活得比大多数新员工都好。乌玛只是笑了笑，准时浇了一次水，恰好一次。