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
外语
A funny thing happened on the way to the communications revolution: we stopped talking to one another. I was walking in the pa
A funny thing happened on the way to the communications revolution: we stopped talking to one another. I was walking in the pa
admin
2013-02-04
64
问题
A funny thing happened on the way to the communications revolution: we stopped talking to one another.
I was walking in the park with a friend recently, and his cell phone rang, interrupting our conversation. There we were, walking and talking on a beautiful sunny day and -- poof! -- I became invisible, absent from the conversation.
The park was filled with people talking on their cell phones. They were passing other people without looking at them, saying hello, noticing their babies or stopping to pet their puppies. Evidently, the untethered electronic voice is preferable to human contact.
The telephone used to connect you to the absent. Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent. Recently I was in a car with three friends. The driver shushed the rest of us because he could not hear the person on the other end of his cell phone. There we were, four friends zooming down the highway, unable to talk to one another because of a gadget designed to make communication easier.
Why is it that the more connected we get, the more disconnected I feel? Every advance in communications technology is a setback to the intimacy of human interaction. With e-mail and instant messaging over the Internet, we can now communicate without seeing or talking to one another. With voice mail, you can conduct entire conversations without ever reaching anyone. If my mom has a question, I just leave the answer on her machine.
As almost every conceivable contact between human beings gets automated, the alienation index goes up. You can’t even call a person to get the phone number of another person anymore. Directory assistance is almost always fully automated.
Pumping gas at the station? Why say good-morning to the attendant when you can swipe your credit card at the pump and save yourself the both.
Making a deposit at the bank? Why talk to a clerk who might live in the neighborhood when you can just insert your card into the ATM?
Pretty soon you won’t have the burden of making eye contact at the grocery store. Some supermarket chains are using a self-scanner so you can check yourself out, avoiding those annoying clerks who look at you and ask how you are doing.
I am no Luddite. I own a cell phone, an ATM card, a voice-mall system, an e-mail account. Giving them up isn’t an option -- they’re great for what they’re intended to do. It’s their unintended consequences that make me cringe.
More and more, I find myself hiding behind e-mall to do a job meant for conversation. Or being relieved that voice mail picked up because I didn’t really have time to talk. The industry devoted to helping me keep in touch is making me lonelier -- or at least facilitating my antisocial instincts.
So I’ve put myself on technology restriction: no instant messaging with people who live near me, no cell-phoning in the presence of friends, no letting the voice mall pick up when I’m home.
What good is all this gee-whiz technology if there’s no one in the room to hear you exclaim, "Gee whiz?"
What does the author think of communications technology?
选项
A、Convenient but threatening.
B、Impersonal.
C、Marvelous and indispensable.
D、Important but inaccessible.
答案
A
解析
态度题。询问作者对信息技术的看法。文章前面列举了信息技术带来的缺憾,但是后面又说其实它也给我们带来了很多的便利,故A正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/SZaO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
WhichofthefollowingisNOTafreemorpheme?
Beforeconsideringthisquestionitisinterestingtoreviewbrieflytheevolutionof【M1】______themindastheinstrument.T
AscientistIntoday’ssocietywearenowseeingmorechildrenundertheageoftwelvedevelopingeatingdisorders.Itisestima
Growingconcernsoverthesafetyandefficacyofanti-depressantdrugsprescribedtochildrenhavecaughttheeyeofCongressan
AccordingtoDr.Harley,whatmakeslanguagelearningmoredifficultafteracertainage?
FRANKFURT—IbumpeddowninFrankfurtat10:55AM.AGermanlanding,Ithought—unsubtleandpunctual.Theskywasclear,an
Nooneshouldbeforcedtowearauniformunderanycircumstance.Uniformsaredemandingtothehumanspiritandtotallyunnece
Icouldn’thavesenthimtheChristmasgiftbymailbecausehecamehomeduringtheChristmasholidays.
Whichofthefollowingistheconcernof"reference"?
Smilinganddapper,FazleHasanAbedhardlyseemslikearevolutionary.ABangladeshieducatedinBritain,anadmirerofShakesp
随机试题
异基因HSCT术后最严重的并发症是
流行性出血热患者高热40℃3天,有瘀斑,突然热退。血压6.67/5kPa(50/30mmHg),尿蛋白(卅),有膜状物,最合适的治疗
CT图像重建主要由下述哪一部分完成
臀大肌注射时,病人侧卧的最佳体位是
()也就是经济学上所讲的外部性,又称外部效应、外部影响。
[2014年第74题]圆管层流中,下述错误的是()。
投标人须知是招标人向投标人传递基础信息的文件,投标人应特别注意其中的()等内容。
进出口货物报关单的“数量及单位”栏必须按海关法定计量单位和成交计量单位填报。成交计量单位与法定计量单位不一致的,须填报与海关法定计量转换后的单位及数量,同时还须填报成交计量单位及数量。()
人口的()会影响各级各类学校在教育结构中的比例。
WhatisMichiko’sdream?
最新回复
(
0
)