Today almost everyone has a smart phone booths are out of date and seem to be useless. But cities like Shanghai are trying to bring the old phone booths to life.
Shanghai will make changes to 263 phone booths in Xuhui District. The Library Booth is one of the six new kinds of booths, offering 60 booths for people to borrow and read. Another kind allows users to listen to audiobooks( 有声书)and even record their own voices.
Shanghai is not the only city trying to save the old phone booths. London cares about them even more, because the red booths have long been a special scene in London since the 1930s when they were painted all red. In recent years London has come up with many ideas to help phone booths stay useful. The UK company British Telecom has added screens and free WiFi to some booths. Users can use them to surf online and search for maps and weather reports. The company also allows people to rent(租)some booths to change them as they want to. Since 2009, more than 1,500 phone booths have been turned into flower shops, mini-cafes, art museums and even shower rooms.
In New York City, three phone booths in Time Square are turned into places for immigrant(移民) voices. When visitors pick up the phone, they can listen to oral(口述) histories of immigration from the newest New Yorkers. They can also open the books inside the booth to know more about the storytellers. Or they can share a part of their own stories if they wish.
Brazil made phone booths works of art. Sao Paulo paired 100 artists with 100 phone booths. Some artists painted on the booths, others made them sculptures- one was shaped like a brain and another wore a pair of shoes.
Phone booths are finding creative ways to live on. Will they succeed? Only time will tell.
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