首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
考研
For a man who wants the world to slow down, Carl Honore’s moment of clarity came in, of all places, an airport. The Canadian jo
For a man who wants the world to slow down, Carl Honore’s moment of clarity came in, of all places, an airport. The Canadian jo
admin
2012-01-05
25
问题
For a man who wants the world to slow down, Carl Honore’s moment of clarity came in, of all places, an airport. The Canadian journalist was leafing through a newspaper at Rome’s Fiumicino airport when he spotted an ad for a collection of condensed, one-minute bedtime stories for kids. At first Honore, a self-described "speedaholic," was delighted at the idea of a more efficient bedtime experience for his 2-year-old son. Then he was horrified. "Have I gone completely insane?" he asked himself, and realized the answer was "probably." Out of that epiphany came a best- selling book and a whole new career for Honore as an international spokesman for the concept of leisure."I’m attacking the whole cultural assumption that faster is better and we must cram every waking hour with things to do," says Honore, who now lives in London. In a world of bottom-line bosses and results-oriented parents, he dares speak up in favor of the unabridged fairy tale.
It’s a message people seem to want to hear. Since it appeared in April, In Praise of Slowness has been translated into 12 languages and sold some 60,000 copies, landing on best-seller lists in four countries; a British production company has bought television rights. Honore celebrates, perhaps a bit prematurely, a worldwide disillusionment with "the cult of speed." As evidence he cites the Slow Food rebellion against McDonald’s that began in Italy and has spread its gospel of civilized dining and local products even to the unlikely precincts of New York and Chicago. In a world in which some parents send their offspring to prep courses for preschool, a growing number of schools around the world—about 800—are following the advice of the early 20th-century German educator Rudolf Steiner to encourage children to play and doodle to their hearts’ content, putting off learning to read until as late as 7. Devotees of tantric sex attempt to emulate the rock star Sting, who once boasted of slowing down his lovemaking to the point where it lasted for eight hours. (He later confessed to exaggerating, but the goal is still out there. ) In his own life, Honore has substituted meditation for tennis and for television; he has taken off his wristwatch, which means he’s less worried about getting somewhere on time and can drive there without speeding. These tokens of idleness are offset, regrettably, by the demands of being a best-selling author and guru to leisure- starved American executives, single mothers and college students who e-mail him for advice on slowing down and want it now."Being a spokesman for slow has taken over my whole life," he says, before dashing off for another interview.
Oddly, though, Honore’s book has yet to catch on in the country that arguably needs it most, the one that gave the world the assembly line and the one-minute manager. Chained to cell phones and Black Berrys, fueled by junk food and forced to work ever longer hours as their employers cut jobs, frazzled American workers suffer from what the Seattle-based independent television producer John de Graaf called Affluenza in his 2001 book of the same name. It is the collective malaise of a materialistic society that equates the good life with "the goods life. " "Technology is playing a factor in making lives busier around the world," says de Graaf, who runs a slowness advocacy group called Take Back Your Time."It’s all the more necessary to find ways to protect people’s time off because you’re on this electronic leash all the time."
By contrast, Europeans and even the famously efficient Japanese are more receptive. Slow Food held its second biennial gastronomic fair in Turin last month, drawing tens of thousands of visitors, including Prince Charles, who took a couple of hours out of a European tour to savor a pint of award-winning pale English ale. The Slow Cities movement has won the backing of municipal officials in more than 100 towns and cities in Europe, Japan and Brazil with a lengthy manifesto urging policies to reduce noise and traffic, preserve the local esthetic and gastronomic customs and establish more pedestrian zones and green spaces. The Society for the Deceleration of Time held its 14th annual meeting in Austria last month to promote what its organizers call "a more conscious way of living." Mastering relaxation isn’t something to attempt on your own, according to society member Christian Lackner. "When everyone is telling you to go faster, as an individual you do it," says Lackner."You need a movement, a way of building a group of people who want to resist in order to make it easier to say, ’No, I won’t. ’ "
Perhaps Americans need to be reassured that the slowness movement is not about fleeing to a cottage in rural Vermont. It’s an effort to strike the right balance between work and leisure. A few enlightened companies like the accounting firm Ernst & Young are urging employees not to check their office e-mail and phone messages on weekends. Just as the election campaign reached a fever pitch in late October, leisure-minded Americans in 10 states were holding seminars on the perils of overwork and giving each other 15-minute massages on the second annual Take Back Your Time Day. The date was picked because the nine weeks that remained until the end of the year equal the amount of time the average American works in excess of his counterparts in Western Europe. For that matter, if you believe the message on their T shirts, the average American works longer than the average medieval peasant.
But the premium on long hours and productivity continues to dominate the American workplace. Take Back Your Time has issued a six-point agenda for legislative action that would require employers to provide a minimum of three weeks’ annual paid vacation and one week of paid sick leave. But—in contrast to the widespread support these efforts have in European countries—only Sen. Edward Kennedy’s office has expressed interest in the proposals. For the foreseeable future Americans are pretty much on their own in the revolt against the cult of speed. Aria Veciana-Suarez vowed to stop eating at her desk earlier this year after a repairman upended her computer keyboard and a shower of crumbs fell out of the plastic rows. The Miami Herald columnist has cut back on the number of speaking engagements she accepts and no longer sifts through readers’ mail at her kids’ after-school football games."I don’t have to use every minute of my day in a useful way," says the mother of five."Productivity has its own price, and it’s a price that we don’t often recognize." At least until we find ourselves trying to shave a few minutes from the length of a bedtime story to our children.
What can be inferred from the second paragraph?
选项
答案
It can be inferred that the book In Praise of Slowness was quite popular, which indicates there is a worldwide tendency towards a more leisure life. This tendency can be found from the rebellion against fast food and the encouragement to children to start learning after 7 years old.
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/Jtua777K
本试题收录于:
翻译硕士(翻译硕士英语)题库专业硕士分类
0
翻译硕士(翻译硕士英语)
专业硕士
相关试题推荐
SincetheearliesttimesinEngland,thetraveler’sinnhasalwaysbeenawarmandhospitableplace,agatheringplaceforvoya
Therearemorerichpeoplethaneverbefore,includingsome7millionmillionaires,andover400billionaires.Fromsippingcham
美国南北战争期间,林肯总统在()发表了著名的演讲。他在纪念内战之惨烈、将士之牺牲的同时,表达了对“民有、民治、民享的政府”(“governmentofthepeople,bythepeople,forthepeople”)的信念。
“Weareinterestedincontentthatpeoplewanttosharepartlyforpragmaticreasons.”这句话准确的汉语翻译是()。
AsacandidatefortheMaster’sDegreeprogramintranslation,whatdoyouthinkaprofessionaltranslatorshouldbeequippedwi
Intermsofpurequantityofresearchanddebate,businessschoolshaveperformedamazinglyinpromotingmanagementasadistinc
Tensofthousandsofdiplomats,scientists,ecologistsand______hangers-onareexpectedtogatherindozensofauditoriumsfor
Full-timefacultyandstaffontheUniversitypayroll,whenapplyingforanannualpermit,mayauthorizepaymentoftheirparkin
AofthemanymachinesBinventedinthelatenineteenthcentury,nonehadCagreatimpactDontheUnitedStateseconomythanthe
Thedramaticchangeoverthethree-decade-longfamilyplanningpolicyhailedbothbypopulaceandtheo-pinionleaders.
随机试题
下述哪项描述不符合遗传性肿瘤的特点
患者男性,48岁。数天前饮酒后1小时出现上腹部刀割样疼痛,向腰背部放射,疼痛难以忍受,伴呕吐,呕吐物中混有胆汁,急诊入院。在患者病情稳定后向其做出院指导时最重要的是
X线摄影中,使胶片产生灰雾的主要原因是
男,31岁。被鱼刺扎伤右手示指尖4天,示指肿胀加重,伴有剧烈搏动性跳痛半天就诊。查体:体温38.8℃,右手示指皮肤红肿明显,压痛。诊断为脓性指头炎。此时做切开引流,正确的操作是
田某,女,25岁。停经50日,恶心、呕吐1周,每日呕吐3~4次,进食量明显减少,尿酮体阴性,正确的护理措施是
在完全相同的100个乒乓球上分别写上100个大小不同的数字放到筐里,充分打乱后,先后随机取出4个,问这4个先后取出的乒乓球上的数字依次由小变大的概率是多少?()
A.条件(1)充分,但条件(2)不充分。B.条件(2)充分,但条件(1)不充分。C.条件(1)和(2)单独都不充分,但条件(1)和(2)联合起来充分。D.条件(1)充分,条件(2)也充分。E.条件(1)和(2)单独都不充分,条件(1)和条件(2)联
______从二叉树的任一结点出发到根的路径上,所经过的结点序列必按其关键字降序排列。
Accordingtothelawwhichhelaterproduced,everythingintheuniverseattractseverythingelsetowards______.
There’saworldpapershortage.There’sanationalbottle【C1】______,andwe’rerunningoutofrawmaterialsliketimberandtin—
最新回复
(
0
)