Live with Computer
After too long on the Net, even a phone call can be a shock. My boyfriends Liverpudlian accent suddenly becomes indecipherable after the clarity of his words on screen; a secretarys tone seems more rejecting than Id imagined it would be. Time itself becomes fluid - hours become minutes, and alternately seconds stretch into days. Weekends, once a highlight of my week, and now just two ordinary days.
For the last three years, since I stopped working as a producer for Charlie Rose, I have done much of my work as a telecommuter. I submit articles and edit them via E-mail and communicate with colleagues on Internet mailing lists. My boyfriend lives in England, so much of our relationship is computer-mediated.
If I desired, I could stay inside for weeks without wanting anything. I can order food, and manage my money, love and work. In fact, at times I have spent as long as three weeks alone at home, going out only to get mail and buy newspapers and groceries. I watched most of the blizzard of 96 on TV.
But after a while, life itself begins to feel unreal. I start to feel as though Ive merged with my machines, taking data in, spitting them back out, just another node on the Net. Others on line report the same symptoms. We start to strongly dislike the outside forms of socializing. Its like attending an A. A. meeting in a bar with everyone holding a half-sipped drink. We have become the Net opponents; worst nightmare.
What first seemed like a luxury, crawling from bed to computer, not worrying about hair, and clothes and face, has become an avoidance, a lack of discipline. And once you start replacing real human contact with cyber-interaction, coming back out of the cave can be quite difficult.
At times, I turn on the television and just leave it to chatter in the background, something that Id never done previously. The voices of the programs soothe me, but then Im jarred by the commercials. I find myself sucked in by soap operas, or compulsively needing to keep up with the latest news and the weather. Dateline, Frontline, Nightline, CNN, New York 1, every possible angle of every story over and over and over, even when they are of no possible use to me. Work moves from foreground to background.
练习:
1. Compared to the clear words of her boyfriend on screen, his accent becomes
A) unidentifiable.
B) unbearable.
C) unreal.
D) misleading.
2. The passage implies that the author and her boyfriend live in
A) different cities in England.
B) different countries.
C) the same city.
D) the same country.
3. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?
A) she is so absorbed in the TV programs that she often forgets her work.
B) In order to keep up with the latest news and the weather, she watches TV a lot.
C) In order to get some comfort from TV programs she, sometimes, turns on the television.
D) Having worked on the computer for too long, she became a bit odd.
4. What is the authors attitude to the computer?
A) She dislikes it because TV is more attractive.
B) She dislikes it because it cuts off her relation with the outside world.
C) She has become bored with it.
D) She likes it because it is very convenient.
5. The phrase coming back out of the cave in the fifth paragraph means
A) coming back home.
B) going back home.
C) living a luxurious life.
D) restoring direct human contact.
答案:ABCCD
职场英语:工作中常用的地道口语
职场美语:burn one's bridges 自断一切退路,义无反顾
职场美语:我“忙得不可开交”
职场美语:与同事谈论休假的英语对话
职场英语:个人资料词汇
外企口语300句:(15)关于计划和决定
职场美语:big bucks 一大笔钱
职场英语:关于辞职跳槽的表达
外企口语300句:(19)在飞机上
外企口语300句:(17)进餐
职场英语:你经历过“假后返工时差”吗?
职场美语:bore someone to death 使某人烦得要死
职场英语:Office常用的英语口语妙句
职场美语:“加班”的10个英语对话
职场英语:你参加过"辞职面试"吗?
职场美语:2012史上最短工作月是疯狂加班月
职场英语:电话中常听到的英语服务语
职场美语:book off 宣称某日不打算上班
职场美语:bite the bullet 下定决心
职场美语:be too quick on the trigger 操之过急
职场美语:button up one's lips 闭口不言,守口如瓶
职场英语:如何在英语上超前你老板
外企必备口语:用英语为别人打气
职场美语:“高兴得飘飘然”英语be on cloud nine
外企口语300句:(16)关于购物
职场英语:预定航班20句
职场美语:bite off more than one can chew 自不量力
职场英语:十句话让你成为成功的创业者
用英语做正式的请求Making more formal requests:职场美语视频教程第62课
职场英语:职场女性遭遇“玻璃悬崖”
| 不限 |
| 英语教案 |
| 英语课件 |
| 英语试题 |
| 不限 |
| 不限 |
| 上册 |
| 下册 |
| 不限 |